DoD and military personnel can now apply to carry their own firearms

The Federal Headlines is a daily compilation of the stories you hear discussed on Federal Drive with Tom Temin.

In today’s Top Federal Headlines, the Defense Department has issued a directive outlining stipulations for those who wish to carry privately owned firearms on government properties.

• Military and DoD personnel are now able to request permission to carry their own concealed firearms for protection on government properties. A Defense Department directive said applicants must be at least 21 years old and meet all federal, state, and local laws, including host-nation requirements. They also must have a clean record. (Department of Defense)

• The Government Accountability Office says Congress should demand DoD include system engineering plans on major programs when requesting money. GAO said this could help avoid delays and cost overruns since systems engineering plans would ensure program requirements can be met with the resources available. (Government Accountability Office)

• The Defense Department has opened up its white hat hacker challenge to literally anyone — provided they follow a few rules. The initiative DoD rolled out on Monday differs from previous versions of its Hack the Pentagon challenge. Hackers won’t have to be vetted ahead of time, but they won’t be eligible for cash prizes either when they do report cybersecurity flaws. Still, the expansion represents a first for the federal government, in that DoD is explicitly offering legal immunity to white hat hackers probing any public-facing Defense website as long as they report the bugs they find and as long as they do no harm. They’re also not allowed to conduct spearphishing attacks or download sensitive military data. (Federal News Radio)

• A final rule from the Homeland Security Department updates the agency’s Freedom of Information Act policies. Applicants now have 90 days to file an appeal to DHS’ FOIA decisions instead of 60. The rule also clarifies when the agency can charge requesters. The changes come from the FOIA Improvement Act of 2016. (Federal Register)

• President-Elect Donald Trump has added a 10th name to his Defense Department landing team. NetApp Chief Architect Greg Gardner is joining the team. Gardner joins the Heritage Foundation’s Justin Johnson, former Army Lt. Gen. Keith Kellogg and others to ease the transition between the two presidential administrations. Trump’s team met with the Pentagon for the first time last Friday. (Federal News Radio)

• Trump’s transition team, however, has not yet contacted the Environmental Protection Agency, according to current EPA Administrator Gina McCarthy. She said her career staff are doing fine when asked whether morale was low. McCarthy said her employees have been through transitions before and will continue to work hard regardless of the incoming president’s views on climate change or environmental policy. (The National Press Club)

• The Federal Reserve Board expands the number of employees prohibited from working for a bank they monitored after leaving the Fed. Senior bank examiners have to wait one year to work for a financial institution they examined in their last year of work. The policy now includes central points of contacts, senior supervisory officers, and enterprise risk officers. (Federal Reserve)

• If you’ve been told have your senior executive service application’s been delayed, don’t panic. It’s not you. It’s policy. Under Title V, the Office of Personnel Management can suspend SES appointments when an agency head leaves. His term ending, President Obama earlier this month requested resignations of appointed agency heads. So OPM said it’ll suspend processing of qualification review boards career SES cases starting Dec. 7. They’ll resume when the Trump appointed team takes over. (Chief Human Capital Officers Council)

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