House Armed Services Committee approves adding climate change as security threat

• The House Armed Services Committee wants climate change to be part of the nation’s security strategy. An amendment introduced by Rep. Jim Langevin (D-R.I.) requires the defense secretary to recommend ways to help bases most vulnerable to climate change. A 2016 report from the Union of Concerned Scientists found numerous American military bases are at risk of increased flooding. The amendment passed in a Republican-dominated committee. (Rep. Jim Langevin)

• Another demand from the House Armed Services Committee. It wants the Defense Innovation Unit Experimental to report the number of innovations it delivers to warfighters, the return on investment of its projects, and the number of so-called nontraditional companies doing business with the Defense Department as a result of DIUx.

• The Defense Department will undergo its first-ever financial audit next year, after several delays. A new Senate provision imposed penalties for failure. The Senate Armed Services Committee marked up its version of the defense authorization bill behind closed doors this week. But a summary said it would force pay cuts for the secretaries of the Army, Navy and Air Force if they don’t earn clean audit opinions by 2020. That year will mark the 30th anniversary of the CFO Act, the law requiring departments and large agencies to submit annual audited financial statements.

• President Trump has nominated Susan Gordon to be the principal deputy director of national intelligence. Gordon is currently serving as deputy director for the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency. Prior to that, she was Director of the CIA’s Information Operations Center, while also working as the CIA director’s senior advisor on cyber. (White House)

• The Energy Department is about to get a new chief information officer. Sources said it will be Max Everett, senior cybersecurity advisor and partner at Fortalice Solutions. No stranger to federal service, Everett was White House CIO in 2008, where he led the transfer of the George W. Bush administration’s records to the National Archives. Everett was also CIO for the Republican National Convention last year. He also held technology jobs at the Commerce and Homeland Security Departments.

• Chad Sheridan, the Agriculture Department’s Risk Management Agency’s chief information officer, drew a line in the sand to get his agency to stop hosting its own data center. Sheridan said he told his staff last week that they should plan to move their data center to the Microsoft cloud by September 2018. Sheridan said without the deadline as a forcing function, RMA will miss out on potential innovations and the benefits of continuous integration.

• The Office of Personnel Management is highlighting and reminding agencies about the benefits of telework. OPM issued five tips that federal employees should keep in mind when they work outside the office. For example, OPM reminds employees that they should remain visible while teleworking. Another tip is for feds to report telework hours accurately. (The Office of Personnel Management)

• It seems phased retirement is becoming a more popular option. The Office of Personnel Management says 252 federal employees have applied for it, and 79 have been through the program since it started in 2012. The numbers still fall short of projections from the Congressional Budget Office, who told Congress to expect a thousand employees to be in the program at any given time. (Federal News Radio)

• Rep. Darrell Issa (R-Calif.) and Elijah Cummings (D-Md.), have asked House Oversight Committee Chairman Trey Gowdy (R-S.C.) to put their Fair Chance Act on the agenda for the committee’s next business meeting. The bipartisan bill shields people with criminal histories during the early stages of the federal hiring process. The bill was introduced back in April. (House Oversight and Government Reform Committee Minority)

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