Navy commander pleads guilty to obstructing ‘Fat Leonard’ investigation

• Active-duty Navy Cmdr. Bobby Pitts pleaded guilty to obstructing the investigation into Glenn Defense Marine Asia CEO Leonard “Fat Leonard” Francis. Pitts admited to feeding Francis documents pertaining to the Naval Criminal Investigative Service’s investigation into GDMA’s billing practices. (Department of Justice)

• Former Office of Management and Budget Associate Director Robert Shea called for an improved federal hiring and firing process during the government reorganization. Shea said the current workforce isn’t equipped to handle the ongoing reform. Shea also recommended collaboration among agencies and with Congress to ensure smooth changes. He shared his observations at the Heritage Foundation, where experts doubled down on more than 100 recommendations for reorganization. (Federal News Radio)

• Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke announced plans to move headquarters of three major agencies within his department. E&E news reports Zinke said the Bureau of Land Management, Fish and Wildlife Service, and the Bureau of Reclamation could all eventually move their operations to Denver, Colorado. It’s part of his reorganization plan set to start 2019. (E&E News)

• Connecting to the Internet at the National Archives may be getting easier. The National Archives and Records Administration is seeking innovative approaches to WiFi. NARA issues an request for information asking vendors to explain how they would provide enterprisewide Internet access for guests and researchers as a service. The agency said the WiFI service would be for some or all of its 44 locations nationwide, including presidential libraries. The vendor would design, install and operate the WiFi network under this potential contract. Responses to the RFI are due Aug. 30. (FedBizOpps)

• The Army’s top IT official said the network the Army has is not the network it needs. Maj. Gen. Bruce Crawford, the Army’s newly-confirmed chief information officer, said a top-level study of the Army’s IT capabilities will involve a holistic look at the service’s capabilities, including its business, intelligence and enterprise resource planning systems. Crawford said the systems need to become more interoperable and simpler for soldiers to use, and that the Army needs to move beyond proprietary systems, insisting that its systems become more standards-based.

• Defense contractor Huntington Ingalls Industries (HII), in total, has to pay $9.2 million to settle allegations that it violated the False Claims Act by knowingly overbilling the government for labor on Navy and Coast Guard ships. Justice officials said in 2003 HII mischarged the military branches for dive operations to support ship hull construction that did not occur. (Department of Justice)

• The leader of a group looking deeply into Defense procurement said he’d welcome a bit more time to wind up the work. The Section 809 Panel reached the halfway mark in its two-year mission. Chartered by the National Defense Authorization Act of 2016, it’s coming up with a list of recommendations for overhauling how the Defense Department buys. Commissioner Dave Drabkin reported progress but said he’d welcome a measure under consideration on the Hill to extend the deadline until January 2019. (Federal News Radio)

• More senior executives said they’d recommend the Senior Executive Service to others compared to previous years. The Office of Personnel Management surveyed more than 200 departing senior executives. Of those 63 percent said they would endorse SES, 13 percent said they would not recommend the executive corps and the rest were neutral. More senior executives also said they’re choosing retirement over transferring or resigning. (Federal News Radio)

• Cameron Quinn will be the next Officer for Civil Rights and Civil Liberties at the Homeland Security Department. Quinn previously worked in the Office of the Assistant Secretary for Civil Rights at the Agriculture Department and as a senior policy adviser in the Civil Rights Division at the Justice Department. (White House)

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