State Department
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Some State Department IT officials may have jumped the gun in issuing an RFI for a cyber playbook.
September 14, 2015 -
The State Department wants industry to help it write a new playbook for government cybersecurity best practices. State's Bureau of Information Resource Management, Information Assurance (IRM/IA) is looking for "specialized cybersecurity experts" who can write a how-to guide for responding to cyber attacks and coordinating offensive cyber activities.
September 04, 2015 -
The State Department is churning out student and tourist visas at a record clip. They now number about 10 million a year — a 50 percent increase over 2010. To achieve those numbers, while decreasing wait times, the department had to streamline its processes. Ed Ramotowski is the deputy assistant Secretary of State for visa services in the department's Bureau of Consular Affairs. He and his team are finalists for this year's Service to America medals for their work. On the Federal Drive with Tom Temin, he says his marching orders came from the White House. View of a photo gallery of all the Sammies nominees.
August 04, 2015 -
Bridget Lynn Roddy, the Virtual Student Foreign Service program manager at the State Department, is nominated for a Service to America Medal.
July 15, 2015 -
The State Department could do a better job creating new leadership and education and professional development opportunities for its career employees. That's according to a recent report from the American Academy of Diplomacy which found the department is too focused on its political appointees -- and politics in general -- marginalizing the career employees in the foreign service. Charles Ray is a former ambassador and member of the Foreign Service and former deputy assistant secretary of defense for prisoners of war and missing personnel affairs. He says the foreign service itself is in need of a bit of an overhaul. He tells In Depth guest host Jared Serbu that it's time to start treating the Foreign Service as a profession -- and its members as true professionals.
July 09, 2015 -
Members of the Senior Executive Service report much higher satisfaction at their agencies than the employees who work for them, according to a new report.
July 01, 2015 -
Jacob Moss, senior adviser at the Environmental Protection Agency, has been working with the State Department on a project to develop cleaner and more efficient stoves that can be distributed to millions of homes.
June 29, 2015 -
A new study from the National Academies suggests a new and different future for the State Department, one in which the scientific and technology know-how of the United States can leverage its diplomatic strength. Yesterday, we spoke to Tom Pickering, former undersecretary of State and a co-chair of the Committee on Science and Technology Capabilities at the Department of State. The other co-chair, Princeton microbiology professor Adel Mahmoud, joined Tom Temin on the Federal Drive for a closer look at the science side of diplomacy.
June 10, 2015 -
A new study from the National Academies suggests a new and different future for the State Department — one in which science and technology are infused into diplomacy and statecraft. The authors say several rival nations are ahead of the United States when it comes to merging these disciplines. Tom Pickering, former under secretary of State and one of the co-chairs of the Committee on Science and Technology Capabilities at the State Department joined Tom Temin on the Federal Drive with more on the report he co-authored.
June 09, 2015 -
It\'s been 17 years since President Bill Clinton issued the executive order prohibiting discrimination based on sexual orientation in the federal civilian workforce. Today, gay and lesbian feds say they are still fighting for equality. Members of the Foreign Service who seek assignment in countries where homosexuality is illegal are often denied visas for their spouses. \"Transgender exclusion\" prevents some employees from receiving certain health benefits from their federal plans. Selim Ariturk is president of GLIFAA, the association for LGBT employees in Foreign Affairs Agencies. He joined Tom Temin on the Federal Drive with more on Pride Month — and all the work that\'s still left to do.
June 04, 2015 -
\"We can\'t just put a smiley face on everything and say it\'s good,\" said Rep. Jason Chaffetz (R-Utah), who led two days of hearings on agencies\' attempts to fulfill Freedom of Information Act requests. He vowed to push reform legislation through Congress.
June 03, 2015 -
The State Department suffers from a lack of leadership career opportunities. The American Academy of Diplomacy says an overbalance of political appointees in the senior ranks of the agency means they're only focused on short-term goals. Ambassador Ron Neumann is president of the Academy. On In Depth with Francis Rose, he offered a proposal to reintroduce career employees into the top ranks of the Foreign and Civil Services at State.
April 02, 2015 -
President Barack Obama signed an Executive Order giving agencies the ability to recommend economic sanctions against cyber attackers and their supporters. As the President signed this latest order, Congress seems closer than ever to passing a cyber information sharing bill.
April 02, 2015 -
By NANCY BENAC Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — In the never-ending quest to preserve the government’s history, there have been plenty of weapons of mass destruction. Before delete keys on computers, there were paper shredders,…
March 30, 2015 -
By CALVIN WOODWARD Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — The State Department’s internal watchdog has found that many department employees are not preserving emails for the public record as required by the government. That could mean…
March 12, 2015