White House

• White House adds another layer to executive cyber powers

  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.

  Congress

  April 02, 2015
• Nabors promoted to VA chief of staff

  The Veterans Affairs secretary has picked a White House veteran to be his new chief of staff, replacing Joe Riojas. Riojas has been with VA since 2009 and is leaving government.

  Congress

  April 01, 2015
• John Benison, Director, Office of Departmental Equal Employment Opportunity, HUD

  Two dozen federal employees will form a group advising the President on possible changes to the Senior Executive Service. The White House wants advice on improving how the government recruits, hires, develops and retains SES members. John Benison is the equal employment opportunity director at Housing and Urban Development, and a member of the president's advisory group. He joined the Federal Drive with Tom Temin with an early morning report.

  Federal Drive

  March 31, 2015
• White House taps former Facebook executive for new IT role

  President Barack Obama appointed David Recordon as the director of White House Information Technology. The new position will be responsible for modernizing and securing IT within the Executive Office of the President.

  Technology

  March 20, 2015
• Obama nominates new leadership for VA

  President Barack Obama nominated two people for key administration posts at the Veterans Affairs Department.

  Defense

  March 19, 2015
• Obama to announce effort to boost high-tech training, hiring

  By JIM KUHNHENN Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — President Barack Obama is focusing on high-tech jobs in his bid to make progress on stagnant wages in this country. Obama has obtained commitments from more than…

  Technology

  March 09, 2015
• Administration’s cyber sharing proposal a ‘policy puzzle,’ not a panacea

  DHS officials tell Congress that while liability protections are key to encouraging companies to share cyber threat data with federal agencies, the department must also work to earn their trust. It must also work through a "policy puzzle" regarding roles and responsibilities surrounding information sharing.

  Congress

  February 26, 2015
• White House hires DJ Patil, jumps into the chief data officer pool

  DJ Patil is the first chief data scientist and deputy chief technology officer for data policy.

  Technology

  February 19, 2015
• Jonathan Aberman, Managing Director and Chairman, Amplifier Ventures

  President Barack Obama held the first White House Cybersecurity Summit and pushed for greater sharing of information with an Executive Order. And, the Federal Aviation Administration published rules for the use of small drones over the weekend. Jonathan Aberman is chairman of the venture capital firm Amplifier Ventures and founder of TandemNSI, a non-profit. He joined Tom Temin on the Federal Drive to further discuss the news.

  Federal Drive

  February 17, 2015
• Emily Kopp, Reporter, Federal News Radio

  Political leaders from both the White House and Congress are offering up ways to improve the Senior Executive Service. There's the mundane — the White House is launching a candidate development program. And the punitive — legislation that would make it easier to fire SES members when things go wrong. Now in our special report, "Fixing the SES," we ask: Is it actually broken? Jeri Buchholz is an SES member and chief human capital officer at NASA. On the Federal Drive with Tom Temin, she told Federal News Radio's Emily Kopp that the SES has its faults but is essential to the government.

  Federal Drive

  February 16, 2015
• White House asking authorization for military to fight IS

  By DAVID ESPO and NEDRA PICKLER Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — The White House circulated a proposal Tuesday to authorize the Pentagon to fight Islamic State terrorists without an “enduring offensive combat” role, an ambiguous…

  Congress

  February 11, 2015
• New cyber threat center to fill gaps in information sharing

  The White House announced Tuesday the creation of the Cyber Threat Intelligence Center to improve coordination and collaboration of information about computer network security. The Director of National Intelligence will oversee the CTIC, and it will be modeled after the National Counterterrorism Center.

  Technology

  February 11, 2015
• GSA’s new contract to feed hunger for agile IT development services

  With more business than it can handle, 18F hopes a new blanket purchase agreement for IT software development will prove the culture is changing. GSA will issue a final RFQ in the coming weeks and make the initial award in late spring.

  Technology

  February 04, 2015
• 3 incentives to encourage the adoption of the cyber framework

  Michael Daniel, the White House cyber coordinator, said to encourage adoption of the critical infrastructure cyber framework, the government would focus on streamlining regulations, cybersecurity research and development and federal procurement policies and practice.

  Technology

  February 03, 2015