Federal Drive

Wednesday Morning Federal Newsstand

Written by Ruben Gomez Edited by Suzanne Kubota This morning’s federal news as heard on WFED: President Obama says government spending is crucial to fixin...

Federal News Network Staff

April 15, 2009 8:35 am

2 min read

Written by Ruben Gomez
Edited by Suzanne Kubota

This morning’s federal news as heard on WFED:

President Obama says government spending is crucial to fixing the economy. The message came yesterday in a speech at Georgetown University. The president also defended plans to reform Pentagon procurement and echoed a campaign promise to slash unecessary federal programs. (You can hear the president’s speech by clicking here.)

Government agencies exposing themselves to phishing and e-mail fraud. A recent study by the Online Trust Alliance finds that less than 5 in 10 agencies examined were using tools verify the source of email. The private sector faired a little better where more than 2 in 5 companies were using some form of email authentication.

Violence is expected to increase in Afghanistan over the next few months. Joint Chiefs Chairman Admiral Michael Mullen ties the prediction to an uptick in the US military presence there. The Pentagon is sending an additional 17,000 combat troops to Afghanistan plus 4,000 military trainers to help Afghan security forces stand up on their own.

Deceased people receiving passports! The Government Accountability Office says it happened 112 times in the past 3 years. Now each instance was fraud — living people using names of those who have passed. The congressional watchdog agency recommends that passport specialists check applications against death files from the Social Security Administration.

The Library of Congress has launched its own YouTube channel. They’ll use it to feature some of the 6-million films and sound recordings from the library’s collection. The channel already includes more than 70 videos and has more 1,000 subscribers.

Other Stories We’re Watching:

“Pig Book” calls out top congressional porkers (CNN)

Government wins $128 million settlement from GSA contractor (NextGov)

Cash-strapped Patent and Trademark Office awaits new leadership (GovExec)

Interior seeks public input on new offshore energy plan (GovExec)

Industry group gives government a failing grade in e-mail authentication (GCN)

Federal agency warns of radicals on right (WashingtonTimes)

Smithsonian Institution picks Freelon Adjaye Bond team for National Museum of African American History and Culture (WashingtonBusinessJournal)

NASA names cosmic treadmill after Colbert (CNN)

First pup Bo a DOT insider (DOT blog)