This is the Federal Drive show blog. Here you can listen to the interviews, find more information about the guests on the show each day and links to additional resources.

Todd Harrison — senior fellow, The Center for Strategic and Budgetary Assessment

No matter what happens in the fiscal cliff debate, it looks rough for the Pentagon. Just yesterday, a bipartisan group of lawmakers said defense spending cuts should be part of a deal. The Center for Strategic and Budgetary Assessment recently hosted an exercise that brought together some of the best defense minds in Washington. Their task: plot a strategy for defense budgets.

Bill Bransford — partner at Shaw, Bransford and Roth

It’s a hush-hush topic and one of the more controversial methods currently used for screening federal employees for security clearances. Although polygraphs are mostly banned in the private sector and denounced by scientists, McClatchy Newspapers reports 73,000 Americans submitted to the tests for federal employment last year.

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Justin Herman — social media lead, Office of Citizen Services and Innovative Technologies, General Services Administration

In an emergency, would you call someone or text them? Maybe you would just tweet or post to Facebook to get the word out to a lot of people quickly. Social media may not be the star of disaster relief efforts like the cleanup after Hurricane Sandy, but it’s playing a key supporting role.

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John Palguta — vice president, Partnership for Public Service

What were the biggest developments in 2012 for the federal workforce and what does 2013 hold for federal workers beyond the fiscal cliff?

Paul Verkuil — chairman, Administrative Conference of the United States

It was dormant for 15 years, but it’s come back with a roar. The Administrative Conference of the United States just held its 57th plenary session. Members discussed several issues of importance to federal managers.

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Cybersecurity Update

• Vote ends on Facebook privacy changes, for good
• Tom Ridge, Former Homeland Security Secretary, Joins TaaSERA Advisory Board

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