Some agencies depend on Congress to appropriate money for their programs. Others, like the Postal Service, generate their own revenue. Customs and Border Protection is trying a mix of both. It is accepting applications from communities who want more staff and services at their local ports of entry and are willing to pay for them. Customs plans to select five locations this summer for the pilot program. At the same time, it is discussing setting up a pre-clearance facility at Abu Dhabi International Airport. The United Arab Emirates would fund most of it. For some perspective on these two developments, Tom and Emily spoke to Thad Bingel. He served in key roles at Customs and Border Protection under President George W. Bush. He is now with Command Consulting Group.

In the Defense Department, IT leaders say someday the workforce will be allowed to bring their own mobile devices and connect them to military networks. But that day is years away. DoD is wrestling with security and policy challenges that many organizations don’t have to think as much about. Defense Reporter Jared Serbu tells you what’s coming down the road.

The nominee to be the next director of the Office of Personnel Management faced tough questions yesterday about her experience in managing large health care programs. Katherine Archuleta survived the mostly hospitable questioning from the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee. Federal News Radio’s Executive Editor Jason Miller was at the hearing. He told Tom and Emily what Archuleta said her priorities will be if she’s confirmed as OPM director.

A place for everything and everything in its place. NASA has taken that phrase to heart. The tech-savvy agency has overhauled its website for the first time since 2007. Gone is the dark, “outer-spacey” look. It’s now lighter, more interactive, and includes an events ticker. NASA hired Info-Zen to redesign the site. Raj Ananthanpillai, CEO of InfoZen, explained the new design to Tom and Emily.

Before his confirmation as Defense Secretary, Chuck Hagel famously said the military budget was bloated. He got the job and it wasn’t long before DoD was hit with sequestration. Hagel has ordered furloughs, reductions in training and readiness, and even canceled fireworks on the 4th of July. He’s said 2014 sequestration would be devastating. Tom and Emily talked to Todd Harrison, senior fellow at the Center for Strategic and Budgetary Analysis, about why Hagel has changed his tune.

The Defense Intelligence Agency is updating its approach to bringing new technology on board. Under the Open Innovation Gateway, vendors will be able to showcase their products directly to users and users will be able to catalog exactly what they need to do their jobs. Dan Doney, DIA’s chief innovation officer, spoke with Federal News Radio Defense Reporter Jared Serbu as part of this week’s “On DoD” radio show. In this excerpt, he tells Jared, the agency hopes to launch the project sometime this winter.

Listen to the full show.