Federal Drive with Tom Temin

Patent applications are on the rise. Successful ones require knowing what else is out there in an inventors field. That's called prior art, which is also growing. To help inventors navigate and understand prior art, the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office has enlisted artificial intelligence technology from IBM in a project called the Intellectual Property Advisor with Watson Demonstration System. For the details, Federal Drive host Tom Temin spoke with Graham Katz, from IBM's expert labs team. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

When disaster occurs, the Federal Emergency Management Agency is often the most visible presence. Behind the visible efforts, FEMA has a mission- support function that ensures the right money, equipment and people are in place. Against that backdrop, Federal Drive host Tom Temin spoke with Eric Leckey, who supervises the work just described. He's the Associate FEMA Administrator for Mission Support and a newly named fellow of NAPA, the National Academy of Administration. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Improving retention of federal employees is a long-standing challenge for agencies, but the way to incentivize feds to stay in public service may differ, depending on their age. Although federal employees in Generation X, born between 1965 and 1980, and those in Generation Z, born between 1997 and 2012, both value flexibility in a workplace, they seek it out for different reasons. Many Gen Z employees entered the workforce after the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, making remote work flexibilities practically essential to them, according to Paul Pietsch, senior manager for federal workforce research at the Partnership for Public Service. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The Labor Department has always required citizens to fill out forms by hand, sign them with a pen and send them back by mail or possibly scan them in and email them back. But the Office of Workers’ Compensation Program decided in early 2022 to take the plunge into digital signatures. Robin Crisp, an IT officer in the Office of the Chief Information Officer’s Business Application Services at the Labor Department, said in less than six months his office helped Labor make the break from wet signatures. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The Labor Department has always required citizens to fill out forms by hand, sign them with a pen and send them back by mail or possibly scan them in and email them back. But the Office of Workers’ Compensation Program decided in early 2022 to take the plunge into digital signatures. Robin Crisp, an IT officer in the Office of the Chief Information Officer’s Business Application Services at the Labor Department, said in less than six months his office helped Labor make the break from wet signatures. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The duck is officially lame, with apologies to our real-life feathered friends. The 117th Congress, at least the House, will be back in session this week and casting votes. For a look into what remains before the arrival of the 118th Congress, Federal Drive host Tom Temin spoke with Bloomberg Government Deputy News Director Loren Duggan. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The Air Force tests airplanes before it buys them. Now it's testing software programming tools before buying them. It's goal is to obtain the best tools for its modernization efforts, both for Air Force programmers and for contractors. To take a closer look at the "Digital Tools for All initiative," Federal Drive host Tom Temin spoke with the lead program manager in the Air Force Digital Transformation Office, Vince Pecoraro. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Can it be? Scientists from China work on sensitive projects at the Los Alamos National Laboratory, then go back to help China with what they've learned. A study by Strider Technologies said this has happened in 162 cases, giving the Chinese government a short cut to hypersonics, submarine detection, and autonomous vehicles. To get the study details, Federal Drive host Tom Temin spoke with Greg Levesque, Strider co-founder and CEO. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

There are a lot of ideas for how the White House National Cyber Director’s forthcoming workforce strategy could help address a nationwide cyber talent shortage. The office issued a request for information on cyber workforce, training and education last month. The window for submitting a response closed Nov. 3. For federal agencies, the challenge is especially acute as they struggle to compete with private sector salaries and job flexibilities. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The IRS, setting course on a decade-long push to rebuild its workforce and modernize its legacy IT, may soon be led by a figure who previously steered the agency through difficult times. The White House announced Thursday that President Joe Biden intends to nominate Danny Werfel to lead the IRS for a five-year term. Werfel holds more than 15 years of federal experience across the George W. Bush and Obama administrations, and previously served as an acting IRS commissioner. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The Army wants industry to help it change the way it structures its data. A newly-released request for information is a key first step in building a federated, decentralized model the Army calls the Unified Data Reference Architecture. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Like Mad Max movie from the 1980s, DISA’s choice will focus on survival — in their case from cyber attacks. Federal News Network’s executive editor Jason Miller joins Tom Temin to discuss what factors DISA is weighing about whether to move forward with this zero trust prototype. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

So who's watching the watchdogs? - Inspectors general occasionally fail in the exercise of good conduct or exemplary leadership. When they do, there is a special committee of the Council of Inspectors General that is supposed to take action. Federal Drive host Tom Temin spoke with someone -- Joanna Derman, policy analyst at the Project on Government Oversight --who argues that the committee, known as the Integrity Committee, has fallen short of is responsibilities. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The nation's veterans have served the country. But life after the military often comes with special financial challenges. Today's inflation is making some of those challenges a little tougher. As Veterans Day approaches, we check in with the president of the American Armed Forces Mutual Aid Association, Mike Meese. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

A federal attorney steeped in administrative law now has a chance to influence it. He's general counsel at AmericCorps. He has also spent years developing and teaching courses on administrative law and government oversight. Now he's just been appointed a member of the council of the Administrative Conference of the United States. Federal Drive host Tom Temin spoke with Fernando Laguarda. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices