Federal Drive with Tom Temin

Congress continues on its recess, as House members and a third of the Senators focus on the mid-term elections. But there's plenty going on, including that yearly bugaboo, the debt limit. The Federal Drive got more from Bloomberg Government deputy news director Loren Duggan. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Earlier this year, Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin gave a new task to the Defense Innovation Board, to establish a National Defense Science and Technology Strategy. It covers 14 critical topics such as quantum science, hypersonics and artificial intelligence. Turns out, spending on these technologies has been rising, according to analysis by Govini. Joining the Federal Drive with more, Govini's vice president of strategy, Billy Fabian. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Certain migrants to the United States are allowed to stay pending immigration court proceedings. That means Homeland Security must keep track of their family status and where they end up. But it doesn't do such a great job. The Federal Drive got more now from principal deputy inspector general Glenn Sklar, and the assistant counsel to the inspector general Natalia Segermeister. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

You may have heard of the PIL, the Procurement Innovation Lab, at the Homeland Security Department. Well get ready for the NAIL, the NASA Acquisition Innovation Lab. Karla Smith-Jackson is the senior procurement executive and deputy chief acquisition officer at NASA. At the ACT-IAC ELC event in Hershey, Pennsylvania last week, Smith-Jackson told Federal News Network's Jason Miller about how NASA is modeling its newest effort after DHS’s highly successful initiative. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

A group Social Security Administration employees rallied outside SSA’s headquarters in Baltimore earlier this week. They're frustrated. SSA staffing is at its lowest in decades. Large numbers say they plan to leave next year. Bosses from the American Federation of Government Employees urge the agency to improve telework opportunities and raise pay. They're also pressing Congress to give the agency more funding and staff. More now from Federal News Network’s Drew Friedman. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency released long-awaited cybersecurity performance goals this week. The measures promise to help critical infrastructure companies and other firms prioritize the adoption of key security measures. Federal News Network’s Justin Doubleday joined the Federal Drive with the latest. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The Postal Service, like nearly every federal entity, has strict legal limits on how much executives can get paid. There are a few exceptions though. Each year the Postal Office of Inspector General does and audit to make sure the agency stays in compliance. Here with this year's findings, the deputy assistant inspector general for finance and pricing, Alan MacMullin. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The Defense Department's Cyber Crime Center, known as DC3, has a new executive director. Joining the Federal Drive with what's news at the DC3 and what he plans for this crucial office, Jude Sunderbruch. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The Biden administration has made customer experience offered by agencies a management imperative. Yet satisfaction scores keep trending down. The Information Technology and Innovation Foundation has analyzed the situation and found one thing the government needs to strengthen is how it measures digital services effectiveness. The ITIF's policy fellow Eric Egan joined the Federal Drive to discuss. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The vaccine mandate for government contractors has been in limbo ever since an appeals court decision limited the scope of a nationwide injunction on the mandate made by a lower court. Now the Safer Federal Workforce Task Force has finally updated its website regarding enforcement of the mandate. The main takeaway? There's more guidance to come. For what *that* means, Federal News Network's Eric White spoke with attorney Matthew Haws, a partner at Jenner and Block. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Cybersecurity poses a never-ending challenge to federal information technology people. Now supply chain security has jumped into the pile of concerns. One chief information officer has put cyber defense at the center of her efforts. At the ACT-IAC executive leadership conference earlier this week in Hershey Pennsylvania, I caught up with Energy Department CIO Ann Dunkin. I asked her about whether all those Energy Labs make up a special supply chain risk. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

When it comes to technology, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services has always been a unicorn. The agency has about 95% of its online applications in the cloud. It was on the zero trust journey well before there was a bandwagon. Rob Brown is USCIS chief technology officer. At the ACT-IAC Conference earlier this week in Hershey, Pennsylvania, Brown told Federal News Network's Jason Miller about plans to break new technology ground by hiring a director of user experience. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The Navy spent $18.4 billion on small business prime contracts last year. Navy officials want to create even more opportunities for small businesses in fiscal 2023, and hold large contractors accountable for their subcontracting commitments. For more, Federal News Network’s Justin Doubleday. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The COVID-19 pandemic stretched the healthcare community to the limits, underscoring the need to further enhance public health resources across the country. In a move towards that goal, AmeriCorps and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention have launched the new Public Health AmeriCorps (PHA) to support the recruitment, training and development of the next generation of public health leaders. The Federal Drive had the chance to speak with Michael Smith, CEO of AmeriCorps to find out how this new facet of his agency will work. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Contractors trying to develop artificial intelligence applications for the government face a challenge. Namely, a good data set for training the algorithms. Now a big, new, federally-oriented dataset is coming from an unlikely source. The Federal Drive got the details from Bloomberg Government reporter Josh Axlerod. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices