Federal Drive with Tom Temin

Agencies have beefed up cybersecurity since the 2015 Office of Personnel Management data breach. But the president doesn’t have a go-to person in the White House for cyber threat information. The Trump administration *had* a national cyber coordinator, but eliminated that position two years ago. Now bringing that job back, and giving the position more teeth, is the top priority of a bipartisan commission. Federal News Network’s Jory Heckman has more. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

As non-package mail volumes steadily call, the Postal Service has had trouble adjusting its processing costs to keep pace. That's according to the USPS Office of Inspector General. Now the pandemic has deepened the mail volume falloff. And the IG has a series of new recommendations for achieving good services levels and costs commensurate with volumes. Joining the Federal Drive with more, audit director Todd Watson. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The Veterans Benefits Administration has renamed a longstanding program for helping service-disabled vets. The Vocational Rehabilitation and Employment Service is now called the Veteran Readiness and Employment Service. For what's behind the change, the Federal Drive with Tom Temin turned to the director, Will Streitberger. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services employees are just about two weeks away from the possibility of furloughs. Congress has legislation that would give the agency the funding it says it needs to avoid furloughs by August 3. But time is the big question. Employees are relatively optimistic Congress will come through. But they're still planning for the worst. Federal News Network's Nicole Ogrysko joined the Federal Drive with more. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

As part of its new “People Strategy,” the Army says it wants to “transform” its thinking about its civilian workforce, including with a long-term focus on talent management. The Army’s IT workforce is leading the way. Over the next several years, the Army plans to recode thousands of positions, and reskill and upskill the people who hold those jobs now. Federal News Network’s Jared Serbu has details. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The federal government operates countless programs aimed at strengthening a U.S. workforce, beset by technology change and the wholesale movement of manufacturing to cheap labor nations. But the issue affects the state governments much more than the federal. All the more so because of the coronavirus pandemic. The National Governors Association, through newly published guidance, has a lot to say about workforce issues. For more, the Federal Drive with Tom Temin turn to the NGA's program director for economic opportunity, Rachael Stephens. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Pandemic has produced some weird times for nearly everyone, including the Congress. It's been convening in a non-convened way, with members not always agreeing on the right course. In the House, the Committee on House Administration has been doing lots of things to try and get operations back to normal. Joining the Federal Drive with a progress report, ranking member Rodney Davis (R-IL). Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The Navy is seeking help from industry to improve the cybersecurity of ship-board networks. Joining the Federal Drive with the details, the Program Manager for cybersecurity in the Navy's program executive office for C4I and space systems, John Armantrout. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

If history is the best teacher, then the General Services Administration is making a hollow promise, or threat. Namely, that it will turn off the telecommunications services of agencies that don’t transition to the Enterprise Infrastructure Solutions program by May 2023. In earlier transitions, to FTS 2001 and to Networx, GSA made similar promises, or threats, only to face the unspoken realization that the agency has all the responsibility but little authority to ensure a timely move to EIS. In his weekly feature, the Reporter's Notebook, executive editor Jason Miller writes about how GSA is overcoming this lack of authority, and who needs to step in bring the carrot and stick to the EIS effort. Jason joined the Federal Drive with Tom Temin to discuss. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The Defense Health Agency is supposed to take over the medical treatment facilities from the military services. That'll take two years. Then, it will have a deep hole to dig out of. A recent Defense Department Inspector General report found a nearly $15 billion backlog in maintenance and modernization throughout the 576 hospitals and clinics. Federal News Network’s Scott Maucione joined the Federal Drive with more. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Many agencies have public plans that describe how they'll gradually reopen their offices to their employees and the public. But one agency has been relatively quiet about it all. The majority of employees at the Social Security Administration are still teleworking. It's unclear when they might be asked to return to their offices. SSA was one of a few agencies that cut back on telework before the pandemic, but federal unions say employees are as productive as ever now working from home. Federal News Network's Nicole Ogrysko joined Federal Drive with Tom Temin to explain the details. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The Census Bureau has begun what it calls a soft launch of its non-response follow-up in response to the coronavirus pandemic. Translation: A full complement of enumerators will go door-to-door nationwide on Aug. 11. But more than 10,000 enumerations have already started knocking on doors in certain cities including New Orleans and Oklahoma City. More will take to the sidwalks later this month. A windup of the national count is still a long way off. Federal News Network’s Jory Heckman had more details on Federal Drive with Tom Temin. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Agencies in recent years have faced a recurring dilemma: Congress can't act on time, so there's a lapse of appropriations - a partial shutdown. Yet they have to continue to operate at some level. Sensing this could happen again, the Government Accountability Office looked at four agencies' shutdown planning and came up with some recommendations. The GAO's Director of strategic issues Jay McTigue had more details on Federal Drive with Tom Temin. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

A breakthrough leukemia drug is on the market through a major drug manufacturer. But a research doctor, at the National Cancer Institute at the National Institutes of Health, made the discoveries that led to the drug in the first place. Now he's expanding work on what are known as recombinant immunotoxins. For his work he's a finalist in this year's Service to America Medals program. Ira Pastan spoke more to Federal Drive with Tom Temin. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

It happened in Great Britain. It could happen here. When Prime Minister Boris Johnson was temporarily incapacitated by COVID-19, the rest of the government wasn't sure what would happen if the worst occured. What if President Donald Trump ended up in the same situation? The lightning has already stuck as close as the president's secret service detail. To discuss what would happen, the senior fellow in governance studies at the Brookings Institution, John Hudak, joined Federal Drive with Tom Temin. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices