Federal Drive with Tom Temin

The door to solve some of the systemic issues plaguing federal IT modernization efforts opened slightly more over the last few months. The coronavirus pandemic has shown agencies they can move faster to address long-standing network and applications challenges. It's also been eye opening for some members of Congress. In his weekly feature, the Reporter's Notebook, Federal News Network executive editor Jason Miller wrote about why the Trump administration maybe has its best opportunity in the last three-plus years to get Congress to address some of the most pressing problems with IT modernization. Miller joined Federal Drive with Tom Temin for more discussion. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Cybersecurity watchers around the world are concerned with something called CVE-2019-10149. It's a flaw in certain email transfer servers. It sounds arcane but it's emanating from Russia and can wreak havoc on federal systems. And on those running for office. The co-founder and CEO of Area One Security Oren Falkowitz joined Federal Drive with Tom Temin for more on this bug and what to do about it. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

When Congress passed and the president signed the CARES Act, it dropped more than $1 trillion into the economy. If that was like an earthquake, now it's time for the aftershocks as oversight of that spending gets underway. The Special Inspector General for Pandemic Response Brian Miller was confirmed by the Senate last week. With some perspective on what to expect, Federal Drive with Tom Temin turned to two partners at the law firm Seward & Kissel LLP. Michael Considine is a former supervisory federal prosecutor, and Robert Kurucza is a formerly with the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency and of the Securities and Exchange Commission. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The escalating dispute between the U.S. and China over Chinese telecom giant Huawei has contractors wondering about telecom policy generally. This as they try and keep track of local matters such as which federal offices are reopening and whether contractors will be able to report in.  President and CEO of the Professional Services Council David Berteau joined Federal Drive with Tom Temin for the latest thinking. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

A decade before Saturday Night Live, a comedy show called That Was The Week That Was poked fun at politics and culture. Well, on Capitol Hill, they had a week that was. With a recap and what to expect next ,WTOP capitol hill correspondent Mitchell Miller. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The intelligence community is looking for what it calls tools and technologies for rapid capabilities against the pandemic. And it's calling on industry and academia for proposals. Promising ones will get seedling awards to develop them further. Joining the Federal Drive with Tom Temin with details, the deputy director of research at the Intelligence Advanced Research Projects Activity, Dr. Catherine Cotell. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The Defense Department is moving ahead with plans to close or restructure almost 50 of its military treatment facilities. That’s despite a recent GAO report that found DoD targeted those facilities for “right sizing” without gathering enough data on whether they patients they serve can be absorbed into the civilian health care system. As Federal News Network’s Jared Serbu reports, the first of the closures could happen as soon as this year. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The Trump administration’s shakeups in the inspector general community have caused a stir on Capitol Hill. Republican Senator Chuck Grassley warns he’ll put two presidential nominees on hold until the White House answers questions about the removal of IGs at the State Department and the intelligence community. And top Democrats in the House have introduced a bill to limiting the grounds for a president to remove IG from office. For more on what this shakeup means for IGs and oversight, Federal News Network’s Jory Heckman spoke with the former National Reconnaissance Office inspector general, Eric Feldman. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Grant Schneider, the federal chief information security officer, said the 2019 Federal Information Security Management Act (FISMA) report to Congress shows marked improvements around tools, processes and training, which is leading to better risk management. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Federal Employees in the D.C. region have until today to get their applications in for the annual C-X-O Fellowship Program, operated by the General Services Administration. It's a way for mid-level managers to get the training the networking they need to move up a notch or two. With more, the Federal Drive with Tom Temin turned to the CXO Fellowship program director, Angela McPherson. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Physical distancing and stay-at-home-orders have made access to health care particularly difficult for women veterans. The Veterans Health Administration has stepped up outreach to them, offering a range of services to ensure everything from contraception to protection from domestic abuse. For an update the Federal Drive with Tom Temin, spoke to the VHA's director of comprehensive women's health services, Dr. Sally Haskell. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

When it comes to federal cybersecurity, risk management has an abiding buzzword over the last few years. The challenge is how to measure whether an agency is in fact "managing" risk or just talking about managing risk. The latest Federal Information Security Management Act or FISMA report to Congress shed some light on that issue. For why progress in cyber risk management is one of the biggest surprises of the annual report, Federal News Network's Jason Miller spoke with the federal chief information security officer, Grant Schneider. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The Veterans Affairs Department brass say they're in a better place now than in the early days of the pandemic. Breakdowns in the global medical supply chain meant VA had to adopt austerity measures, like being stingy in issuing personal protective equipment to its employees on the frontlines. Now VA says it has a 30-day supply. But officials say even that's not nearly enough to feel prepared for a potential rebound. More now from Federal News Network's Nicole Ogrysko. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

If spending priorities tell what's important to an organization, then the military health system ranks pretty low. That's the contention of my next guest. He says none of items on DOD's unfunded priorities list included anything health related. Dan Grazier is a former Marine Corps tank commander, now a military analyst at the Project on Government Oversight, and he joined the Federal Drive with Tom Temin to explain. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The big services contractors didn't get that way by giving up on small awards. Deloitte and Grant Thornton have been protesting tooth and nail over a contract worth less than $3 million, and it's not over yet. Joining the Federal Drive with the story, procurement attorney Joseph Petrillo of Petrillo and Powell. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices