Federal Drive with Tom Temin

Tele-everything has taken on supreme importance as the nation battles coronavirus. Telemedicine might be among the most powerful tools for the Veterans Affairs Department, with its otherwise crowded hospitals and clinics. Former VA secretary Dr. David Shulkin has a lot of professional experience with tele-health, and he joined the Federal Drive with Tom Temin. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

It's no secret at this point. Planning and responding to the coronavirus has been an especially tough challenge for most federal agencies. It could have been even tougher for an organization like Voice of America, which has reporters all over the world, including China, and Italy. But 805 of the VOA workforce is teleworking today. It wasn't easy. The agency had to order more laptops in a hurry, move data and systems to the cloud, and find ways to keep employees safe. Amanda Bennett is the director of Voice of America. She tells Federal News Network's Nicole Ogrysko how her agency began planning early. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

National Guard leadership says it expects tens of thousands of Guardsmen will be called up to handle coronavirus. Meanwhile, the Air Force is postponing weapons testing and putting pilots in a virtual bubble. Federal News Network’s Scott Maucione has the latest on COVID-19 military developments. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The coronavirus pandemic has forced the many agency heads to maximize telework flexibility, in some cases making the unprecedented decision to allow most employees to work from home every day - at least for the next few weeks. In some instances this has stressed agency IT systems. For more, Federal News Network’s Jory Heckman spoke with the former director for federal cybersecurity at the National Council, John Banghart, on Federal Drive with Tom Temin. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This week, President Donald Trump invoked the Defense Production Act to help increase the supply of ventilators and other medical items. But the 1950 law contains a wide-range of different authorities – many of which might also come into play as the health emergency unfolds. To dig into what is possible under the DPA, Federal News Network’s Jared Serbu talked with Jerry McGinn, the executive director of the Center for Government Contracting at George Mason University, and a former senior official in DoD’s office of manufacturing and industrial base policy. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The IRS told front line employees earlier this week they can choose whether to continue in-person service interactions or not. Chad Hooper is the president of the Professional Managers Association, which represents IRS managers and supervisors. He told Federal News Network's Nicole Ogrysko why the IRS guidance has confused some managers. Hear more on Federal Drive with Tom Temin. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

With more than a million uniformed employees, the Defense Department occasionally has people who break the law. When that happens, the DoD's law enforcement agencies are supposed to report information to the FBI. Incompleteness of this data has been a problem for years. The Defense inspector general has taken a new look. DoD OIG's Director of Investigative Oversight Jeff Bennett joined Federal Drive with Tom Temin for more. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Contractors might be asked to do extra work during the coronavirus and as agency's scramble to keep operating. Or contractors might have trouble pulling together the people they need, and that could cause delays. Barbara Kinosky said those and other situations have specific procedures and remedies, and as contractors you've got specific rights. The managing partner of Center Law & Consulting joined Federal Drive with Tom Temin to talk more. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Modern military helmets use the latest designs and materials, to protect service members from ballistic and blunt impact. But when it comes to potentially deadly shock waves, helmet designs from a century ago might be more effective. That's according to researchers at Duke University's engineering school. To hear what they found, the Federal Drive with Tom Temin spoke to Joost Op 't Eynde, one of the researchers from the biomedical engineering lab. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Researchers at Georgetown University's Center for Security and Emerging Technology have been gathering all the open source information they can on the corona virus and the illness it causes. They've created a public repository, known as CORD-19, that even the White House and federal agencies are using to better understand what's going on. For details, the Federal Drive with Tom Temin turned to the center's director of Data Science, Dewey Murdick. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Most federal rules are aimed at one business or another. Large business and associations spend a lot of time following and responding to rule-making. As the government ponders how to modernize rule-making, and as our third and final installment of our series on e-rulemaking modernization, we wanted to see how rule making is regarded from the industry side. One strong advocate for sound rule making is the deputy general counsel at the National Association of Manufacturers, Patrick Hedren. He joined the Federal Drive with Tom Temin to discuss some of his ideas. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

News over the coronavirus pandemic has hitting rapidfire. That the case for the federal workforce. Agencies have their fourth memo now from the Trump administration. They're supposed to realign their resources, and their people, to slow the spread of the virus and keep critical government services going. Mesaure available include mandatory telework for federal employees. But so far, agencies have been slow to expand telework. And their responses have been pretty uneven. This all comes as the leader of the Office of Personnel Management abruptly resigned. Federal News Network's Nicole Ogrysko joined the Federal Drive with Tom Temin to unpack it all. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The United Service Organization, the USO, has been entertaining and comforting troops for decades. But in the world of COVID-19, the armed services can't pack troops into a concert venue. Troops can't mingle with USO people. For how the USO is adapting, Federal News Network’s Scott Maucione spoke to its chief operating officer, Alan Reyes. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Earlier this week, the Office of Management and Budget told all federal agencies in the national capital region to extend “maximum telework” flexibilities to their employees. The Defense Department said it’s trying to do that, but the Pentagon employees who are already teleworking have already started to put a strain on DoD’s IT infrastructure. Officials are now in the process of prioritizing which employees they can add to the telework population. Federal News Network’s Jared Serbu has been covering the Pentagon’s telework ramp-up. He joined Federal Drive with Tom Temin for more. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The coronavirus pandemic cancelled most Sunshine Week events this week but for government transparency experts, it doesn't block the sunlight - their favorite disinfectant. The Justice Department’s Office of Information Policy gave awards to agencies that have made big strides in processing Freedom of Information Act requests. For more on how the Environmental Protection Agency's FOIA offices has improved operations, Federal News Network's Jory Heckman spoke to one of the award winners, Region 8 FOIA officer Alan Engels, on Federal Drive with Tom Temin. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices