Federal Drive with Tom Temin

Deep in the complicated tunnels of the military health system, people will see a job known as behavioral health technicians. The function dates back to World War II, and practitioners have a lot of influence over the mental health services which service members receive. It's so much influence that the military medical leaders enlisted the RAND Corporation to study behavioral health technicians. Here with what they found, senior behavioral scientist, Dr. Kimberly Hepner joined Federal Drive with Tom Temin.

They are not clubbing one another over the head yet with canes, but interparty relations on Capitol Hill seem to be worsening by the day. For federal agency managers the question is, "What about that continuing resolution?" For a look at the possibly dreary week ahead Bloomberg Government Editorial Director Loren Duggan joined Federal Drive with Tom Temin.

The IRS will take another crack at a long-term IT modernization strategy with hopes, at least, to succeed where earlier efforts fell short. The agency is asking Congress for billions over the next six years to retire legacy systems and move to cloud computing. Terry Milholland is a former IRS chief information and chief technology officer. He tells Federal News Network’s Jory Heckman what worked with previous IT modernization strategies and how the agency can do better.

Every industry is worried about the safety, cyber or otherwise, of its supply chain. The generic drug supply chain is a concern for the Chairman of the House Armed Services Readiness Subcommittee John Garamendi. Federal News Network’s Scott Maucione spoke to Garamendi about a bill he’s introduced to protect service members from potential ill effects of prescription drugs made in China.

The impeachment case has brought forward many questions about whistleblowers, inspectors general, relations with Congress and independence. A few days back a group of former intelligence community IGs posted a letter at the Project on Government Oversight to Congress expressing the IGs' support for the whistleblower process. Federal News Network's Nicole Ogrysko caught up with one of the signatories, former National Reconnaissance Office inspector general Eric Feldman.

They arrive. They work in a federal agency for a couple of years. And they return to the private sector. But they leave the government changed for the better. They're the Presidential Innovation Fellows. The latest cohort of 20 fellows was just ushered in. For an update on the program, we turn to its executive director, Josh Di Frances.

The Veterans Affairs Department has been dealing with a high vacancy rate for years now. Last year it's medical facilities had vacancy rates of 11%. That's why management of care stays stuck on the high risk list maintained by the Government Accountability Office. Here with the latest findings, the GAO's director of Strategic Issues, Robert Goldenkoff.

Not many things in Congress draw bipartisan support, but one law that did was a new transparency law  --  The Foundation for Evidence-based Policy-Making Act, as well as its companion Open Data Act. But the laws, enacted in January, ask a lot of federal agencies. Former White House controller Dave Mader provided Federal Drive with Tom Temin the highlights of detailed advice for agencies published by the Data Foundation. 

Much like other parts of the Department of Homeland Security, FEMA faces hiring challenges that have constrained its ability to meet its mission. FEMA’s workforce shortage combined with a spate of natural disasters and a lack of permanent DHS leadership has raised bipartisan concerns in the House. Federal News Network’s Jory Heckman has the details.

Nothing lasts forever, not even unchallenged U.S. leadership in space. For a long time, U.S. astronauts have had to buy trips on Soviet launches to get to low earth orbit. But that's all changing. At this week's International Astronautical Congress in Washington, NASA is taking the opportunity to show off its exploration chops. Deputy Administrator Jim Morhard told Federal Drive with Tom Temin, that includes its plans to send a man and a women to the moon by 2024.

The intelligence community has been in the news a lot lately and not always for good reasons. Virginia Senator Mark Warner thinks the Trump administration has not treated the IC correctly, dragging it and its leaders into politics. Sen. Warner discussed his thoughts about it and other national security issues with us.

Veterans Affairs is launching an online marketplace in January to show off over 50 home-grown ideas best practices programs and tools that were created by VA employees. The goal is to help other VA medical centers learn and then adopt some of these practices. Ryan Vega is the executive director of the Veterans Health Administration's Innovation Ecosystem the organization is behind the marketplace.... and a two-day event in Washington this week. Federal News Network's Nicole Ogrysko spoke to Vega about how the VA Innovation Experience has grown over the past few years.

The federal government has avoided major cybersecurity breaches and data theft in the last couple of years. But it's not immune to attacks. Recent domain-name-system, or D-N-S, attacks prove it. Ben April, the chief technology officer of Farsight Security, joined Federal Drive with Tom Temin  for analysis of the current situation.  

The Census Bureau is has launched its recruitment drive to hire 500,000 people nationwide to become part-time enumerators for next year's decennial census. With the start of the 2020 count fast approaching,  Dale Kelly, the head of the field division for the bureau, told Eric White on Federal Drive with Tom Temin, most of the new hires will be used for visits to households that don’t respond to online, telephone and mail-in questionnaires.

Most roads in the United States are under state and local control, but the Federal Government tries to encourage safety. One way is through a joint program between the Federal Highway Administration and the Roadway Safety Foundation. This week they've honored seven safety projects that solve big problems.  The FHA's Director of the Office of Safety Technologies Michael Griffith joined the foundation's executive director, Greg Cohen on Federal Drive with Tom Temin to provide some details.