Federal Drive with Tom Temin

The expert panel in charge of advising the Pentagon on innovation says there's no shortage of creative thinkers in the military services. The problem is the personnel system tends to punish, not reward people, for thinking outside the box. As Federal News Radio's Jared Serbu tells Federal Drive with Tom Temin the Defense Innovation Board is working on a set of four recommendations to help change that.

Chief information officers across the government are figure out strategies to modernize their systems. A bill expected out of Congress would help pay for it. But there's a technical issue that many agencies keep bumping up against; namely, programs written many years ago in languages that are considered obsolete. Joining me in studio with some possible solutions, Kyle Cruley, a principal at Deloitte Consulting, shares some of the possible solutions on Federal Drive with Tom Temin

Just this week,the Presidential Management Fellows Program opened up applications for 2018. Created in 1977 by then President Jimmy Carter, the PMF program is celebrating 40 years of helping young talent find its way into the federal workforce. Federal News Radio's Eric White spoke to Margot Conrad, director of Education and Outreach at the Partnership for Public Service, about the program on Federal Drive with Tom Temin.

Coast Guard responses to citizens' mayday call are expensive, sometimes up to a quarter million dollars. Often they put guardsmen's lives at risk. That's why fake distress calls from pranksters have become a major concern. One anonymous caller cost the Coast Guard half a million dollars by making 28 false calls. That prompted Coast Guard officials to contact Dr. Rita Singh, a speech scientist at Carnegie Mellon University. She tells Federal News Radio's Eric White on Federal Drive with Tom Temin how she hopes to help catch fake mayday callers.

Coast Guard responses to citizens' mayday call are expensive, sometimes up to a quarter million dollars. Often they put guardsmen's lives at risk. That's why fake distress calls from pranksters have become a major concern. One anonymous caller cost the Coast Guard half a million dollars by making 28 false calls. That prompted Coast Guard officials to contact Dr. Rita Singh, a speech scientist at Carnegie Mellon University. She tells Federal News Radio's Eric White on Federal Drive with Tom Temin how she hopes to help catch fake mayday callers.

The Small Business Administration received kudos this year for its reorganizing steps and handling of hurricane recovery. The agency still has challenges. SBA's inspector general says its most serious management and performance hurdles include IT leadership, human capital and disaster assistance. Federal News Radio's Meredith Somers spoke with SBA acting Inspector General Hannibal Mike Ware about these challenges. She shares the details on Federal Drive with Tom Temin.

The Small Business Administration received kudos this year for its reorganizing steps and handling of hurricane recovery. The agency still has challenges. SBA's inspector general says its most serious management and performance hurdles include IT leadership, human capital and disaster assistance. Federal News Radio's Meredith Somers spoke with SBA acting Inspector General Hannibal Mike Ware about these challenges. She shares the details on Federal Drive with Tom Temin.

The Defense and Veterans Affairs departments have much in common, including too many buildings and buildings that are old and in need of fixing up or demolishing. The Base Realignment and Closure (BRAC) process has helped the military when Congress allows it. But the BRAC process might help the VA with its realignment. David Wise, director of physical infrastructure issues at the Government Accountability Office, and Brian Lepore, the GAO's director of defense capabilities and management issues, share the details on Federal Drive with Tom Temin.

When it passed a law requiring agencies and the White House to establish cross-agency priority goals, Congress meant for agencies to work together "across" boundaries. Turns out, cross-agency collaboration really does improve performance. That's according to a deep look at 15 CAP goal projects conducted by the IBM Center for the Business of Government. Senior Fellow John Kamensky shares the details on Federal Drive with Tom Temin.

Members of the Senate express ongoing frustration about what they view as a lack of governmentwide coordination when it comes to protecting the nation from cyber attacks. Senators say the government's approach to cyber defense is still too disjointed. They're considering a subpoena to the White House for answers on what the Trump Administration is doing to fix the problem. Federal News Radio's Jared Serbu has details on Federal Drive with Tom Temin.

If death and taxes are certainties, then Congress is working on both this week. There's the opening salvo in the great tax debate. And no bill is dealing with death directly, there's a new one on health care insurance. Roll Call Senior Editor David Hawkings offers his take on Federal Drive with Tom Temin.

The government is trying to build a single sign-on identity management capability for federal services. This is the fourth attempt. But it seems off to a better start than the first three tries. The General Services Administration launched the Login.gov platform in April. Five agencies are already testing it. The system saw a spike in user accounts in this month. Joel Minton, the director of the Login.gov platform run by GSA's 18F group, tells Executive Editor Jason Miller about how 18F is hoping to drive privacy, security and usability enough to give citizens confidence in using federal services on Federal Drive with Tom Temin.

The Defense Department says it wants to begin a new era of open communications with industry. Its a pledge that was made by Defense Secretary Jim Mattis at the annual AUSA conference earlier this month, and reinforced by Ellen Lord, the undersecretary of Defense for acquisition, logistics and technology, who said she wants to use that industry input to get better results from the acquisition system. David Berteau, the president and CEO of the Professional Services Council, tells Federal Drive with Tom Temin more about the changes Lord wants to make, and what industry thinks better cooperation might look like.

The Internal Revenue Service has been working at modernizing its information technology systems for the past 25 years. Last year, it spent some $800 million on these efforts, covering nearly two dozen major projects and more than 100 smaller ones. The Government Accountability Office has been tracking IRS technology investment performance for the same 25 years. How are things looking in fiscal 2018? Dave Powner, director of information technology management issues at GAO, gave Federal Drive with Tom Temin an update.

A little-known unit of Customs and Immigration Enforcement specializes in tracking down criminals on the darknet. Special ICE Agent Jared Der-Yeghiayan is on assignment with Homeland Security Investigations cyber crime unit. He talked about the mission on Federal Drive with Tom Temin