Federal Drive with Tom Temin

If the last election was at least partly about American jobs, it's a wonder the candidates didn't talk about cybersecurity. For cities around the world, the demand for cybersecurity products and services has produced a mini economic boom. Natasha Cohen, a cybersecurity policy fellow at New America, tells Federal Drive with Tom Temin that she calls them cybersecurity industry clusters.

If you're wondering what the continuing budget resolution will lead to, pay attention to the Senate this week. Now back in session, it'll take up a budget resolution for 2018 and markup appropriations bills for three big agencies. Loren Duggan, Bloomberg Government's editorial director, offers a look ahead on Federal Drive with Tom Temin.

One weird result of the recent hurricane-induced floods is fish from one body of water ending up in another. A rare occurrence, the U.S. Geological Survey calls it non-indigenous aquatic species. Now there's a new and easier way for people who spot the wrong fish in the wrong place to report it. Dr. Matthew Neilson, fisheries biologist at USGS, shares the details on Federal Drive with Tom Temin.

The progress the cloud security program known as FedRAMP has made over the last few years to lower costs and speed approvals may be at risk. The reason has to do with new security controls in the latest revision of NIST special publication 800-53. In his weekly feature, the Reporters Notebook, Executive Editor Jason Miller writes why the Federal Risk Authorization Management Program could be in jeopardy. He shares more on Federal Drive with Tom Temin.

Now that the Army is in the process of reversing the drawdown that happened earlier in the decade, it faces one of the biggest recruiting challenges in its history. The Army's recruiting command has been tasked with onboarding 80,000 new active-duty soldiers in 2018 alone. The Army hasn't achieved a number like that in the past 20 years without violating DoDs quality standards. Maj. Gen. Jeffrey Snow, the commander of Army Recruiting Command, talked with Federal News Radios Jared Serbu on Federal Drive with Tom Temin about the challenge ahead.

Few contractors can afford to ignore the yearly priorities spelled out by the General Services Administration. And this year, early in fiscal 2018, there's a lot going on. Larry Allen, president of Allen Federal Business Partners and a long-time GSA expert, joins Federal Drive with Tom Temin with highlights.

An F-22 Raptor can fly at 1,500 miles per hour, and an intercontinental ballistic missile travels at 15,000 miles per hour. But cyber attacks travel at the speed of light and nothing the military has can keep up, least of all the acquisition process. Air Force Lt. Col. Daniel Schoeni, a judge-advocate in the 12th Air Force at Davis-Monthan Air Force Base, Arizona, tells Federal Drive with Tom Temin that's a big hindrance to better cyber defenses.

The Senior Executive Service ought to be an aspiration for anyone going into a federal career. But SESers themselves have doubts about talent retention and their own leadership qualities. David Dye, director of federal human capital services at Deloitte, shares latest research by Deloitte and the Senior Executives Association on Federal Drive with Tom Temin.

To count the population of the U.S. in 2020, Commerce Department Secretary Wilbur Ross says he's counting on Congress for an additional $3 billion to help cover the lifecycle of the decennial census. He told the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee he's confident the money will help the Census Bureau answer concerns about accuracy and data security, but policymakers aren't so sure. Federal News Radio's Meredith Somers fills in all the details on Federal Drive with Tom Temin.

It has more than a billion people and covers nearly 12 million square miles. It contains everything from stable nations to bitter civil wars. And it has minerals and other resources the whole world would like to use. Its Africa. And U.S. Army Africa is helping to bolster American interests there, without having a whole lot of soldiers to do it. Brig. Gen. Gene LeBoeuf, acting AFRICOM commander, fills in all the details on Federal Drive with Tom Temin.

The Army Materiel Command to make sure everything a brigade might need is where it's needed, when it's needed. Now the command is working with its vast supply chain to tighten things up in a methodology known as prepositioning. At this week's Association of the U.S. Army conference in Washington, Federal Drive with Tom Temin spoke with Lt. Gen. Ed Daly, the deputy commander of Materiel Command.

The Library of Congress houses collections dating to the founding of the republic. There's not much you can do with crumbling paper volumes except try and preserve them. But the growing set of digital collections, that's another matter. Now the library has launched an online workspace for people with an interest in this sort of thing, who want to use these collections to create new things. Kate Zwaard, the library's chief of national digital innovations, shares more on Federal Drive with Tom Temin.

The Defense Department has a new acquisition chief and spending a few hundred billion dollars a year, she has a lot on her plate. Ellen Lord is overseeing the acquisition office break-up mandated by Congress last year. Plus she has a new goal for contracts. Federal News Radio's Scott Maucione joins Federal Drive with Tom Temin to sort it all out.

The Defense Department is strongly urging lawmakers to let it take over responsibility of processing security clearances for its own people. DoD's plan has the approval of Secretary James Mattis, and now the department says it could start doing its own background checks as early as January and get away from the Office of Personnel Management. Federal News Radio's Nicole Ogrysko shares the details on Federal Drive with Tom Temin.

At 15, the Homeland Security Department might be a relatively new federal department. But it's come a long way since it's chaotic inception. Claire Grady is the DHS undersecretary for management. A seasoned federal executive, she also worked for DHS in its early years. She spoke with Federal News Radio's Jason Miller on Federal Drive with Tom Temin about how things have changed for the better.