Federal Drive with Tom Temin

Congress is on its second week of spring break. But its workload is piling up like drifts of cherry blossom petals. To get a rundown the latest Hill news, Federal Drive host Tom Temin spoke with WTOP Capitol Hill Correspondent Mitchell Miller. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Rep. Don Beyer (D-Va.) recently introduced a bill to boost data science education. It would offer up to $10 million in grants to schools from nursery school to four-year colleges. Is it a good idea? For one answer, Federal Drive host Tom Temin spoke with Laura Albert, a University of Wisconsin Professor of Industrial and Systems Engineering. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

If it's true that software is eating the world, that's certainly true of the U.S. military. One way to get crucial software is to develop it with your own people. Now the Marine Corps is the latest component to establish a software factory for, in the Corps' words, "solving real Marine problem sets." For more, Federal Drive host Tom Temin spoke with the software factory director, Lt. Col. Charlie Bahk. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The Navy says it’s having trouble meeting its homeland defense responsibilities in the Carribbean and other areas of U.S. Southern Command. That’s one of several reasons officials think that region — the 4th Fleet, in Navy parlance — is an ideal place to continue proving out the feasibility of unmanned ships, aided by advanced technologies like artificial intelligence. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The IRS is preparing to hire tens of thousands of new employees by the end of fiscal 2024, with many of those new hires going to improve taxpayer experience and beef up enforcement. The IRS outlined its hiring and workforce goals as part of the Strategic Operating Plan it released Thursday. More broadly, the plan describes how the IRS will spend nearly $80 billion in the Inflation Reduction Act, which is meant for the agency to rebuild its workforce and modernize its legacy IT over the next decade. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In today's episode of The Federal Drive with Tom Temin: How DHS encourages software startups to remember their bills of material. Here's one statistic that shows how bad the cybersecurity problem really is. Not even the United States, can win a war if it runs out of ammunition. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

One thing the nation has learned in helping Ukraine fight Russia, is how fragile our defense industrial supply base really is. From javelin missiles to major platforms, in a conflict the U.S. would run out in days or weeks. And then what? For some fixit ideas, the Federal Drive turned to the executive director for the Center for Government Contracting at George Mason University, Jerry McGinn. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

If you buy or approve the acquisition of software for the government, you probably already know. You're going to have to deal with something called a software bill of materials, or S-BOM as part of understanding what you're getting. Now the Science and Technology Directorate of the Homeland Security Department is aiming to help with the whole software provenance and supply chain issues. It's calling the Silicon Valley Innovation Program. Here with details, the program technical director, Anil John. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Several federal agencies track, and try to do something about, the cybersecurity threat. Among them, the Department of Defense Cyber Crime Center, known as DC3. Its' vulnerability disclosure program started back in 2016. How many reports do you think it's issued? 100? 6,000? Wait 'til you hear how many. Here's the DC3's director of vulnerability reports, Melissa Vice. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Agencies still have trouble staffing up with cybersecurity employees. Now, there’s yet another way the Office of Personnel Management is trying to help out. A pair of cyber workforce dashboards will launch soon. OPM says they’ll help agencies better understand their skills gaps. Joining the Federal Drive with more, Federal News Network’s Drew Friedman. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Space Force may be the newest and smallest military service, but it's moved pretty quickly to start new commands and build up its force. Federal News Network’s Alexandra Lohr attended the Mitchell Institute's Space Power Symposium earlier this week and got the lowdown on Space Force staffing. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In today's episode of The Federal Drive with Tom Temin: A long-serving federal union leader calls it a career How the Naval War College teaches sailors about dealing with the China threat Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The past three administrations have named China as the U.S. top rival, threat. Military leaders model what would happen in a conflict in and around Taiwan. At the Sea Air Space conference earlier this week, the Federal Drive discussed how the Naval War College teaches about the China rivalry when I caught up with professor and retired Navy officer James Holmes. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

After 33 years of working for the National Treasury Employees Union, its president, Tony Reardon, is calling it a career. He'll retire in August, when his term as president concludes. Before that, he joined the Federal Drive in studio. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

You probably know agencies are moving zero trust cybersecurity on their networks. One challenge with that is managing the arrays of cybersecurity tools and products agencies typically have. Federal News Network’s Justin Doubleday, discussed that issue during a recent panel discussion hosted by ATARC. First we hear from Jonathan White, cloud and data branch chief at the Coast Guard. You'll also hear from was Jonathan White, cloud and data branch chief at the Coast Guard. Justin also spoke with Donald Coulter, senior science advisor for cybersecurity at Homeland Security’s science and technology directorate.   Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices