Wednesday Afternoon Federal Newscast – April 14

The Afternoon Federal Newscast is a daily compilation of the stories you hear Daily Debrief hosts Chris Dorobek and Amy Morris discuss throughout their show each day. The Newscast is designed to give FederalNewsRadio.com users more information about the stories you hear on the air.

• President Barack Obama and congressional leaders met this morning to discuss the need to reform the nation’s financial system. The Senate is preparing to take up a sweeping overhaul of financial regulations regimen in less than two weeks. Republican leaders have already promised to reject broad changes proposed by Democrats.
• The U.S. should counter computer-based attacks swiftly and strongly and act to thwart or disable a threat even when the attacker’s identity is unknown, the director of the National Security Agency told Congress. Lt. Gen. Keith Alexander, who is the Obama administration’s nominee to take on additional duties as head of the new Cyber Command, also said the U.S. should not be deterred from taking action against countries such as Iran and North Korea just because they might launch cyber attacks.
• Attorney General Eric Holder says he’s going to find out why the administration has often used a legal loophole to keep information secret even though President Barack Obama ordered more openness. Holder told the Senate Judiciary Committee he found statistics on Freedom of Information Act denials analyzed by The Associated Press “troubling.”
• Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke told Congress Wednesday that he has confidence the unfolding economic recovery will have staying power, although it won’t be strong enough to bring quick relief to high unemployment. Bernanke, testifying before Congress’ Joint Economic Committee, also once again called on lawmakers and the White House to come up with a plan to whittle down record-high budget deficits.

Other News Links

Take 10 Map: 2010 Census Participation Rates

techPresident: White House Turns to Twitter to Tap the Next Big Thing

White House Office of Science and Technology Policy blog: Grand Challenges of the 21st Century — Your Ideas Welcome

San Jose Business Journal: NASA, Hawaii partner on space exploration, science

TOMORROW MORNING ON FEDERAL NEWS RADIO

Coming up on the Federal Drive

** Rep. Bennie Thompson, Chairman, House Homeland Security Committee, talks about putting federal building security guards on the government’s payroll. Should it be done? He tells us about a recent hearing.

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