Wednesday federal headlines – July 29, 2015

In today's news, the Defense Department is trying to remove what it says are burdensome and costly procurement regulations, the new head of the TSA says he's pl...

The Federal Headlines is a daily compilation of the stories you hear discussed on the Federal Drive and In Depth radio shows. Our headlines are updated twice per day — once in the morning and once in the afternoon — with the latest news affecting federal employees and contractors.

  • The Defense Department is trying to remove what it says are burdensome and costly procurement regulations. DoD will issue a report by the end of 2015 highlighting proposed changes to the Defense Federal Acquisition Regulations. Katrina McFarland is assistant secretary of Defense for acquisition. She said a series of pilot procurements have already proved that simplifying requirements for military services and industry is possible. She said the goal is both cost avoidance and real dollar savings. (Federal News Radio)
  • The new head of the Transportation Security Administration said he’s planning several changes to security and screening procedures. Peter Neffenger told the New York Times the TSA will retrain thousands of screeners to better detect weapons and other illegal items. He also planned to scale back a program that allows people who have not signed up for background checks to use expedited security lines. And he said TSA will more aggressively police airports’ oversight of security badges for their own employees. The agency has come under fire recently. In June, the Homeland Security Department inspector general reported systemic failures at airport security checkpoints. (New York Times)
  • The Homeland Security Department became the third major agency pledging to use a General Services Administration contract vehicle. DHS signed a memorandum of understanding to use the OASIS professional services governmentwide acquisition contract. Homeland Security officials hope to reduce duplication and shorten the time it takes to award a services contract. GSA promised to give DHS data on how its buying patterns could lead to lower prices. GSA signed similar deals with the Army and the Air Force. (DHS)
  • Several House Democrats introduced separate bills to protect federal interns from discrimination or sexual harassment. GovExec reports the proposed new laws would cover interns in the executive and legislative branches. They would amend Title V of the U.S. Code, the section that applies to the federal workforce. One backer is Rep. Elijah Cummings (D-Md.). He said there should be no legal gray area when talking about workplace harassment. (GovExec)
  • The Air Force sees a future in directed energy — lasers, electromagnetic pulses and sound projectors that can stop enemy systems. That’s what Lt. Gen. William Effers told Congress. He’s commander of the Continental U.S. North American Defense Command. Defense News Reports Effers said the Air Force still has essentially the same weapons it had on 9-11. He said directed energy could be used in non-lethal ways, such as disbursing crowds or interrupting systems in buildings. Or it can disable a weapon that’s homing in on a friendly aircraft. Effers said the Air Force doesn’t always need to kill what’s coming at it, but rather to get it to stop. (Defense News)
  • The Senior Executives Association urged Congress to vote down the VA Accountability Act, which the House is considering this week. The bill would expand the VA’s ability to fire or demote employees based on performance or misconduct. SEA’s letter contains five reasons House lawmakers should reject the bill. Chief among them, VA already has the necessary management system in place to handle misconduct and poor performance. SEA also called the mandatory rotation of VA Senior Execs once every five years “arbitrary and an unnecessary expense.” (SEA)
  • Updated tallies from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention now say at least 192 laboratories were the recipients of Anthrax spores that were supposed to be dead, but were actually alive. Officials who oversee the government’s biotoxin programs told Congress yesterday that the Army lab that distributed those spores had been cited multiple times since 2007 for failing for abide by safety protocols. The federal government has no system in place to make sure that all labs that deal with deadly toxins are following the same protocols.
  • Convicted Israeli spy Jonathan Pollard will be paroled Nov. 21, Military Times reports. Pollard, a U.S. Navy Investigative Service analyst convicted of spying for Israel, was sentenced to life in prison following his 1985 arrest. He pleaded guilty to selling classified information to Israel. The 61-year-old’s release was approved Tuesday by a 3-0 vote of the U.S. Parole Commission. Some DoD officials aren’t happy with the decision though. Former Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld tweeted yesterday that “releasing Pollard was a bad idea in 1998 and 2001. It is not a better idea today.” (Military Times)

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