Federal Drive

Friday Morning Federal Newscast

USPS makes plans to cut Saturday delivery, bills introduced to improve the procurement workforce, and how to wish astronauts a Merry Tweetmas

Federal News Network Staff

December 18, 2009 8:32 am

3 min read

Written by Ruben Gomez & Tom Temin
Edited by Suzanne Kubota

This morning’s federal news as heard on WFED:

The cash-strapped Postal Service plans to formally propose the elimination of Saturday mail delivery. Deputy Postmaster General Pat Donahoe tells FederalNewsRadio they’ll make the pitch to Congress in the new year. Donahoe says a 6-day delivery system is not cost-effective, as mail volume continues to fall. The Postal Service lost nearly $4 billion dollars in fiscal 2009.

Senators introduce a pair of bills to improve the procurement workforce. The first would set up a fellows program to mentor new acqusition leaders. The second would focus on helping the Federal Acquisition Institute meet its mission on career development and maximizing the potential of the acqusition workforce. The bills are sponsored by Senators Susan Collins of Maine, Clair McCaskill of Missouri, and Bob Bennett of Utah.

The Defense Department has released guidelines for ending its controversial National Security Personnel System. In a memo to managers, the acting program head says NSPS organizations should start placing workers in non-NSPS statutory pay systems. Government Executive reports that vacancies for NSPS jobs posted before March of 2010 will need a disclaimer. It will explain that those positions move out of NSPS in by January of 2012.

NASA wants YOU to TWEET holiday cheer to the Space Station. The space agency says the station’s newest residents should launch on Sunday and arrive on Tuesday — just before Christmas. You can find out how to wish them a Merry Tweetmas at twitter.com/NASA_Astronauts.

Federal stimulus funds for broadband have started flowing. NextGov reports Vice President Joe Biden on Thursday announced that projects in 17 states would begin receiving $182 million in grants. The money will be matched by $46 million in private investment. The funds are intended to help areas under-served by, or lacking, broadband internet access. A goal of the Obama administration is the creation of new jobs and businesses in rural areas using broadband. The stimulus bill passed in February allocated a total of $7.5 billion for broadband, to be distributed by the Commerce and Agriculture departments.

Military officials have known that un-secured video feeds could be hacked by enemy forces since 2004, but dismissed the warning. The Wall Street Journal reports, members of the joint staff were aware of the potential weakness, but didn’t order encryption of the signals until this year — after discovering drone video information on the computers of captured insurgents. Senior military officials were more worried about the potential for China or Russia to intercept and manipulate the signals. They believed the insurgents lacked the necessary know-how.

More news links

Twitter hacked by ‘Iranian Cyber Army’ (CNN)

USDA outlines plan to send dairy farmers payments

Obama: Santa to use Yellow Room chimney

Police: Auschwitz ‘Arbeit Macht Frei’ sign stolen Wait. What?

THIS AFTERNOON ON FEDERALNEWSRADIO

Coming up today on The Daily Debrief:

** We continue our December series — the Stories of the Decade. Today, GSA’s Jim Williams. He has had a unique vantage point both at DHS and launching the GSA’s Federal Acquisition Service. We’ll get his unique perspective.

** And you’ve probably planned out your holiday meal — Christmas only a week away. But what about the folks on the space station? We’ll find out what’s on the menu.

Join us from 3 to 7 pm on 1500 AM or on your computer.