The Morning Federal Newscast is a daily compilation of the stories you hear OPM urges the use of telework and alternative work schedules. Federal workers can also request leave.
Homeland Security announces new measures to keep you safe in your federal building. The DHS-led Interagency Security Committee has developed two sets of baseline physical security standards. They can be customized to address specific needs and threats at any given federal facility. The measures also incorporate intelligence and crime statistics to help leaders calculate risk. The new standards now face a 24-month validation period of field testing and implementation.
The US military leader in Iraq will step down by summer’s end. A Pentagon source tells the Associated Press that General Ray Odierno will be replaced by Lt. General Lloyd Austin, who is the staff director for the Joint Chiefs of Staff. A formal announcement has yet to be made. Odierno took over in Iraq from General David Petraeus in 2008.
Government watchdogs call on the cash-strapped Postal Service to make deeper job and wage cuts, and for more outsourcing. The Government Accountability Office, in a report released Monday, says the agency’s business model is not viable. USPS projects a $238 billion dollar shortfall by 2020, unless Congress approves drastic cost-cutting proposals. The GAO report has a number of other recommendations.
If your agency still uses KSA’s, or anything like them, for hiring, you can expect a strong push from OPM to change your ways. In the next two or three weeks, OPM Director John Berry will send out a memo telling agencies to kick the KSA replacement process into high-gear. Last June, Berry said he would ask agencies to stop requiring KSA’s, but OPM’s Nancy Kichak, cited in Federal Times, says many agencies have replaced KSA’s with questionnaires that are not much different.
Congress cut spending on earmarks by more than 27 percent between fiscal 2009 and fiscal 2010, according to figures the Office of Management and Budget released on Monday. Lawmakers included more than $11 billion in earmarks in fiscal 2010 appropriations measures, down from over $15 billion in 2009. The number of earmarks decreased 17 percent during that period, falling to about 9,200 in 2010. A government watchdog group that tracks earmarks suggested the White House’s figures are misleading partly because the comparison between fiscal 2009 and fiscal 2010 is not apples to apples. The Washington-based Taxpayers for Common Sense says that although the 2009 total included earmarks from a supplemental spending bill the 2010 figure did not.
Congressman Darrell Issa (R-Ca.) is questioning the legality of a White House official’s reported use of G-mail to communicate with lobbyists at Google and high-ranking White House officials. Issa, the ranking member of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, sent a letter to Andrew McLaughlin, the White House deputy chief technology officer for Internet policy, asking for an explanation. According internet postings a list of McLaughlin’s contacts show that he used his Gmail account to communicate with executives at Google, where McLaughlin served as head of global public policy and government affairs before joining the Obama administration. He also corresponded with Aneesh Chopra, the White House chief technology officer. Electronic correspondence written or received by White House officials can be subject to retention under the Presidential Records Act. Issa said he is concerned that the use of personal Webmail increases the chances that presidential documents will be discarded.
Democratic senators on Monday overcame Republican opposition to an extension of unemployment benefits and health-insurance subsidies for the unemployed. Four Republican lawmakers sided with Democrats to reach the necessary 60-senator threshold in the procedural vote. The Republicans were Sens. Scott Brown of Massachusetts, Susan Collins and Olympia Snowe of Maine, and George Voinovich of Ohio. The Washington Times reports most Republicans have pressed the majority Democrats to find money from elsewhere in the federal budget to pay for the measures, citing the size of the federal government’s budget deficit.
More news links
Interior to review foreign oil and gas royalties
At least 3 dead in north Ga. Navy plane crash
SPIN METER: Congress’ pork: advocacy or hypocrisy?
Parking meters could cost $3 an hour in D.C. (Washington Business Journal)
NSA on the Flash-Media Hunt (NextGov)
Pay and Benefits for Federal Civilian Employees in Combat Zones (OPM)
THIS AFTERNOON ON FEDERAL NEWS RADIO
Coming up today on The Daily Debrief:
** We continue our coverage from IRMCO when we hear from GSA’s Casey Coleman about her agency’s I.T. Modernization program.
** We’ll update your TSP numbers – and find out how your thrift savings plan is doing after two months in positive territory.
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