In Depth Show Blog – September 6, 2013

On the In Depth show blog, you can listen to our interviews, find more information about the guests on the show each day, as well as links to other stories and ...

This is the In Depth show blog. Here you can listen to our interviews, find more information about the guests on the show each day, as well as links to other stories and resources we discuss.

Today’s guests:

Lt. Col. Andrew Hilmes
Chief of the Maneuver Center of Excellence Operations Division
Fort Benning

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As the Army restructures its forces around the world, some new challenges are showing up on the horizon. The Army’s Maneuver Force will look at new strategies for the future at the Maneuver Warfighter Conference. Lt. Col. Andrew Hilmes is Chief of the Maneuver Center of Excellence Operations Division at Fort Benning, Ga.

Tammy Flanagan
Senior Benefits Director
National Institute of Transition Planning

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The retirement backlog is shrinking at the Office of Personnel Management. Overtime is back thanks to some left-over money at the end of the fiscal year. Tammy Flanagan, senior benefits director at the National Institute of Transition Planning, says they’re getting ahead of the curve at the right time because OPM will likely see another surge at the beginning of 2014.

Marcee Craighill
Curator and Director, Diplomatic Reception Rooms
State Department

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Some of the greatest treasures in the federal government are coming back from their summer vacations. $100 million worth of artwork and historic pieces go back on display Monday at the State Department. Every summer the reception rooms close down to clean and renovate the State Department’s collection of historic objects.

Jason Miller
Executive Editor
Federal News Radio

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Civilian agency acquisition workers must now use one system to track how they are meeting their training requirements. The Federal Acquisition Institute Training Application System also will make it easier to find education opportunities across the government. Joe Jordan is the administrator of the Office of Federal Procurement Policy. He tells executive editor Jason Miller how his new memo mandating these changes will consolidate and simplify civilian agency acquisition worker training.

Mike Causey
Senior Correspondent
Federal News Radio

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Overtime hours at the Office of Personnel Management are taking a chunk out of the retirement case backlog there. OPM’s fiscal-year-end review uncovered money the agency is putting toward cutting the backlog.

Grady Summers
Vice President of Strategic Solutions
Mandiant

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The conflict in Syria is already spreading to the United States through the cyber domain. The Syrian Electronic Army hacked the Marine Corps recruiting website to try and persuade the military to hold off a military strike against the country.

Peter Spencer
Deputy Commissioner for Budget, Finance and Management
Social Security Administration

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Agencies are wrapping up fiscal 2013 and gearing up for fiscal 2014. But whether or not sequestration will continue is still a great unknown. Peter Spencer, deputy commissioner for budget, finance and management at the Social Security Administration, tells Federal News Radio’s Sean McCalley the possibility of sequestration extending into fiscal 2014 is a daunting scenario.


Also on the Show:

On Federal News Countdown, Ron Marks of the George Washington University Homeland Security Policy Institute and Trey Hodgkins of TechAmerica join Francis Rose and count down the top federal news stories of the week.

More News:

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