Federal Drive Show Blog – June 13, 2013

On the Federal Drive 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...

This is the Federal Drive show blog. Here you can listen to the interviews, find more information about the guests on the show each day and links to additional resources.

Today’s guests:

Howard Shelanski
director nominee
Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs

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President Barack Obama’s choice to lead the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs is promising to clear up delays in the regulatory process. Recently, Howard Shelanski laid out his top priorities for the job before the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee.

Jerry Ellig
senior fellow
Mercatus Center at George Mason University

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Some Congressional Democrats have accused the White House of hurting its own agenda by holding up regulations to go along with new laws. A coalition of public-interest groups say 120 proposed rules await approval from the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs. On the flip side you can find plenty of conservative lawmakers saying there are too many regulations already. Howard Shelanski may have to navigate these waters as head of OIRA. His confirmation hearing was yesterday.

Related Story: Regulatory czar nominee pledges to speed up review process

John Mahoney
federal employment attorney
Tulley Rincky

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The latest revelations from self-confessed NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden are the U.S. government has been spying on Chinese citizens since 2009. In a recent interview, Snowden produced what the South China Morning Post newspaper is calling unverified NSA documents as proof. This adds to the difficulty in distinguishing Snowden’s actions between blowing the whistle and compromising national security. So what implications does this have for others in positions with access to sensitive information?

Retired Air Force Gen. Charles Wald
defense practice leader
Deloitte

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Budgets are always about choices. For the Defense Department, those choices are becoming tougher thanks to a sharply constrained budget outlook and sequestration. Instead of choosing among a platter of tempting weapons platforms, DoD planners instead are deciding how may days to lay off people. Yet poorer nations are boosting their military spending. What’s the long term prospect? Deloitte has just released its global defense outlook.

From our reporters:

The National Institute of Standards and Technology is developing the first-ever cybersecurity framework for critical infrastructure systems. It’s one of the many jobs NIST has under the president’s February executive order on cybersecurity. But NIST says for the plan to work, it’ll need to mostly stay out of the way and let industry drive the process. Federal News Radio’s DoD reporter Jared Serbu files a report.

The Enhanced Cybersecurity Services initiative is supposed to expand the number of companies that receive classified or top secret information on threats from the government. While many companies are interested, few have decided to make the investment. Federal News Radio’s Executive Editor Jason Miller discusses the ECS and other programs attempting to improve cybersecurity information sharing.

MORE FROM THE FEDERAL DRIVE

Government open today with unscheduled leave, telework options (Federal News Radio)

VA reaches ‘tipping point’ in processing backlogged disability claims (NextGov)

Federal consolidation effort uncovers additional 3,000 data centers (Federal Times)

White House to SES: No Presidential Rank Awards bonus money in 2013 (Federal News Radio)

FBI director to undergo questioning by House panel (Federal News Radio)

CIA deputy director Michael Morell retires (Federal News Radio)

EEOC orders DEA to address bias against female agents (Federal Times)

Carter Says DOD Doing All It Can to Minimize Sequester Effects (DoD)

Hagel Addresses Cyber Jurisdiction in Hill Testimony (DoD)

Committee rejects overhaul of military justice (Federal News Radio)

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