In Depth interviews – June 5

This is the In Depth 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.

Danny Werfel — Controller, OMB

The current administration goal is to save $3.5 billion by unloading unneeded buildings from civilian agency portfolios by the end of the year. As of last week, agencies have already achieved $2.4 billion of that, according to a recent post on the Office of Management and Budget blog.

OMB Controller Danny Werfel oversees the real estate effort and other parts of the administration’s Campaign to Cut Waste.

He joins In Depth to provide a status report on the federal government’s goals to save billions of dollars by getting rid of excess real estate — by selling it, demolishing it or otherwise disposing of it.

Dan Meyer — Director for Whistleblowing and Transparency, DoD IG

Earlier this year, the Government Accountability Office reported that the Defense Department Inspector General had made some progress on investigating and responding to claims by federal whistleblowers, but still had a lot of work to do.

The DoD IG’s office says they’ve already taken several important steps, including creating a new high-level office dedicated to the whistleblower program. Dan Meyer, the DoD IG’s first director for whistleblowing and transparency tells In Depth the IG created his office to “accent” the importance of whistleblowing in the Pentagon.

Tom Shoop — Editor-in-Chief, Government Executive

Just about every agency in government has a social media presence of some kind. And, in most cases, many different Facebook and Twitter accounts covering multiple topics.

While those platforms offer new ways to engage with the public without spending a lot of up front money, they can bring along costs that agency communications professionals aren’t always prepared for. That’s one of the things Tom Shoop, editor-in-chief of Government Executive, says he learned at the 2012 Management of Change conference in Cambridge Md.

He joins In Depth to discuss how social media is like a puppy.

David Greer — Executive Director, Institute for Information Security, University of Tulsa

Computers aren’t the only devices on the internet — or on your network — any more. The “Internet of Things” is the name experts are applying to the network that now includes devices like smartphones, tablets and even appliances like washers, dryers and garage-door openers.

David Greer, the executive director of the Institute for Information Security at the University of Tulsa, discussed this in a presentation at the 2012 Management of Change conference. Afterward, he provided In Depth Francis Rose with a thumbnail sketch of the concept.

This story is part of Federal News Radio’s daily Cybersecurity Update. For more cybersecurity news, click here.

Horace Blackman — Chief Information Officer, Veterans Affairs Department Central Office

Simon Szykman — Chief Information Officer, Commerce Department

Bring-your-own-device is changing the way your agency does cybersecurity. And those changes are starting at the conceptual level — the way agencies think about what they have and what they need to secure.

Horace Blackman and Simon Szykman, discussed these changes in the cyber conversation at the 2012 Management of Change conference. Francis Rose moderated the event.

This story is part of Federal News Radio’s daily Cybersecurity Update. For more cybersecurity news, click here.

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