Avoiding the Email Deluge, How to Guide for Gov't PR and 25 Old Fart Rules for Millennials

On today’s program for Thursday May 5th, 2012:

• E-mail overload... we talked about this some earlier. Are there ways of avoiding the deluge.
• The importance of PR -- and why PR matters
• 25 Old Fart Rules for work -- he’s a hint -- never say no

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The federal CIO, Steven VanRoekel, has released the Federal IT Shared Services Strategy. VanRoekel said that agency CIOs should look first to IT spending within their agencies for commodities such as e-mail and storage -- and after that, they should look to consolidate HR and financial management with other agencies, NextGov reports.

With all the furor about the GSA conference in Las Vegas, one of the most unfortunately parts is all the good work done by that agency in recent years is gone out the window... almost forgotten.  Bob Gourley, the for chief technology officer for the intelligence community, notes that GSA has some great tech leaders.

Gourley writes, "There is no excuse for the abuses we are learning about at GSA. We should all be bothered by the waste, fraud and abuse and I hope the government moves fast to correct the failures of leadership evident in these problems. Something else should bother us. The bad apples at GSA who either conducted these crimes or allowed them to happen are reflecting poorly on those at GSA who are doing great work. I hate that. There are some great professionals at GSA who work hard to do the right thing every day, including some world class best technologists that could probably use some love right now."

The SEVEN stories that impact your life for Thursday May 3rd, 2012:

1. The House  GOP budget puts avoiding defense cuts above poverty programs.  Politico reports, "The House Budget Committee is meeting to put the final touches on the more than $300 billion 10-year package -- the opening shot of a fall campaign to preserve defense spending without bowing to Democratic demands for new taxes. Monthly food stamp benefits would be cut, hitting millions of single-mother households by summer’s end. Unemployed workers would be dropped from the rolls until they spend down their cash savings below $2,000 -- one-fifth of Romney’s famous $10,000 bet. Working-class, often Latino, parents would be denied child tax credit refunds if they lack Social Security cards proving they are authorized to work in the U.S. These are immigrant taxpayers whose average annual wages are $21,240 and generate far more for the Social Security system in payroll taxes than any refunds they receive."
2. The government has arrested 100 people in another huge health care fraud bust. Government Executive says the group is charged with defrauding Medicare, Medicaid, and other federal programs for a combined $450 million. CNN says this bust is the largest in recent history. 
3. The Pentagon is considering raising the profile of its cyber command. The Washington Post says senior military leaders are recommending that the Pentagon’s two-year-old cyberwarfare unit be elevated to full combatant command status. The move sends a signal to adversaries that the military is serious about protecting its ability to operate in cyberspace. Right now there is no timeline in place for the move. 
4. Secret Service investigators say prostitutes used by agents in Colombia posed no national security threats. Officials have been poring over interviews with the women. Federal News Radio says none of the woman have connections to any watch list or any other connection to terror groups. 
5. More than 1,200 employees took early retirement and buyout offers from the IRS in fiscal 2011. Federal Times says that represents more than 1 percent of the agency's total workforce. The National Treasury Employees Union, which represents IRS workers, says the agency has lost 5,000 employees over the past two years, and the cuts are hurting the agency's ability to help customers. Meanwhile, the number of tax returns being filed is growing.
6. Congress wants the Pentagon to cut back on contracts. Federal Times says Twenty-six Democratic senators sent a letter to Defense Secretary Leon Panetta asking him to cap the number of contract employees it relies on at 2010 levels. Senators want the Defense Department to eliminate the arbitrary cap on the civilian workforce or provide a waiver so that managers can use civilian employees if they have weighed the costs and funding is available. The department's spending on service contracts has dropped almost 10 percent since 2009. 
7. And over on GovLoop, we’ve been talking about leadership all week. The Partnership for Public Service’s Annual Best Places to work rankings had feds ranking their leaders poorly. But GovLoop’s own Pat Fiorenza has the 10 best traits for the trusted leader. Did we miss some? Head over to GovLoop to check it out.