GSA Gets a New Mission: Plus the DorobekINSIDER 7 Stories

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• A special edition of GovLoop’s DorobekINSIDER today. We’re LIVE! The idea is simple: get smart people together and share ideas because we believe that the real power of information comes when it is shared. On tap: surviving and excelling during the transition. Click here for the recap from our expert panel.

But up front: GSA gets a new mission

Dan Tangherlini, the General Services Administration’s acting administrator, detailed in a memo to employees a new mission and new priorities for GSA, Federal News Radio reported.

The six priorities include delivering better value and savings, serving partners, expanding opportunities for small businesses, making a more sustainable government, leading with innovation, and building a stronger GSA.Tangherlini, who took over in April after a conference spending scandal rocked the agency. The White House has yet to nominate him to be administrator.

The SEVEN stories that impact your life

1. Is a federal pay freeze on the table again? Yes, GovExec reports, a House GOP freshman has introduced legislation that would prevent federal employees from receiving an across-the-board pay raise this spring. Rep. Ron DeSantis, R-Fla., along with 28 cosponsors, wants to extend the current pay freeze for civilian government employees through the end of the year.
2. A former FEMA executive is guilty of conflicts of interest. Government Executive reports, Timothy Cannon, a former human resources director, pleaded guilty to federal conflict of interest charges. Cannon attempted to secure a job with polling and consulting firm Gallup while managing and negotiating a contract the company had at the agency.
3. Interior Secretary Ken Salazar is the latest secretary to announce he is leaving the Obama Administration. Federal Times reports Salazar said family obligations were the reason for his stepping down. Salazar joins other departing members of Obama’s first-term team, including Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton, Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner, Defense Secretary Leon Panetta, and Environmental Protection Agency administrator Lisa Jackson.
4. One person who’s not stepping down is Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack. Federal Times reports Vilsack has frequently mentioned how much he enjoys the job but until Monday has been reluctant to speculate on his future. During his first four years at the helm of USDA, the former Iowa governor has focused on promoting renewable fuels, pressing the need for more agriculture production on a local level, and more recently warning rural America that it is becoming less relevant in the country’s increasingly urban landscape and needs to do something to counter the development.
5. Federal passwords are getting stronger. FCW reports, the Obama administration’s National Strategy for Trusted Identities in Cyberspace (NSTIC), which launched in April 2011. NSTIC’s recently formed Identity Ecosystem Steering Group, which is federally funded but led by the private sector, is seeking to set standards for identity management systems across multiple platforms.
6. Cybersecurity threats are expected to increase in 2013. FCW reports, top concerns in 2013 include larger-scale attacks that seek to destroy rather than disrupt, vulnerabilities introduced by new and disruptive technologies (including mobile), and an evolving adversary that may be politically extreme, supported by nation-states or driven by a cyber-weapons “black market.”
7. And on GovLoop, are you looking for a career in the federal government? Hit a few snags? Join our Virtual Career Fair on February 28th. You can register for the free event right here.