Posts By Federal News Radio

Federal News Radio Honors Vets on Veterans Day

Federal News Radio has a great lineup of guests today to honor the nation’s veterans. First, we got the chance to speak with Army Secretary McHugh before the memorial held yesterday at Fort Hood. He discussed with us the internal investigation going on to determine how this horrible incident occurred. To read the full story,Read… Read more »

Burrowing by political appointees targeted by OPM

The Office of Personnel Management wants to make political appointee “burrowing” into agencies more difficult all the time – not just during election years. OPM director John Berry recently sent a memo to agency leaders outlining a new policy that mandates OPM’s approval on all current and recent political appointees who want to move intoRead… Read more »

Why feds need to do their homework this Open Season

As the annual Federal Benefits Open Season begins, one thing is clear: while this may happen every year, this year is different. Fourteen health plans are pulling out of the FEHBP, another 18 are lowering their coverage, and the Office of Personnel Management says that, across the board, the premiums for those plans that areRead… Read more »

DoD promises to fix Iraq contracting problems in 30 days

In August, the Commission on Wartime Contracting gave the Defense Contract Management Agency and the Defense Contract Audit Agency sixty days to try to “harmonize their own approaches” to contract management in Iraq and Afghanistan. Since then a “divergence in contractor-employee counts” has come to light, along with some confusion about who is overseeing theRead… Read more »

What airline passengers need to know about TSA’s Secure Flight program

If you’re a regular reader of The New York Times, you may be a bit concerned about flying. More specifically, about being able to get on an airplane once the new federal initiative called Secure Flight kicks in. According to Joe Sharkey, blogging in The Times, Secure Flight “requires that the name on the IDRead… Read more »

NSPS discusses what’s next as controversial pay-for-performance system ends

Federal News Radio spoke with Tim Curry, the Acting Program Executive Officer of the National Security Personnel System. Curry recently took over after the departure of Brad Bunn. We asked him what comes next as the Department of Defense gets ready to transition out of NSPS. “What we’re looking at is trying to take theRead… Read more »

DHS expands use of TSA’s IdeaFactory department-wide

The Department of Homeland Security is expanding the use of the Transportation Security Administration’s IdeaFactory department-wide. TSA has used the IdeaFactory since 2007 as a way for employees to suggest ideas and changes to programs within the agency. Gale Rossides, TSA’s Acting Administrator, tells the Federal Drive what the expansion of the program will meanRead… Read more »

Federal News Radio anchors complete Marine Corps Marathon

Tom Temin and Amy Morris, two of our anchors at Federal News Radio, completed the Marine Corps Marathon this weekend. Both were a little sore this morning but they survived! We’ve got some great video of Amy during and after the marathon. Both Amy and Tom have also written columns on their experience. Tom TeminRead… Read more »

KSAs out, TalentLink in at Homeland Security

Sharie Bourbeau, Deputy Under Secretary for Management at DHS, told FederalNewsRadio, the largest non-military department in the federal government is doing away with the KSA, the dreaded Knowledge, Skills and Abilities portion of their job application. In order to “compete in this labor market with private industry to ensure that we get the top talent,”Read… Read more »