Tuesday morning federal headlines - June 26, 2012
Tuesday - 6/26/2012, 9:41am EDT
The Morning Federal Newscast is a daily compilation of the stories you hear Federal
Drive hosts Tom Temin and Emily Kopp discuss throughout the show each day. The
Newscast is designed to give FederalNewsRadio.com users more information about the
stories you hear on the air.
- The Postal
Service is plowing more money into its pension fund than it has to. That's
putting a crimp in its ability to operate in the black. The latest report from the
Postal Service inspector general recommends management try again to get help from
Congress. Neither management nor the Office of Personnel Management has the
authority to change the pension payment setup. The IG found, the Postal Services
has overfunded its pensions by $13.1 billion. The IG said, returning those
surpluses would help the Postal Service manage its current fiscal crisis.
(Federal News Radio)
- The FBI has a new associate deputy director. Kevin Perkins, a 26-year bureau
veteran, will oversee personnel, budget, administration and infrastructure. He
replaces Thomas Harrington, who is retiring. Perkins is executive assistant
director of the FBI's Criminal Cyber Response and Services Branch. He's also been
the bureau's chief financial officer. He joined in 1986 as a special agent in
Kansas City, later becoming special agent in charge of the Baltimore division.
(Federal News Radio)
- The government is paying crime-ridden communities to hire veterans and turn
them into police officers. The Justice Department handed out more than $111 million to public
safety agencies as part of its Vets-to-Cops grant program. It says the money will
save or create about 800 positions. Only veterans who have served since Sept. 11,
2001, can apply. One in eight of them is unemployed. The grants are targeted
toward communities with financial problems and high crime rates. Grantees include
Boston, Chicago, Atlanta and Akron, Ohio. (White House)
- The Justice Department has set up a
hotline telephone number and e-mail box for the public in the aftermath of a
Supreme Court decision. Citizens can use the hotlines to report potential civil
rights violations in Arizona. The court ruled that police may legally check the
immigration status of people they stop for other reasons. But the court said the
law should be enforced in a way that avoids long detentions. And, that the police
couldn't stop people only for the purpose of checking immigration status.
(Federal News Radio)
- Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton will make the record books this week
with her visit to eastern Europe. USA Today reported her Thursday visit to Latvia will mark the
100th country she has traveled to during her tenure. That breaks former Secretary
of State Madeleine Albright's previous record of 96 countries and surpasses her
immediate predecessor, Condoleezza Rice, who went to only 88 countries. But, while
former Secretary Rice visited fewer countries, she traveled more, logging more
than 1 million miles as the nation's top diplomat. Clinton has yet to reach
800,000. Secretary Clinton credits good stamina and interesting work with helping
her recover from jet lag. (USA Today)
- The director of national intelligence has taken steps to try and stop leaks of
classified information. James R. Clapper says polygraph tests
used by intelligence agencies will now include a question about unauthorized
disclosure. The inspector general for the intelligence community will now lead
independent investigations turned down by the Justice Department. Clapper's moves
come after several high-profile leaks. Some concerned U.S. involvement in cyber
attacks on Iran. The Justice Department has named two U.S. Attorneys to look into
those leaks. (Federal News Radio)
- The Social Security Administration has launched a large-scale
project to speed up disability decisions by going digital. It has partnered with
health provider Kaiser Permanente to exchange data using electronic health
records. Currently, Kaiser patients file paperwork with Social Security, and the
agency faxes it to Kaiser to verify. Kaiser has to route it through its nationwide
system and send it back to Social Security. The electronic exchange automates the
process. Officials said it should improve accuracy as well as speed. Social
Security requests about 70,000 patient files from Kaiser a year, making this its
largest health IT program. (SSA)
- Despite lots of talk about making the federal workforce more reflective of the nation's diversity, it looks pretty much the same as it's been. The latest report from the Office of Personnel Management shows women and minorities made modest gains, but some are calling those numbers "grim." Advocates note Latino representation has inched up 0.1 percent in four years to 8.1 percent of the federal workforce. Councils, tiger-teams and executive orders have all tried to encourage agencies to hire and retain more Latinos in hopes of catching up to the private sector. But this report is based on statistics that came out several months before agencies created diversity strategies. (OPM)
