Monday federal headlines – September 15, 2014

The Federal Headlines is a daily compilation of the stories you hear discussed on Federal News Radio each day. It is designed to give FederalNewsRadio.com reade...

The Federal Headlines is a daily compilation of the stories you hear discussed on the Federal Drive and In Depth radio shows each day. Our headlines are updated twice per day — once in the morning and once in the afternoon — with the latest news affecting federal employees and contractors.

  • The House has a busy day tomorrow. It will mark up the continuing resolution that could keep the government open through Dec. 11. It will also consider the Senior Executive Service Accountability Act. It would make SESers eligible for 14-day suspensions without pay. (House)
  • The Defense Information Systems Agency is no longer the Pentagon’s designated cloud provider. SIGNAL magazine reports DoD rescinded the memo it signed back in 2012 designating DISA as its main cloud provider. Joint Chiefs of Staff Chief Information Officer Lt. Gen. Mark Bowman told AFCEA TechNet smaller budgets would likely influence where the Pentagon will get its cloud support. (C4ISR/AFCEA TechNet)
  • The Patent and Trademark Office has acknowledged problems with misuse and fraud in its telework program. It is now promising to take action to stop patent reviewers who lie about their hours. A Saturday statement from top PTO and Commerce Department officials follows a tough congressional hearing. Earlier this summer, an internal PTO investigation looked into whistleblower complaints. It found examiners reporting more hours than they actually worked and receiving overtime pay. The episode put a black mark on the Patent Office’s award-winning telework program. (Washington Post)
  • A pilot program to give federal whistleblowers more options when appealing their cases looks likely to get a three-year extension. The Senate passed the bill and has sent it on to President Barack Obama for his signature. Under the pilot, feds who lose their cases before the Merit Systems Protection Board can appeal to any U.S. Court of Appeals with jurisdiction. Before, they had to go to the Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit in Washington, D.C. Advocates note, the Federal Circuit rarely sided with whistleblowers against agencies — just three times in 229 cases in the past 20 years. Initial reports showed new cases are not bogging down the courts since the program began two years ago. (American Federation of Government Employees)
  • Federal inspectors general have a lot to worry about. Like other agency components, they’re working with flat budgets and staffing. Now, IGs say audits and reports mandated by Congress are crowding out their capacity to do important, agency-specific work. That’s according to the latest annual survey of IGs conducted by A.T. Kearny and the Association of Government Accounts. IGs also said they spend too much time on mundane audits of matters that don’t pose big risks to agencies. These include routine looks at conference and travel card spending, and improper payments. IGs said they need to do more audits of strategic matters like human resources, agency budgets and information technology. (Association of Government Accountants)
  • Customs and Border Protection’s internal affairs office is looking into 155 cases of misconduct and use of excessive force by its agents. The agency appointed Mark Morgan, an FBI official, to temporarily lead the internal affairs office. That came after civil liberties groups complained the agency was slow to investigate acts of force by border patrol agents and that the agency lacked transparency. The office has not released details of the 155 cases, except to say one resulted in a death. In May, a group hired by CBP to look into the allegations said some agents were suspected of putting themselves in harm’s way to justify firing their weapons. (Associated Press)
  • Logistics are being worked out to send a 25-bed military hospital to Liberia to help cope with the Ebola outbreak. Pentagon Spokesman John Kirby said the hospital can be flown to West Africa. DoD personnel will set it up and then leave once that is completed. Discussions are continuing about what else the department can and should be doing to help the overwhelmed region. Military doctors are working in West Africa now. The department has sent more than 10,000 Ebola test kits to the region. (Defense Department)
  • President Barack Obama plans to visit the brains of the coming campaign against terror group, ISIS. Wednesday he’ll get an in-person briefing at U.S. Central Command located at MacDill Air Force Base in Tampa, Florida. CENTCOM’s responsibility includes 20 countries in the Middle East, plus Central and South Asia. Over the weekend, the president promised a relentless campaign. He reiterated that the U.S. role will be limited to airstrikes. He wants countries closer to Syria and Iraq to provide the ground troops. (USA Today)
  • The Justice Department appears to be conflicted about whether the government should pay for lawyers to represent migrant children who have crossed illegally into this country. Attorney General Eric Holder told the Hispanic National Bar Association that the children “may not have a constitutional right to a lawyer” but there are policy and moral reasons to make sure they get legal representation. He discussed a new $1.8 million program to help legal aid groups represent the children in their deportation hearings. And yet, Deputy Assistant Attorney General Leon Franco told a federal judge last week, providing legal representation to the kids could send the wrong message. “It would create a magnet effect,” he said in court. (Associated Press)

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