Thursday federal headlines – September 25, 2014

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 latest way the Veterans Affairs Department plans to tackle its backlog of disability claims is new forms. Veterans will have to fill them out when applying for benefits or appealing decisions. Until now, vets have been able to file using any piece of paper. The department says the forms will “eliminate applicant guesswork,” which it blames for much of the delays. Of the 530,000 pending claims before the department, nearly half have been in the queue for more than four months. The new regulations go into effect in March. (Federal News Radio)
• An advocacy group accuses the Veterans Affairs Department of disregarding the needs of female veterans. In a new report, Disabled American Veterans says serious gender gaps exist in nearly every program that serves vets, from health care to job training and housing. The group’s findings mirror an Associated Press review this summer. It too found shortcomings in how the VA cares for female vets. Nearly one in four VA hospitals does not have a full- time gynecologist. About 390,000 women sought care at VA health centers last year. That number is expected to grow, while the much larger number of male veterans is expected to decline by 2020 as older vets pass on. (Associated Press)
• The Internal Revenue Service is falling short in the implementation of its Voluntary Classification Settlement Program. The VCSP allows employers to reclassify their workers as employees instead of independent contractors. The IRS estimates that employers misclassify millions of employees. A report from the Treasury Inspector General finds that the IRS doesn’t collect the names and Social Security numbers of workers being reclassified, can’t verify the accuracy of compensation amounts, and doesn’t have a process to ensure employer compliance with the program. Treasury Inspector General Russell George says this has “significant tax implications” for all involved. He urges the IRS to address the problems. (Treasury)
• Active-shooter situations are more rare on military bases than on other government property, but they are also more deadly. That’s one finding from a new FBI report on active-shooter situations. It finds that since 2000, there have been five incidents on military property with a total of 27 people killed and 43 wounded. There have been 11 incidents elsewhere on government property, federal and otherwise. Twenty-four people have been killed there and 14 wounded. Now this pales in comparison to incidents at other places in the country. Government property accounts for 10 percent of the locations. The report defines “active-shooter situations” as those in which the shooting is in progress, such as when Aaron Alexis opened fire at the Washington Navy Yard a year ago. With these statistics, the FBI says its behavioral analysis experts will now try to figure out why the shooters did what they did. (FBI)
• The top Republican on the Senate Armed Services Committee is holding up money the Pentagon would use to fight Ebola in West Africa. Sen. Jim Inhofe (R-Okla.) wants details on how the military would protect troops from getting the disease. The Defense Department is sending at least 3,000 service members to the afflicted region. To pay for it, the Obama Administration is asking to reprogram $1 billion from a war-time account. Inhofe is one of four lawmakers who must sign off on the request. He also wants to know how that might impact other missions funded as overseas contingency operations. (Associated Press)
• The Government Accountability Office questions the affordability of the Defense Department’s F-35 joint strike fighter. In a new report, the GAO finds that annual F-35 operating and support costs are estimated to be significantly higher than combined annual costs of several legacy aircraft. The report cast doubt on DoD cost-saving efforts, saying budget targets may not reflect what the military can afford. GAO also finds the DoD needs to address aircraft reliability and technical-data rights. Issues include estimates on fuel burn rate, part replacement and depot maintenance. Those issues could affect development of the sustainment strategy. DoD plans to replace a variety of Air Force, Navy, and Marine Corps aircraft with the F-35. (Government Accountability Office)
• A problem-plagued fighter jet decades in the making has flown its debut combat mission this week. The Air Force is using the F-22 Raptor to strike at Islamic State targets in Syria. Lockheed Martin developed the single-seat aircraft with twin engines that let it go faster than the speed of sound. The program began in the late 1990s. Just four years ago, then-Defense Secretary Robert Gates said he would be willing to cut it because of cost overruns. Each F-22 costs about $190 million. There have also been safety concerns. Most recently, pilots complained about getting dizzy in the planes. The Pentagon grounded the F-22s before blaming a faulty valve in the pilots’ vests. (Associated Press)
• It’s already being called “worse than Heartbleed.” Homeland Security’s Computer Emergency Readiness Team issues a warning on the Bash bug. The vulnerability is in Unix-based operating systems, including Linux and Mac OS X. Hackers can exploit the bug to take control of a user’s computer. Heartbleed allowed hackers to spy on computers, but Bash lets them execute code remotely. CERT directs people to RedHat Security Blog and advises experienced users and administrators to implement the appropriate patch. (US- CERT)
• The Pentagon says it has identified the remains of an Army soldier from Manassas who has been missing since World War II. It is returning the remains of Pvt. First Class Richard Bean to Virginia for burial at Quantico. The Defense Department’s Joint POW/MIA Accounting Command used dental records and DNA analysis to match the remains to a family member of Bean. It’s a triumph for a DoD program that auditors have called bureaucratic and slow. More than 83,000 service members remain unaccounted for. (Associated Press)
• The Marine Corps is upping its sea basing capabilities to deal with anti- access and area denial challenges. Maj. Gen. Andrew O’Donnell of the Marine Corps Combat Development Command says they’re creating a dedicated sea basing development division. That’s according to the Marine Corps Times. O’Donnell says sea basing provides flexibility when countries don’t want troops stationed on land. This is one element of the Marine Corps’ postwar concept — Expeditionary Force-21. EF-21 hones in on crisis response, smaller scale amphibious operations and strengthening the relationship with the Navy. (Marine Corps Times)

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