Wednesday federal headlines – January 28, 2015

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.

  • Aquilent won a blanket purchase agreement for cloud services from the General Services Administration. It’s worth $100 million over five years. Aquilent said it will use the Amazon Web Services Cloud as part of its deal with GSA. (Business Wire)
  • The man who flew a drone onto the White House lawn works for the National Geospatial Intelligence Agency. He told the Secret Service he was drinking before the incident. NGA said the man does not do work related to drones at the agency, and the drone he was flying was a personal item. President Barack Obama likened the drone to something you can buy at Radio Shack. NGA said the man hasn’t been suspended from his job, but it didn’t identify him by name or say what position he holds. (Federal News Radio)
  • A little less gobbledygook is coming from the federal government. The latest Federal Plain Language Report Card showed most agencies are complying with the Plain Writing Act of 2010. The Interior and State departments received failing grades, though. Neither submitted writing samples for the report card, compiled each year by the Center for Plain Language. Education got graded for the first time. It earned a “D.” But Homeland Security emerged from detention. In fact, it made the Dean’s List by getting the highest writing scores. (Federal News Radio)
  • Health care enrollment is getting closer to the Obama administration’s goal. The administration said 9.5 million people have signed up to get health coverage through public marketplaces. That surpassed the goal of 9.1 million enrollees, but more than 15 percent of people who picked plans in 2014 didn’t fully pay their premiums. The administration said that’s likely to happen again this year. The deadline to enroll is Feb.15. The administration expected a surge just before the deadline. (New York Times)
  • The Defense Department will get a budget boost of 8 percent under the administration’s 2016 request, due out Monday. President Barack Obama will ask Congress for a $38 billion increase, bringing the base budget up to $534 billion. The request includes more than $5 billion for training Iraqi and Syrian soldiers to fight the Islamic State. The Pentagon has been laboring under lower budget levels imposed by sequestration in 2013. This week the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Army Gen. Martin Dempsey, called sequestration absolutely crazy. With or without offset spending cuts elsewhere, the proposal is sure to spark tough debates on Capitol Hill. (Federal News Radio)
  • Agency managers launched a social media cyber vandalism toolkit. The goal is to help agencies evaluate their cybersecurity and recover quickly during a breach. The toolkit identifies three phases — readiness, recovery and response. The resource came two weeks after a hack on U.S. Central Command’s Twitter and YouTube accounts. The toolkit is now available as a living document, which means experts inside and outside of government can expand on it. (DigitalGov)
  • A group of senators wants to know why the White House hasn’t nominated a new head for the Transportation Security Administration. Former TSA Administrator John Pistole left the agency at the end of December. He announced his plan to retire in mid-October. The senators wrote a letter to President Barack Obama saying TSA should be a bigger priority, especially at a time of increased concern over terrorist threats. Sen. John Thune (R-S.D.), chairman of the Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee, asked the President to nominate a qualified, experienced and dedicated individual to the position. (Federal News Radio)
  • The head of the Joint Chiefs of Staff called sequestration “absolutely crazy.” Gen. Martin Dempsey said sequestration hurts national security and makes it impossible for the U.S. to meet global commitments. The Defense Department postponed maintenance on some of its ships and airplanes because of sequestration cuts. Dempsey said the world was more dangerous since sequestration cuts were put in place in 2011. The Islamic State group, instability in Ukraine and Ebola cases in West Africa are just a few examples. (DoD)
  • The Smithsonian is working to establish its first international museum outpost. It would be located in the 2012 London Olympic Park. The city is redeveloping the park into a cultural center. London’s mayor and developers for the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park site have secured $50 million in private contributions for the Smithsonian. A 40,000 square foot museum would help anchor the new Olympicopolis. It would open in 2021, and feature exhibits rotated in and out of the Smithsonian’s collections in the United States. (AP)
  • The Arizona National Guard is mobilizing to ensure safety at this weekend’s Super Bowl. The event is expected to attract millions of people. Guard leaders have assembled what they call Joint Task Force Super Bowl. Air National Guard F- 16 pilots from the 162nd Wing in Tuscon will enforce the no-fly zone around the University of Phoenix Stadium. They’ll be refueled by tankers from the 161st Air Refueling Wing. Arizona Army National Guard soldiers from the 2-285th Assault Helicopter Battalion have trained and plan to have UH-60 Black Hawk helicopters on standby. They they’ll help emergency responders who need airlift and transport capability. Military police and communications specialists from the 158th Maneuver Enhancement Brigade are also rehearsing possible support operations. (DoD)

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