Wednesday federal headlines – February 11, 2015

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 Senate Armed Services Committee unanimously approves Ash Carter to be the next Defense Secretary. President Obama announced his nomination in December. Carter will now face the full Senate for confirmation. Senate Armed Services Committee Chair Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) says he hopes the Senate will vote to confirm Carter today. Current Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel announced his plans to resign in November. (Federal News Radio )
• The active duty military might be downsizing, but the Army Reserve is looking to fill some vacancies. The Reserve says it’s short on trainers, including drill sergeants. It wants to take advantage of soldiers and sergeants leaving the Army and bring some of them into training positions. Maj. Gen. Leslie Purser says the drill sergeant positions are challenging but rewarding. Only 19 percent of soldiers are eligible to be drill sergeants because the standards are difficult and they must go through a screening process. (Army)
• The State Department closes the U.S. Embassy in Yemen and evacuates staff. The move comes amid political unrest in the country. State is suspending all operations at the embassy. It’s been operating with reduced staff for a few weeks, after Yemen’s president and other government officials stepped down. State will relocate the diplomatic personnel who were still at the embassy. The Marines providing security at the embassy will also leave. Officials say the embassy closure won’t affect counterrorism operations against al-Qaeda. American forces on those missions in other parts of Yemen won’t be affected. (Federal News Radio)
• Three Navy rear admirals have received career-ending reprimands in connection with a big bribery scheme in Asia. They won’t face criminal charges. The censure letters go to Michael Miller, Terry Kraft and David Pimpo. They’re charged with showing poor judgment and a failure of leadership by accepting gifts from a prohibited source. That source was Leonard Glenn Francis, who obtained ship routing information and re-supply contracts in exchange for bribes. Prosecutors say he got $20 million dollars. Several lower level officers are under indictment or have pleaded guilty in the so-called Fat Leonard case. (Federal News Radio)
• The House passes an $18 billion authorization bill to fund NASA through the end of the current fiscal year. The Wall Street Journal reports, it gives the agency $540 million more than the Obama administration requested. It requires NASA to come up with a detailed plan for eventually sending astronauts to Mars or one of its moons. It also mandates more study of threatening asteroids. The bill also provides money for a robotic mission to a Jupiter moon. A similar bill passed the House last year but never became law. The Senate, newly under Republican control, has yet to sort out its NASA priorities. (Wall Street Journal)
• Some Defense contractors are getting a pat on the back from the Pentagon. The Defense Department releases a report card on its top suppliers. The Army and Air Force each rate 25 of their contractors into tier one, two or three. Lockheed Martin ranks high on both lists, but General Dynamics needs improvement. Frank Kendall is the undersecretary of defense for acquisition, technology and logistics. He says the report card is a way to give the companies feedback and rate their performance relative to their peers. (Washington Post)
• The Pentagon is about to bring home nearly all of its troops fighting the Ebola outbreak in West Africa. The White House says the threat has receded to the point where all but 100 troops will be home by April 30. Of the 2,800 that originally deployed, 1,500 have already returned. U.S. Agency for International Development chief Rajiv Shah says only one or two new cases a day are occurring in Liberia. He says overall cases are down 80 percent. (Federal News Radio)
• A federal judge rules in favor of the government in a lawsuit over bulk collection of internet and telephone records. Customers of AT&T sued the National Security Agency on Fourth Amendment grounds against unreasonable search and seizure. District Judge Jeffrey White in Oakland found the plaintiffs hadn’t shown they were subjects of a dragnet. Therefore they lacked standing to sue on fourth amendment grounds. At issue was the NSA’s collection of metadata, which it mines for clues to the location or activities of potential terrorists. (Federal News Radio)

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