Monday Morning Federal Newscast – April 25th

The Morning Federal Newscast is a daily compilation of the stories you hear Federal Drive hosts Tom Temin and Amy Morris discuss throughout the show each day. T...

The Morning Federal Newscast is a daily compilation of the stories you hear Federal Drive hosts Tom Temin and Amy Morris 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.

  • Air Force Material Command will explore the possibility of buyouts to help reduce its workforce. The agency plans to survey its civilian workforce next month to see if there is enough interest. It will survey employees at 10 bases. John Steenbock, the personnel director, says the Materiel Command has already imposed headcount controls. It’s hiring only in critical mission areas. Even at that, the command is filling one position for every two vacant slots. If sufficient numbers don’t take a buyout, Steenbock says involuntary separations could follow. Buyout payments would reach $25,000 per employee.
  • Most executive branch agencies are out of compliance with secrecy policy. More than half of agencies did not meet their March 2011 deadline to issue implementing regulations for national security goals. President Obama signed the executive order in December 2009 asking agencies to produce a uniform system for classifying, safeguarding and declassifying national security information. Since then, only 19 of 41 agencies have issued their final plans. That’s according to the latest Annual Report from the Information Security Oversight Office.
  • One Senator is skeptical of administration plans to shut down transparency web sites. Tom Carper (D-De.) demands more details from federal CIO Vivek Kundra. In the final 2011 budget plan, Congress approved $8 million for e-government. The administration said it needed $34 million. The result, according to Kundra, would be the suspension of some signature web sites such as data.gov. In a letter, Carper tells Kundra to look for sources of funding from other accounts.
  • One man claimed to take impotence shots so he wouldn’t be distracted by women. Another tried to persuade a Maryland resident to kill the president of Pakistan. Those are among the details about Guantanamo Bay detainees published in several newspapers after they were released by the WikiLeaks web site. WikiLeaks posted secret Detainee Assessment Briefs, or DABs. The records cover more than 700 interrogations of prisoners suspected of terrorism. In many cases, the U.S. Military believed the men would return to jihad and terror if released. 172 detainees remain at Guantanamo. 604 have been transferred.
  • Google chairman Eric Schmidt is on the short list to become the next commerce secretary, CNN Money reports. But he’s got a small problem: nine million shares of Google worth about $5 billion at today’s stock price. It’s a conflict of interest if a federal official sets policy on a matter from which he or she might benefit. Schmidt would need to sell his shares. He’s been a favorite of the administration when it comes to consulting on internet and broadband technology.
  • Government disaster relief efforts may soon be getting a boost from some new technology. AT&T is selling portable cellular antennas that can provide temporary wireless coverage in a disaster area. The Remote Mobility Zone has a half-mile range, can support fourteen simultaneous phone calls and provide limited wireless internet. Currently, cell phone companies deploy trucks equipped with the same technology to serve as mobile cell towers, but this would allow first responders to provide the same coverage.The units range from $15,000 to $45,000.
  • Millions of satellite images are collected every year by federal repositories. These pictures help document forest fires, droughts, hurricanes, tsunamis and other calamities. They are important tools, but not only that. Scientists at the U.S. Geological Survey’s EROS data center see them as art. They’ve selected 40 images for an exhibit entitled “Earth As Art“. The images will be displayed for a year at the Library of Congress. This year’s exhibit includes images of the Canadian Rockies and fjords in Greenland

More news links

2 top officers of US Navy ship relieved of duties

THIS AFTERNOON ON FEDERAL NEWS RADIO

Coming up today on In Depth with Francis Rose:

–The defense budget is getting pinched. Former Air Force Chief of Staff John Jumper tells you what a lower-cost DoD might look like.

–Northrop Grumman is setting up shop in Northern Virginia, and they’re hiring! You’ll hear who they’re looking for, and what they have planned when they get settled in.

Join Francis from 3 to 7 pm on 1500 AM or on your computer.

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