Federal Drive

Wednesday Morning Federal Newscast – April 27th

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...

Federal News Network Staff

April 27, 2011 10:57 am

3 min read

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.

Changes are about to be announced at the top of the CIA and the Pentagon. Administration sources say President Barack Obama plans this week to name CIA Director Leon Panetta to replace Defense Secretary Robert Gates. They say Gen. David Petraeus, now running the war in Afghanistan, would take the CIA chief’s job. The changes would probably take effect this summer. Gates has already said he will leave this year.
The Washington Post reports other high-level appointments could be announced as soon as Thursday. Among other expected appointments:
- President Obama is reportedly very close to naming seasoned diplomat Ryan Crocker as the next U.S. ambassador to Afghanistan. Confirmation would reunite Crocker with Gen. David Petraeus, re-creating the diplomatic and military “dream team” credited with rescuing the lagging American mission in Iraq.
- Marine Lt. Gen. John R. Allen, deputy of the U.S. Central Command, is likely to succeed Petraeus as commander of U.S., NATO and coalition forces in Afghanistan.
The Obama administration has pegged 137 federal data centers for closure by the end of the year. CIO Vivek Kundra tells the Wall Street Journal, the closures will take place at 16 agencies. They’ll occur throughout the country. Kundra and Deputy OMB Director Jeff Zients plan a forum at the White House today to unveil the plan. Long term, the administration wants to close 800 of the government’s more than two thousand data centers.
Virginia Governor Bob McDonnell says the state is running out of time to handle the BRAC-related move of 6,400 Defense Department employees to the Mark Center in Alexandria. The move is supposed to take place September as part of Base Realignment and Closure. McDonnell tells WTOP that the exit ramps from Interstate 395 onto Seminary Road are pretty rough. Improvements will take years to complete. In the meantime, McDonnell says all the expected extra cars will cause gridlock. Locally, Fairfax County’s Board of Supervisors last night announced they have decided not to sue the Defense Department over the move, after finding the county doesn’t have the option under federal law at this stage of the process.
General Electric and Rolls Royce say they will fight the Pentagon’s decision to end a contract for the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter. The contracting pair had been working on a multi-billion dollar alternate engine for the jet fighter. But DOD says that engine program is wasteful, and Congress left out funding in the 2011 budget. Now, GE and Rolls Royce say in a joint statement they will work to get funding restored in the 2012 budget. They say the program preserves competition.
The White House is eyeing associates of law professor Elizabeth Warren to head the new U.S. consumer financial agency, according to Reuters. Warren has long been considered a front-runner to lead the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, but white house staffers worry she is likely to draw tough opposition from republicans. Warren has been an outspoken critic of Wall Street. The Bureau is charged with reining in abuses on issues such as credit card fees and mortgage-lending practices.