Federal Drive Show Blog – June 12, 2013

On the Federal Drive show blog, you can listen to our interviews, find more information about the guests on the show each day, as well as links to other stories...

This is the Federal Drive show blog. Here you can listen to the interviews, find more information about the guests on the show each day and links to additional resources.

Today’s guests:

Mark Johnston
deputy assistant secretary for special needs
Housing and Urban Development Department

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No homeless veterans by 2015, that’s the pledge from the departments of Housing and Urban Development and Veterans Affairs. They’re in the process of handing out vouchers to help 9,000 more vets find permanent homes. But with nearly seven times that number living on the streets or in shelters, agency leaders say they might not make their goal.

Jim Dinegar
president and CEO
Greater Washington Board of Trade

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Federal cybersecurity is a train on the move. Many contractors are hoping it’s a gravy train. That’s why a group of economic development and business organizations in Washington and Baltimore are getting together. They’ve created a joint task force to help establish the D.C. to Fort Meade, Md., corridor as the worldwide center for cyber industry development. After all, Maryland is home to the U.S. Cyber Command.

Carlos Munoz
staff writer
The Hill newspaper

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Gen. Keith Alexander, the head of the National Security Agency, heads to Capitol Hill today to answer senators’ questions about the sweeping surveillance programs revealed by a whistleblower last week. Given the public uproar over the program, you’d think lawmakers would hit hard at the embattled agency. But reaction on Capitol Hill thus far has been mixed, with some defending the spy program and others claiming they were blindsided.

Evan Lesser
co-founder and managing director
Clearnancejobs.com

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Just one day after Edward Snowden identified himself as the NSA whistleblower, managers with the Intelligence Community were already questioning how he got hired in the first place. These same managers may also be taking a closer look at their relationships with contractors who provide cleared professionals.

From our reporters:

Congress wants to fulfill the intent and spirit of the Clinger-Cohen Act. After all, it passed 17 years ago. Clinger-Cohen created agency chief information officers and gave them responsibility to oversee IT efforts. House and Senate lawmakers are now seeking to strengthen the authority of CIOs so they can take more control over federal IT spending once and for all. Federal News Radio’s Jason Miller provides details on where each chamber of Congress is heading to update the role of the CIO.

Senior Pentagon officials told the Senate that if they’re worried civilians are suffering more than contractors under sequestration, they shouldn’t be. As Federal News Radio’s Jared Serbu reports, the Defense Department says the entire non-uniformed workforce will share the pain.

MORE FROM THE FEDERAL DRIVE

Bill aims to slash Medicare waste and fraud (Federal News Radio)

ACLU sues over NSA phone records program (Federal News Radio)

State Dept. eyes probe process after complaints (Federal News Radio)

Lawmakers concerned over US surveillance programs (Federal News Radio)

For lawmakers, it’s no picnic at the White House (Federal News Radio)

Tester fights to keep fire fighters on the job (Sen. Jon Tester)

Statement of Administration Policy: H.R. 1960 – National Defense Authorization Act for FY 2014 (White House)

Notice to contractors cleared under the National Industrial Security Program on inadvertant exposure to potentially classified information in the public domain (DoD)

Facebook, Twitter support Google’s call for transparency in surveillance requests (Computerworld)

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