Tuesday federal headlines – January 6, 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.

• Two senior IT officials are leaving the Executive Office of the President. White House Chief Information Officer Karen Britton will be the new chief operating officer for e-Management in the private sector. Deputy CIO Alissa Johnson is also leaving the EOP. Sources told Federal News Radio EOP Director of Operations and Engineering Michael Hornsby will be the acting CIO until the office finds a replacement. (Federal News Radio)
• The retirement claims backlog at the Office of Personnel Management is at its lowest level all year. OPM processed a little more than 6,400 claims last month. That leaves 11,669 in its inventory. OPM received a little more than 4,000 new claims last month, which was about 1,600 fewer than it expected. (Federal News Radio)
• The Defense Department Inspector General says it’s taking another look at the Pentagon’s cloud computing strategy. This time, it wants to know whether DoD did a cost benefit analysis before it acquired cloud services. The IG questioned how the Pentagon executed its cloud strategy last month. (Nextgov)
• The CIA said its inspector general will resign at the end of the month. David Buckley is leaving after more than four years for a job in the private sector. Buckley recently investigated a dispute between the CIA and Congress over the agency’s torture methods. But officials said his resignation was not related to politics or the investigation. Civil liberties advocates said the timing of Buckley’s departure was unfortunate. Project on Government Oversight Director Danielle Brian said Buckley’s exit soon after the investigation was “troublesome.” (Reuters)
• Federal agencies in the Washington, D.C. area are open today, but employees have the option for unscheduled leave or unscheduled telework. A winter weather advisory is in effect for the region, with 1 to 2 inches of snow possible. The Office of Personnel Management made the announcement early this morning. ( Federal News Radio)
• The Postal Service Inspector General says flexible workplace policies could benefit the agency. In a new report, the IG said flexibility is important today, the workforce is more diverse and employees use ever-changing technology. The IG report said flexibility can breed trust between employees and managers. It also said flexibility increases employee commitment, engagement and productivity. The IG recommends the Postal Service do pilot tests of some best practices. So- called flexibility teams would test practices that could improve efficiency and reduce redundancy, which can burn out employees. The IG also recommended the Postal Service receive continuous feedback from employees. (USPS OIG)
• Hackers who breached Postal Service systems may have taken medical records of nearly half a million people. Postal officials said current and former employees who filed injury compensation claims as far back as 1980 may be affected. The hack took place in September. The Postal Service notified people last month. USPS has arranged for all of the victims to receive a year of free credit monitoring. Spokesman Dave Partenheimer said the Postal Service isn’t aware of any ID thefts or other malicious use of the compromised data. The FBI is leading the investigation into the attack. (Federal News Radio )
• The Postal Service has delayed part of its plan for closing 82 mail processing centers this year. The closures are supposed to start this month. But for at least 10 of the facilities, that date has been pushed to April. GovExec reports a spokesman said the Postal Service wants to wait until after potential bad weather passes. Members of Congress have objected to the closure plan. A majority of Senators and 160 House members signed a letter to Postmaster General Patrick Donohoe, asking him to delay the closures for one year. Shutdown of facilities the Postal Service deemed unnecessary started in 2012. So far Postal has closed 141 plants. ( GovExec )
• The Obama Administration said its new round of sanctions against North Korea is just the beginning. Officials told the AP the new rules freeze assets in the U.S. owned by 10 individuals working for the North Korean government or closely tied to it. Three North Korean defense organizations are also under sanction. Observers say there might be little else the U.S. can do. Many sanctions are in place already because of North Korea’s nuclear missile program. North Korean officials reacted angrily to the sanctions, imposed in response to hacking that hit Sony Pictures. (Federal News Radio)
• The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the Homeland Security Department end enhanced airport screening for travelers from Mali. The country was on the list of Ebola-affected nations and travelers had to go through enhanced visa and entry screening. Visitors from Mali were only allowed to enter through one of five airports designated to screen for Ebola. Starting today, travelers from Mali can enter at any airport. But they’ll still have to monitor and report their symptoms for 21 days. (DHS )
• The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration is boosting its supercomputers to improve weather forecasting. The update is part of a $45 million deal with IBM. Of that money, $25 million comes from disaster relief funds after Hurricane Sandy. Subcontractor Cray Incorporated will build the servers for NOAA. The agency said the computers will provide more timely, accurate, reliable and detailed forecasts. With the upgrades, the supercomputers will increase their capacity by tenfold. They’re expected to come online in October. (NOAA)
• The General Services Administration opened the doors to its newest governmentwide office supplies contract. OS3 is part of the GSA’s strategic sourcing initiative to consolidate purchases of common items. GSA said $9 of every $10 agencies spend using OS3 will go to small business. It said lower prices will save the government $90 million a year. GSA made the awards last year, but the contract was held up by protests. Last month, the Government Accountability Office denied all of the objections. (GSA)

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