Monday federal headlines – January 12, 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 Homeland Security Department is spending $700 million a year on governmentwide cyber programs. But Former Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Ranking Member Tom Coburn (R-Okla.) said DHS’ programs weren’t doing enough. He released a review of the department’s performance before he left Congress. (Next Gov)
• Veterans Affairs Secretary Bob McDonald is encouraging student veterans to join the agency. The Washington Post reports the effort is part of an initiative called “My VA.” McDonald spoke to 1,200 attendees at the Student Veterans of America conference in San Antonio. He even gave out his email. The department is trying to improve customer service as it recovers from a scandal over patient wait times and falsified records. McDonald has promised to hire 28,000 medical staff to fix the problem. (The Washington Post)
• Attorney General Eric Holder said his successor may end up deciding whether to prosecute former CIA Director David Petraeus. Either way, Holder told CBS’ Face the Nation, the decision will take place at the highest levels of the department. Petraeus, a retired Army four-star general, admitted having an affair with his biographer, Pamela Broadwell, when he resigned in 2012. Justice Department attorneys believe he may have shown her classified information. At least two senators, Sen. Diane Feinstein (D-Calif.) and Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) said Justice should drop the matter. Holder’s successor, Loretta Lynch, is awaiting Senate confirmation. (Federal News Radio)
• President Barack Obama will spend some time focusing on cybersecurity this week. He’ll go to the Federal Trade Commission today to talk about plans to prevent identity theft and protect student privacy. Tuesday, he’ll meet with congressional leaders. Then Obama will head to the National Cybersecurity and Communications Integration Center at the Homeland Security Department. He’ll discuss how to boost cyber information sharing between the federal government and the private sector. Obama said he’s previewing some of the points he plans to make at the State of the Union speech next week. Vice President Joe Biden is also pitching in. He will travel to Norfolk, Virginia, on Thursday. The White House said he’ll announce new funding to help train people to work in the cybersecurity industry. (Federal News Radio)
• The federal government, not counting the Postal Service, employed 19,000 fewer people at the end of 2014 than it did a year earlier. Numbers from the Bureau of Labor Statistics show non-postal federal employment in December at 2,122,000. Postal employment rose in 2014 by about 1,800. It now stands at 597,000. Overall government employment grew slightly because of hiring at the state and local levels. (BLS)
• The new chairman of the House Oversight committee wants agencies to be able to fire feds who don’t pay their taxes. Rep. Jason Chaffetz (R-Utah) said 100,000 feds don’t pay their federal taxes each year. That amounts to about $1 billion in taxes per year that the government doesn’t collect from federal employees. The IRS is already able to fire tax-delinquent employees. But Chaffetz wants all agencies to have that authority. He’s also been pushing for legislation that would prevent agencies from hiring people who owe federal taxes. (Federal Times )
• Army Gen. Martin Dempsey said sequestration cuts under the Budget Control Act would require the military to change its strategy. The Army is drawing down to 450,000 soldiers. But Dempsey said a Pentagon analysis shows that number would have to be 420,000 under sequestration cuts. Dempsey said that number would hurt the military’s ability to maintain global presence and stability. He said investing in human capital will be important in the next few years. The general said the U.S. is still the most powerful nation in the world and will likely stay that way. (DoD)
• The Islamic State group will collapse when its subjects reject its ideology. That’s according to Gen. Martin Dempsey, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. On Fox News Sunday, Dempsey said U.S. air strikes have destroyed some of the Islamic State equipment and blunted its territorial gains. But he said eventually the terror army will collapse under its own contradictions. Dempsey said interrupting the Islamic State’s financing and countering its messaging may ultimately be more important to taking it down than military action. He adds, the Islamic State’s fate is inevitable because the people won’t accept it. (DoD)
• The Pentagon is setting up an agency to direct search efforts for service members who are missing or dead. The move comes two years after a report found the program was mismanaged and wasteful. The Defense Department will merge the Joint POW- MIA accounting command in Hawaii and the Defense POW-MIA Office at the Pentagon. Officials said the new office would be more streamlined and effective. It’s expected to be running early next year and will be based in Washington. (Federal News Radio)
• Federal offices in the Washington area were open this morning. But there was a two-hour delayed arrival because of the threat of freezing rain. The Office of Personnel Management said employees also had the option to take unscheduled leave or unscheduled telework. The weather advisory is in effect until 9 a.m. (OPM)

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