Friday federal headlines – January 16, 2015

The Federal Headlines is a daily compilation of the stories you hear discussed on Federal News Radio each day. It is designed to give FederalNewsRadio.com reade...

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.

  • Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services Administrator Marilyn Tavenner is leaving at the end of February. She’s been administrator for the past five years. Health and Human Services Secretary Sylvia Matthews Burwell congratulated Tavenner for implementing changes under the Affordable Care Act. CMS Principal Deputy Administrator Andy Slavitt will be the acting administrator. (Federal News Radio)
  • President Barack Obama is hosting British Prime Minister David Cameron at the White House today to talk about cybersecurity. Bloomberg reports it’s the latest event in a month-long anti-hacking effort Obama has launched. Cameron will ask for U.S. help in cracking secret terrorist communications that use social media. He wants intelligence services to be able to access encrypted services such as SnapChat. Obama has been pushing for more cyber threat information sharing among companies and with the government. Banks in New York and London will participate in cyber warfare games run by the U.K. and U.S. federal government later this year. (BGov)
  • The Army has opened up its Ranger School to women for the first time. The school is known as one of the military’s most physically demanding courses. Sixty women will enroll in the two-month course, which begins in late April. The first 20 days of the course focus on military skills and the endurance. The next phase includes small-unit operations and survival techniques. And the last part is the “swamp phase,” which includes airborne assault and extreme stress. Women who complete the course will be able to wear a Ranger tab, but they won’t become members of the Ranger regiment. That job is only open to men. (Federal News Radio)
  • The State Department might get rid of its domestic partner benefits for unmarried gay employees. The program provides paid travel to overseas posts, visas and passports and emergency travel to visit ill or injured partners. But a Supreme Court ruling in 2013 struck down part of the Defense of Marriage Act. Now the government has to give equal benefits for all legally married couples. The Washington Blade reports State is trying to figure out if the program still makes sense. It provides benefits to unmarried gay couples, but not to unmarried heterosexual couples. The American Foreign Service Association asked State to extend the benefits to unwed heterosexual couples, instead of getting rid of the program. (Washington Blade)
  • A contractor at the center of a Navy bribery scandal pleaded guilty. Prosecutors said Leonard Glenn Francis, also known as Fat Leonard, overbilled the military by $20 million. He was the chief executive of Glenn Defense Marine Asia, the company providing services to the Navy. His guilty plea comes just hours after a Navy commander admitted to sharing classified information with Francis. In exchange, Francis paid for the commander’s fancy hotel rooms and prostitutes. Francis’ sentencing is scheduled for April. (Justice Department )
  • A committee of scientific experts said there’s no viable alternative to bulk data collection as done by the National Security Agency. The Office of the Director of National Intelligence commissioned the study by the National Research Council, following 2013 revelations from former NSA contractor Edward Snowden. Study chairman was Robert Sproull, an engineer and former Oracle executive. He said curtailing bulk collection would deprive intelligence analysts of some information. He said NSA could use more targeted collection with automated controls to protect privacy. The report stopped short of saying whether bulk collection should continue. (Federal News Radio)
  • General Services Administration chief Dan Tangherlini said he’s leaving government next month. He joined GSA three years ago after the resignation of Martha Johnson. Her departure was prompted by the Western Regions Conference spending scandal. Tangherlini is widely credited with reorganizing GSA and changing its culture. He centralized what had been scattered management functions such as human resources and technology. And he was popular on Capitol Hill. Deputy Administrator Denise Turner Roth will become acting administrator. (Federal News Radio)
  • The Air Force is taking several steps, including a pay boost, to fill in a shortfall of unmanned aircraft pilots. Secretary Deborah Lee James said she’ll call more National Guard and Reserve pilots into active duty. She’ll more than double the monthly pay inventive for some drone operators from $600 to $1,500. She’ll seek authority to give big retention bonuses to drone pilots, something the Air Force already does for conventional pilots. The Air Force has 988 active duty pilots for Predator and Reaper planes. James said it needs more than 1,200. (Federal News Radio)
  • A NASA spacecraft is entering the first stages of its mission to reach Pluto. The New Horizons spacecraft is scheduled to encounter Pluto and its moons this summer. It will fly around the dwarf planet and take lots of close-up images. The spacecraft will also gather information about the environment surrounding Pluto. New Horizons took off nine years ago and has traveled more than 3 billion miles. This is the longest distance any spacecraft has flown from Earth. (NASA)

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