Thursday federal headlines – January 22, 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.

  • Officials are investigating a Navy officer who may be connected to the death of civilian Christopher Tur, who was found dead in Guantanamo Bay waters last week. Tur worked at the Navy Exchange on the base. Capt. John Nettleton was allegedly having an affair with Tur’s wife, who is director of the Navy Fleet and Family Services Center. Nettleton was recently fired from his position as commander of the naval station at Gitmo. (Federal News Radio)
  • Two Navy warships are waiting in the Red Sea off the coast of Yemen, in case the State Department needs to evacuate Americans from the country. Central Command said the amphibious assault ship USS Iwo Jima and the dock landing ship USS Fort McHenry are on station. Pentagon spokesman Army Col. Steve Warren said the two ships have enough firepower to protect a departure. Movement of embassy personnel would be handled by the State Department. The administration has been monitoring the situation in Yemen. A Shiite group of Mouthi militiamen took over the Presidential palace in San’a, Yemen’s capital. (DoD)
  • A former Postal Service employee failed to deliver 1,000 pieces of mail. His excuse: He “just got lazy.” Alex Douma pleaded guilty to misdemeanor mail obstruction. He was sentenced to a year of probation and ordered to pay a $500 fine. The mail Douma failed to deliver included 27 voter ballots and more than 200 items of first-class and standard mail. (Federal News Radio)
  • The Pentagon has no plans to re-evaluate its social media policies after a hack on Central Command’s Twitter and YouTube accounts. Officials asked Defense agencies to change more than 50 passwords after the cyber attack. But the department hasn’t issued any new guidance or best practices. Defense social media accounts follow guidance issued in September 2012. Pentagon officials said the incident on Central Command was merely “cyber vandalism.” It happened on a public website, not DoD networks. (C4ISRnet)
  • The Senate Veterans Affairs Committee unanimously passed a bill to reduce veteran suicides. Former Sen. Tom Coburn (R-Okla.) blocked the bill during the last session of Congress because he didn’t think it would accomplish its goals. The measure requires the Pentagon and Veterans Affairs Department to submit independent reviews of their suicide prevention programs. The agencies would also have to make information on suicide prevention more easily available to veterans. The bill would give monetary incentives to mental health professionals who helped service members transition to veteran status. (Federal News Radio)
  • The Broadcasting Board of Governors swore in its first-ever chief executive officer. The agency picked Andrew Lack after a year-long search for a CEO. BBG said creating a CEO position was a priority of the governing board and Obama administration. One of Lack’s first goals will be to improve employee morale. The agency has been near the bottom of the Best Places to Work list for several years. Lack most recently was chairman of the Bloomberg Media Group. This is his first job in the public sector. (BBG)
  • A series of bills introduced in the House aim to reduce the federal workforce by 10 percent and the Defense Department’s civilian workforce by 15 percent. One bill comes from Rep. Cynthia Lummis (R-Wyo.) It would limit agencies to hiring one person for every three that leave. She said the bill would save $35 billion over five years. The bill calls for a hiring freeze if employment levels don’t drop enough by 2017. From Rep. Ken Calvert (R-Calif.) is a bill to force the Defense Department to shed 120,000 civilian employees. (Federal News Radio )
  • The Supreme Court backed protections for whistleblowers who go public with what they see as agency wrongdoing. In a 7-2 vote, the justices rule in favor of Robert MacLean, a former federal air marshal. In 2003, MacLean told MSNBC about a plan by the Transportation Security Administration to cut back on overnight trips for undercover marshals. MacLean went to the press after supervisors ignored his concerns. He was fired three years later. A federal appeals court sided with MacLean, but the Obama administration appealed. (Federal News Radio)
  • A group favoring limits on campaign spending interrupted Supreme Court proceedings. Police arrested seven people who stood and shouted just after the justices took the bench yesterday. It was the fifth anniversary of the Citizens United ruling, in which the court struck down certain limitations on corporate campaign spending. An eighth person, Ryan Clayton, was arrested for smuggling a camera past Supreme Court security screening. The court beefed up security last year after someone posted a video of court proceedings. The Supreme Court bars cameras and recording devices. (Federal News Radio)
  • The House Homeland Security Committee passed a border security bill on a party-line vote. The full House will likely take it up next week. Democratic opponents said the bill was too prescriptive and would make it harder for border patrol agents to do their jobs. It included details such as how long fence construction should stretch and how many boat ramps the border patrol should build. It called for a series of reports on the effectiveness of border crossing initiatives, sector by sector. The bill ordered Homeland Security to use a variety of fixed and airborne technologies. Sens. John Cornyn (R-Texas) and Jeff Flake (R-Ariz.) introduced a companion Senate bill. (Federal News Radio)

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