In Depth Show Blog – June 17, 2013

Dov Zakheim, senior adviser at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, joins In Depth for a deep-dive look into how sequestration is affecting the defense budget. Zakheim wrote about this in an article in The American Interest, called “Sequestered: The Strategic Implications of a Freefalling U.S. Defense Budget”

Cybersecurity is not just about protecting computers. As weapons systems get more complex, they’re more vulnerable to cyber compromise. The Littoral Combat Ship hack is one example of that. Cyber expert Richard Stiennon, the founder and president of IT Harvest, joins In Depth to discuss the evolving nature of cybersecurity.

Hurricane season puts people on edge every year — unless you’re a storm chaser. But that edge gets softer every year thanks to one of your federal colleagues. Mark DeMaria is a supervisory meteorologist at NOAA’s Center for Satellite Applications and Research in Fort Collins, Colorado and a finalist for a 2013 Service to America Medal in the category in career achievement.

PHOTOS: Meet the 2013 Service to America Medal Finalists

Mandatory strategic sourcing causes heartburn in industry. Congress now is asking the Office of Federal Procurement Policy to at least consider backing off making strategic sourcing mandatory. The House Small Business Committee looked at making agencies use strategic sourcing last week. Rob Burton, a partner at the Venable law firm, was a witness at the hearing. He joins In Depth to recap his testimony.

Lawmakers, industry press OFPP not to make strategic sourcing mandatory (related story)

$4 billion is the total savings the Office of Management and Budget says the government has saved through TechStat reviews. But the reported savings are hard to track, according to a recent report from the Office of Government Accountability. David Powner, director of IT management issues at GAO, joins In Depth with more.

GAO: Agencies should expand TechStat reviews to all high-risk projects (related story)

The Enhanced Cybersecurity Services initiative is supposed to expand the number of companies that receive classified or top secret information on threats from the government. A lot of companies are interested, but not many have decided to make the investment. Federal News Radio’s executive editor Jason Miller joins In Depth to discuss the ECS and other programs attempting to improve cybersecurity information sharing.

DHS finds classified cyber sharing program slow to take off (related story)