In Depth Show Blog – Aug. 6, 2013

Curiosity touched down on Mars one year ago. The mission has been a great success for NASA, but the fun is just starting. Dr. James Green is director of planetary sciences at NASA Headquarters. He tells Federal News Radio’s Lauren Larson how NASA is celebrating this special anniversary.

Related Story: NASA’s Curiosity rover completes first year on Mars

Rumors are going around of a perfectly-run government office in New York. Some people call the State Department’s New York passport office the “most efficient office in the world.”

It takes a certain kind of nerve to be a hurricane hunter. The 403rd Wing of the Air Force Reserve is responsible for hurricane reconnaissance. But even experienced hurricane hunters can’t navigate the threat of sequestration.

Full-time telework is making its debut at the Patent and Trademark Office. Some PTO managers are teleworking full-time while they monitor other teleworking employees and employees working onsite in agency offices, too.

“Knowing your customer” can keep a federal contractor out of an expensive protest battle or at least help a contractor protest the right way.

The Federal Chief Information Officer’s Council is reorganizing to address the government’s technology trends and priorities. The goal is to make it easier to give agency CIOs tools and guidance to meet the administration’s initiatives. Federal News Radio’s Jason Miller is here with details on the council’s new set up and how it matches agency priorities.

The Pentagon is in the early stages of putting together the 2014 Quadrennial Defense Review. The general heading up the effort for the Air Force says it provides his service an opportunity to ask hard questions, and begin to reinvent outdated thinking.