Thursday federal headlines – October 30, 2014

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.

• More federal civilian employees die on the job in 2013 than in the past decade. The Bureau of Labor Statistics said there were 124 deaths in 2012, which is up 19 percent from the previous year. Workplace deaths have been mostly down for the past three years. (Bureau of Labor Statistics)
• Crews are searching for scorched wreckage along the Virginia coast. They’re looking for clues to Tuesday night’s failure of a rocket bound for the International Space Station. The rocket was operated by Orbital Sciences. Chairman David Thompson predicts the cause of the failure will be known in days, not weeks. Outside experts suspect the 1960s era Soviet engines. Thompson said the next space station mission, scheduled for April, might be delayed three months. A payload launched in Russia the same day docked successfully with the space station. Orbital’s stock fell 17 percent Wednesday. Company officials said their Wallops Island launch pad was spared major damage. They also said they believe the rocket and its cargo are covered by insurance. (Federal News Radio)
• Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel ordered a 21-day quarantine period for all military service members returning from the West Africa Ebola mission. He expanded on a quarantine issued by the Army chief of staff for soldiers. The military policy is stricter than what the White House is calling for civilian health care workers. President Barack Obama met with his Ebola team at the White House. Coordinator and “Ebola czar” Ron Klain made his first visit to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention today. He’ll meet with director Tom Frieden in Atlanta. A nurse in Maine is battling state officials over whether she should be housebound for three weeks after returning from West Africa. (Federal News Radio)
• The Army is taking a technological approach to fighting the Ebola virus. It’s boosting email, video and satellite systems in West Africa. It’s also upgrading modems to support more medical information and other data. The Defense Information Systems Agency has turned on a node of the Blue Force Tracking System over the region. NextGov reports, the system sends feeds via satellite and helps pinpoint location. Army soldiers deployed in West Africa will use the system for communicating. Non-government organizations, like Doctors without Borders, will also have access to the systems. (NextGov )
• A leader in digital government is leaving his post tomorrow. Charley Barth, director of the Office of the Federal Register, is taking a job in the private sector. GovExec reports he’ll be joining Cummins, based in Indianapolis. Barth joined the government in 2012. He worked with both the Government Printing Office and the EPA to digitize and put online documents and rulemaking processes. The Federal Register website won the Bright Idea award from Harvard University. Amy Bunk, the director of the office’s legal and policy shop, will act in Barth’s place until a permanent successor is named. (Government Executive)
• The Air Force said its bombing campaign against Islamic State militants is putting a strain on its maintenance workforce. Officials said it could cause a two- year delay in deployment of the new F-35 fighter jet. The Wall Street Journal reports the Air Force is diverting maintainers from training on the F-35 to help keep older F-15s and F-16s flying in the Middle East. The mission tempo has also delayed the transfer of a squadron of F-15s to the Air National Guard. Work on the A-10 Warhog also occupies maintainers. The Pentagon wants to retire the plane, but Congress has kept it alive. (Wall Street Journal )
• The Homeland Security Department is edging a step closer to moving its headquarters to St. Elizabeths campus. The General Services Administration and District of Columbia agreed to swap underutilized federal property for construction services. The D.C. government will take ownership of the GSA property and build sidewalks and crosswalks near St. Elizabeths. Rep. Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-D.C.) said the project will move DHS closer to its goal of consolidating its headquarters. She had criticized GSA for leaving the large property vacant. The White House requested $323 million next year to support consolidation. (Del. Eleanor Holmes Norton)
• Federal employees are in a good shape for retirement, says the head of investment firm BlackRock. The firm manages retirement savings in the Thrift Savings Plan’s C, S, I and F funds. CEO Larry Fink said feds don’t face the same retirement challenges as private sector employees. He called FERS, CSRS and military retirement systems “fairly good.” All TSP funds, except the I Fund, have returned in the black so far this year. The C fund is up more than 8 percent. (Federal News Radio)
• Government spending on technology is likely to increase, despite budgets shrinking overall. The TechAmerica Foundation predicts federal IT spending will grow by nearly 3 percent over five years. That brings IT spending to more than $90 billion in fiscal 2016. TechAmerica forecasts, defense IT spending will grow by about 2 percent, while civilian IT spending could grow by more than 3.5 percent. TechAmerica Chairman Phil Bond said agencies “realize the promise of government technology.” Health and Human Services and Treasury will likely have the fastest growing IT budgets. HHS could see its IT spending increase by nearly 6 percent. (TechAmerica Foundation)
• The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency has won a spot in the Guinness Book of World Records. The agency’s Terahertz Monolithic Integrated Circuit is the fastest circuit of its kind ever measured. It operates at a trillion cycles per second. That’s 150 billion cycles faster than the record set in 2012. Northrop Grumman developed the circuit for DARPA’s Terahertz Electronics program. DARPA officials said the circuit opens up new possibilities for research and application. It enables technologies that function at very high frequencies. (DARPA)

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