Friday federal headlines – February 6, 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.

  • Five female officers completed the latest Army prep course for Ranger School. That means they can move on to Ranger School itself, which starts in April. Army Times reports 26 women started the prep course — 91 men also started, and only 44 passed. The Army said the prep course is designed to weed out early those who probably wouldn’t make it through the full Ranger School. Army officials are hoping 40 women will pass the prep course in time for Ranger School. They’ll be tested on a variety of skills, including land navigation, water survival and a 12-mile road march. The 62-day course has jungle, mountain and swamp phases. (Army Times)
  • The White House named a long-time industry technologist as the next federal chief information officer. Tony Scott is the CIO and senior vice president of software vendor VMWare. Before joining the company in 2013, Scott had two CIO posts, first at the Walt Disney Company and then at Microsoft. Before that he was chief technology officer at General Motors. Scott succeeds Steve VanRoekel, also a former Microsoft executive. VanRoekel moved from the White House to the U.S. Agency for International Development in September. (Federal News Radio)
  • For the third day in a row, Senate Democrats blocked a Republican bid to fund the Homeland Security Department. It’s operating under a continuing resolution that expires at the end of the month. The bill contains language barring the administration from continuing with President Barack Obama’s orders on dealing with illegal immigrants. A vote to end debate and move on the bill itself was eight short of the required 60. Democrats want a bill without that amendment. Republicans said that wouldn’t pass the House. Sen. Mazie Hirono (D-Hawaii) said the series of similar votes feels like “Groundhog Day.” (Federal News Radio)
  • President Barack Obama said national security threats from violent extremism to Russian aggression will take years to resolve. That’s according to the latest National Security Strategy the White House will release today. Bloomberg reports the 33-page document shows the United States is shifting its focus, now that the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan are over or winding down. Now, the strategy said, the country must combat extremism, terrorism, cyber attacks, Russian aggression and infectious disease outbreaks. National Security Adviser Susan Rice talked about the updated approach this morning at the Brookings Institution. (Bloomberg Government)
  • A new cloud computing provider has gotten the go-ahead to sell its services to the federal government. Software vendor VMware said it now has approval under the Federal Risk and Authorization Management Program, or FedRAMP. The company partners with cloud infrastructure provider Carpathia. VMWare said the resulting cloud offering operates like a federal data center using VMWare to virtualize its services. It said that makes it easier for agencies to move computing loads between government-owned data centers and the VMWare-Carpathia cloud. (VMWare)
  • The Justice Department inspector general found that an International Criminal Police Organization executive broke ethics rules in seeking positions for his son, and others connected to his family. The IG’s report stated Warren Lewis exploited his position as Interpol Washington’s Executive Officer. The IG found Lewis arranged for his son to be given an internship and later a contract position, violating the Standards of Ethical Conduct for Employees of the Executive Branch. The report also criticized the actions of other Interpol Washington managers for their involvement in obtaining internships for people they knew. (Justice Department)
  • The Government Publishing Office trimmed its workforce by 5 percent through employee buyouts ‐ 103 employees took the buyout during the first quarter of fiscal year 2014. The last time GPO offered buyouts was in 2011, leading to a savings of around $24 million. The agency said it expects this current buyout will save around $7 million for the remainder of the fiscal year. GPO said it has reduced its workforce by 74 percent since 1980 through the use of new technologies. (Federal News Radio )

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