Tuesday Afternoon Newsstand

It still has to be approved, but some feds working in DC might soon be getting more elbow room. The General Services Administration has requested 11 new leases,...

It still has to be approved, but some feds working in DC might soon be getting more elbow room. The General Services Administration has requested 11 new leases, and seven of them are for space in the Washington Area. The Washington Business Journal reports that all 11 leases will cost about $1.6 billion. For the D.C. area alone, the costs run to about $395 million. SBA, Agriculture and the IRS are all on the list to get more space in DC. The Defense Department and FEMA are slated to get more space in Northern Virginia. NIH’s National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases would get more space in Maryland. D.C. Congressional Delegate Eleanor Holmes Norton has been critical of GSA for leasing space, rather than buying. She has asked for a review of all the agencies’ leases.

Just as most of the federal government is figuring out how to use social networking, the Marine Corps is calling “halt.” Marines are now banned from going onto Facebook, Twitter and other social network sites, citing a possible security risk. The ban is effective immediately on the Marine Corps computer network. The Associated Press has learned that the move is part of a larger Pentagon review. Deputy Defense Secretary William Lynn last week ordered a review of both the threats and benefits of using social networking – and asked it be done by the end of this month.

A former high-ranking NASA official from Maryland is on trial in Washington. Courtney Stadd is accused of steering nearly $10 million to a consulting client and lying about it. The agency’s former chief of staff and White House liaison says he was only carrying out the orders of NASA Administrator Michael Griffin when he insisted that $12 million dollars for earth science research be spent in Mississippi. Prosecutors say Stadd was lining his own pockets by trying to get the money to his client, Mississippi State University, which ended up with $9.6 million. Stadd faces up to 15 years in prison. (From the AP)

North Korea’s official state media say leader Kim Jong Il has met with former President Bill Clinton. The Korean Central News Agency reports that Clinton and Kim met in Pyongyang, and that the two shared a “wide-ranging exchange of views” during their talk. Clinton landed in the North Korean capital earlier in the day on a mission to secure the release of jailed American journalists Laura Ling and Euna Lee.

NASA awarded Qwest a $14 million contract to upgrade its wide area network. The space agency used the General Services Administration’s Networx telecommunications vehicle to award the nearly eight-year contract. Qwest will increase the speed of NASA WAN to 10 gigabyte per second from 2.5 gigabyte second, says Qwest spokesman Tom McMahon. FederalNewsRadio’s Jason Miller has more.

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