Monday - Friday, 6-10 a.m.

Hosts Tom Temin and Emily Kopp bring you the latest news affecting the federal community each weekday morning. Be up-to-date before you step in the office.

Federal Drive Interviews -- Feb. 25, 2013

Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) is concerned new regulations may make whistleblowers even more reluctant to report tax fraud to the IRS. OMB Controller Danny Werfel says $85 billion in cuts under sequestration would hurt every state. Maj. Gen. Brett Williams says the U.S. Cyber Command is trying to figure how to normalize operations alongside air, land and sea capabilities. Lynn Singleton, director of environmental services at Lockheed Martin, talks about helping agencies move their email to the cloud. Dr. Milton Corn explains why The National Library of Medicine is monitoring social media.

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Monday morning federal headlines - Feb. 25, 2013

The Morning Federal Newscast is a daily compilation of the stories you hear Federal Drive hosts Tom Temin and Emily Kopp discuss throughout the show each day. The Newscast is designed to give FederalNewsRadio.com users more information about the stories you hear on the air. In today's news, the Merit Systems Protection Board is preparing for an onslaught of furlough appeals if sequestration goes into effect.

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OMB, agencies still crunching sequestration-related furlough numbers for non-DoD civilians

The White House released its estimate on the impact of cuts from sequestration would have on each state and the District of Columbia. OMB's Danny Werfel said they still are obtaining clarity on the impact $85 billion in cuts would have on each agency.

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White House seeks to shed the risk-averse cyber information sharing culture

President Obama's recent executive order directing that cyber threat information be shared more broadly with the private sector risks making the data less useful to the intelligence agencies that gather and process it. But the risk is worth the potential reward.

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Gov't downsizes amid GOP demands for more cuts

Government payrolls, non-benefit programs shrinking amid GOP demands for even more cuts

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F-35 fleet grounded after engine crack found

The Pentagon on Friday grounded its fleet of F-35 fighter jets after discovering a cracked engine blade in one plane.

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Inside the Reporter's Notebook: OPM personnel changes, Tangherlini gets more than 210 days

News and buzz in the acquisition and IT communities that you may have missed this week.

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Army fears sequestration's indirect effects on service members

Katherine Hammack, the assistant secretary of the Army for Installations, Energy and the Environment, said many of the cost-cutting measures the Army will be forced to take because of sequestration, such as letting service and maintenance contracts expire, could have a trickle-down effect on service members.

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Boehner says US veterans' claims system is broken

House speaker says system for veterans' disability claims is broken, cites 'shameful' failures

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NASA regains space station contact after outage

Space station crew can speak to Mission Control Houston after accidental communication loss

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Obama administration: Cuts to cause flight delays

Obama administration: Spending cuts will cause flight delays

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SBA head: Agency will avoid major blow from cuts

SBA head Mills says agency operations unlikely to be drastically hurt by automatic budget cuts

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Hagel has enough support for defense secretary

GOP senator's backing gives Hagel enough support to be Pentagon chief

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GSA cancels 2013 Expo conference

Budget uncertainty at the General Services Administration, other agencies and among vendors is the main cause behind the decision to call off the annual training conference, GSA officials said.

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Report: Flaws in EPA drilling pollution data

Report: Unreliable data could hinder EPA efforts to control pollution from natural gas boom

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Federal Drive Interviews -- Feb. 22, 2013

Federal Drive Host Tom Temin broadcasted live from the AFCEA DC cybersecurity conference on Friday. He spoke with AFCEA DC President Brian Roach. Also this week the Pentagon has detailed its plans to furlough 800,000 employees unless Congress stops budget cuts. Registered Employee Benefits Consultant Ed Zurndorfer joins us with some tips on navigating sequestration.

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Friday morning federal headlines - Feb. 22, 2013

The Morning Federal Newscast is a daily compilation of the stories you hear Federal Drive hosts Tom Temin and Emily Kopp discuss throughout the show each day. The Newscast is designed to give FederalNewsRadio.com users more information about the stories you hear on the air. In today's news, the IRS is claiming success in a nationwide crackdown on suspected identity thieves and GSA wants to bolster security outside the the Commerce Department's headquarters.

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In Army, sequestration will force about-face on acquisition reforms

Army says its implementation of DoD's Better Buying Power directives saved hundreds of millions of dollars last year, but this year's budget chaos will undo much of the progress.

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OMB to test agency readiness to move to financial shared services

Danny Werfel, the OMB controller, will issue a new policy in the coming weeks that will mandate agencies simplify their requirements before upgrading their general ledger systems. The policy also will require agencies to strongly consider one of the four federal shared service providers. OMB said it has learned lessons from the previous attempts to move agencies into these common financial management infrastructures.

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Sequester Q&A: For US, a new season of uncertainty

Here comes the sequester: big federal spending cuts and a new season of economic uncertainty for a nation still trying to shake off a recession.

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