Jared Serbu Reports 
Top News
- OMB reworking financial systems to focus on outcomes, not inputs
- OMB taps VanRoekel to lead management team
- Lew taps government retiree pension fund to avoid default
- PHOTOS: Meet the 2013 Service to America Medal Finalists
- Hagel: Accountability breakdown was leading factor in sexual assaults
- Former IRS commissioner faces questions about Tea Party
- SBA starting new lending program for veterans
- New Apple devices cleared to join DoD IT networks
- Army prioritizes access to data in fight over intelligence IT system
- DoD upends slow approval process for mobile devices
- Senior execs' bonuses under fire at agencies
- Gould moves the needle on many of VA's toughest challenges
- Tuesday federal headlines - May 21, 2013
Jared Serbu covers the Department of Defense for Federal News Radio. Jared's reports can be heard Monday - Friday on the Federal Drive and In Depth.
Army asserts progress on acquisition reforms
An Army-commissioned study finds that since 1996, the service has spent more than a billion dollars per year on defense systems that wound up being cancelled. Army leaders say they recognize the problem, and have already begun moving aggressively toward reform.
Data center consolidation ahead of schedule
Agencies have stepped up the pace of their data center consolidation efforts, leading to predicted data center closures numbering well above what the Office of Management and Budget predicted earlier this year.
DoE to give DoD a leg up in using alternative energy
The Defense and Energy departments are starting two new joint research and demonstration projects intended to help DoD become less reliant on petroleum.
Reporters' Roundup: Debt limit impact on feds and DoD's clean energy push
Reporters' Roundup.
DoD savings won't target industry profits
Even though a short era of ever-increasing military budgets has come to a close, Pentagon leaders said Monday their quest to find savings in defense spending is not aimed at reducing the profitability of contractors.
Reporters' Roundup: DoD bottom line will look very different
These are the stories Federal News Radio reporters are working on today.
DoD presses ahead on secure smartphones
Android devices are next up in DoD's effort to get off-the-shelf smartphones up to snuff with the Pentagon's security needs. Also, the Army looks for a better way to do two-factor authentication on mobile devices.
DoD cyber strategy aims at deterrence
The Defense Department will focus its energies on trying to make its IT systems so hard to penetrate that adversaries won't bother trying. The Pentagon barely mentions offensive capabilities in its new cyber strategy.
DHS develops new tools against common cyber threats
DHS, private research groups launch new tools to help agencies and industry close cybersecurity holes. DHS officials liken a rating system to the Energy Star labels that indicate how efficient appliances are.
Congress hears criticisms of WH cyber proposal
Congress heard criticisms of the White House's cybersecurity proposal Friday, including claims that it provides incentives that could make the nation's critical infrastructure less secure.
Reporters' roundup: Pentagon soldiers to shed camouflage
Soldiers working at the Pentagon will trade their combat camouflage for business-like uniforms.
NOAA takes 25,000 employees to cloud email
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration says it will cut its IT costs for email and collaboration services in half, by moving all its employees to the cloud. The science agency has just issued a three year contract to handle email, calendar, collaboration and mobile device synchronization. NOAA says it's the largest federal agency to move to a cloud solution so far. They expect to migrate 25,000 mailboxes to the new service by the end of this year.
Air Force uses telework to retain workforce
One part of the Air Force overcame the challenges surrounding a relocation from Washington to Fort Meade, Maryland, by pursing an aggressive telework system. The Air Force central adjudication facility, which processes security clearances, equipped and trained all 155 of its employees to telework. The agency credits the remote collaboration tools it created for letting it hold on to 92 percent of its workforce, in spite of the move to Maryland. They say they also increased productivity by 55 percent in just one year.
USDA pushes rural smart grid
The Agriculture Department's Rural Utilities Service is issuing 250-million dollars in low-interest loans to help smaller, rural electric providers add technology to their local power grids. USDA says the loans to implement smart grid technology will help bring innovative features like customized, real time electric usage monitoring to homes and businesses throughout America through smart electric meters. And technological improvements to the grid itself will decrease the number of blackouts.
Reporters' Roundup: Commerce IT, pay bump coming?
Stories our reporters are covering on June 17, 2011.
23 Redskins players complete players-run practice
Twenty-three Washington Redskins players finished their third set of players-run practices Thursday morning with the hopes that the 14-week-old NFL lockout will be over before they have to think about working out again without their coaches.
DoD to treat energy as a critical military capability
The Defense Department says it's committed to changing both the way it uses energy and the kinds of energy the military uses.
White House launches 4-pillar smart grid plan
The Obama administration released its policy framework for modernizing the nation's electric grid Monday. As has been the case in national strategies on other topics the White House has released recently, the administration wants the federal government to emphasize its role as a facilitator and standards author rather than a regulator.
Navy begins routine cybersecurity inspections
The Navy is preparing to launch a new program of inspections to gauge its commands' cybersecurity measures.
