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.

Fire breaks out at State Dept., 3 seriously hurt

Three maintenance workers were seriously injured Saturday, when a fire broke out in the seventh floor duct work of the State Department's headquarters in Washington. A spokeswoman said one victim suffered life-threatening injuries, while two others received non-life threatening injuries.

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Tips for following the 'fiscal cliff' negotiations

President Barack Obama and leaders of the lame-duck Congress may be just weeks away from shaking hands on a deal to avert the dreaded "fiscal cliff." So it's natural to wonder: If they announce a bipartisan package promising to curb mushrooming federal deficits, will it be real?

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OPM survey: Wide differences in agencies' human-capital efforts

As with overall federal-employee satisfaction scores, the Human Capital Assessment and Accountability Framework Index trended downward in 2012. Habitual high-scorers, such as NASA and the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, continued to sit atop the list. But the report also singled out the Office of Management and Budget and for its notable improvements.

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New TSP rules help Hurricane Sandy victims

Under temporary rules issued by the Federal Retirement Thrift Investment Board, feds can continue to contribute to their Thrift Savings Plan. FRTIB will waive a rule that prevents contributions for six months after taking a hardship withdrawal.

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Werfel: Gov't avoids $47B in overpayments

OMB Controller Danny Werfel announced Wednesday the federal government avoided paying out $47 billion in overpayments over the last three years. This missed President Barack Obama's goal of reducing improper payments by $50 billion by the end of FY2012.

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Internal emails offer details on bin Laden burial

Internal emails among U.S. military officers indicate that no sailors watched Osama bin Laden's burial at sea from the USS Carl Vinson and traditional Islamic procedures were followed during the ceremony

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Obama issues agencies new policies for combating insider threats

President Barack Obama has issued new agency standards for protecting classified information from insider threats. In a Presidential Memorandum issued Wednesday, Obama provided the heads of executive branch departments and agencies the new National Insider Threat Policy as well as the minimum standards to be employed by each agency in standing up its own insider-threat programs. Details on the new policy and the standards were not made public.

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OPM survey: Tight budgets, pay freeze 'taking toll' on employee satisfaction

Employee satisfaction across the federal government is sagging, according to the 2012 Employee Viewpoint Survey released by the Office of Personnel Management Wednesday. While there weren't any drastic drops, scores governmentwide were down in every major measure, including employees' satisfaction with their jobs, supervisors and pay.

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Navy to briefly reduce carriers in Persian Gulf

The Navy said Wednesday it will temporarily shrink its aircraft carrier presence in the Persian Gulf area from two to one because of a mechanical problem with the USS Nimitz, a carrier based in Everett, Wash.

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'Give it a rest,' USPTO chief tells patent critics

USPTO director David Kappos says software is every bit as entitled to patent protection as hardware innovations. Critics of the agency should give recent reforms a chance to work, he told a think tank audience Tuesday.

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Gen. Allen resumes command duty in Afghanistan

Gen. John Allen has returned to Kabul to resume his duties as the commander of U.S. and NATO forces in Afghanistan.

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Federal Drive Interviews -- Nov. 21, 2012

Rep. Gerry Connolly (D-Va.) discusses what progress Congress can realistically make on the budget. Anthony Amendolia of the DLA talks turkey -- as in, the thousands of turkeys he ordered for service members overseas. Alex Bolton, senior writer for The Hill, discusses Congress' strategies to avoid the fiscal cliff. GAO's Steve Lord reviews TSA's complaint process.

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Wednesday morning federal headlines - Nov. 21, 2012

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, it's the last day when federal employees can donate to a governmentwide campaign to help victims of Hurricane Sandy.

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New technologies key to Postal Service revitalization

From digitization of mail to GPS tracking, the Postal Service is investing in new technologies to help it grow revenue. Ellis Burgoyne, the agency's chief information officer, says his department is concentrating on five main projects in 2013 that will help the Postal Service cut costs while improving efficiency and customer service. USPS ended fiscal 2012 with $15.9 billion of debt.

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Survey: CHCOs feel effect of budget crunch on recruiting, training

Budget constraints are top of mind for agency chief human capital officers. And with good reason. CHCOs say they are feeling the effects of the budget crunch, particularly in recruiting, retaining and training employees, according to a Federal News Radio survey. Eugene Hubbard, head of the National Science Foundation's Office of Information and Resource Management, told Federal News Radio the budget squeeze and shrinking workforces mean agency employees are doing more with less to keep pace with the mission.

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Panetta says war on al-Qaida taking new direction

America's war on al-Qaida is taking a new direction, moving beyond declared combat zones like Afghanistan while countering the terrorist network's search for new sanctuaries, Defense Secretary Leon Panetta said Tuesday.

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McCain welcomes new fighter jet squadron

Sen. John McCain on Tuesday welcomed the Marine Corps' first squadron of pilots who are being called upon to fly the branch's version of the next-generation F-35 fighter jet out of its long and troubled testing phase.

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US sues contractors over troop trailers in Iraq

The U.S. government has filed a civil lawsuit accusing a Houston-based global construction company and its Kuwaiti subcontractor of submitting nearly $50 million in inflated claims to install live-in trailers for troops during the Iraq War.

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Federal Drive interviews - Nov. 20

Sen. Mark Warner (D-Va.) describes the bipartisan support around the DATA Act. Michael Courts of the GAO recaps his testimony on diplomatic security related to the attack on the U.S. consulate in Benghazi. Charles H. Romine of NIST explains how medical professionals can make meaningful use of electronic records.

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Tuesday morning federal headlines - Nov. 20, 2012

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 FDA has a poor reputation hiring top scientific talent and the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force is calling for universal HIV testing.

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