Federal Drive

Wednesday Morning Federal Newscast

GSA admin shuffle, FAA decorum reminder, growing demand for cybersecurity workers

Federal News Network Staff

December 23, 2009 8:22 am

3 min read

Written by Ruben Gomez & Jane Norris
Edited by Suzanne Kubota

This morning’s federal news as heard on WFED:

Stephen Leeds has started his new job as the acting leader of the General Services Administration. He replaces Paul Prouty, who, will serve as regional commissioner of public buildings in Denver. Leeds comes to the helm from his job as senior counselor to the administrator. GSA is still awaiting confirmation of Martha Johnson, whose nomination to be the permanent head has been held up for months in the Senate.

The FAA is reminding workers to act with decorum, after hidden news footage showed employees drinking heavily and partying at a training conference. ABC News captured the footage at the Omni hotel in Atlanta. That’s where FAA sent 3,600 managers for training on a new union contract with air traffic controllers. An FAA spokesperson says reports of unruly behavior are disappointing.

The federal government is struggling to fill a growing demand for skilled computer-security workers. The Pentagon is staffing a new Cyber Command and the Department of Homeland Security is expanding its own “cyber” force by up to 1,000 people in the next three years. The Washington Post reports that the lack of trained defenders for these networks is leading to serious gaps in protection and significant losses of intelligence. Demand is so intense that it has “sparked a bidding war among agencies and contractors for a small pool of special talent: skilled technicians with security clearances. Their scarcity is driving up salaries, depriving agencies of skills, and in some cases affecting project quality,” reports the Post. The Government Accountability Office told a Senate panel in November that the number of scans, probes and attacks reported to the Department of Homeland Security’s U.S. Computer Emergency Readiness Team has more than tripled to almost 17,000 intrusions from 2006 to 2008.

The more you make, the more likely the IRS is to audit you. New enforcement numbers from the tax agency show that you have a greater chance to be audited if you report at least $200,000 dollars on your tax return. And that chance is even bigger — 6 percent — if you earned at least one million dollars. The IRS says it plans to focus on payroll taxes in 2010.

Pregnant soldiers and their partners in Iraq will not face courts-martial. Maj. Gen. Anthony Cucolo’s says the recently announced policy was intended to emphasize the problem created when pregnant soldiers leave behind a weaker unit. Cucolo commands a task force of 22,000 soldiers, which oversees northern Iraq He said he has more than 1,600 female soldiers under his command. As soon as the military knows a soldier is pregnant, she is immediately sent home. General Cucolo is believed to be the first to make the pregnancy an offense that could be dealt with by court-martial – for both the man and the woman. The ruling only applies to troops under his command

More news links

SRA International awarded $50M DHS contract

Raytheon unit wins $57.4M contract from Air Force

Lockheed Martin wins Air Force contracts

General Dynamics wins $7M contract modification

GE gets contract for Navy helicopter engines

Raytheon gets new Air Force order for 500 missiles

Air Force awards Boeing C-17 support contract

Lockheed Martin wins $841.9M deal for F-16 jets

Stocking stuffer: Card good for eye, dental visit

Power goes out twice at Alaska air traffic control

THIS AFTERNOON ON FEDERALNEWSRADIO

Coming up today on The Daily Debrief:

** We continue our coverage of the announcement that Howard Schmidt will be the Obama administration cyber coordinator. We’ll talk to Juniper’s Bob Dix, who led cybersecurity oversight on the Hill for years.

** We continue our look at the Stories of the Decade this afternoon with Microsoft’s Teresa Carlson. Big changes for the software giant: What does it mean for you?

Join us from 3 to 7 pm on 1500 AM or on your computer.