Tuesday federal headlines – March 11, 2014

The 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 Newsc...

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 conjunction with the budget release, the Defense Department has unveiled its Quadrennial Defense Review. The document outlines the department’s top-level global strategy every four years and what’s ahead in decades to come. Buck McKeon, chairman of the Armed Services Committee, thinks this QDR withholds information from key stakeholders and faults it as purely budget-driven. General Martin Dempsey, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, responded saying that the document builds upon an interim round of cutbacks — the Defense Strategic Guidance, part of the 2012 budget — which is why the content appears less detailed. Dempsey says the QDR’s foundation is relevant because the themes and principle mission are current and long-term. (Federal News Radio)
  • Immigration and Customs Enforcement might be failing to appropriately monitor foreign students who stay and work in the U.S. for up to almost 2 1/2 years, according to a Government Accountability Office report. Senator Chuck Grassley requested the investigation. He says that the lack of oversight is a potential national security risk. The September 11th attacks and the Boston Marathon explosions have put more scrutiny on foreign students. Senator Grassley says the program “requires immediate overhaul before another terrorist exploits it.” GAO recommends that ICE use all available information to address potential risks. Homeland Security agrees with the recommendations and says ICE is working with the Counterterrorism and Criminal Investigation Unit to find any risk areas. (Associated Press)
  • The White House is worried about federal employees’ job satisfaction. The 2015 budget calls for a new way to track employee engagement with a dashboard for managers. The White House expects the government to create just 14,000 new full-time jobs in fiscal 2015. More than half of those would be in the Treasury Department and the Securities and Exchange Commission. The White House also calls for improvements to Senior Executive Service onboarding and training. The administration says it’s concerned current methods turn off potential applicants. (Federal News Radio)
  • When it comes to processing open-records requests, the Social Security Administration is a smooth BMW. But the State Department? More like an old clunker. The agencies got the best and worst grades on a Freedom of Information Act report card by the advocacy group, Center for Effective Government. It graded the 15 agencies that receive nearly all requests. It looked at processing times, quality of responses, and rules and website usefulness. The Social Security Administration earned a solid “B”. The State Department got an “F,” as did six other agencies including the departments of Homeland Security, Defense, Veterans Affairs and Labor, the EEOC and the National Archives. (Federal News Radio)
  • An Army general charged with sexual assault got some unexpected help at his trial when emails emerged suggesting Army leaders unduly influenced the case. Judge James Pohl says the emails suggest “unlawful command influence” led prosecutors to reject an earlier plea bargain. Pohl gave defendant Brigadier General Jeffrey Sinclair a chance to plea bargain with a new set of military officials. Defense attorneys say the Army is pressing ahead with a weak case because it doesn’t want to appear soft on sexual assault. Sinclair has until today to decide whether to change his plea. He has admitted guilt to three of four charges. (Associated Press)
  • The agency set up partly to go after racial discrimination in banking standards is accused of its own bias. Managers at the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau favor white males and create a hostile working environment, according to confidential agency data obtained by The American Banker. Employees spoke anonymously for fear of retaliation. The data shows whites are twice as likely as black or hispanic employees to get top personnel ratings. Poor morale is widespread. Only one-third of employees say they’re satisfied with the opportunities to get better jobs within the agency. (The American Banker)
  • The State Department needs a better way of tracking whether short-term employees have had required security training. The Government Accountability Office took a look at the Foreign Affairs Counter Threat training. It found a few dozen temporary-assignment employees in high risk countries could not be accounted for with respect to top training. If they didn’t get the training, they could pose a security threat. The GAO recommends tightening up its training compliance tracking. The findings apply to State and to the U.S. Agency for International Development. (Government Accountability Office)
  • President Obama plans to expand the California Coastal National Monument to include lands on the Mendocino County coast. A White House official expects the formal announcement today. Proponents say the protected land will raise the profile of the area and provide a much needed economic boost. The expansion protects 1,600 acres of federal land. The President will bypass Congress with the measure, which follows his State of the Union goal to create more national parks. Congress passed its first wilderness bill in five years this month, but is stalled on many other pieces of public lands legislation. (Associated Press)
  • A federal judge in San Francisco has halted the National Security Agency’s plan to destroy millions of telephone records. The evidence, collected more than five years ago, will be preserved until a March 19 hearing when U.S. District Judge Jeffrey White will consider extending the deadline further. The government’s request to keep the records for pending lawsuits was denied by the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court. (Associated Press)

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