Wednesday federal headlines – March 26, 2014

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.

• Navy officials are searching for a motive in the killing of a sailor aboard a destroyer at Naval Station Norfolk late Monday night. The suspect, an unidentified civilian, is dead after being shot by security forces on USS Mahan. He allegedly boarded the ship, disarmed a sailor and then used that sailor’s weapon to shoot and kill another. Officials say the suspect had a transportation worker’s credential of the type that authorized truck drivers show to get into secure areas. (Associated Press)
• BRAC could be back — eventually. Defense News reports, senior Army leadership has been pushing for another round of military base closures. On Tuesday, Army Secretary John McHugh and Army Chief of Staff Ray Odierno spoke to the House Armed Services Committee to express further support. Undertaking a new round of BRAC could save about $1 billion a year, at a time when the Army’s budget is tight. Another round would not be as expensive as the 2005 round of closures, they said. (Defense News)
• Military ethics is about to come under the microscope even more. Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel has tapped a two-star admiral to serve as his senior adviser for military professionalism. Margaret “Peg” Klein will step into the newly-created role and report directly to Hagel. Klein was the No. 2 officer at the Naval Academy and most recently served as chief of staff for U.S. Cyber Command. Hagel has previously said that military ethics is a top concern in the wake of several embarrassing incidents of misconduct. (Defense Department)
• House Republicans threaten to subpoena the White House over federal real property documents. House Oversight Committee Chairman Darrell Issa and subcommittee chair John Mica accuse the Office of Management and Budget of stalling. The congressmen support a pilot program that speeds up sales or donations of the most expensive excess properties. They first asked OMB two years ago for data on those properties. Initially, the agency said it would send the information. The lawmakers say it never delivered. They estimate the government spends $1.5 billion a year maintaining property it doesn’t need. (Federal News Radio)
• Office of Personnel Management Director Katherine Archuleta defends her agency’s efforts to process retirement claims. In a blog, she says OPM takes just two months to process most new retirees’ requests, and she says the agency has cut its sizeable backlog by 71 percent over two years to fewer than 18,000 retirees. The Washington Post published a story noting OPM’s reliance on paperwork. It quoted former officials shocked that the agency had not done more to modernize the system. Archuleta says OPM is gradually moving to a digital process. (Office of Personnel Management)
• The Secret Service is in hot water again. Three agents who were in the Netherlands to provide security for President Obama were sent home after being caught drinking. Hotel staff reportedly found one of the agents passed out in a hotel hallway and called the U.S. Embassy, which alerted the Secret Service. All three were placed on administrative leave. Back in 2012, several agents were caught with prostitutes in their rooms during a presidential trip to Colombia. Since then, the Secret Service has tried to crack down on agents drinking during trips overseas. (Washington Post)
• The IRS says virtual currency is property, not money. You can’t use bitcoin to pay your taxes. The agency wades into the digital currency debate for the first time with a series of questions and answers for taxpayers. It says virtual money is not legal tender. But if you get paid in bitcoin or a similar currency, you’ll have to pay taxes on those wages. Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Chairman Tom Carper praises the IRS for issuing the guidance. He and other senators have called for a whole-government approach to digital currency. (IRS)
• The bulk collection of Americans’ phone records almost didn’t happen. Three years ago, the Senate secretly considered having phone companies search their own records for terrorism connections, instead of what it ultimately decided to do — empower the National Security Agency to collect and store massive amounts of phone records. A classified NSA document from 2011 reveals the Senate Intelligence Committee’s thought process. Now President Obama is pushing to revisit the phone company option. (Associated Press)

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