Monday Afternoon Federal Newscast

Federal News Radio has been telling you about the decision to phase out uGov -- part of the Intellipedia service for the federal intelligence community. Now comes word that users of the uGov domain will get to keep their service a while longer. TheAtlantic.com reports that the government is reviewing the impact of closing the domain, after the Office of the Director of National Intelligence was flooded with complaints and protests that uGov would be phased out. ODNI is promising to conduct an "impact analysis" on users other than DNI staff.

The Secretary of Veterans Affairs has established a service-connection for Vietnam Vets suffering from certain Agent Orange-related illnesses. Secretary Eric Shinseki based his decision on a study by the Institute of Medicine, which added three illnesses to the list -- which now numbers 15. That means veterans who served in Vietnam during the war and have a "presumed" illness don't have to prove a link between their illness and their military service. This speeds up their application process for benefits.

Elizabeth Harman is expected to be nominated to FEMA as the Assistant Administrator for the Grant Programs Directorate. That's according to a press release from DHS. Harman will oversee the management of more than 50 grant and financial assistance programs representing about four billion dollars a year in non-disaster grant funding. She's currently the director of the Hazardous Materials and Weapons of Mass Destruction Training Department at the International Association of Fire Fighters.

The Department of Defense says that they're using a solar-energy array at Nellis Air Force Base in Nevada. They say the array is saving money for the Air Force and decreasing the service's reliance on fossil fuels. The solar array, which went into service in December 2007, supplies 28 percent of the base's power, saving about $83-thousand dollars a month and 24-thousand tons of carbon dioxide emissions a year.

Other News Links

A Vigorous Push From Federal Regulators (Washington Post)

From Uniforms to Cybersecurity, Report Details Defense Dept. Activities (Washington Post)

USAID official: Pakistan plan flawed (Politico)