In Depth Show Blog – December 23, 2013

A new era in open data is arriving at the Department of Veterans Affairs. The VA is unrolling a brand new, open data website to give people an inside look at the agency.

Related Story: VA joins open data revolution with new website

The Navy is making some changes to the way it handles contracting in foreign ports. They’re doing it because of an international, multimillion dollar bribery scandal that’s implicated at least six military officers so far.

Official Washington is open for business today, but operations most places are unofficially slow if running at all. Federal News Radio Senior Correspondent Mike Causey explains in his column today that if you’re working, it’s likely you fit into one of five groups. One group is the folks who work so someone else can stay home.

The Federal Protective Service is supposed to be your agency’s front line of defense from people like the Navy Yard shooter. But the FPS has some training issues that could leave your agency vulnerable to an attack.

Congress’ calendar for the year is finished, but the work is not complete. So that work will resume in the second session of the 113th Congress next month. David Hawkings, senior editor at Roll Call, says some of the first things Congress will work on next month were on the agenda before they gave up on 2013.