Federal Drive with Tom Temin

In a bit of progress for regular order, the House last week managed to pass its version of the National Defense Authorization Act. And, members will get down to the 2023 spending bills this week. Federal Drive Host Tom Temin got the latest from WTOP Capitol Hill Correspondent Mitchell Miller. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

As the government's lead agency on cybersecurity, the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency, known as CISA, keeps getting a higher budget, more people, and more programs. Although her role is administrative, even CISA's chief of staff has a long history in the cybersecurity field. Federal Drive host Tom Temin spoke with Kiersten Todt, in this in-depth interview. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The more compute-intensive manufacturing becomes, the more companies and their factories need cybersecurity protection. Now a new cyber roadmap is out from a group called the Cybersecurity Manufacturing Innovation Institute. The group is backed by the Energy Department. Joining the Federal Drive with more, the institute's CEO, Howard Grimes. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

One of the biggest concerns among cybersecurity people is the advent of quantum computers. The theory is, quantum will be so powerful it will easily crack encryption algorithms conventional computers would take thousands of years to crack. Now, the National Institute of Standards and Technology has issued four cryptographic algorithms researchers believe are quantum resistant. Joining the Federal Drive with details, NIST mathematician Dustin Moody. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

More analysis of the Best Places to Work in the federal government, those rankings having come out earlier this week. Many agencies saw their employee satisfaction scores go down. On average governmentwide, satisfaction fell of 4-point-5 points. But agencies that did well, had a few things in common. At the Partnership for Public Service's rankings ceremony this week, Federal News Network's Drew Friedman caught with officials of some of those high ranking agencies. General Services Administration Deputy Administrator Katy Kale shared her take about why GSA might have moved up a few slots in this year's list. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Over the last five years, agencies have increased their spending on cloud services, through the General Services Administration, by 60%. In 2016, agencies spent about $1 billion through the assorted GSA contract offerings. By 2021, that number grew to $1.6 billion. For what's behind that growth, Federal News Network's Jason Miller spoke with the GSA's deputy assistant commissioner for Category Management in the Federal Acquisition Service, Alan Hill. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Methane is a useful chemical, but not when it leaks into the atmosphere from production or transport of oil and natural gas. A team of scientists at the National Institute of Standards and Technology developed a technology for detecting methane leaks and thereby getting them cut off earlier. For their work, Nathan Newbury, Kavin Cossell, and Ian Coddington are finalists in this year's Service to America Medals Program. Ian Coddington joined the Federal Drive with more. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Some $339 million, set aside for small business, went to some of the largest defense contractors, in a single year. That's according to the Project on Government Oversight. POGO reviewed spending patterns of the Defense Logistics Agency, under its Special Operational Equipment Tailored Logistics Support program. The Federal Drive got details from POGO's senior investigator, Nick Schwellenbach. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Military readiness in some ways starts with what troops eat. The Air Force has launched an entertaining program to show its airmen and women, and their families, how to eat more healthy, and like it. Sort of like the Air Force version of the French Chef. Joining the Federal drive with more on the program and its aims, the chief of Air Force Medical Home, Col. Mary Anne Kiel. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

They're out: the annual rankings of the Best Places to Work in the Federal Government, compiled by the Partnership for Public Service and the Boston Consulting Group. NASA is number one for large agencies, for the 10th year in a row. But overall, the news ain't great. Employee satisfaction and engagement scores on average dropped quite a bit, for quite a lot of agencies. Federal News Network's Drew Friedman joined the Federal Drive to talk about it. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The State Department is accepting applications for a second wave of paid internships. They'll clock in next spring. The department is paying interns to boost diversity of its workforce … and to encourage people underrepresented groups to pursue State Department careers. It picked 200 students from 2,000 applicants for the first cohort of paid interns last year. It'll pay all student interns starting next year 2023. For an update, Federal News Network’s Jory Heckman spoke with the department’s talent acquisition senior advisor Jennifer Danover. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Defense and intelligence officials are trying to end the stigma that seeking mental health care could put your security clearance at risk. They're now looking to update the clearance process to encourage a more behavioral approach. For more, Federal News Network's Justin Doubleday spoke to the Federal Drive with Tom Temin. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

For all of its talk about transparency and accountability, Congress itself has a ways to go on these matters. Lately, a group called the congressional data Task Force has expanded its own charter. This as the House moves to fund some overdue technology updates. For what's going on, the Federal Drive with Tom Temin turned to the Policy Director of Demand Progress Daniel Schuman. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

When two Federal Aviation Administration-certified Boeing 737 Max jets crashed a few years back, it raised questions about the FAA certification process for new airplane designs. Members of Congress wanted to know if there was anything the U.S. could learn from the European Union's procedures. The Government Accountability Office compared the two. And for what it found Federal News Network's Eric White spoke with GAO's Director of Physical Infrastructure Issues Heather Krause. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Amazon and its founder Jeff Bezos didn't get to where they are by acting timid. When it comes to federal contracts, Amazon seems to follow a simple three-word formula: protest, protest protest. And it works. That's according to an investigation by Bloomberg Government reporter Josh Axelrod, who joined the Federal Drive with Tom Temin. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices