Federal Drive with Tom Temin

Reeling from two highly controversial Supreme Court decisions and some revelatory hearings concerning the Capitol break-in, Congress is in recess this week. But not everything has stopped on the Hill. We get more from Bloomberg Government deputy news director Loren Duggan. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This year's Secretary of Defense Environmental Award winner in the Environmental Quality Individual, Team category went to the Air Force Radioactive Recycling and Disposal team. As part of the 88th Civil Engineer Group, AFRRAD handles low-level radioactive recycling and low-level mixed waste management in the Air Force and provides radioactive material recycling for the Department of Defense. For learn more about this mission, Federal News Network's Eric White spoke with Zach Olds, AFFRAD team supervisor, and Chris Anthony, Radioactive Material Program Manager. You'll hear Anthony first. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The Postal Service handed out millions of dollars in employee awards in a program that lacked solid controls. People nominated one another and then voted on whether they got the money. A few people even approved their own bonuses. For more, the Federal Drive spoke with the deputy assistant inspector general for audit, Wilvia Espinoza. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The Defense Department recently brought the chief data and artificial intelligence office into full operating capability. It'll focus on advanced technologies and working fast. Not just the technologies need to move fast. Acquisition and contracting also have to keep pace with the office’s needs. Federal News Network’s Scott Maucione talked about this with with procurement analyst Bonnie Evangelista, and contracting chief Kathrine Crompton. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The ombudsman for U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services has one central focus of this year’s annual report to Congress: Reducing the backlog of immigration cases. As of March, there were nearly 5.2 million cases in the backlog, meaning cases sitting for than the target processing time. Some eight and a half million cases are actually pending. Even after hiring freezes ended and USCIS avoided furloughs during the pandemic, the agency still struggles to hire and train enough adjudicators to get through the stack of cases. The ombudsman held a call for public feedback last week. Federal News Network’s Amelia Brust listened in. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

June is PTSD awareness month. And according to our next guest, managing the risk factors stemming from military-connected PTSD isn’t just a job for the Defense Department and the VA. Dr. Ken Marfilius is a former Air Force clinical social worker and mental health therapist. He’s now an Assistant Professor of Social Work at Syracuse University. He talked with Federal News Network’s Jared Serbu about the it-takes-a-village” approach to mental wellness in the military and veteran population. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

At least some members of Congress are pushing for telework to become a big and permanent feature of federal employment. The latest gambit is a bill that requires agencies to gather statistics about telework, and prevent them from restricting it. It's called the Telework Metrics and Cost Savings Act. We get more now from one of its sponsors, Congressman John Sarbanes (D-Mary.). Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The Office of Personnel Management has reached a milestone it hasn't seen since 2015. OPM Director Kiran Ahuja just hit one year in office as agency head. Ahuja has made progress in her position -- for example, giving feds time off to vote and bringing back the Presidential Rank Awards after a year's hiatus. But the agency is hitting a few bumps in the road, too. Many feds, for example, shared in the 2021 Federal Employee Viewpoint Survey that they're not happy with return to office plans. Federal News Network's Drew Friedman sat down with Ahuja at a press conference, where the director discussed OPM's priorities for telework. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency needs to move with more speed and urgency when it comes to talent management. That’s the conclusion of CISA’s Cybersecurity Advisory Committee. CISA is now considering a suite of recommendations from the committee on recruiting and hiring. For more, Federal News Network’s Justin Doubleday. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Sometimes nations declare war on themselves. When a civil war broke out in Ethiopia back in 2020, my next guest worked overtime to ensure humanitarian aid got to those who we desperate for it, and to try and mitigate some of the human rights abuses. Now he's a finalist in this year's Service to America Medals Program. He's the director of the Office of East African Affairs at the U.S. Agency for International Development, Jonathan Dworken. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Holly Ridings, the first female chief of NASA’s flight directors, will now help lead the agency’s Gateway Program, an international partnership to establish humanity’s first space station around the Moon. In this new role, Ridings will serve as the deputy program manager. She will lead teams to build and launch NASA’s foundational infrastructure in deep space. Federal News Network's Eric White spoke with Ridings about what that entails. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

AmericaCorps is the government's premier agency for engaging volunteers of all ages to help with the nation's pressing problems. At the end of last year, it got an energetic new CEO when the Senate confirmed Michael Smith, who the Federal Drive had a chance to catch up with. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Looking to settle your debts to the IRS, without an endless wait over the phone? There’s a bot for that. The IRS is now automating more of its call volume through automation, giving its call-center employees more time to address complex requests from taxpayers. The IRS is also rounding the corner on its pandemic-era backlog of tax returns. Federal News Network’s Jory Heckman has the latest. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The Air Force has seen its fair share of curveballs when it comes to budget and acquisition. Between inflation, the war in Ukraine, and COVID, the service is trying to ensure the industry supply chains stays solid and that acquisition timelines don’t slip. Federal News Network’s Scott Maucione discussed some of those issues with the service’s Deputy Assistant Secretary for Contracting, Major General Cameron Holt. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The General Services Administration reach a critical milestone last week. It chose a name for its new services multiple award contract. In his weekly reporter's notebook, executive editor Jason Miller writes about why the new name, OASIS-Plus, takes all the fun out of government contracting. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices