Federal Drive with Tom Temin

The military medical landscape is ever changing. As the Defense Department and the Veterans Affairs Department continue to move to electronic records, AMSUS Director and former Navy Surgeon General Michael Cowan tells Federal News Radio's Scott Maucione on Federal Drive with Tom Temin what benefits the new system will bring. He also gives us a taste of some of the newest medical advancements in the battlefield.

The Senate narrowly passed its own budget resolution late last week. Federal employees will like this version more than the House version. It doesn't include reconciliation instructions to make cuts to current federal retirement system. Federal News Radio's Nicole Ogrysko looked through the Senate Budget Committee's report and joins Federal Drive with Tom Temin to discuss what she found and what's next for the 2018 budget resolution.

The IRS stopped more than 880,000 confirmed ID theft returns in calendar 2016.

Amid a new push to "accelerate" commercial cloud adoption, the Defense Department is in talks with commercial industry to find ways to smooth its cloud security approval process.

The Chamber of Commerce wants the Trump administration to scale back the Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs in the Labor Department. The Chamber says the office is more interested in headlines and fat payouts than in correcting business practices of federal contractors. Ken Rosenberg, a partner at the law firm Fox Rothschild, shares his perspective on Federal Drive with Tom Temin.

Defense procurement reform is like the hammer-and-bell game at a carnival. There is always a long line of strong guys hoping to take it on. Now a coalition of contractor groups have commented on proposed changes to solicitation provisions and contract clauses in the Defense Federal Acquisition Regulation, or D-FARS. John Luddy, vice president for national security policy at the Aerospace Industries Association, joined Federal Drive with Tom Temin to discuss the latest findings.

Blockchain is a distributed ledger technology that offers the possibility of far more secure online transaction systems than most organizations have now. The Department of Health and Human Services is exploring the possibilities of this technology for healthcare and other health-related research. Debbie Bucci, IT architect at the office of the National Coordinator for Health IT at HHS, joined Federal Drive with Tom Temin to discuss some earlier concepts in the research.

Scores of federal departments, agencies and bureaus have one thing in common: They produce statistics. In fact data is perhaps the fastest growing commodity ever, and most of it is accumulating outside of government. That's why a group assembled by the National Academies recommended the creation of a new federal statistical entity. Robert Groves, former Census director, now provost at Georgetown University and chairman of the panel, joined Federal Drive with Tom Temin to explain the push.

Two Army scientists have discovered a way to get pure hydrogen out urine. Dr. Kris Darling, a researcher, and Scott Grendahl , the team leader at the Army Research Laboratory at Aberdeen Proving Grounds in Maryland, explain what what good that would do on Federal Drive with Tom Temin.

For a variety of reasons, federal agencies continue to struggle with cybersecurity. Last year, nearly all of the 24 big departments and agencies had problems in all of the control areas. That's what the Government Accountability Office found in its most recent, two-year study. Greg Wilshusen, the GAO's director of information security issues, shares the details on Federal Drive with Tom Temin.

The Office of Personnel Management hasn't had a permanent director in more than two years and a deputy director in more than five. That could change soon. The Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee finally heard from the president's nominees to fill both positions. Federal News Radio's Nicole Ogrysko shares the details on Federal Drive with Tom Temin.

Research, use of multiple communications channels and a touch of artificial intelligence: those are three strategies federal agencies have used to improve customer experience. Now they've been documented by Accenture and the Partnership for Public Service. Mallory Barg Bulman, vice president for research and evaluation at the Partnership, shares the details on Federal Drive with Tom Temin.

You might be surprised at which operator of websites saw the fastest growth last year. Yeah, you. In fact, federal websites now enjoy visits from at least 44 percent of Americans. Yet there's a credibility problem when it comes to protection of personal information. This is all according to a survey by Forrester Research. Principal Analyst Rick Parrish shares the details on Federal Drive with Tom Temin.

The Securities and Exchange Commission knew five years ago it's second-to-last rank for employee engagement on the Federal Employee Viewpoint Survey wasn't going to cut it. The SEC has managed to inch up every year since. Now it sits third among large agencies on the 2017 employee viewpoint survey, up another 4 percent from 2016. Lacey Dingman, chief human capital officer at the SEC, tells Federal News Radio's Nicole Ogrysko how her agency maintains the upward climb.

The Army is encouraging its high-level officers to take more risks. Brass hope that will help with some of the challenges the Army is facing both in the field and on the homefront. Sgt. Maj. of the Army Daniel Daily has his own plan to change the Army's risk culture. He spoke with Federal News Radios Scott Maucione, starting with, of all things, child care realm. Maucione shares the details on Federal Drive with Tom Temin.