Federal Drive with Tom Temin

At least one coronavirus vaccine should be approved for emergency use this week. Once a vaccine is available, the Defense Department will launch a pilot program to give 44,000 shots in 16 locations worldwide. Federal News Network’s Scott Maucione joined the Federal Drive with the details. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Army Secretary Ryan McCarthy has ordered the firing or suspension of 14 commanders and other leaders at Fort Hood, Texas, including two general officers. The actions come after a four-month review by an independent committee. That panel found "pervasive lack of confidence" in the command climate at Fort Hood, and a high risk of harm to female soldiers. Federal News Network's Jared Serbu had details on Federal Drive with Tom Temin. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Nearly one in five employees at FEMA say they've experienced harassment or discrimination on the job. That's according to a recent RAND Corporation survey. FEMA hired RAND two years ago after the agency revealed sexual harassment and misconduct allegations against one of its senior executives. Now FEMA has a new plan that will detail the steps it will take to improve agency culture. For more on what the agency has done so far, and how it's responding to the latest employee survey results, Federal News Network's Nicole Ogrysko spoke with FEMA Administrator Peter Gaynor. Hear his comments on Federal Drive with Tom Temin. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Finances of the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority, known as Metro, have collapsed under the pandemic. Weekday service could soon start to look like the weekend, and weekend service could end altogether. Scuffed-shoed federal drones who constitute a big chunk of Metro customers would have to find other options. For some perspective, Federal Drive with Tom Temin turned to Adam Tuss, longtime D.C.-area traffic expert, now transportation reporter for NBC News 4. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

One in six Americans is not how many have come down with COVID-19 so far, but it is how many catch foodborne illnesses every year. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention have developed sound systems to identify and track multi-state outbreaks of food poisoning. But a Government Accountability Office audit found the CDC needs to strengthen its performance assessment system to ensure that program works. For more, the Director of the Natural Resource and Environment team at the GAO, Steve Morris, spoke to Federal Drive with Tom Temin. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission has unveiled a new data visualization project. It shows enforcement data in what the commission calls a simple, comprehensible and visually appealing way. For more about the visualization and how they built them, the EEOC's chief data officer Chris Haffer spoke to Federal Drive with Tom Temin. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The Defense contracting community is holding its collective breath, waiting for a batch of new contracts that will be the first to require cybersecurity maturity model certification. They could be the shape of things to come. The Federal Drive got more insight from federal sales and marketing consultant Larry Allen. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The armed services and the Pentagon that oversees them have some basic challenges as they return to great power competition. Everything from a basic lethality advantage to financial management. They're all spelled out in the latest list from the Defense Department's Office of Inspector General. For more, the Federal Drive with Tom Temin spoke with Leo FitzHarris, the assistant IG for strategic planning and performance. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This hour a special focus on the Defense Department and its challenges. We start with the final version of the National Defense Authorization Act for 2021. Congress decided to do away with the chief management officer's position in the DoD. This year's bill gives the administration, now the Biden administration, a year to figure out what to do instead. For more from our weekly DoD Reporters Notebook, the Federal Drive with Tom Temin turned to reporters Jared Serbu and Scott Maucione. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

President Donald Trump signed an executive order Thursday giving federal agencies a shared ethics framework for developing and using artificial intelligence, as well as expanding job rotation programs. The EO ties together several AI policies or proposals recently made at the agency or federal advisory council level, and doubles down on an executive order Trump signed in February 2019 making AI a top research and development priority for federal agencies. Federal News Network's Jory Heckman had more details on Federal Drive with Tom Temin. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration signed on Google to help it find ways to make better use of the agency's burgeoning satellite data. They'll be using artificial intelligence and machine learning in Google's cloud. For how the agreement is set up and more about its goals, Federal Drive with Tom Temin turned to the Irene Parker, chief information officer for NOAA's National Environmental Satellite Data and Information Service. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

A law known as the Federal Acquisition Supply Chain Security Act aims to reduce the potential for damage from cybersecurity threats. The White House interim final rules for agencies came out in September. Now industry has weighed in. And for one view, Federal Drive with Tom Temin turned to the Senior Vice President for Policy at the Information Technology Industry Council, Gordon Bitko. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The signs on Capitol Hill are pointing to a budget deal for 2021. The question is whether they can get it done in time. The continuing resolution the government is operating under expires this Friday at midnight. WTOP Capitol Hill correspondent Mitchell Miller joined Federal Drive with Tom Temin for the outlook. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

A coalition of good-government groups has focused on the Trump administration plan for policy-related career jobs known as Schedule F. They feel it represents a general alienation of the federal workforce. For a few ideas on how the incoming Biden administration can succeed with the workforce, American University professor Bob Tobias spoke to Federal Drive with Tom Temin. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

It didn't take long after the advent of the automobile for traffic jams to become a dismal feature of modern life. Now researchers at the Argonne National Laboratory are working to discover a way to model and forecast traffic so it can be mitigated by re-routing. With more on this project, Argonne computer science leader Prasanna Balaprakash joined Federal Drive with Tom Temin. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices