The National Institute of Standards and Technology hired manufacturing industry executive Michael F. Molnar to be the agency’s first-ever chief manufacturing officer, the agency announced July 8. Molnar will serve as NIST’s central point of contact to the White House, the Commerce Department and other agencies on technical and policy issues related to manufacturing. Molnar [...]

The Defense Department announced Tuesday it is expanding partnerships with space-faring companies and nations to maintain the country’s strategic advantage in space, AFPS reports. Ambassador Gregory L. Schulte, deputy assistant secretary of defense for space policy, spoke with reporters from the Defense Writers Group about the future of both the civil and military space programs. [...]

The House of Representatives passed a Republican-backed plan Tuesday to extend the country’s borrowing capacity in return for a future cap on government spending and a balanced budget amendment, the LA Times reports. The “Cut, Cap and Balance” proposal, largely symbolic, was voted on to give voice to conservative Republicans who oppose raising the debt [...]

According to the White House blog, the U.S. and Brazil have teamed up to create the Open Government Partnership, a global initiative that supports efforts to promote transparent, effective and accountable institutions. International governments and civil society groups make up the initiative’s committee. OGP was created in an effort to stir up international momentum on [...]

  President Barack Obama recently hosted an educational roundtable with public and private sector leaders to discuss ways to ensure an a competitive American workforce. Obama stressed the importance of education and how it plays a crucial role in America’s future. “America’s business leaders understand that when it comes to education, we need to up [...]

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau recently released a report on its work to build the year-old agency from the ground up since last year’s passage of the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act. The agency was created to increase government accountability by consolidating consumer financial protection authorities across seven different agencies into one. [...]

The Obama administration is cracking down on unsafe bus and trucking companies. The Transportation Department announced today that in the last two years, the administration has issued as many imminent hazard orders on bus and truck companies as it has in the previous 10 years combined. “We have seen the tragic consequences of unsafe practices [...]

Norm Augustine The National Science Foundation announced last week Norm Augustine has been appointed to lead the upcoming strategic review of U.S. science-support operations on the continent of Antarctica and the Southern Ocean. Augustine is the former chair of the National Academy of Engineering and previously served as chairman and CEO of Lockheed Martin. According [...]

Office of Management and Budget Director Jacob Lew issued Friday a memo to agencies that outlined the minimum security guidelines for implementing the Telework Enhancement Act of 2010. The memo urged agencies to ensure that cybersecurity protections for information and information systems are used while teleworking. In the memo, Lew stated that telework “provides federal [...]

President Barack Obama will announce today his intent to nominate Richard Cordray to serve as the first director of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. Cordray is a former Ohio attorney general and played a large role in overhauling the rules that govern the financial sector. “Richard Cordray has spent his career advocating for middle-class families, [...]