The financially strapped U.S. Postal Service sounded the alarm bell again Thursday with a stark warning from its No. 2 leader: it could be broke in a year. Deputy Postmaster General Ron Stroman told Federal Times Thursday the Postal Service will be insolvent by next August even if it skips an upcoming $5.5 billion payment [...]

President Barack Obama issued an executive order Thursday mandating federal agencies develop plans for improving diversity in the federal workforce. The order directs the director of the Office of Personnel Management, a deputy director of the Office of Management and Budget, the President’s Management Council and the chair of the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission to [...]

A Army top acquisition official said Thursday he is unaware of any instance where body armor has failed to protect a soldier against an ammunition round. The AP reports Lt. Gen Bill Phillips addressed concerns over the safety of body armor at a press conference. “We want to make sure that your readers have complete [...]

An Office of Personnel Management official apologized Thursday for a computer glitch that caused nearly 70,000 job applicants to lose some or all of their data. FierceGovernmentIT reports a four-day IT outage at OPM caused its USA Staffing system to lose the data. USA Staffing is a web-based system that, among other things, automatically posts [...]

Much like meteorologists work to track storms here on Earth, NASA is working to track storms on the sun. NASA released video of a solar storm Thursday, recorded in Dec. 2008. The videos, recorded by spacecraft more than 65 million miles away from Earth, show the earth being engulfed by a solar storm. Solar storms [...]

Those living, working and traveling through the Northern Virginia region may want to read the latest advisory from the Office of Personnel Management. A motorcycle ride will take place Friday to commemorate the tenth anniversary of Sept. 11, 2001. The Virginia Department of Transportation said in an advisory it expects the nearly 1,800 riders to [...]

The Army improperly tested new bullet-blocking plates for body armor and cannot determine if 5 million pieces of the equipment meet standards, a Defense Department audit found. According to the AP, the Pentagon’s inspector general focused on seven Army contracts for the plates, awarded between 2004 and 2006. The total value of the contracts was [...]

The House Intelligence Committee plans to mark the ten-year anniversary of the 9/11 attacks by holding public hearings on the threat of terrorism, AFP reported Wednesday. Director of National Intelligence James Clapper and an unnamed CIA official will appear before the committee Sept. 13. FBI Director Robert Mueller and National Counterterrorism Center Director Matt Olsen [...]

Federal agencies should plan 2013 budgets that are at least 10 percent below discretionary spending levels for 2011, the Office of Management and Budget said Wednesday. OMB Director Jack Lew issued the guidelines in a memo, outlining steps agencies should take to help the federal government achieve deficit reduction. Lew instructed agencies to submit 2013 [...]

Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano unveiled a new public service announcement campaign Wednesday, aimed at educating the public on reporting suspicious activity to law enforcement. The “If You See Something, Say Something” ads will be distributed to radio and television stations across the country. The ads present scenarios involving witnessing suspicious activity and advises viewers [...]