Gates, Clinton and Mullen to Brief Senate on Libya
The top slate of Obama advisers on foreign affairs: Defense Secretary Robert Gates, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Mike Mullen will deliver a closed-door briefing to the Senate today on the military commitment in Libya.
And Politico reports there could be fireworks. Both Democratic and Republican leaders said they have pushed their respective caucuses to ask tough questions of the administration’s representatives.
“I told my caucus to come loaded with all your questions, ask questions in this classified setting and then if you want to do more legislatively, you’re entitled to do that,†said Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev).
DoD’s Fuzzy Cybersecurity Funding Numbers
The Defense Department’s public disclosure of its topline number for cybersecurity spending for 2012 has been amended at least once, Nextgov reports for a grand total of about $3.2 billion.
But because concrete definitions are lacking, there is little finality or certainty attached to that figure.
“The area surrounding ‘cybersecurity’ funding is gray, given that procedures to protect computers against attack are constantly changing as technology advances,†Nextgov reports.
A Brief History of Recent Regulatory Reform
The White House has given federal agencies a deadline of May to review “excessive†and “burdensome†regulations, part of the adminstration’s far-reaching efforts to streamline the regulatory apparatus.
Two public policy experts — Richard L. Revesz, dean of the New York University School of Law, and Michael Livermore, executive director of the Institute for Policy Integrity — have provided a brief history of past efforts to set agency regulations and argue that cost-benefit analyses currently used only tell half the story.
Click here to read the full article.
Army CIO/G6 Gets Third Star
Lt. Gen. Susan Lawrence, who serves as the Army’s chief information officer, was promoted to three-star general last week in a ceremony presided over by Army Chief of Staff Peter Chiarelli.
With her promotion, Lawrence is now the second woman serving as a three-star general on active duty and the fourth to be promoted to the rank of lieutenant general in the Army, Defense Systems reported.
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Congress Wants Bigger Role in Federal IT Oversight
The Office of Management and Budget’s efforts to improve agency IT investments culminated in a 25-point plan for reform, which OMB officials say has already saved the government billions in projected costs.
But, E-Commerce News reports that’s not enough for budget-cutters in Congress, who, taking the lead from an unfavorable Government Accountability Office report last week, want to pass legislation beefing up congressional oversight of agency IT spending.
Click here to read more about legislative action.
Budget Woes Leave SES Pay ‘Severely Limited’
In the face of a federal budget crunch, the funds available for paying the top tier of the federal civilian workforce, the Senior Executive Service, are “severely limited,†said Office of Personnel Management Associate Director of Employee Services Nancy Kichak in congressional testimony yesterday.
“At a time when we truly need the best and brightest in our executive corps — and when senior managers are expected to achieve even greater results with limited resources — the funds available for executive pay, awards, training and professional development are severely limited,†she said.
Click here to read the full article from Federal Computer Week.
