The Census Bureau will not push through with plans to commence testing operations in Puerto Rico, the Standing Rock Reservation in North and South Dakota and the Colville Reservation and Off-Reservation Trust Land in Washington State.

Bureau Director John Thompson wrote in a blog post published Tuesday the move aims to focus 2017 program resources on operational and systems readiness and the mentioned locations will be considered for inclusion on the 2018 End-to-End Census Test.

Thompson noted the Census Bureau will not expend any resources to prepare for the 2017 field tests because of the uncertainties in current fiscal year funding, while operations at the sites mentioned earlier will cost $5 billion and might risk the agency’s readiness for the 2018 test.

He added the Census Bureau must re-plan the 2017 Census Test to include only necessary activities that will help prepare for the 2018 End-to-End census test which will cover real-time non ID operation, Census Questionnaire Assistance utilization and internet collection with the use of cloud technology.

A memorandum issued Tuesday by Lisa Blumerman, associate director of Census Bureau decennial census programs, said the 2020 Census program has decided to stop two field test operations in FY 2017 to address program risks from funding uncertainty.

The Center for a New American Security has published a new report that includes energy policy recommendations for the next U.S. president.

CNAS said Monday its “Increasing Prosperity, Resource Stewardship, and National Security: An Energy Policy Strategy for the Next President” report is part of the organization’s Papers for the Next President Series.

CNAS has called on the next administration to prioritize energy infrastructure modernization; counter Congress’ decision to reduce emergency oil reserves; and establish an assistant secretary of state role under the Bureau of Energy Resources.

CNAS also recommended for the 45th president to form a White House-led interagency program to address energy policy issues; increase federal investment in energy technologies; support the use of natural gas; and prioritize global energy market data collection and dissemination.

Future federal leaders should also establish an approach to national energy system issues concerning the national electricity grid, oil and gas, domestic energy production, instability in oil producing regions, local energy transportation system, climate change and others, CNAS added.

CNAS noted the next president must build on local and international energy policies by addressing conventional production, trade, efficiency, renewables, new technology, cybersecurity, resiliency and emergency preparedness.

Report authors include:

• David Goldwyn, chairman of the Atlantic Council’s energy advisory group
• Robert McNally, nonresident senior fellow at Columbia University’s center on global energy policy
• Elizabeth Rosenberg, director of CNAS’ energy, economics and security program

The Environmental Protection Agency has selected the North American Association for Environmental Education to lead a program that seeks to provide EE training and support to environmental educators in the U.S. under a five-year cooperative agreement.

NAAEE said Thursday it will begin work on the ee360 program in 2017 in collaboration with Antioch University, Stanford University, University of Oregon, Center for Diversity and the Environment, Project Learning Tree, Earth Force and NAAEE’s affiliate network.

The agreement awarded by the EPA’s office of environmental education also calls for NAAEE to work with five federal agencies that include the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, U.S. Forest Service, Bureau of Land Management, U.S. National Park Service and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

“Together with EPA and our partners, we look forward to helping bring more innovation to our work, with a focus on professional development and long-term support to strengthen the entire field of environmental education,” said Pepe Marcos-Iga, board chair and chief operating officer at NAAEE.

The ee360 program will feature a new podcast to be hosted by NAAEE Deputy Director Christiane Maertens and interviews with EE professionals.

Scott Smith, a 20-year FBI veteran and former deputy assistant director for the human resources division at the bureau’s headquarters in Washington, has been named assistant director of the cyber division.

He joined FBI in 1996 as a special agent focused on violent crime and general criminal investigations at the Cleveland division and as a member of the Safe Streets Task Force that targeted drug trafficking groups, the bureau said Wednesday.

Smith became a supervisory special agent in charge of the international terrorism operations section at the FBI HQ’s counterterrorism division in 2004 and a year later he was deployed in Iraq to manage a contingent of special agents, analysts and language specialists who supported the bureau’s counterterrorism efforts.

His previous roles also include work as deputy on-scene commander in Iraq, assistant special agent in the Dallas division, special agent in charge of the Pittsburgh division, supervisory senior resident agent for the Cleveland division’s Toledo, Sandusky and Lima Resident agencies and chief of the employee services section of the bureau’s HR division.

He worked as a deputy sheriff at Ohio’s Lake County Narcotics Agency for seven years before he moved to the FBI.

Office of Management and Budget Director Shaun Donovan has announced the creation of a new privacy office and a senior career position within OMB’s Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs.

Donovan wrote in a blog post published Wednesday the privacy office and senior official will support efforts to boost the government’s privacy practices.

That new office and official will oversee the development and implementation of federal privacy policies, strategies and practices across agencies and help identify privacy-related trends and issues that require government-wide action, Donovan added.

Other tasks include oversight of agency regulatory initiatives, privacy policies and information collection activities that impact the privacy of personal information, Donovan stated.

Donovan said the new OIRA office and official will collaborate on privacy issues with OMB’s senior adviser for privacy.