Friday, August 3, 2018
The IBM Center's Weekly Roundup highlights articles and insights that we found interesting for the week ending August 3, 2018.

Michael J Keegan

New DHS center to address cyber gaps. Collectively, cyber threats and their possible consequences are a bigger threat than 9/11-style attacks, DHS Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen argued as she unveiled a new National Risk Management Center to combat them.

Collins-Smee leaving GSA. A year into her job at the General Services Administration, Joanne Collins-Smee -- deputy commissioner of the agency’s Federal Acquisition Service, director of Technology Transformation Service and leader of the Centers of Excellence effort -- will leave for the private sector at the end of the month.

Senate passes 2019 NDAA. The 2019 defense bill has passed the Senate and is headed to the White House. The Senate passed the conference report for the 2019 National Defense Authorization Act on Aug. 1-- a week after the House did.

As the Coast Guard wrestles with aging IT, cloud is a long-term conversation. U.S. Coast Guard Commandant Adm. Karl Schultz has his eyes on JEDI, but says his service is years away from true cloud adoption.

Trump announces nominee to head OSTP. Kelvin Droegemeier, an extreme-weather expert, is the president's pick for the long-vacant Office of Science and Technology Policy director's post.

John Kamensky

Exodus. Government Executive reports: “Across the federal government, voluntary retirements have spiked 18 percent over the last decade. Currently, about one in seven federal employees is eligible to retire. At a few agencies, that rate jumps to one in five today and nearly half of their workforces in five years.”

Healthcare Centralization. Federal News Radio reports: “The House and Senate’s final agreement on the 2019 Defense authorization bill does not go as far as abolishing the military services’ own medical commands, but it does push the Military Health System in the unmistakable direction of more centralization and less reliance on Army, Navy and Air Force-specific ways of delivering health care.

Linking Cost, Performance, & Impact.  Robert Shea and Tim Gribben ask in a Government Executive commentary: “What are the costs of federal programs and policies? What results do we get for that spending? These two questions are fundamental to understanding public value and cost effectiveness, yet issues of cost, performance and impact often exist in silos.” They offer five steps to do so.

GAO Calls Out Agencies on CIO Roles.  A new GAO report says: “None of the 24 agencies have policies that fully addressed the role of their Chief Information Officers (CIO) consistent with federal laws and guidance. In addition, the majority of the agencies did not fully address the role of their CIOs for any of the six key areas that GAO identified.”

Next Week on The Business of Government Hour: Mike Gill, Secretary, Maryland Department of Commerce. How is Maryland attracting and retaining businesses in all regions of the state? What industries are growing in Maryland? How does the Maryland Department of Commerce promote the state and enhance its economic prosperity? Join host Michael Keegan as he explores these questions and more with Mike Gill, Secretary, Maryland Department of Commerce.

Broadcast Schedule: The show airs Monday at 11 a.m., and Friday at 1 p.m. on Federal News Radio 1500AM WFED.

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