The Federal Drive with Terry Gerton

For a variety of jobs, federal agencies have been removing college degree requirements in favor of experience. Turns out, state government is way ahead on this matter, according to researchers at Brookings. To discuss their findings, Federal Drive Host Tom Temin spoke with two of those researchers, Justin Heck and Blair Corcoran de Castillo.

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The IRS has made progress in customer service, especially for people calling its Taxpayer Assistance Centers (TACs). But the TACs still have issues, such as difficulty in dealing with calls to change appointments. In fact, the Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration (TIGTA) has a few recommendations for the IRS in this regard. For details, Federal Drive Host Tom Temin talked with the Director of TIGTA's management and exempt organization audits, Carl Aley.

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On today's episode of the Federal Drive with Tom Temin:

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Especially in the federal government, change often happens slowly. But the Office of Personnel Management said it’s seeing early indications that its efforts to reform federal recruitment are starting to pay off.

OPM’s initiatives over the last couple years, such as banning the consideration of salary history, creating a job portal for internship openings, and broadening eligibility for paid internships through the Pathways Program, all aim to open the doors to more candidates and make the hiring process more equitable.

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When thinking about agencies that gather intelligence, the State Department’s Bureau of Intelligence and Research might not come to mind. Yet, in a world where usable intel is more important than ever to decision-making, the bureau seems to have gotten more right about world events than most. Dylan Matthews is a senior correspondent with Vox, who recently profiled some of the bureau's accomplishments. He talked about it with Federal News Network's Eric White.

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TSP investors seem to be getting more aggressive, judging by the mix of funds they're investing in. The safe but slow-growing G-fund is no longer the favorite. With analysis of what's going on, Federal Drive Host Tom Temin talk with certified financial planner Arthur Stein of Arthur Stein Financial.

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Job postings for certain cybersecurity positions have dropped so much, it is affecting national security. One survey shows fewer openings in insider-threat analysis, product-security engineering, and DevSecOps. That is according to analysis by a company called Cyber S-N, which helps clients manage cybersecurity talent. For the details, Federal Drive Host Tom Temin talked with founder and CEO Deidre Diamond.

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On today's episode of the Federal Drive with Tom Temin:

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The Energy Department’s cybersecurity office will work with cloud service providers and the renewable energy industry this year to help delineate cyber protection requirements for the sector.

The work is being led out of Energy’s Office of Cybersecurity, Energy Security, and Emergency Response (CESER). It comes amid growing concerns about hackers infiltrating U.S. critical infrastructure, including the electric grid.

Puesh Kumar, the director of CESER, said “traditional large fossil generation” is often prohibited by regulations from using the cloud. But he said renewable energy providers are often starting out by relying on cloud computing.

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The Coast Guard’s failure to provide Congress with sufficient information regarding the service’s handling of sexual assault cases points to a “continuing culture of cover-up,” lawmakers said Tuesday during a highly-anticipated congressional hearing on the Coast Guard’s investigation of sexual misconduct at the service’s academy.

Last year, the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee requested all records related to Operation Fouled Anchor, the Coast Guard’s internal investigation of sexual assault cases at the Coast Guard Academy. Lawmakers said the records provided to Congress are highly redacted and include a large number of duplicates.

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