The Federal Drive with Terry Gerton

The Project on Government Oversight (POGO), one of the longest-running external good-government groups, has a list of items its watching for in the 2025 National Defense Authorization Act. A House committee has already passed one version. For details, Federal Drive Host Tom Temin talks with POGO Public Policy Director Liz Hempowicz.

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

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The Office of Special Counsel is looking to close what it says is a loophole in the Hatch Act, a law that limits federal employees’ political activity while on duty.

Among several updates to how OSC — an investigative arm of the Merit Systems Protection Board — will enforce and interpret the Hatch Act, one notable change looks at how OSC will handle violations from senior White House officials.

Most Senate-confirmed officials are excepted from MSPB enforcement, but White House staffers are not. As such, non-Senate-confirmed White House officials will now be held to the same standards as all other career federal employees, OSC said in a May 20 advisory opinion.

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As a proposal to create a separate Army drone branch advances in the House, Army leaders continue to push back against the idea.

Gen. James Rainey, who leads the Army Futures Command, said it is “too early” for the service to establish a drone corps.

“I think unmanned aerial systems are going to come to bear at echelon. I think individual soldiers [need to be able] to employ them just like they employ their weapon. So 11 Bravos, I think, the tanks should be able to have a robot sitting next to him that can launch UAS. I think every maneuver person is going to need them. They have huge sustainment implications,” Rainey said during the Center for Strategic and International Studies event on Monday.

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For the Army, the command post of the future will need to be agile, resilient and intuitive.

It will be a big lift not only for the Army, but for the contractors who are building the technology to support it.

This is one of many reasons why the Army Chief of Staff Gen. Randy George on May 28 signed off on the Next Generation Command and Control (NGC2) Capability Characteristics (C2 Next).

The Army released a notice on SAM.gov to say the characteristics of needs are available, but vendors have to “apply” to see them as they are not public.

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Growth is usually the name of the game in business. However, trying to mask that growth so that your company can qualify for special government contracts is a tactic some take, despite the possible consequences. Fines, disbarment, or even jail time can come from not being forthcoming about your firm's current state or origin, especially as there has been an uptick in enforcement actions from the federal government. For more on this, as well as other trends to keep an eye on this summer, Federal News Network's Eric White talked with Larry Allen from Allen Federal Business Partners.

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Where should you retire? What state or city can have big consequences for finances and satisfaction. People retiring from military service have extra considerations, such as access to Veterans Affairs services or post-retirement job prospects. For some of the best and worst places to retire, Federal Drive Host Tom Temin talked with Wallet Hub analyst Cassandra Happe.

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On the whole, government contractors are optimistic about future business. More than half of them grew their revenue year-over-year. They expect more growth as the government adopts artificial intelligence. The most recent contractor survey conducted by Deltek also shows small businesses have outsized challenges. For more, Federal Drive Host Tom Temin spoke with Deltek Senior Vice President Kevin Plexico.

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

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The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is reining in full-time remote work for many of its employees.

With the Biden administration setting higher return-to-office targets, the CDC is now telling most teleworking employees to come into the office at least twice each two-week pay period.

The CDC is still carving out exceptions and allowing employees in IT and data science positions to work remotely.

Until recently, the CDC relied on remote work as a free, but effective, way to keep public health workers from looking for other jobs.

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