The Federal Drive with Terry Gerton

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

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The top U.S. spy office has tapped a research official to spearhead the intelligence community’s work on AI.

John Beieler, who serves as Director of National Intelligence Avril Haines’ top science and technology advisor, has been named chief artificial intelligence officer at the Office of the Director of National Intelligence. Beieler confirmed his additional role during a speech today at an event hosted by the Intelligence and National Security Alliance in Arlington, Va.

Beieler now leads a council of chief AI officers from the 18 elements of the intelligence community, including the CIA, the National Security Agency and the Defense Intelligence Agency. He said the council, which reports directly to Haines, has been meeting every two weeks for the last two months.

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The Department of Veterans Affairs is reviewing more than 4,000 positions at risk of a downgrade in their respective pay scales.

The six VA positions under review include a mix of white-collar General Schedule (GS) and blue-collar Wage Grade (WG) positions.

The American Federation of Government Employees (AFGE) estimates about 56% of VA employees in these 4,000 positions are veterans. Some of the positions under review cover VA employees who make less than $20 an hour.

The positions the VA is reviewing cover all 18 Veterans Integrated Services Networks (VISNs). More than 1,700 positions under review are located in the Veterans Health Administration’s Finance Revenue Operations and Procurement and Logistics Office.

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

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Following its previous Federal Health IT Strategic Plan, the Health and Human Services Department is looking to continue the effort with its latest plan, which covers the next six years. HHS is now open for public comment. Officials are hoping to continue improving the exchange and availability of electronic health information. They also have some new goals in mind. Federal News Network's Eric White got the change to speak to one HHS official: Dustin Charles, Policy Specialist in the Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology.

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A newly proposed rule by the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency, tasks those operating in critical infrastructure sectors to report cyber incidents within 72 hours and to report ransom payments within 24 hours of making a payment. These new requirements would significantly lengthen the To-Do List of these entities. For analysis on what the impact could be, Federal News Network's Eric White spoke to Beth Waller, Principal at the law firm Woods Rogers Vandeventer Black.

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Defense installations often have mutually beneficial relationships with the communities that surround them. Communities can be both social and economic. They have even got their own group: The Association of Defense Communities. To ask about the top issues facing these communities, Federal Drive Host Tom Temin spoke with the association's Executive Director, Matt Borron.

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Earlier this spring, several House lawmakers introduced a new bill to address a burgeoning post-pandemic trend: the use of employee monitoring technologies.

The “Stop Spying Bosses Act” would create new rules around the use of worker surveillance technologies. It would also establish a new division at the Labor Department to regulate workplace surveillance.

The legislation comes in response to an explosion in the use of everything from video surveillance to keylogging software to keep tabs on employees. A 2023 survey of 1,000 companies with remote or hybrid workforces found the vast majority use some form of employee monitoring.

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The Air Force seeks to override governors’ authority over their National Guard personnel in some states and move Air National Guard units with space missions to the Space Force.

Air Force officials are proposing legislation to bypass existing law requiring them to obtain a governor’s consent before making changes to a National Guard unit and to transfer 14 Air National Guard space units across seven states into the Space Force

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With Congress back in action next week, many eyes are on how it's going to handle international affairs. Speaker Mike Johnson is still getting his feet wet in the role, and he may already be facing calls for his resignation. For details on what's happening, Federal Drive Host Tom Temin talked with WTOP Congressional Correspondent Mitchell Miller.

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