The Federal Drive with Terry Gerton

The Postal Service and its law enforcement division are stepping up plans to address a rise in mail theft.

USPS and its Postal Inspection Service are adding new security measures to its blue collection boxes to prevent criminals from stealing mail and altering checks. USPS also expects these added security measures will also make letter carriers less of a target for criminals.

U.S. Postal Inspector Michael Martel told Federal News Network in a recent interview that USPIS has seen an “alarming” increase in letter carrier robberies in recent years.

Criminals are robbing letter carriers for their arrow keys, which are used to steal mail and packages, as well as commit financial crimes — including altering checks and committing check fraud.

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The AbilityOne program employs people with disabilities to manufacture many commodities for the government, from military uniforms to those wonderful ball point pens. A big focus for AbilityOne is office supplies and furnishings. For how the program is faring with so much of federal office space vacant, Federal Drive Host Tom Temin spoke with Kim Zeich, the AbilityOne Executive Director.

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If the COVID virus showed anything, it's the potency of the biology threats. The Defense Department recently completed its 2023 biodefense posture review. It deals with many potential threats from the bio domain. For more on the story behind the review, Federal Drive Host Tom Temin spoke with the Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Nuclear, Chemical and Biological Defense Programs, Brandi Vann.

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

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The Defense Department’s short-lived chief management officer (CMO) position didn’t work because the Pentagon’s senior leadership never wanted it, and the position was foisted on an unwilling DoD by Congress, according to a new report analyzing what went wrong with the position.

The report, released Monday by the Defense Management Institute, a DoD-affiliated nonprofit think tank, found the position lacked well-defined boundaries and never got the full support of senior leadership.

“There’s nothing to suggest that the department was interested in a chief management officer. In fact, it received objections from the highest levels of the department. And likewise, there was resistance from other echelons across the department,” Jason Dechant, study lead for the report and research staff member at the Institute for Defense Analyses (IDA) told Federal News Network. IDA is the parent organization for DMI.

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It sounds cliché to say someone has devoted a career to helping others. But my the guest in this interview has literally done that. Specifically, she has helped victims of terrorism and crime. Among her accomplishments, is drafting Justice Department policy for the International Terrorism Victim Expense Reimbursement Program. Federal Drive Host Tom Temin spoke with Carolyn Hightower the Deputy Director of the Office on Trafficking in Persons, part of the Health and Human Services department, who is also a finalist in this year's Service to America Medals program, known as the Sammies.

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It sounds cliché to say someone has devoted a career to helping others. But my the guest in this interview has literally done that. Specifically, she has helped victims of terrorism and crime. Among her accomplishments, is drafting Justice Department policy for the International Terrorism Victim Expense Reimbursement Program. Federal Drive Host Tom Temin spoke with Carolyn Hightower the Deputy Director of the Office on Trafficking in Persons, part of the Health and Human Services department, who is also a finalist in this year's Service to America Medals program, known as the Sammies.

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The Copyright Office -- a Congressional agency -- is taking a bow for the success of its online recordation system. The system lets people submit, online, documents for copyright applications. How successful is it? Federal Drive Host Tom Temin gets the numbers from the Assistant Register and Director of the Office of Copyright Records, Denise Wofford.

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

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The Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency could lose employees involved in chemical security screenings, one of its leaders is warning, if Congress doesn’t act soon to reauthorize and fund the agency’s expired chemical security program.

The authorization for the Chemical Facility Anti-terrorism Standards (CFATS) program lapsed on July 28 after the Senate failed to pass a reauthorization bill before going on August recess. It’s the first time the program hasn’t been reauthorized since it was created in 2007.

CISA and Department of Homeland Security leaders are now pressing Congress to reauthorize the CFATS program, warning that the absence of facility inspections and other security standards under the program increases the danger of chemical terrorism.

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