FCW Insider: Jan. 31

The Navy wants to add more unmanned surface and underwater vehicles to its future fleet, but faces skepticism on Capitol Hill. Are underwater drones the next big thing? Lauren C. Williams takes a look.

Julie Dunne will lead the Federal Acquisition Service at the General Services Administration on a permanent basis. Mark Rockwell reports.

Lawmakers and experts are worried about lagging federal research funding, especially with Chinese national investments in AI, 5G, quantum and other emerging technologies. Derek B. Johnson explains.

The impeachment hearings and Senate trial of President Donald Trump put whistleblowers in the public eye, but behind the headlines, officials say, agency whistleblowers are increasingly subject to reprisal. Lia Russell has more.

Quick Hits

*** The American Postal Workers Union, which represents more than 200,000 postal employees and retirees, will endorse Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) for president.

*** In a Jan. 29 telephone conference, a federal judge declined to dismiss an ongoing federal union lawsuit that looks to eliminate a federal workplace policy outlined in an Office of Special Counsel memo that looks upon advocacy for the impeachment of President Trump and the use of "resistance" sloganeering as Hatch Act violations. The American Federation of Government Employees filed a request for an injunction to block to OSC policy in light of the current impeachment trial proceeding in the Senate. That injunction was not granted. The government was ordered to file a response to the motion by Feb. 19.

 *** The General Services Administration Office of Inspector General publicly released the agency's FISMA audit on Jan. 30. The audit, conducted by KPMG and completed last December, found a few technical issues, including a failure to formally review and accept compliance information from contractors and one instance of a former employee maintaining an active network account after separating from the agency -- out of 613 documented separations.