FCW Insider: Dec. 12

The Democratic-led House of Representatives passed the final version of the 2020 National Defense Authorization Act, which includes family leave for feds, a three-year intelligence authorization bill and key tech policy moves, by a vote of 377 to 48. Lauren C. Williams has more on the vote and the bill.

Legislation to give the Department of Homeland Security's cyber agency administrative subpoena authority to get info from ISPs is set to drop today. Derek B. Johnson has the latest.

The National Infrastructure Advisory Council wants new agencies to tackle "existential" cyber threats. Derek has more on their report and tees up their Thursday meeting.

18F launched a new practice focusing on the technology and acquisition challenges facing defense and intelligence agencies. Adam Mazmanian has more.

The Navy's Justin Fanelli talked to Steve Kelman about lessons learned over a decade of federal agile projects.

The Locality Pay Equity Act would get rid of discrepancies in policies between General Schedule and Federal Wage System workers. Lia Russell explains the proposed legislation.

A new report from the Atlantic Council argues that aircrafts have become highly complex, "flying data centers," but the industry and government are behind on protecting them from cyber threats and sabotage. Derek takes a look.

A provision in the NDAA reconfigures the existing DOD-VA Interagency Program Office to serve as a hub for interoperability and management issues as the two agencies progress in separate but linked implementations of commercial health records systems. Adam reports.

Quick Hits

*** The paid family leave benefit included in the National Defense Authorization Act that passed the House of Representatives on Dec. 11 will cost $3.3 billion over four years, according to an estimate by the Congressional Budget Office. The bill extends 12 weeks of paid leave to federal employees with at least one year on the job for the birth, adoption or fostering of a child.

*** While the Trump administration is plagued by senior level vacancies, agencies are doing a good job getting permanent hires into CIO slots, according to data included in the latest FITARA scorecard. According to the biannual scorecard, 22 of 24 big departments have a permanent CIO, with only the Department of Homeland Security and the Department of Commerce having acting leadership in the top tech role. We'll have more on the FITARA hearing later today in FCW.

*** The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission proposed a rule on Dec. 11 that eliminates official time for federal employees acting as representatives of their colleagues in EEOC hearings. The rule first made news Nov. 19 when the American Federation of Government Employees published a draft, claiming it would have a "chilling effect" on workers seeking redress. Currently, employees are allowed to select a coworker to represent them when pursuing a claim of bias, and to use official time during such proceedings. In a summary posted to the Federal Register website, EEOC said this would to avoid undermining current labor statutes that govern such proceedings. In a statement, AFGE claimed the rule "overturns 47 years of legal precedent."