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Government Executive Editor in Chief Tom Shoop, along with other editors and staff correspondents, look at the federal bureaucracy from the outside in.
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Welcome to a New Era in Covering Defense

A couple of months ago, I spilled the beans about Defense One, a new digital publication we had in the works here at Atlantic Media and Government Executive Media Group. Today, that publication becomes a reality with its official launch. 

As Defense One's executive editor, Kevin Baron, writes in an introduction to the publication, it is a "news site that will go deeper, featuring reporting, analysis and bold ideas about the trends that are driving the future of defense and U.S. national security." It will focus on global threats, the domestic and international politics of security, management of some of the largest institutions in the federal government and the effect of rapidly advancing technology on defense strategy.

Kevin and his cohorts, Stephanie Gaskell and Kedar Pavgi, have done amazing work in a short period of time to turn the ambitious idea for Defense One into a reality. Already, the site includes insightful pieces on Egypt's military, the Defense Department's human spying operations and what the Founding Fathers would think of today's military (plus a story by yours truly on the importance of getting the administrative things right -- like not shortchanging soldiers on their paychecks.)

Defense ...

The Furloughed Fess Up

  • By Charles S. Clark
  • July 12, 2013
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A show of hands was requested Friday during a The George Washington University Law School panel exploring legislation to improve agency handling of suspension and debarment of dishonest contractors.

The bulk of the audience numbering some 90 identified themselves as feds. But Associate Dean for Procurement Law Studies Dan Gordon, the former administrator of the Office of Federal Procurement Policy, also elicited raised hands from many practicing attorneys and a few contractors.

Then a panelist suggested that this informal survey needed to reflect a new category—federal employees on furlough.

Two more attendees’ hands shot up, one confessing, “I’m not worried about it because I’m here going to school.”

Replied emcee Gordon, “Furloughs cause great pain for us as citizens.”

The Right Way to Fry an Egg in Death Valley

  • By Caitlin Fairchild
  • July 11, 2013
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Temperatures at Death Valley National Park are soaring past 120 degrees this summer, apparently hot enough to fry an egg. One park employee decided to actually try the experiment, and her video of cooking an egg in a skillet took off, garnering more than 400,000 views so far.

Visitors have flocked to the park hoping to make their own breakfasts, but many have fried their eggs sans skillet, making a mess along the trails, Yahoo News reports.

The park took to Facebook: 

“An employee's posting of frying an egg in a pan in Death Valley was intended to demonstrate how hot it can get here, with the recommendation that if you do this, use a pan or tin foil and properly dispose of the contents. However, the Death Valley NP maintenance crew has been busy cleaning up eggs cracked directly on the sidewalk, including egg cartons and shells strewn across the parking lot.

This is your national park, please put trash in the garbage or recycle bins provided and don’t crack eggs on the sidewalks, or the Salt Playa at Badwater.”

Hopefully guests don't switch to french toast.

Singin’ the Furlough Blues

  • By Kellie Lunney
  • July 8, 2013
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There’s a song for everything, even furloughs.

Furloughs at the Defense Department started on Monday, so we thought we’d share this little gem that resurfaced on YouTube. It’s a twist on the 1966 classic “Monday, Monday” by The Mamas and The Papas, replacing some of the original lyrics with ones about unpaid leave, 30-day warnings and an obligatory dig at Congress. Mama Sass, doing a pretty decent Mama Cass impression in full hippie regalia, laments federal furloughs.

Here’s a sample:

Monday, Monday, it’s furlough day.
Monday, Monday, it’s the day I get no pay.
Oh, Monday morning, with 30-day warning, it’s at home I will stay.
Oh, Monday morning, I’m at home, and kids are at play.

Sass goes on to slam lawmakers, noting that “our dear Congress, they’re still getting all of their pay. Oh, Monday morning, all I do is sit home and pray.” Many songwriters have complained about Mondays, but this might be the first one about furloughs.

Can someone please set sequestration to music? Maybe we’d all understand it better in song.

(h/t: The Facebook page, How I Spent My Furlough Day)

Top 5 Fake Out of Office Messages From Furloughed Defense Workers

Monday marks the first day for roughly 650,000 Defense Department employees to take unpaid leave.

The employees are legally prohibited from conducting any work while on furlough and must therefore put up auto-reply messages to notify emailers they are not in the office. According to one DoD worker -- Karen Roberts -- the human resources office has required employees to make the following “out-of-office” message: “I am furloughed today but will return [DATE]. Please contact me during my regular hours on non-furlough days.”

Some Defense employees, however, had some more creative ideas and they took to the Facebook group “How I Spent My Furlough Day” -- the same group responsible for the “Federal Furlough Five-Mile Fun Run” -- to share them. Here are the best five:

5) From Bruce Krapovicky: “I am currently furloughed and unable to respond to your email. If this were a weekend or a holiday I would respond to your email on my Blackberry, but federal employees are not permitted to use their BBs or perform any work on furlough days. Your national security is important to me. Please leave a message and I will get back with you tomorrow.”

4) From Joshua Marcuse: “Thank you for your message ...