In the wake of WikiLeaks’ disclosure of some 250,000 State Department cables, the Obama administration is ordering executive branch departments and agencies to review procedures for protecting classified information. “The recent irresponsible disclosure by WikiLeaks has resulted in significant damage to our national security,” Office of Management and Budget Director Jack Lew wrote in a memo released this morning. “Any failure by agencies to safeguard classified information pursuant to relevant laws . . . is unacceptable and will not be tolerated.” Effective immediately, all agencies that handle classified information must set up security assessment teams to review implementation of procedures…
Browsing: Office of Management and Budget
None too soon for the Obama administration, Jack Lew was sworn in early Friday afternoon as Office of Management and Budget director after winning Senate confirmation the preceding evening, according to a spokesman. Lawmakers acted Thursday after Sen. Mary Landrieu, D-La., dropped a hold placed on Lew’s nomination in late September in a bid to force the administration to end a six-month moratorium on deepwater oil and gas drilling in the Gulf of Mexico. The administration yielded more than a month ago, but Landrieu had continued the hold, saying she wanted an “action plan” for putting the industry back to work. In a news…
In proposed guidance posted in Tuesday’s Federal Register, the Office of Management and Budget is elaborating on President Obama’s June memorandum barring lobbyists from serving on federal advisory commissions and other boards and commissions. In keeping with Obama’s memo, registered lobbyists already on such panels will not be booted immediately, but cannot be reappointed once their current terms are up, according to the guidance, which is presented in handy question-and-answer format. No waivers are permitted and anyone who becomes a federally registered lobbyist while serving on a federal board or commission will have to resign or face removal. One small…
The Obama administration has made measurable strides in simplifying the federal hiring process, Jeffrey Zients, acting chief of the Office of Management and Budget, said Monday afternoon. More than 80 percent of job descriptions are now “short and written in plain English,” compared to 19 percent before the start of an administration streamlining drive, Zients told attendees at an Excellence in Government conference at the Ronald Reagan Building. Almost 70 percent of job postings no longer require essays, he said, up from about 40 percent beforehand. “Improving the hiring process will help us attract great talent,” Zients said. His presentation,…
It’s happy trails time for OMB Watch Executive Director Gary Bass, who plans to leave the influential watchdog group he founded in 1983 to head the Bauman Foundation, according to a mass e-mail sent out this afternoon. From his experience in the nonprofit sector, Bass said in the message, “I have learned there comes a time when an organization’s founder needs to move on in order to strengthen the very organization the founder loves.” Bass added that he is “confident that the group’s commitment to high-quality work and smart policy advocacy will continue, and I have no doubt that OMB…
Making it a twofer kind of week for Jacob “Jack” Lew, the Senate Budget Committee voted 22-1 today to confirm him for the job of director of the Office of Management and Budget. But that’s where the good times ended, at least temporarily. Soon after, Sen. Mary Landrieu, D-La., said she will block a final confirmation vote by the full Senate until the Obama administration drops or makes major changes to its six-month moratorium on deepwater oil and gas drilling in the Gulf of Mexico. The moratorium, in effect since late May, could lead to thousand of job losses in…
The Senate Budget Committee plans a Thursday afternoon vote on the nomination of Jacob “Jack” Lew to become Office of Management and Budget Director, a spokesman said this afternoon via e-mail. The vote is set for around 12:45 p.m. Lew, who served an earlier turn as OMB director from 1998-2001, won unanimous approval from the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee on Tuesday. If the budget committee concurs Thursday, his nomination will go to the full Senate for a final confirmation vote. President Obama announced in July that Lew was his choice to succeed Peter Orszag, but only submitted…