Report raises new concerns about EPA probe of Texas natural gas drilling
The Environmental Protection Agency was justified in intervening to examine possible risks of gas drilling to Texas drinking water, the agency's internal watchdog reported Tuesday.
View ArticleAir, space artifacts make way to new home in Va.
Many historic aircraft and space artifacts—including a Navy dive bomber from World War II and spacesuits from the Apollo era—are slowly moving to a state-of-the-art Smithsonian hangar in northern...
View ArticleIRS: Worker took home personal info on 20k workers
The Internal Revenue Service is reporting a potential security breach involving personal information about 20,000 IRS workers, former workers and contractors.
View ArticleWatchdog looking at EPA handling of mine study
The office that acts as a watchdog of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency is looking at the agency's handling of a report on the potential impacts of large-scale mining in Alaska's Bristol Bay...
View ArticleDrone access to US skies faces significant hurdles (Update)
The federal effort to provide drones regular access to U.S. skies faces significant hurdles and will not meet a September 2015 deadline set by Congress, a government watchdog said Monday.
View ArticleCIA director reverses himself on Senate spying
For months, CIA Director John Brennan had stood firm in his insistence that the CIA had little to be ashamed of after searching the computers of the Senate Intelligence Committee. His defiant posture...
View ArticleUS police use technology to ID troubled officers (Update)
Police departments across the U.S. are using technology to try to identify problem officers before their misbehavior harms innocent people, embarrasses their employer, or invites a costly lawsuit—from...
View ArticleNASA asteroid defense program falls short: audit
The US space agency's program to detect and protect the Earth from incoming asteroids is poorly managed and far behind schedule, said a government audit report on Monday.
View ArticleFlatow, 'Science Friday' settle claims over grant
Federal prosecutors say radio host Ira Flatow and his "Science Friday" show that airs on many National Public Radio stations have settled civil claims that they misused money from a nearly $1 million...
View ArticleGovernment hackers try to crack HealthCare.gov
The government's own watchdogs say they tried to hack into HealthCare.gov earlier this year and found what they termed a critical vulnerability.
View ArticleReport IDs 'major weaknesses' at nuclear-arms lab
One of the nation's premier nuclear weapons laboratories is being called out by the inspector general of the U.S. Department of Energy for "major weaknesses" in the way it packaged contaminated waste...
View ArticleReport: Major federal lab misused contract funds
Federal officials say managers at one of the nation's premiere federal laboratories in New Mexico improperly used taxpayer funds to influence members of Congress and other officials in an effort to...
View ArticleFlawed Social Security data say 6.5M in US reach age 112
Americans are getting older, but not this old: Social Security records show that 6.5 million people in the U.S. have reached the ripe old age of 112.
View ArticleAP sources: IRS believes identity thieves from Russia
IRS investigators believe the identity thieves who stole the personal tax information of more than 100,000 taxpayers from an IRS website are part of a sophisticated criminal operation based in Russia,...
View ArticleIRS needs to do more to fight cyberattacks, watchdog says
The IRS has failed to implement dozens of security upgrades to combat cyberattacks, leaving the agency's computer systems vulnerable to hackers, a government watchdog told Congress on Tuesday.
View ArticleMore data hacks could emerge from probe: US officials
Following disclosures of devastating breaches of US government computer networks, officials told lawmakers Tuesday even more intrusions may be discovered with investigations and deployment of new...
View ArticleFlash audit: 'Serious concerns' about personnel computer fix
The agency that failed to secure data on millions of federal workers is now being criticized by its own independent watchdog over a plan to modernize its aging computer networks.
View ArticlePersonnel office not the worst in terms of lax cybersecurity
The federal government has for years failed to take basic steps to protect its data from hackers and thieves, putting at risk everything from nuclear secrets to the private tax information of hundreds...
View ArticleInterior Department to lead review of Colorado river spill
The Interior Department will lead a review of the Colorado mine spill that tainted rivers in three western states.
View ArticleReport: Orbital faces risks in resuming space station runs (Update)
One of NASA's two commercial suppliers, Virginia-based Orbital, faces an uphill struggle in resuming deliveries to the International Space Station, according to a government report issued Thursday.
View ArticleWhile Clinton used home email, State's networks were at risk
Hillary Rodham Clinton has come under fierce criticism for doing business over personal email while secretary of state, putting sensitive data at risk of being hacked. But her communications may not...
View ArticleWatchdog: No bias in EPA's study on mining in Alaska fishery
A government watchdog found no evidence of bias in how the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency conducted a study on the potential effects of large-scale mining on a world-class salmon fishery in...
View ArticleReview: SC Medicaid agency exposed data to cybertheft risk
A four-decade-old computer system and poor safety measures at South Carolina's Medicaid agency exposed the personal health information of roughly 1 million residents to risk of cybertheft, according to...
View ArticleNew NASA launch control software late, millions over budget
Launch control software under development for NASA's deep-space exploration program is more than a year behind schedule and tens of millions of dollars above projected costs, according to an internal...
View ArticleNASA negotiates cheaper mission prices after last year's SpaceX failure
NASA negotiated discounted mission prices with SpaceX after one of the Hawthorne, Calif., company's rockets broke apart last June while laden with supplies for the International Space Station,...
View ArticleNo criminal investigation planned into faked lab results
No criminal investigation is planned after a worker at a federal laboratory in Colorado was accused of intentionally manipulating test results, potentially tainting research on energy and toxic...
View ArticleEPA allows mine company to pursue permits near Alaska bay
In a sharp reversal, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has cleared a way for the company seeking to develop a massive copper and gold deposit near the headwaters of a world-class salmon fishery...
View ArticleMinnesota scientist: EPA pressured her to change testimony
A Minnesota scientist who leads an Environmental Protection Agency scientific advisory board says she was pressured by the agency's chief of staff to change her testimony before Congress to downplay...
View ArticleInternal watchdog says EPA mismanaging toxic site cleanups
Cleanups at some U.S. hazardous waste sites have stopped or slowed down because the Environmental Protection Agency does not manage its Superfund staff effectively to match its workload, an internal...
View ArticleReport: US agency holding nuke bombs grapples with oversight (Update)
The U.S. Department of Energy has its share of challenges as it conducts some of the world's most high-tech research, maintains a stockpile of nuclear weapons and cleans up after decades of bomb-making.
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