IRS Requests Additional Funding – Plus the DorobekIINSIDER’s 7 Stories

On GovLoop Insights’ DorobekINSIDER:

• 2013 was a historically rough year for federal employees, but 2014 is off to a positive start. First a budget deal is close to being signed, the budget deal would eliminate the threat of shutdown, furloughs and reduce the impacts of sequestration. Six resolutions that every government leader should add to their New Year’s Resolution list.

But up front: Engaging Citizens in Co-Creation in Public Services

• “Two professors suggest that citizen “co-creation” or the development of new public services by citizens in partnership with governments. And they say that there are four roles that citizens can play in the co-creation of public services: explorer, ideator, designer, and diffuser, with examples of citizens playing each of these roles.”

Let’s catch up on what you need to know

1. NYT: IRS Cites a Need for More Funding in Annual Report to Congress. The Internal Revenue Service would do a better job with more money to bolster collection and customer service efforts, said the ombudswoman for the nation’s tax collector on Thursday in delivering its annual report to Congress.
2. Federal Times: CBO suggests tough defense spending cuts. “The nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office has proposed six ways to reduce defense spending ranging from deep cuts to the military services to controversial reductions in pay and benefits.”
3. Federal News Radio: By the numbers: 2013 federal retirements. “More federal employees retired in 2013 than the year before, providing grist for the mill for predictions of a coming federal retirement wave.”
4. FCW: Why the holidays made your BYOD approach a little trickier. “Got a shiny new tablet for Christmas that you just know will make life at work easier? Not so fast, especially if you’re a government employee.”
5. NextGov: COMMERCE NEEDS MORE MONEY TO MODERNIZE THE CENSUS, SECRETARY SAYS. “The Census Bureau wants to modernize the way it collects data from citizens but without new money from Congress it won’t be able to do that, Commerce Secretary Penny Pritzker said at the Consumer Electronics Show. “
6. Washington Post: Obama picks his first Asian American deputy secretary of cabinet department. “Chris Lu, who was White House cabinet secretary during President Obama’s first term, is going to be nominated to be deputy secretary of Labor, the White House announced Wednesday, making him the first Asian American to be nominated to a deputy secretaryship during this administration.”
7. Federal News Radio: Pentagon chief in rare visit to nuke missile base. “Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel is making a rare visit to an Air Force nuclear missile base, hoping to boost morale among the men and women who operate, maintain and safeguard the nation’s Minuteman 3 nuclear missiles.”

DorobekINSIDER water-cooler fodder

• Fed Tech Magazine: How NASA JPL is using Microsoft’s Kinect motion sensor. “It’s not every day that consumer technology is good enough for NASA, but Microsoft’s Kinect motion sensor recently made it into NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory.”
• The WSJ’s Geoffrey Fowler and Don Clark document some of “Internet of Things devices they’ve seen at CES. Of course the list includes an Internet-connected oven (like the connected-fridge, this is a CES staple that will not die), and a home scanner for physical exams. The Scanadu Scout analyses heart rate, temperature, blood oxygen level and other vital signs.”
• The New York Times’s Nick Bilton reports on a new bracelet from Netatmo that tells wearers if they are getting too much sun (really, you need a device for this?) and the Verge’s Ben Popper reports on a company called Yellow Jacket that is showing off a smartphone case with a built in stun gun. “New iPhone case includes a taser so thieves can stun you after they take your phone,” tweets Quartz’s Christopher Mims.