With doors still locked at federal buildings around the country, many are wondering: Who is maintaining security during the funding hiatus? For about 9,000 facilities owned or leased by the General Services Administration (GSA) or the…
Category: Agencies
GSA in Shutdown Mode
An eerie quiet has descended over much of the 354 million square feet of real estate owned and leased by the General Services Administration (GSA). Facilities around the U.S. and its territories emptied on October 1…
Spotlight: DEA
Recent revelations of secretive Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) data collection, in consort with the NSA, may lead some to wonder: what does the DEA do, anyway? It is a forty-year-old agency under the Justice Department (DOJ),…
Spotlight: EPA
After a record 136-day confirmation battle, Regina McCarthy became the 13th administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) on July 18, 2013. At her first public speech as administrator two weeks later, McCarthy told a crowd…
Spotlight: ATF
After a cliffhanger Senate vote on July 31, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) has its first permanent director in 7 years. B. Todd Jones, acting director since 2011, now officially heads a…
GSA’s Budget Woes: Part 2 (Where’s the Money to Pay the Rent?)
As discussed in Part 1 of this two-part series on GSA’s budget problems, Congress has screwed down the appropriations spigot, nearly shutting it off completely. That article showed how congressional appropriations for GSA’s Construction & Alterations…
1301 New York Avenue Purchased For $135 Million
Nakash Holdings (the investment arm of Jordache Enterprises) purchased 1301 New York Avenue from Boston Properties on August 22nd. The 201,281 RSF office building is entirely occupied by the Department of Justice (DOJ) under a GSA…
Spotlight: DOE
The hall was packed on Monday, August 26, to hear energy secretary Ernest Moniz deliver his first major policy address at Columbia University’s Center for Global Energy Policy. Just three months on the job, Secretary Moniz elaborated…
GSA’s Budget Woes: Part 1 (Inadequate Funds to Support an Aging Inventory)
The U.S. General Services Administration (GSA) has been suffering through budget cuts that have dramatically reduced funding for the construction, acquisition, renovations and even the basic maintenance of federal buildings. This has served to increase the…
Spotlight: APHIS
August is Tree Check Month, thanks to the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS), which urges each of us to examine tree bark for signs of Asian Longhorned Beetle damage. Protecting the nation’s forests from…