Morning Smoke: F-22 Has Big Maintenance Problems, Costs Over $44,000/hr

Premier U.S. Fighter Jet Has Major Shortcomings [The Washington Post] - POGO revealed the fighter's stealth maintenance issues in February, and, along with Stephen Trimble at the DEWLine, raised concerns about the stealth coating problems revealed in a recently unsealed qui tam lawsuit

Bank Stock Warrants Undervalued, Panel Says [The New York Times]

GSA Announces Recovery.gov Redesign Contract [OMB Watch]

Two Authorities on Fed Advise Congress Against Expanding Its Power [The New York Times]

SAIC Case Sheds Needed Light on World of Government Contracting [The Washington Post]

Winning Financial Firms Gave Big in 2008 Cycle [BailoutSleuth]

Secret Program Fuels CIA-Congress Dispute [The Washington Post]

Hearing: "A Review of the Administration's Proposal to Regulate the Over-the-Counter Derivatives Market" [House Financial Services Committee]

Morning Smoke: Treasury Picks Its Fund Managers, but No PIMCO

U.S. Treasury Taps 9 Managers for Toxic-Debt Program [Bloomberg]

Guest Contribution: The Fall of the Toxic-Assets Plan [The Wall Street Journal]

House Intel Chair: CIA has misled us for years [The Associated Press]

A jet even the military doesn't want [The Philadelphia Inquirer]

Lawmakers, watchdog question effects of stimulus [Government Executive]

Director of SEC Inspections Office Resigns [The Washington Post]

Congress Considers Hiking SEC Budget to Prevent More Madoffs [The Washington Independent]

Pick to Lead Health Agency Draws Praise and Some Concern [The New York Times]

Hearing: "Regulatory Restructuring: Balancing the Independence of the Federal Reserve in Monetary Policy with Systemic Risk Regulation" [House Financial Services Committee]

Morning Smoke: Check Out Today's Stimulus Oversight Hearing

Hearing: "Third Stimulus Oversight Hearing to Examine Challenges Facing States, Local Governments" [House Oversight and Government Reform Committee] - Click here to watch a live webcast; and click here to see OMB Watch's questions for the panel

Bribery Plea in Probe of Firm With Murtha Ties [The Washington Post]

North Korean Agency Suspected in Cyberattack [The Washington Post]

US House Panel Seeks Plans for Future of TARP [CNBC]

Army awards contract for classified database support [Defense Systems]

Treasury Works on 'Plan C' To Fend Off Lingering Threats [The Washington Post]

How Big is AIG's Bailout...Really? [ProPublica]

Toxic Asset Program May Be Too Late to Help Banks [Associated Press]

Gene Dodaro Is The One [FedBlog]

Morning Smoke: New Report on Improving Government Performance Systems

No Easy Task: Building a Better Government Performance System [OMB Watch]

Pentagon Inspector General Probes Afghan Headquarters Contract [Bloomberg]

Fighter jet program fuels tension between GOP sens [The Hill]

Industry Takes Aim at Plan to Create Financial Protection Agency [The Washington Post]

Treasury ready to twist arms over consumer agency [Reuters]

Failing Upwards: The Wall Street White House [The Big Picture]

Treasury Plans to Limit Voting of Shares in Rescued Companies [Bloomberg]

Morning Smoke: DOJ Joins Whistleblower Fraud Case, Alleges SAIC Rigged $3.2 Billion Contract

U.S. Joins Whistleblower Suit Alleging SAIC Rigged Contract [The Washington Post]

Robert Gates is right on the F-22 [Politico]

Access scandal echoes beyond the Washington Post [Politico]

Plan to Sell G.M.'s Assets Is Approved [DealBook]

Banning Short Selling [The Big Picture]

40 MV-22s Are Missing! [Carlton Meyer]

FAA whistle-blower safety warnings found to have merit [CNN]

Gerald Walpin Documents [Federal Eye]

Consulting firm says agencies are missing out on major savings opportunities [Government Executive]

Morning Smoke: Treasury to Name Nine PPIP Asset Managers

Treasury Set to Unveil PPIP; Ross, GE Capital Participate [CNBC]

Counting Chickens Before They Hatch: A Quick Lesson on Recovery Act Spending [OMB Watch]

Rule requires more reporting of contractors' past performance [Government Executive]

UK Should Ponder F-35 Pullout [DoD Buzz]

Devaney won’t impede other IG investigations [Federal Times]

Staffer at SEC Had Warned Of Madoff [The Washington Post]

Fissures Appear at the New York Fed [The Wall Street Journal]

Washington Post sells access, $25,000+ [Politico]

Morning Smoke: Hawaii Bank Gets Bailout Funds After Unusual Request from Senator's Office

After Call From Senator's Office, Small Hawaii Bank Got U.S. Aid [The Washington Post/ProPublica]

Book: Rumsfeld Didn't Cut Weapons Programs Because Of 'His Own Financial Situation' [TPMMuckraker]

Fighter of the Future [Air Force Magazine] - And click here to check out more great articles from this issue

Records Indicate Tension Between Agency's Fired IG and Officials [The Washington Post]

Obama admin. sets wide scope for consumer agency [Reuters]

Finance Lobby Cut Spending as Feds Targeted Wall Street [The Wall Street Journal]

SEC's Gaping Blind Spots Kept Madoff's Misdeeds Out of Sight [The Washington Post]

Morning Smoke: F-22 Stealth Fail

Lockheed engineer: F-22 Raptor Stealth tech is 'defective' [The Register]

More Intelligence Oversight Advised [The Washington Post]

House Joins Amtrak IG Probe [Federal Eye]

A Belated Presidential Signing Statement [The Volokh Conspiracy]

Pushing Culture Change [Air Force Magazine]

Requiem for the Whistleblower Protection Act [Federal Diary]

Money for Nothing [OMB Watch]

Open government advocates map out future of citizen governance [Government Executive]

Reducing Government Secrecy: Finding What Works [Secrecy News]

Is PPIP Still Necessary? An Update From Inside Treasury [The Stash]

Morning Smoke: More Problems for PPIP

Wary Banks Hobble Toxic-Asset Plan [The Wall Street Journal]

Shock and Audit [Mother Jones]

Fixing Abuses of State Secrets [The Washington Post]

No Way Out: Treasury And The Price Of TARP Warrants [The Baseline Scenario]

Stimulus oversight board takes waste and fraud prevention steps [Government Executive]

How a Loophole Benefits General Electric in Bank Rescue [The Washington Post/ProPublica]

FOIAing the Fed: The AIG Bankruptcy Negotiations [Zero Hedge]

Financial Regulation: Industry Objections Increasing [BusinessWeek]

Acquisition chiefs brace for a busy year [Government Executive]

Morning Smoke: SASC Disregards Veto Threat, Approves Funding for More F-22s

SASC OKs More F-22s [DoD Buzz]

Bernanke Blasted in House [The Wall Street Journal]

More Headaches for FCS Managers [Ares]

Public Input Sought on Classification Reform [Secrecy News]

Pending OLC Opinion Request On Geithner's Power To Supervise The TARP IG [The Volokh Conspiracy]

Fed Extending Many Emergency Lending Programs [The Washington Post]

Members of U.S. House Financial Services Committee snapped up or dumped bank stocks as bottom fell out of market [Cleveland Plain-Dealer]

The FOIA Process: Still as Archaic as Snail Mail [Real Time Investigations]

The Challenge of Regulating Derivatives [The New York Times]