Tech
Autonomous tech featured in Senate border and foreign aid bill
The Senate’s proposed $118 billion immigration and foreign aid package includes more than $260 million to deploy emerging technologies to secure the border.
Tech
Who should be in charge of protecting our water systems from cyber threats?
Federal officials don’t agree. Recent hacks on water systems exposed their vulnerabilities. But while some want the EPA to play a stronger role, others emphasized that local systems are best suited to defend themselves.
Pay & Benefits
Some Coast Guard personnel can’t find housing in vacation-rich areas, GAO says
The watchdog said that despite some government housing and a private sector housing allowance, some Coast Guard personnel can’t find affordable lodging stationed in either remote areas or ones where rentals are positioned for vacation economies.
Tech
Vet centers need better systems, data to enhance support services
Watchdog officials warned lawmakers that the community-based counseling centers for returning veterans use a platform for identifying those at high risk of suicide that is “neither effectively nor consistently utilized.”
Updated
Workforce
Hiring and pay reforms accompany staffing surges in bipartisan border deal
After months of negotiations, Senate group unveils measure to ramp up border security, provide foreign aid and largely meet President Biden's request for thousands of new federal employees.
Workforce
The jobs boom is hitting the federal sector, too
Federal agencies added 11,000 jobs in January and hit a 20-year high for non-census years.
Workforce
OPM offers guidance for agencies implementing salary history ban
Federal agencies will have until October to excise the solicitation and use of job candidates’ past compensation when setting pay for new hires.
Defense
What's at stake as Congress hashes out the 2024 defense budget
A guide to the biggest differences between proposals for the four-months-late defense appropriations bill.
Oversight
Agencies contend with new metrics, another missing hearing for IT acquisition reform
Cracks are showing in the usual, bipartisan buy-in for oversight on 2014 Federal IT Acquisition Reform Act progress.
Tech
National Cyber Strategy needs better implementation measures, GAO argues
The White House Office of the National Cyber Director can improve on performance measures and cost estimations, the U.S. federal oversight agency said in a Thursday analysis.
Workforce
Elon Musk and why you should never compare when it comes to security clearances
COMMENTARY | The government looks holistically at the benefits and risks to national security with each clearance granted.
Tech
Agencies must disconnect all exposed Ivanti products by Friday, cyber officials say
The directive follows a related warning issued last month about cybersecurity flaws in Ivanti systems.
Workforce
O’Malley reduces telework for Social Security HQ, regional office staff
The new commissioner outlined a plan to create “core collaboration days” for members of management, while most frontline workers are seemingly spared from the cuts.
Oversight
USPS’ feud with its regulator escalates yet again
The Postal Service is so far declining to turn over information related to its operational and workforce reforms, while accusing the watchdog of killing new business deals.
News
House passes bipartisan tax bill
The measure restores some of the popular expanded child tax credit, as well as a credit that helps states build affordable housing.
Pay & Benefits
Federal retirement savings plan opens 2024 with a mixed bag
Only two of the five core funds within the federal government’s 401(k)-style retirement savings plan posted gains last month.
Management
Globetrotting Black nutritionist Flemmie P. Kittrell revolutionized early childhood education and illuminated ‘hidden hunger’
In 1947, the State Department sent Kittrell to Liberia to conduct a nutrition study. Her efforts supported an American commitment to strengthening diplomacy with countries around the world.
Workforce
How advanced and emerging technology can help VA save lives
COMMENTARY | Veterans remain at an elevated risk of suicide. Here’s how we can fix that.
Pay & Benefits