Workforce
Trump administration cuts age limits for ICE agent recruits
The Homeland Security Department is using a recent funding infusion to hire more Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents with the goal of deporting more migrants.
Pay & Benefits
Why it might be time to look beyond U.S. stocks: A guide for federal retirees
The Thrift Savings Plan offers federal employees the ability to diversify their investments to international markets through the I Fund, which may soon be a popular strategy option.
Management
Thomas Shedd departs as Labor CIO
The longtime Tesla engineer appears to still be working at the General Services Administration, according to two employees, even as he leaves his post at the Labor Department.
Tech
GSA adds global AI providers to the schedule
ChatGPT, Claude and Gemini are now available to agencies through a single source for buying artificial intelligence capabilities.
Defense
Pentagon asks to move $150M to speed up Air Force One by 2 years
The move is part of DOD’s $5.4 billion omnibus reprogramming request.
Management
After Senate moves bipartisan spending bills, Dem leaders request sit down on shutdown-aversion plan
The Senate is moving fiscal 2026 funding measures with ease but there is still no overall strategy in Congress.
Management
What should we do with the ODNI? One plank owner’s thoughts
COMMENTARY | The Office of the Director of National Intelligence began as an effort to streamline intelligence-sharing in the wake of 9/11, but current reform efforts raise questions about its future role.
Workforce
FBI agents would get increased whistleblower protections under bipartisan bill
The measure’s sponsor, Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, has previously slammed the FBI over its enforcement of existing whistleblower protections.
Defense
Defense tech office cuts staff down to 40
The cuts to the Defense Technical Information Center are intended to refocus it on “its core statutory mission” according to a Pentagon spokesperson.
Workforce
A second appeals court has allowed Trump’s anti-union EO to go into effect
A three-judge panel on the Ninth Circuit Court rejected claims that President Trump’s barring collective bargaining for two-thirds of the federal workforce was retaliatory in nature, finding that the administration would have done so regardless of labor groups’ various legal challenges.
Workforce
Deep staff cuts at a little-known federal agency pose trouble for droves of local health programs
The Health Resources and Services Administration has lost approximately a quarter of its staff between February and June, challenging its ability to provide grant funding to public health programs across the nation.
Management
VA to end abortion services in cases of rape and incest
The department had only provided a few hundred abortions since the Biden administration authorized them in 2022, VA says.
Exclusive
Management
After shedding most employees, DOJ looks to shift around Civil Rights staff to fill ‘deep need’
Some offices have lost 75% of their attorneys but are still being asked to reassign those who remain to higher priority areas.
Pay & Benefits
TSP funds post mixed returns in July
While domestic investments in the federal government’s 401(k)-style retirement savings program posted gains last month, its international fund faltered.
Workforce
At least 148,000 federal employees have left government under Trump, good government group reports
The Partnership for Public Service acknowledged that it’s difficult to track the number of civil servants who have departed because the Trump administration has not publicized much of the information.
Management
Trump nominates financial executive to be GSA administrator
The nominee, Ed Forst, is a longtime Goldman Sachs alum.
Management
Sharing services is essential for the federal government. Here’s how to make it work
COMMENTARY | Tackling the big problems facing federal agencies requires collaboration that goes beyond performance metrics to reach a solution.
Oversight
Agency layoffs do not constitute illegal impoundments, GAO rules
RIFs are not themselves violations of federal spending law, watchdog says, though the administration is violating the law in other ways.
Oversight
Democrat asks agency watchdogs to tally the cost of DOGE
Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., is estimating that the efficiency project has racked up around $21.7 billion.
Pay & Benefits