Oversight

Lawmaker Requests IG Probe Into Trump COVID-19 Food Program

A report from Democratic congressional staff found “serious red flags” with some of the contractors involved in the program. 

Pay & Benefits

Open Season To-Do List

Don’t let health insurance decisions and deadlines sneak up on you.

Nextgov

DHS Wants Wearables to Track Employee Health at Work and at Home

The biometric tech will be used to help employees manage physical and mental health in high-stress mission areas.

Workforce

Coronavirus Roundup: Vaccine Rule Submitted to White House; 60% of TSA's Workforce Is Vaccinated

Here’s today’s list of news updates and stories you may have missed.

Defense

Almost Hijacked? Officials Dispute Scare Amid Ongoing Afghanistan Evac

While the chaos at HKIA is over, the effort to evacuate Afghans is not. Here’s how the U.S. is still getting people out.

Workforce

GovExec Daily: 45,000 VA Employees Still Aren't Vaccinated

Eric Katz joins the podcast to talk about the upcoming deadline for workers at the Veterans Affairs Department to get their COVID-19 vaccines.

Employee Policy

Better, faster research could cut vet suicides

About 17 veterans take their own lives every day, a far higher toll than occurred in America's most recent wars. The think tank RAND Corporation recently presented testimony suggesting that faster collection and publication of data, and associated research, could be used to reduce these horrific losses.

Employee Policy

CISA chief looks to new system for new talent

Despite increasing competition among the public and private sectors in hiring top cyber talent, CISA Director Jen Easterly said she has high hopes for a new personnel management system which reduces friction in hiring and offers new career paths.

Management

Federal Data Officers Council Seeks Input on Mission, Focus Areas 

This request “signals a maturation of the [chief data officer] position,” said a data expert. 

Nextgov

GSA Needs Users to Test SAM.gov Ahead of DUNS Transition

Unique Entity IDs are being issued now and the General Services Administration team wants help testing the system that assigns and manages the new identifier.

Pay & Benefits

Federal Retirees to See Largest Cost-of-Living Adjustment in Decades in 2022

While CSRS retirees will receive a 5.9% boost to their defined benefit annuity payments next year, enrollees in FERS will only see a 4.9% increase, renewing calls to change the law.

Breaking News Defense

Catholic Troops Can Refuse COVID Vaccine, Archbishop Declares

“No one should be forced to receive a COVID-19 vaccine if it would violate the sanctity of his or her conscience,” Broglio wrote.

Defense

Taliban Takeover Of Afghanistan Is Inspiring Americans Online, FBI Says

“That’s where they see this rallying cry and their opportunity. Now it’s ‘time to buy a gun, run people over with a car,’ do whatever they’re going to do,” an FBI official said Tuesday.

Management

Racist Housing Policy from 80 Years Ago Still Affects Maternal Health

"This is further evidence of the influence of a legacy of structural racism on the disproportional burden of adverse pregnancy outcomes for Black women..."

Defense

GovExec Daily: The Future of Defense and Modernization

Defense One's Patrick Tucker speaks to Col. Elizabeth Sweet and Dr. Stephen Russell about how the Pentagon sees the future.

Retirement

Sharply higher COLAs announced for 2022

The Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-W calculation of price rises across the economy has resulted in sharply higher cost-of-living adjustments (COLAs), just announced Sept. 13 for Social Security as well as federal retirement and other plans.