Management

ATF Director Reminds Staff To Follow the Rules When Recruiting Family and Friends

The Justice Department watchdog raised concerns last December about avoiding ethical issues when hiring special agents.

Management

Management of the Federal Prisons System Is Added to GAO’s High-Risk List

The federal government made improvements in other areas including veterans health care and the Postal Service’s financial viability. 

Management

Lawmakers Make a Renewed Effort to Crack Down on Traffickers Sending Opioids Through USPS

The Biden administration should stop giving countries a free pass to avoid fentanyl detection measures, bipartisan pair says.

Tech

Proposed HIPAA Rule Would Restrict Law Enforcement Access to Abortion, Reproductive Health Data Across State Lines

The HHS published a proposed modification to HIPAA’s privacy rule, giving new protections to personal health information related to reproductive care history in the wake of Dobbs and the overturning of Roe v. Wade.

Oversight

DHS Watchdog Alleges Harassment, Chilling Effect and Constitutional Violations

A lawsuit filed this week alleges the Homeland Security inspector general and his office have been harassed by the Council of the Inspectors General on Integrity and Efficiency’s investigations, among other things.

Oversight

Following Concerns, Watchdog Advises DOJ on Ending Private Detention Contracts

The department’s inspector general says its recommendations on information sharing and documentation will ensure the proper stewardship of taxpayer dollars and that the department carries out the intent of President Biden’s executive order for the Marshals Service.

Oversight

Trump’s Indictment Stretches U.S. Legal System in New Ways – a Former Prosecutor Explains 4 Key Points to Understand

The Manhattan District Attorney will need to prove several different points in its prosecution of Trump. But securing an unbiased jury will also challenge the execution of this unprecedented case.

Oversight

Trump Indictment Won’t Keep Him from Presidential Race, but Will Make His Reelection Bid Much Harder

With a grand jury indictment of former President and current presidential candidate Donald Trump, a legal scholar explores what the law says about the consequences of such an unprecedented act.

Oversight

FBI Whistleblower Protections May Finally Catch Up With Obama-era Policy Changes

The Justice Department also wants to know how it can further increase “fairness, effectiveness, efficiency and transparency” for whistleblowers.

Oversight

Here’s How the Prisons Agency Fared During the Pandemic

The Justice Department inspector general outlined opportunities for reform before the next public health emergency. 

Defense

Biden Asks the Pentagon to Use Its Buying Power to Advance Gun Safety Goals

This is part of a new executive order issued as the president visits a community in California that suffered a mass shooting in January. 

Workforce

Inside a Federal Prison Facility

Courtney Bublé joins the podcast to discuss what she saw at FCI Cumberland.

Management

'It's Not Just Club Fed': A Day Inside One Facility in the Strained Federal Prisons System

A visit to a Bureau of Prisons facility in Maryland showed some of the challenges the agency is facing as a new director tackles reforms.

Management

Team Maryland Champions Its State for the New FBI Headquarters

Both the Maryland and Virginia congressional delegations have meetings with the General Services Administration this week. 

Management

ICE, Prison Targeted Immigrants Seeking Medical Care, Complaint Says

The complain alleges that staff at two facilities in Nevada have engaged in retaliatory transfers and medical abuse, including refusing to treat “a severe case of trench foot" for one detainee.

Management

30 Years Later, Waco Siege Still Resonates – Especially among Anti-Government Extremists

Waco has been used as a rallying cry for decades, two scholars of domestic extremism explain.

Workforce

Postal Police Won a Grievance, but They're Unlikely to Patrol

An arbitrator overturned a 2020 memo that confined the postal police force to acting solely as building security guards.

Management

The Bureau of Prisons Needs to Do More to Address Inmate-on-Staff Sexual Harassment, a Watchdog Says

The report “affirms the years of widespread reports from across the country of this pervasive and demoralizing conduct in our nation's prisons,” a union president said. 

Management

Everyone Wants the New FBI Headquarters, But Who Gets It Remains Undecided

On Wednesday, a Virginia delegation explained why their state should be chosen for the new location, and got opposition from lawmakers advocating for Maryland to win the long-running fight.

Oversight

New U.S. House Weaponization Panel to Probe FBI, IRS, ATF

Chairman Jim Johnson called on whistleblowers from throughout federal government to come forward to share information with committee