• Teleworking DoD employees are once again a target in the latest spending legislation from House appropriators. A policy rider in the fiscal 2025 defense spending bill would block any funding from going toward the costs of teleworking or remote working for defense employees and contractors. The GOP-led appropriations committee advanced the spending bill last week. The telework measure, however, may be unlikely to make it into the final appropriations package for fiscal 2025. Democrats, with a Senate majority, have remained largely in favor of federal telework. They say it fosters better workforce recruitment and retention.
  (Fiscal 2025 Department of Defense appropriations bill - House Appropriations Committee)
• Early signs are pointing in the right direction after some recent federal workforce reforms. The Office of Personnel Management’s initiatives over the last couple of years have included banning the use of salary history in hiring, creating a portal for internship openings and broadening eligibility for the Pathways Program. Larger impacts of those changes are likely still further down the road. But there are already some initially positive indications, especially for early-career recruitment: “It’s going to take a little more time. I do think what we’re seeing, though, is a renewed and increased interest in federal job opportunities by early-career talent,” OPM Acting Director Rob Shriver said.
  (Early-career federal job openings seeing ‘renewed and increased’ interest, OPM’s Shriver says - Federal News Network)
• The Energy Department wants to secure the future electric grid from cyber threats. Energy’s Office of Cybersecurity, Energy Security and Emergency Response (CESER) is working to set security expectations for using the cloud. Later this year, the CESER office will convene with big cloud service providers and the clean-energy sector to collaborate on cybersecurity requirements. The discussion comes amid growing threats to critical infrastructure, including the energy grid. Many renewable energy operators are relying on cloud computing for critical services.
  (Energy working with renewables industry, cloud providers on cyber requirements - Federal News Network)
• The Department of Veterans Affairs is looking to keep aging and disabled vets living independently. The VA is looking at how smart-home technologies and wearables like smartwatches can flag when aging and disabled veterans are having a medical emergency in their homes. Joseph Ronzio, VA’s deputy chief health technology officer, said the department is also taking steps to ensure veterans have a say as to who gets this data, and how it may be used. “Everyone nowadays has some smartness in their home, whether it’s a speaker, whether it’s light switches, whether it’s different types of lights or other physical devices — cameras, motion detectors that leave a digital service," Ronzio said.
  (VA looking at ‘smart home’ tech to keep aging, disabled vets living independently - Federal News Network)
• The Army has taken over the role of the Combatant Command Support Agent for U.S. Cyber Command (CYBERCOM). The Department of the Air Force has served in this role since 2017. The shift mainly happened because the primary location of CYBERCOM operations is at Fort Meade in Maryland, where the Army has a significant presence. About 350 Air Force civilian employees in U.S. Cyber Command became Army civilians as part of the reshuffle. The Army will now provide administrative and logistical support to CYBERCOM. Congress mandated the transition as part of the National Defense Authorization Act.
  (Army becomes combatant command support agent for CYBERCOM - U.S. Army)
• The Defense Department has signed a $248 million deal with Duke Energy to deliver solar power to five military bases in the Carolinas over the next 15 years. The power will come from two newly-built solar arrays in South Carolina, and DoD has agreed to buy all the electricity those facilities can generate. Defense officials said the project helps meet the government’s energy sustainability goals, and – in combination with on-base microgrids – makes the five bases more resilient against disruptions to off-site power supplies.
  (DoD Announces Two Solar Projects to Supply Five Military Installations in the Carolinas With Clean Energy - Department of Defense)
• Three more agencies are getting nearly $30 million to accelerate their IT modernization projects. The governmentwide Technology Modernization Fund is granting $17 million to the Energy Department to update its human resources IT systems. The fund is also backing a Bureau of Indian Education project to modernize school websites for tribal communities. The Federal Election Commission is also getting funding to improve online services for political campaign filers.
  (Technology Modernization Fund announces investments to modernize tribal school websites, campaign finance software, federal HR system - General Services Administration)
• The Department of Transportation (DOT) is drafting a new cybersecurity strategy. Transportation officials told the Government Accountability Office (GAO) that the agency will finalize the plan by September. GAO said DOT needs a strong cyber risk management plan to address threats to its data and systems. The congressional auditor is also urging Transportation officials to take a closer look at their cyber workforce needs.
  (Priority open recommendations for Transportation Department - Government Accountability Office )
• The Space Force’s first chief technology and innovation officer, Lisa Costa, has officially retired from federal service. At the Space Force, Costa was responsible for developing strategies and policies that advanced science and technology efforts across the service. She also spearheaded the Unified Data Library project, a repository that collects space situational awareness data from military and commercial sources. Prior to her current role, she served as the chief information officer at U.S. Special Operations Command. There is no information yet as to where Costa will be working next.
  (Space Force’s chief technology and innovation officer retires from government service - LinkedIn)

The post Teleworking DoD employees targeted by House spending bill first appeared on Federal News Network.

• The spending bill to support the funding for the rest of the government is facing a 25% cut. House appropriators passed the Financial Services and General Government 2025 spending bill yesterday and it is 20% below the administration's request and 10% below this year's enacted levels. But Rep. Steny Hoyer (D-Md.) said the reductions, especially those to the IRS of some $2 billion, will have a much bigger effect than any one agency's budget. "This bill funds every other bill you are going to consider or it funds paying the almost $900 billion to the debt." Hoyer said the cuts also mean federal workers could face hiring freezes, furloughs or layoffs, which will impact the services to citizens.
  (Markup Fiscal Year 2025 - House Appropriations Committee)
• A new report by the research organization RAND found that the majority of federal funding to assist military-to-civilian employment transitions goes toward educational benefits rather than helping service members and veterans find work. In 2019, four programs, including the Post-9/11 G.I. Bill and DoD's Tuition Assistance Program, accounted for $13.5 billion out of $14.3 billion in total. Meanwhile, the DoD's Transition Assistance Program received $140 million in funding. But there is not enough evidence to support that federally funded employment transition programs are effective. The study also found that military-to-civilian transition programs have limited oversight.
  (Military-to-civilian transition programs focus on education rather than employment - RAND)
• The Department of Veterans Affairs is staying the course on plans to roll out a new Electronic Health Record. The VA extended its contract with Oracle-Cerner for another 11 months. Both parties agree to come back to the negotiating table each year to renew the multi-billion-dollar contract. The VA and Oracle-Cerner approved a one-month extension in May to continue contract talks. The Defense Department is done with its deployment of the same EHR. But only six VA sites are using it and further rollouts are on hold, as the VA addresses problems at those sites. The VA said it plans to resume go-lives in fiscal 2025.
  (VA awards second option period to Oracle Health in support of Federal Electronic Health Record modernization contract - Department of Veterans Affairs )
• A bill looking to expand fertility treatment coverage in the Federal Employee Health Benefits Program has failed to advance to a floor vote. Senate Republicans effectively blocked the Right to IVF Act Thursday afternoon. The legislation, which Democrats introduced last week, did not reach the 60-vote threshold to advance to a floor vote. If passed, the bill would in part increase requirements for carriers in the FEHB program to provide more fertility treatment coverage to enrollees. Even after the bill failed, advocacy groups are calling on the Office of Personnel Management to take it upon itself to make the changes. They want OPM to heighten requirements for FEHB carriers to further cover in-vitro fertilization (IVF) — both medications and treatments.
  (Senate GOP blocks bill to expand IVF access as advocates call for better FEHB coverage - Federal News Network)
• The White House joins a chorus of opposition, including that of Army leadership, to the idea of creating a separate Army drone branch. The White House Office of Management and Budget said creating a separate drone corps will limit the service’s flexibility to deploy drone technology at scale. OMB also said the Army secretary already has the power to create new branches within the service and that creating a separate drone branch through legislation will hinder the Army’s ability to address current and future requirements.
  (White House joins chorus of opposition to Army drone branch idea - White House)
• Oversight processes at the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission need some work, according to the Government Accountability Office. Agencies are responsible for managing their own EEO programs for federal workers. But GAO said the commission’s system for tracking those programs does not have guardrails for clearly identifying issues, or making sure decisions are timely. A lack of oversight can lead to challenges in figuring out whether agencies are EEO-compliant. GAO’s new report shows, for instance, that 16 agencies did not have anti-harassment policies in place. The EEOC said its working on enhancing and modernizing its oversight processes.
  (EEOC: Improved oversight processes needed to help agencies address deficiencies - Government Accountability Office)
• A major change to the General Services Administration's schedules program will make it easier for agencies to buy software more like the private sector. GSA will now let agencies pay upfront for software licenses through the schedules program. This change is specifically aimed at making it easier for agencies to buy cloud services, which has been hampered by the Advance Payment Statute, which originated in 1823. The interpretation of the statue required agencies to pay for services in the arrears. The update comes after GSA conducted research and gathered input from agency buyers and vendors last summer.
  (GSA updates rules for buying SaaS off the schedule program - GSA)
• The Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation is one step closer to getting new leadership. President Joe Biden nominated Christy Goldsmith Romero, a commissioner at the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, to lead the FDIC. The current FDIC Chairman says he will step down as soon as a successor is confirmed. An independent report commissioned by the FDIC recently substantiated claims of a toxic workplace culture.
  (Nominations sent to the Senate - White House)

The post Rep. Hoyer warns of ‘freezes, furloughs, layoffs’ first appeared on Federal News Network.

The Department of Housing and Urban Development is looking for a new chief information officer. HUD is now one of five major agencies looking for a new technology leader.

But unlike the departments of Defense and Health and Human Services, and the Small Business Administration and the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, the HUD CIO didn’t actually leave the agency to create the job opening.

Beth Niblock, who has been CIO since July 2021, moved to a new position as senior advisor for disaster management. The reason for the opening is purely political. HUD decided to move the CIO’s position back to a career one from a political one.

“[O]ver the past few years, HUD leadership determined the department would be best served by having a career CIO to ensure steady and consistent leadership, and to better position the department to deliver high-quality, transformative solutions enabling HUD to deliver on its mission,” said a HUD spokesperson in an email to Federal News Network.

HUD posted the CIO job on USAJobs.gov in mid May and applications are due today. In the meantime, Sairah Ijaz will step in as the acting CIO until a permanent career leader is selected.

Political CIOs close to leadership?

The decision by HUD to transition the CIO position back to career from political isn’t that unusual.

Over the course of the last 28 years — January 2026 will be the 30^th anniversary of the Clinger Cohen Act — several agencies ranging from the departments of Commerce, Energy, Treasury and Transportation as well as the Environmental Protection Agency and others have flipped the position back and forth between career and political to suit the needs of the leadership.

But HUD’s decision brought up a long-standing and healthily-debated question of whether CIOs, especially at this point in time of history where technology is at the center of every agency’s mission, are better off being political appointees?

To many, the answer continues to remain as it has for the last almost 30 years: It depends. But what has become clearer than ever is the role of managing, implementing and securing technology puts the CIO and deputy CIO on a higher plane across all agencies. Thus, requiring the federal community to continually re-ask the political appointee question.

“How the agency positions the CIO’s role in theory versus practice for the best possible function is really a question of how the head of the agency and the culture of that agency sets that role up for success,” said Dan Chenok, the former Office of Management and Budget official who helped with the Clinger-Cohen Act and now executive director of the IBM Center for the Business of Government. “Given the ubiquity of technology today, what is the right balance? My own personal view is a political CIO is more likely to be close to the head of the agency, and a career deputy CIO gives you continuity.”

Finding that seat at the table

But that closeness doesn’t always result in a CIO’s success.

If you look at the January 2024 Federal IT Acquisition Reform Act (FITARA) scorecard as one measure of CIO effectiveness, agencies with career CIOs versus those with politically appointed ones faired about the same. Agencies with political CIOs — the departments of Defense, Energy, Homeland Security, Veterans Affairs and HUD — received the same mix of “B” and “C” grades as those with career CIOs.

Simon Szykman, the president and founder of Cambio Digital Transformations and former Commerce Department CIO, said the role of the CIO is inherently not one that strongly aligns with any political ideology.

“Ideally it should not be necessary to make a CIO political appointment in order for that person to support the agency mission, or even the political leadership’s agenda,” he said. “However, the flip side to the argument for career CIOs is that no CIO will be successful if they don’t have that proverbial seat at the table. They need to be able to operate, influence and impact decisions at the senior-most levels. It can be a challenge for career senior executives to fully operate as peers to political leadership, and this challenge can be dependent on agency culture as well the leadership tone set higher up in the administration.”

Many times an agency hires a political CIO because the secretary wants a specific person in that role. That was the case, for example, with Steve Cooper, when he worked at Commerce from 2014 to 2017.

For other agencies like VA, Congress required the position be presidentially appointed and Senate confirmed — one of the few that requires Senate confirmation.

HUD’s great strides

But even then, there is no guarantee of success.

“Moving the CIO to political or a career position is situational and based on the candidates available and what’s going on at the agency at that moment,” said Margie Graves, a former deputy CIO at DHS and federal deputy CIO and now a senior fellow at IBM’s Center for the Business of Government. “A lot of times the decision to bring on a political CIO may be because the secretary wants a specific person on board to do something specific. I would advocate for choosing the best person for the moment. It’s really no different than what you’d do in private sector. And the times I’ve see the decision fail is when the person has no background in the technology management discipline and no expertise. I saw a couple of those at DHS.”

Graves added, at least for the CFO Act agencies, she would prefer to have someone in the C Suite who is “hearing” those political conversations as opposed to someone who is relegated as an “outsider.”

HUD’s reason for moving the CIO back to a career position is not entirely clear. The spokesperson said Niblock and her team have made “great strides over the past few years” to modernize the technology and improve the cyber posture of the agency’s infrastructure. But the spokesperson seems to insinuate there may be some bumpy roads ahead.

“However, HUD’s IT only received 0.5% of the department’s fiscal 2024 budget, which is one of the lowest percentages across cabinet level agencies. HUD is continuing to work with its federal and congressional partners to build on the progress of the past several years, while also continuing to pursue the ability to leverage various funding flexibilities that other agencies are able to leverage, including a working capital fund for its IT needs,” the spokesperson said.

HUD’s IT budget for 2024 is $641 million, of which it is spending only $94 million on development, modernization and enhancement projects. The agency requested $540 million for IT in 2025.

The post Political vs. career: Role of CIO remains unsettled first appeared on Federal News Network.

The FBI has reinstated the the security clearance of a former employee. Marcus Allen had his clearance revoked and was suspended from his role of staff operations specialist with the FBI back in February 2022, for what it called “questionable judgment” when it came to the agency’s investigations into the January 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol. One of the organization’s who defended and represented Allen was Empower Oversight. To learn more about this case, Federal News Network’s Eric White talked with that organization’s president, Tristan Leavitt.

Interview Transcript:

Eric White  The FBI has reinstated one of its former employee’s security clearance after revoking it. Marcus Allen had his clearance revoked and was suspended from his role of staff operation specialist with the bureau back in February of 2022 for what it called “questionable judgment” when it came to the agency’s investigations into the January 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol. One of the organizations who defended and represented Allen was in power oversight. To learn more about this case, we welcome the organization’s President Tristan Leavitt. Tristan, thank you so much for taking the time.

Tristan Leavitt  Yeah. Happy to be with you, Eric.

Eric White  So, let’s just start from the beginning. What happened to Mr. Allen, if you can just give me kind of an overview of the events that led up to this point?

Tristan Leavitt  So, Marcus Allen is somebody who had been in the Marines working as an intel analyst and had been deployed to Iraq a couple times. So he knew what he was doing when he’d worked for the FBI for several years down in their Charlotte field office, and he had received awards in there, commendations, so he never had any issues within the FBI. After January 6, Marcus Allen wasn’t present there, by any means, didn’t have anything to do with it. But as most of us in the United States saw, FBI Director Chris Wray came up to Capitol Hill just a couple of weeks after the events of January 6, and in one particular exchange before the Senate Judiciary Committee, Senator Amy Klobuchar said to him, don’t you just wish we had some informants there, some way of knowing what was happening? And you just see the look on Director Wray’s face. He’s navigating that, so he gives a response, you know, understandably, the FBI needs to protect its confidential sources, but this is a pretty significant event. And it’s important for Congress to be able to do oversight of that. So he left the impression there were no informants there. Throughout 2021, there was maybe one Reuters article that came out that hinted that there might have been some informants. And then in late September, The New York Times splashed across the very top story, front page of the Sunday paper, that there had in fact, been at least two informants there for the FBI on January 6. Now today, we know that there were over 20, but at the time, this was very big news, which is why it was so prominent in New York Times. And so Marcus Allen took that information and relayed it to his supervisor saying, we need to be careful, there’s a very real chance that the D.C. elements of our organization may not be fully forthcoming here, based on director Wray’s testimony. That set off alarm bells within the FBI. Even though it was Marcus’s job to forward information like this around, all of the January 6 investigations had been farmed from the FBI’s Washington Field Office out to their various regional offices. And so Charlotte was engaged in that. So this was situational context he believed they needed to know. But after this, his security clearance was suspended, so that’s how we got involved. A year ago, I testified before the House weaponization subcommittee with Marcus and two other FBI whistleblowers we had represented and at the time, the FBI had just put out information the night before saying that their clearances had been revoked. So you know, they were called a security threat by the ranking member of that committee. But we had filed an Inspector General complaint alleging that it was because of whistleblower retaliation. January 6 aside, longstanding whistleblower law protects federal employees’ right to make disclosures about the head of an agency, and to, you know, share that information with one’s supervisors or colleagues. And so in that context, it simply was inappropriate for them to suspend his security clearance over that. But after a long period of time working with the Inspector General, I think the FBI knew that an IG report was probably likely to come out soon, and so they agreed to settle with him. And secondly, they reinstated his security clearance, giving him complete and full vindication.

Eric White  We’re speaking with Tristan Leavitt, he is the president of Empower Oversight. And, you know, as with most whistleblower cases, the idea is not just to punish somebody who maybe went against what the FBI desired, but it is to send a message or have a chilling effect. If I could ask you to speculate, what was that message that was being sent to other potential whistleblowers at the FBI?

Tristan Leavitt  Well, we’ve since learned a fair amount about this. And this is actually the subject of a lot of concern, something that’s actually, we believe, we expect the FBI, the DOJ Inspector General is going to open up a new probe on, which is that after January 6, where it was perfectly legitimate for the FBI to investigate any FBI agents, certainly who were inside the Capitol who are engaged in violence, you know, is appropriate for them to investigate that of the American public, much less people from within the FBI. But after that, it kind of led to this hysteria within the FBI where anybody that got brought to the attention of the security division within the FBI, once they were inside that funnel of suspicion, they couldn’t get out. The disclosures that are coming to us indicate that that office really just said, well, we just don’t want people to have clearances in these instances, even if it’s for completely valid political views. And not long after January 6, one of the things that we highlighted recently in a letter to IG Horowitz, just from this week, we reminded him of a letter we sent last summer where we had provided an affidavit from an FBI supervisor who was on a call with all special agents in charge from the FBI about a month after January 6, and said, if you don’t like the way the FBI is approaching this, you don’t need to be in the FBI. The FBI, you know, we don’t need people like that here. And so we’ve seen is that the security division asked questions about things. We just released a document where they asked questions specifically like, of an employee’s coworker. So to be clear, this is an instance where you’re under suspicion, they suspend your clearance, they go to do interviews with coworkers of the individual whose clearance is suspended, and someone’s required to answer those questions. You’re told at the beginning of the interview, failure to, you have a duty to reply to the issues. Should you refuse to answer or fail to reply fully and truthfully, actually it’s your own clearance may be taken. So people were being asked to rat out their coworkers and the questions for them were, did you, after being asked if you’ve ever socialized with them, so it’s asking about, even outside of work, did you ever hear them vocalize support for President Trump? Did you ever hear them vocalize objection to the COVID-19 vaccination? So these are entirely inappropriate questions for the security division to be asking. I mean, for anyone in the FBI to be requiring answers to, much less as a basis for revoking someone’s security clearance. And so this is the real, you know, the chilling seems to have been where people came into this funnel suspicion with the security division. They pushed out people that had views that were not in keeping with those and in the mainstream, you know, in the leadership of the agency there, including just support for President Trump even. Now, for someone like me, I’ll say, right, having been at the Office of Special Counsel where you enforce the Hatch Act, right. The whole goal of creating a nonpartisan civil service system at the end of 1800s was to get rid of things like loyalty tests and patronage. And so this idea that, in an effort to keep the FBI pure, they’re going to ask questions like this, it goes exactly to what the civil service system was designed to prevent, is really, really dangerous.

Eric White  Well, can I come at it from the other side here, as saying, you know, January 6’s unprecedented attempt to really subvert the U.S. government, there was probably a lot of speculation regarding how the agency should react? And obviously, the agency had not seen anything like this before. So are you saying that this was maybe an overreaction? Or could they have handled it a little bit better in trying to decipher, you know, we have to make sure that none of our people were actively trying to support this movement, that, you know, once again, was something that the government had never seen before.

Tristan Leavitt  I think asking questions like, do you support violence? I mean, security clearance process, do you support the overthrow of the US government? Were you present on January 6 inside of the Capitol? All of that is completely legitimate, in my view. When you step beyond that, to just political views, did the employee ever vocalize support for President Trump? I mean, people had a First Amendment right to go and hear him at a rally. And again, if they are outside of the Capitol, that’s just not the FBI’s place. And again, the COVID-19 vaccination questions, even if they might overlap among a segment of the population that did express objections to the vaccination. Keep in mind these questions were asked three months after the federal employee vaccine mandate was suspended. So there’s no legitimate purpose for them to ask a question like that. When I was at the Merit Systems Protection Board, as we tried to implement the executive order that came out, we put a lot of thought into making sure that these questions about someone’s personal medical health information weren’t spread all over the agency. So we were very careful in making sure that went to just one designated individual within the agency to have the security division of the FBI ask this of someone’s colleagues, again, that goes way beyond the events of January 6, which again, people should have been punished for engaging in violence for breaking laws. It’s a very different thing to ask someone’s political views. Those are not one in the same.

Eric White  Tristan Leavitt is president of Empower Oversight. Thank you so much for joining us.

Tristan Leavitt  Thanks for having me, Eric.

Eric White  And we’ll post this interview along with a copy of those documents that Tristan had mentioned at federalnewsnetwork.com. You can also subscribe to the Federal Drive wherever you get your podcasts.

The post FBI reinstates its removal of FBI staffer’s security clearance first appeared on Federal News Network.

Colleen Heller-Stein, formerly deputy CHCO at the Treasury Department, has stepped in as executive director of the CHCO Council, Federal News Network has learned. The senior-level position within the Office of Personnel Management leads agency CHCOs and other human capital leaders to innovate on best practices for managing the recruitment and retention of the federal workforce.

Heller-Stein is the first career federal executive to serve in the CHCO Council leadership role. She took over the position a few weeks ago from Latonia Page, who had been working as acting executive director of the CHCO Council since September 2023. Prior to Page’s time on the job, Margot Conrad — currently deputy chief of staff at OPM — served as the council’s executive director for about two and a half years.

Before taking on the role of leading the CHCO Council, Heller-Stein worked for 14 years at the Treasury Department. In addition to her experience as Treasury’s deputy CHCO, she previously served as the agency’s director of HR, as well as taking on a one-and-a-half-year stint as acting Treasury CHCO. Before moving to Treasury, Heller-Stein held various other roles in state and federal government, including working at the Securities and Exchange Commission, Government Publishing Office and Department of Veterans Affairs.

“As the former deputy CHCO and acting CHCO of a large, cabinet-level agency, I recognize the important role of the council as a collaborative resource and connective tissue for the largest and most complex workforce in the country,” Heller-Stein said in a statement to Federal News Network. “I look forward to working alongside human capital leaders across the federal government to support and strengthen the federal workforce.”

The CHCO Council, composed of federal human capital leaders from many major agencies, has been around now for more than 21 years. The council routinely convenes the senior leaders across government to discuss trends and strategies for improving the federal workforce through recruitment, retention and more. In May 2023, the council celebrated its 20th anniversary during a ceremony at OPM headquarters in Washington, D.C.

In recent years, the CHCO Council has focused on replicating and scaling up promising practices in agency recruitment and retention, including pooled hiring, shared certificates, skills-based recruitment and reducing time-to-hire for prospective job candidates.

The post Treasury’s Heller-Stein stepping in to lead the CHCO Council first appeared on Federal News Network.

• An employee advocacy group is calling for better federal health care coverage of infertility treatments. The Department of Justice Gender Equality Network (DOJ GEN) said it is grateful for the steps taken so far. Carriers in the Federal Employees Health Benefits program already have new requirements to cover three medication cycles of in-vitro fertilization (IVF). But the advocacy group wants the Office of Personnel Management to take things a step further. DOJ GEN is now asking OPM to expand health carrier requirements to cover IVF treatments, on top of medications, for plan year 2025. DOJ GEN’s letter to OPM calling for the changes comes a few months ahead of this year’s Open Season for FEHB participants.
  (Letter to OPM on IVF coverage - DOJ GEN)
• Democrats are warning that proposed budget cuts could lead to some staff layoffs. A draft appropriations bill from House Republicans proposes a 10% spending decrease for fiscal 2025. But Democrats opposed to the budget reductions said they are concerned about the ability of some particular agencies to handle large budget cuts. “Our agencies often have smaller budgets, and thus less flexibility to deal with the cuts. Our agencies have to layoff staff, severely undermining their ability to function,” Rep. Steny Hoyer (D-Md.) said. The fiscal 2025 spending bill now heads to the full committee for consideration. Members of a GOP-led subcommittee advanced the legislation along party lines Wednesday.
  (Democrats warn layoffs ahead as House GOP proposes agency spending cuts - Federal News Network)
• House appropriators will not support the Biden administration’s funding request for a new FBI headquarters building. The House Appropriations Committee’s 2025 general government spending bill rejects a plan to invest $3.5 billion to build a new FBI headquarters in Greenbelt, Maryland. The bill also restricts the General Services Administration from spending any existing funds on the new headquarters. GSA had proposed the $3.5 billion investment as part of its 2025 budget request. The agency announced plans to replace the crumbling J. Edgar Hoover Building with a new headquarters in Greenbelt last November.
  (House appropriators reject GSA’s $3.5B plan for new FBI headquarters - Federal News Network)
• House Republicans have proposed defunding the IRS’ Direct File platform that allows households to file their federal tax returns online and for free. The GOP-led House Appropriations Committee is backing a spending bill that would cut IRS funding by nearly 18% and zero-out funding for Direct File. IRS enforcement would see the worst cuts in this proposal, with a $2 billion reduction in funding. Republican lawmakers have criticized the IRS for not seeking congressional approval to launch the Direct File pilot. But IRS said it has the authority to update the tools that taxpayers use to file their taxes. This year's IRS Direct File pilot program included 12 states. It plans to make the program permanent and has invited all 50 states and the District of Columbia to opt in.
  (House GOP propose defunding IRS Direct File, further budget cuts to enforcement - Federal News Network)
• The Space Force is accepting applications from Air Force Reservists in space-related career fields to become full-time Guardians. Beginning June 1, Air Force reservists can transfer to the Space Force under the Space Force Personnel Management Act. Officers in space and cyber operations, intelligence, developmental engineer, acquisition manager and scientist career fields are eligible to apply. Application windows for Air Force Reservists, who are interested in transferring to the Space Force in a part-time capacity, are expected to open in 2026.
  (Air Force reservists can apply to Space Force beginning June 1 - U.S. Space Force)
• Agencies now have an easier way to avoid buying products that use single-use plastic packaging. The General Services Administration is establishing a new specialty icon in its schedule ordering systems, including GSA Advantage, to help agencies identify products that are free from single-use plastic packaging. In a final rule to GSA's acquisition regulations published today, the agency is trying to incentivize vendors through marketing opportunities to move away from this type of packaging. GSA is making this change to the schedules program after receiving a recommendation from its Acquisition Policy Federal Advisory Committee, as a way to reduce this waste stream. GSA said it will issue implementation guidance to contracting offices in the coming weeks.
  (GSA helping agencies avoid products that use single-use plastic packaging - Federal Register)
• Quan Boatman is the new director of the Interior Business Center. Boatman has been IBC's deputy director since 2021 and replaces Bryon Adkins, who left to join the Farm Credit Administration in November. As director of IBC, Boatman will oversee the fee-for-service organization that offers acquisition, financial management and human resources systems and services to federal organizations. IBC provides shared services to support Interior Department offices and bureaus, as well as to over 150 other agencies. Prior to coming to IBC, Boatman worked at the General Services Administration and the Federal Emergency Management Agency overseeing governmentwide programs and initiatives.
  (Interior Business Center promotes Boatman to new leadership role - Interior Department)
• The chairman of the Senate Finance Committee is calling for stronger cybersecurity regulations in the healthcare sector. Sen Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) said the Department of Health and Human Services should mandate minimum cyber standards for big health institutions. In a letter to HHS, Wyden said lax cyber practices have allowed hackers to steal sensitive patient data and shut down parts of the healthcare system. Wyden’s letter comes as lawmakers consider how to respond to the Change Healthcare ransomware attack and other healthcare cyber incidents.
  (Letter to HHS on cybersecurity standards - Senate Finance Commitee)
• The Defense Innovation Unit and the Chief Digital and Artificial Intelligence Office have agreed to deepen their existing partnership and work together to accelerate the adoption of emerging technologies across the Defense Department. The leaders of the two organizations signed a memorandum of agreement formalizing their collaboration that is necessary to implement commercially available technologies related to data, software and artificial intelligence. Areas of collaboration include scaling commercial AI and experimenting with digital technologies to support the Pentagon’s combined joint all-domain command and control initiative, known as CJADC2.
  (DIU, CDAO partner up to accelerate technology adoption across DoD - Defense Innovation Unit)
• The Department of Veterans Affairs is rolling out a text-messaging service that will remind veterans to take follow-up steps in their health care. VA will send text messages to vets with medication reminders, surgery preparation instructions, and next steps after medical appointments. The Veterans Health Administration is implementing this text-messaging service nationwide, after a VA medical center testing it saw a more than 50% reduction in canceled surgeries. VA worked with Accenture Federal Services to develop the text-messaging service, which it calls "Annie."
  (Veterans Health Administration texting service developed by Accenture Federal Services deployed nationwide - Accenture Federal Services)

The post DoJ employee advocacy group calls for better federal health care coverage of infertility treatments first appeared on Federal News Network.

Transportation safety in the United States has grown safer, thanks in part to work A GAO superstar. She’s overseen work ranging from diversity in crash test dummies to preventing catastrophic train wrecks. More broadly, she’s ridden herd on transportation-related spending under the trillion dollar infrastructure law. For her work, she’s a finalist in this year’s Service to America Medals program. For more on all of this, the Federal Drive with Tom Temin  spoke with Biza Repko, director of physical infrastructure issues at the Government Accountability Office.

Interview Transcript:  

Tom Temin It’s nice talking about an award for you instead of some scathing or difficult report for some federal agency. Give us a sense of the architecture of your work, because you didn’t do the crash dummy work directly, but oversaw something of the National Transportation Safety Board, for example, and so on. So let’s get a sense of what you oversee at GAO.

Biza Repko Well, I lead GAO’s efforts to oversee implementation of federal transportation funding focused on surface transportation. And that includes, as you mentioned, the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, which was $1 trillion of federal spending. And really, what we do at GAO is, as we examine things like the U.S. transportation system, we’re looking to make sure it’s working as it should be. So when we’re looking for gaps that there might be in federal response, and when we find them, our job is to expose them and then make recommendations that could improve the safety of that system.

Tom Temin And the citation specifically mentioned the crash test dummies, because for decades, crash test dummies at the auto safety unit there at transportation were average males in terms of physique, size and weight and so forth. But the world of driving actually is not average sized male physics. Is it?

Biza Repko True. So that work was examining the current set of crash test dummies that we have. And bottom line, we found that for at least two decades, the federal government has identified greater risk of injury and of death in vehicle crashes for certain demographic groups. Those include women, individuals over 65 and individuals with a higher body mass, but hasn’t really taken complete action to address those risks. And what you were talking about is the dummies that we have, and the height and the weight of the adult dummies that we have are based on history. And as of January 2023, we’d been using some of the adult dummies for about 15 years, and other ones we hadn’t updated since 1986. So they really no longer fully represent the average American, because we, on average, have gotten heavier since the development of those dummies.

Tom Temin Sure. And in the rail area, again, the citation noted that before that terrible East Palestine crash, that you had discovered something in your oversight work about the rail industry. That was a real surprise.

Biza Repko Yeah. So we were looking into the rail industry to try to look at certain operational practices that the rail industry was using. Some of those had to do with the length of trains and also reductions in staff. And so we collected information from, what are known as the class one railroads. Those are the largest freight railroads that we have. And we found that every company reported running longer trains. And they also reported an overall reduction in railroad staff of about 28%. And within the categories of staff, a 40% reduction in mechanical staff.

Tom Temin Meaning the potential for something catastrophic was increased because of the length and weight of the trains, and the fact that there was nobody on them after the locomotive.

Biza Repko Right. Operating a train is a complex thing to do. And when you operate a longer train, you’re adding to those complexities. So there’s things you have to worry about when you have a longer train. Some of those can be in train forces. Those are the forces that move the train back and forth on the track. If you have a longer, heavier train that can have a greater impact, making increased risks of derailment or separation. There’s things like increased wear and tear with a heavier train. And remember, all of this is happening at a time where you have fewer staff and potentially an increased need for maintenance. This creates greater risks.

Tom Temin We’re speaking with Biza Repko. She’s director of physical infrastructure issues at the Government Accountability Office, and a finalist in this year’s Service to America Medals program. And on the bigger issue of overseeing spending for transportation by different agencies, mostly within DOT, but congressionally appropriated funds. What has been the response to the findings of the GAO over the years? Do they say, yeah, you’re right, we got to fix this, or are you preaching to like, a large cemetery? There’s lots of people there, but nobody’s listening.

Biza Repko I think in general, federal agencies listen. I think in general they cooperate with the work that we do. And for the work that we’re talking about, for instance, with the crash test dummies, they concurred with the recommendation that we put forth. And in that case, we put forth a recommendation, really asking them to have a comprehensive plan that would look at the various risks to various demographic groups and also some timelines when they would take these actions, and also communicate those actions. And they’ve taken actions since our report. Our recommendation still remains open. But I think that our work can kind of push agencies to move. And in general, I think they’re cooperative about working with us and seeing the results of our work and wanting to take action to improve safety.

Tom Temin And how much of the work that GAO does in your channel is human relations, you might say, as much as fact finding? Because in many times you’re asking people to reevaluate something they might have been doing for years, when sometimes GAO recommends drastic and immediate changes to something people have been doing for years. And so there’s that human aspect that you’re all under the government tent, but there’s fiefdoms involved here.

Biza Repko I think certainly, you are someone who’s coming in externally, and you’re looking at a program potentially that someone, as you said, has worked on for years and years. But what I do find helps our work move forward is when it is fact based and data driven, and when we have the time and we’re in there for the specific reason of looking at a specific set of data. So, for instance, when we’re trying to collect data that says that trains have gotten longer, kind of compare that with other data and information there is out there about length and weight and risks. I think when you present it to people in that way, I think that’s when you can see some of the resistance fall. And I think people are very much, again, with a data driven approach, I think you really do help build coalitions and really get people on your side, because we really are all there to increase the safety of the system.

Tom Temin And with respect to highway safety, there were changes made. And now there are dummies that are shaped like women or dummies that are shaped like heavier people and so on. What about in the trains program? Which agency specifically has to do with that? And were they aware? And what changed as a result of your discovery that trains were longer and operators fewer?

Biza Repko Yeah. So the federal agency that would be responsible there is the Federal Railroad Administration. And they’ve also taken some steps based on the work that we’ve done, and some of the steps that they’ve taken relate to proposing new standards and planning requirements around train length. Also, we did some work, which you and I talked about previously, about close call reporting for trains. And in that work we found that none of the class ones, the largest railroads, were part of close call reporting, which is just reporting that helps people talk about incidents so they don’t turn into accidents. And now there are some more pilot programing where some class ones have joined that close call reporting. So you’re seeing steps being made, you’re seeing change happen.

Tom Temin Yeah. It’s surprising how many surface level crashes trains have. The internet is filled with videos of trucks being knocked to pieces by trains and so forth. I wanted to ask just a detailed question because I’m interested in this since I was a kid who doesn’t love trains. Trains rocked back and forth. Do they ever sideswipe each other because they’re too heavy and they rock too far?

Biza Repko I am not aware of any trains sideswiping each other, although I suppose it could happen. But as what we’re talking about, I was talking about those in train forces, that’s what happens. The train is going to go up and down, it’s longitude, latitude that’s going to happen on the train. And that’s where when you get a heavier, longer train, you can just have more of those forces and you have to be, it’s like I said, more complicated to operate that train.

Tom Temin Which brings up a bigger question. And that is sometimes GAO is dealing with federal agencies at the behest of Congress. But there are third parties here, in this case, a regulated industry, for example. And how does that figure into the equation? And do you find that at least they respect findings that come from the government?

Biza Repko Yeah, I think a large part of our work in the transportation space relates to private industry, and we found private industry to be cooperative in this work that we did. We were one of the main sources because there isn’t a comprehensive, publicly available set of data on train feet in length. So we had to collect it. We did collect it from the class ones and they did give us that information. So I feel like they are cooperative with us. And part of their job is to increase safety for their workers and for the goods that they’re trying to move, or for the people that they’re trying to move for their passengers. And so I think that they generally give us information and are open to hearing what our findings and recommendations are.

Tom Temin Sounds like you like your work.

Biza Repko I do, I like my work. It’s very interesting, and I really do enjoy working on transportation. I feel like transportation is something that affects everybody. Everyday in our life we use transportation to connect with each other. How we get to work, how we get to school, medical appointments, see people we love. And I think the safer we can make that system, the more reliable we can make that system, the better it is.

 

The post She brought diversity to an under-represented group of dummies first appeared on Federal News Network.

• A group of academic and former public sector executives is pushing forward an alternative to Schedule F. The Working Group to Protect and Reform the U.S. Civil Service is proposing a different vision for a future federal workforce. Led by Francis Fukuyama of Stanford University; Don Kettl, former Dean of the University of Maryland School of Public Policy; and Paul Verkuil, a former chairman of the Administrative Conference of the United States; the working group outlined five areas that the next administration would focus on to re-imagine the federal workforce. The non-partisan experts say bringing Schedule F back would have negative effects on the quality of the government by opening the door to politicization and patronage throughout the federal workforce.
  (Experts push new vision for federal workforce - Working Group to Protect and Reform the US Civil Service)
• A well-known agency chief information officer is moving to industry. Gerry Caron, CIO at the Commerce Department's International Trade Administration, is leaving federal service after more than two decades. Federal News Network has learned Caron is heading to a new job in industry. His last day will be May 31. The specifics about where he is going are unknown. Caron, who is well-known on the federal speaking circuit, has been the ITA CIO since February 2023. Before that, he was the CIO for the inspector general office at the Department of Health and Human Services and worked for the State Department for 18 years. Caron also has played a big role in helping drive the development of zero trust concepts through the CIO Council's Innovation Counsel for Zero Trust.
  (ITA CIO Caron heading to industry - Federal News Network)
• A former White House official is taking a top job at the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency. Jeff Greene will join CISA as a senior adviser next month. Greene is currently the senior director of cybersecurity programs at the Aspen Institute. He is expected to help pick up the responsibilities of CISA executive assistant director for cybersecurity Eric Goldstein, who is leaving his role next month. Greene previously led defensive cyber and incident response efforts at the White House National Security Council. He also served as director of the National Cybersecurity Center of Excellence at the National Institute of Standards and Technology.
  (Greene joining CISA as senior adviser - CISA)
• The Office of Personnel Management is defending recent moves to block the return of Schedule F. OPM finalized a rule last month reinforcing civil service protections for career federal employees and hampering the return of Schedule F. That was a Trump-era policy that made it easier to fire career federal employees in policymaking positions. Acting OPM Director Rob Shriver said that the return of Schedule F would have a “chilling effect” on career federal employees and prevent them from providing candid feedback on policy matters. “The human capital challenges that the federal government already faces will be dramatically exacerbated," Shriver said.
  (OPM defends rule to hamper Schedule F’s return, backs telework amid return to office push - Federal News Network)
• The Navy has taken a look at its scores on the Federal Employee Viewpoint Survey and decided it has some work to do. Navy Secretary Carlos Del Toro is launching what he calls Project Even Keel. It’s a four-phase effort to boost civilian employee engagement across the Navy and Marine Corps. The first phase is underway now, and focuses on gathering FEVS data from various commands. According to the Partnership for Public Service’s recently-released Best Places to Work in the Federal Government rankings – which are based on FEVS data – the Navy Department placed 11th among 17 large agencies.
  (SecNav Memo - Department of the Navy)
• The Defense Department is expanding its military spouse career pilot program. The Pentagon will expand its program that offers paid fellowship opportunities to include entry-level jobs. Last year, the program mainly focused on placing “career-ready” military spouses into paid fellowships. This year, the program will provide opportunities for military spouses who are at the beginning or early stages of their career. The program connects hiring managers and talent acquisition specialists with military spouses for paid 12-week fellowships across different career fields. Congress wants to make the pilot program permanent next year.
  (DoD expanding military spouse career pilot program - Federal News Network)
• Patrick Space Force Base in Florida will be the permanent home for STARCOM, the Space Force's Space Training and Readiness Command. STARCOM handles the Space Force’s training, doctrine, and test and evaluation missions. The command has been provisionally located at Patrick since last summer, but a decision on a permanent home has been awaiting a formal environmental review.
  (Patrick picked as permanent STARCOM HQ - Rep. Bill Posey (R-Fla.))
• The Pentagon's office of industrial base resilience is seeking public input on how to support the defense industrial base integration of artificial intelligence into defense systems. Public feedback will help guide the Defense Department’s efforts as it works with the DIB to rapidly adopt AI for defense applications. The office wants to know what investments in the DIB the Defense Department needs to make to support adoption of AI into defense systems. It also wants to know if there are vulnerabilities in the current and future supply chain that the department needs to address prior to incorporating AI into defense systems. Respondents have 60 days to provide their feedback.
  (DoD seeks public input on AI integration into defense systems - DoD)
• The Senate Intelligence Committee’s latest bill would create a new fund for spy agencies to acquire emerging technologies. That is just one provision in the fiscal 2025 intelligence authorization act, which the committee passed unanimously on Wednesday. The bill would promote reforms to the national security classification system and improve protections for intelligence community whistleblowers. The legislation would also require federal agencies to better engage with the private sector on threats to artificial intelligence systems.
  (Senate intelligence committee passes the fiscal 2025 intelligence authorization act - Senate Select Committee on Intelligence )
• The Social Security Administration closed field offices early on two Fridays this month. SSA granted that time off to thank its employees during Public Service Recognition Week. But the top Republicans on two Senate committees said those half-days made it harder for constituents to seek help from the agency. Sens. Susan Collins (R-Maine) and Shelley Moore Capito (R-W.V.) are asking SSA how many appointments and services were impacted by closing early and how much notice was given to the public about these early closures.
  (Collins, Capito raise concerns about SSA beneficiary access after SSA shutters operations during business hours - Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine))

The post Promoting Schedule F alternative, working group warns against Trump-era plan resurgence first appeared on Federal News Network.

Federal News Network has learned Caron is heading to a new job in industry. The specifics about where he is going is unknown. His last day at ITA will be May 31.

Caron, who is well-known on the federal speaking circuit, has been the ITA CIO since February 2023.

Before that, he was the CIO for the inspector general office at the Department of Health and Human Services and worked for the State Department for 18 years, including the last two years as director of enterprise network management.

Caron also has played a big role in helping drive the development of zero trust concepts through the CIO Council’s Innovation Counsel for Zero Trust.

During his time at ITA, Caron focused on moving ITA to a more modern network and security infrastructure. For example, he implemented phishing-resistant multifactor authentication, in part, by sending each of ITA’s employees a “YubiKey” authentication device to meet MFA requirements.

“So we’re taking a lot of steps, we’re looking at some identity management things in order to mature identity management and automate our processes around that as well,” Caron said during a January 2024 panel.

He also has focused on ensuring ITA is managing its data so it’s protecting its most important and valuable data as part of its zero trust implementation.

Additionally, Caron said because ITA has been 100% in the cloud for several years, he has focused on understanding the costs of using cloud services and how to manage those costs.

“In the wake of the pandemic and the subsequent move to work from home, Gerry Caron was the right kind of leader at a critical time. Gerry helped galvanize the entire federal government around actual use cases for zero trust,” said Tom Suder, president of ATARC. “The effort led directly to several Technology Modernization Fund awards to agencies, specifically for zero trust that have been the model for funding cybersecurity.”

DISA executives move into new roles

Over the last few weeks, there also has been a few other noteworthy changes in the federal technology community.

Let’s start with the Defense Information Systems Agency where Sharon Woods, who led the agency’s hosting and compute center for the last almost three years moved to new role at the agency. She is now leading DISA’s Endpoint Services and Global Service Center.

“We deliver networking and endpoint solutions at all classification levels to the Department of Defense. This is a crucial mission, connecting the department’s globally dispersed workforce, from the Pentagon to the edge, with unified communications,” Woods wrote on a post on LinkedIn. “Incorporating my experience with cloud technology, I hope to drive modernization and propel J6 forward as the premier communications provider to the department.”

In her place, Jeff Marshall, who has been vice director of the hosting and compute center since February, is now acting director.

During her tenure as the head of the HACC, Woods helped usher the Joint Warfighting Cloud Capability (JWCC) through the implementation phase, launched DISA’s own hybrid cloud instance, called Stratus, and led the effort to provide a DevSecOps platform, called Vulcan, for DoD users.

Bill Dunlap, the acting deputy chief information officer for the information enterprise at the Defense Department, said on Tuesday at the AFCEA Enterprise IT Day that the defense agencies and military services have made 84 awards under JWCC worth more than $634 million.

Marshall joined DISA in February after spending the last 20-plus years in industry. He also served in the Army for 13 years before moving to industry.

New cyber execs at CTIIC, EX-IM Bank

Moving to the intelligence community, the Cyber Threat Intelligence Integration Center (CTIIC) hired Chris Zimmerman as its first director of the Office of Strategic Cyber Partnerships.

In that role, Zimmerman will “further the integration of commercial cyber threat intelligence in the IC and take an innovative approach to partnering with the public and private sector,” Laura Galante, the director of CTIIC and the IC Cyber Executive, said in a statement.

Zimmerman comes to CTIIC from industry where he held leadership positions with Symantec, FireEye, Palo Alto Networks, Cylance and, most recently, as President of FedStarts, LLC, where he led the deployment of software technology to enable stronger cyber defenses.

Finally, the Export-Import Bank has a new chief information security officer and new chief privacy officer. Darren Death joins the agency after spending the last nine years as the vice president of information security and CISO for ASRC Federal.

Death has worked in and out of government during his career, including stints at FEMA, the Library of Congress and the Air Force.

He also is active with cybersecurity education groups like InfraGard MD and is a fellow with the Institute for Critical Infrastructure Technology (ICIT).

The post ITA CIO Caron moving on to industry first appeared on Federal News Network.

• Federal employees in their 30s are relatively unsatisfied with their jobs. New analysis from the Partnership for Public Service shows that feds ages 30 to 39 scored the lowest of any age group for their views on senior leadership, workplace recognition, work-life balance and professional development. And when it comes to diversity, equity, inclusion and accessibility efforts, employees with disabilities and LGBTQ employees are scoring their agencies the lowest. On the other hand, Asian and white employees have the most positive views for how they feel their agencies are managing DEIA issues.
  (2023 Best Places to Work in the Federal Government - Partnership for Public Service)
• Martin Gruenberg, the embattled chairman of the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, will resign in the coming months. Gruenberg said in a statement that he is prepared to step down from his responsibilities once a successor is confirmed. His decision comes on the heels of a Senate hearing and a critical report from an independent committee that found a workplace environment that fostered “hostile, abusive, unprofessional and inappropriate conduct.” Gruenberg, who has been with the FDIC since 2005, has been under pressure since last fall when news reports surfaced about the agency's toxic workplace culture.
  (FDIC chairman to resign - FDIC)
• House lawmakers are trying to roll back the Securities and Exchange Commission’s controversial cybersecurity rules. The Financial Services Committee last week advanced a resolution that would nullify the SEC’s cyber requirements. The rules just went into effect last year. They require publicly traded companies to disclose material cyber incidents, as well as to report on their cybersecurity risk management strategies. But some House Republicans argue the SEC’s rules create too much of a burden on public companies and in some cases require them to disclose confidential information. The resolution now has to be approved by the full House. But the White House has said President Biden will veto any attempt to overturn the SEC requirements.
  (House Financial Services Committee advances slate of bills to full House for consideration - House Financial Services Committee)
• The Postal Service is rejecting calls for its regulator to weigh in on its network modernization plans, at least for now. USPS just told Congress it is putting a shakeup of its mail-processing operations on hold until at least January 2025. But USPS said it is not legally required to get a regulator’s stamp of approval for those plans to proceed. Federal law requires USPS to seek out an advisory opinion from its regulator whenever it makes changes that would impact service nationwide. USPS told the Postal Regulatory Commission its plans may potentially require it to seek an advisory opinion at some point in the future. But seeking that opinion now would be “premature.”
  (USPS rejects calls for regulator to weigh in on now-paused network modernization plans - Federal News Network)
• The Environmental Protection Agency is urging water utilities to improve their cybersecurity practices. The EPA, in a new enforcement alert released Monday, said a majority of recent water system inspections have turned up alarming cybersecurity vulnerabilities, including the use of default passwords, as well as shared log-in information. The EPA said these cyber shortfalls put water systems at risk and potentially violate the Safe Drinking Water Act. The agency vowed to step up its enforcement of cyber practices across the water sector amid an increase in attacks on water systems.
  (EPA outlines enforcement measures to help prevent cybersecurity attacks and protect the nation’s drinking water - EPA)
• The Navy has created a new unit to help the service integrate unmanned surface vessels. Unmanned Surface Vessel Squadron Three will oversee a fleet of small, uncrewed surface vessels, including Global Autonomous Reconnaissance Craft manufactured by the Maritime Applied Physics Corporation. The Navy recently introduced a new robotics warfare specialist general rating to accelerate development of deep expertise in autonomous technologies. Those robotics warfare specialists will be part of the new squadron. Capt. Derek Rader assumed command of the unit.
  (Navy establishes unmanned surface vessel squadron - U.S. Navy)
• The Defense Department's chief digital and artificial intelligence office is trying to make it easier to connect emerging technologies to the Pentagon's workflow. William Streilein, the chief technology officer for the CDAIO, said that his office is developing an AI maturity model. The initiative aims to translate where the technology best fits into DoD's needs. Streilein said the model will use a rubric to make it easier to understand where AI can integrate into the DoD's operations. The five levels of the rubric will help DoD employees connect their work with large language models to ensure the accuracy and validity of the information. Streilein made the comments yesterday at the ACT-IAC Emerging Technology and Innovation Conference.
  (DoD creating an AI maturity model, rubric - ACT-IAC)
• The Department of Veterans Affairs approved its millionth claim for disability benefits under a historic piece of legislation. The 2022 PACT Act expanded VA health care and benefits eligibility for veterans exposed to toxic substances during their military service. The legislation also covers the treatment of certain rare cancers and other diagnoses and conditions veterans sustained during their military careers. The PACT Act is the largest expansion of VA services in more than 30 years, and the VA has paid out nearly $6 billion in PACT Act benefits so far.
  (President Biden to announce 1 million PACT Act claims approved, benefits delivered to veterans in all 50 states and U.S. territories - White House)
• President Joe Biden has nominated Lt. Gen. Tony Bauernfeind to become the next superintendent of the United States Air Force Academy. Bauernfeind currently leads the Air Force Special Operations Command. Bauernfeind graduated from the academy in 1991. Lt. Gen. Richard Clark, who has been the academy’s superintendent since 2020, is leaving the service for a high profile civilian job as the executive director of the College Football Playoff.
  (Biden nominates Air Force Academy superintendent - DoD)
• The General Services Administration donated 45 laptops, worth more than $48,000, last month to a rural school in Mississippi. The school is still recovering from a major tornado that struck the area in 2023. As part of its Computer for Learning Program, GSA has donated more than 4,700 computers since January 2022 to students across the country. The next batch of 50 laptops will go to elementary and middle school students in New Mexico, who attend a tribal-controlled school. Before being donated, the laptops are cleared of federal applications and data, leaving an operating system where schools can build with their selected software.
  (GSA transferred 4,700 computers to schools since 2022 - GSA)

The post Feds in their 30s relatively unhappy on the job, study shows first appeared on Federal News Network.

The White House said Martin Gruenberg will step down once a successor is appointed and that President Joe Biden will name a replacement “soon.” The announcement came after the top Democrat on the Senate Banking Committee earlier Monday called for Gruenberg’s removal.

Biden expects the FDIC “to reflect the values of decency and integrity and to protect the rights and dignity of all employees,” Deputy Press Secretary Sam Michel said in a statement.

The FDIC is one of several U.S. banking system regulators. The Great Depression-era agency is best known for running the nation’s deposit insurance program, which insures Americans’ deposits up to $250,000 in case their bank fails.

Before Monday, no Democrats had called for Gruenberg’s ouster, although several came very close to doing so. But Sen. Sherrod Brown, the top Democrat on the Senate Banking Committee and who is facing a tough reelection campaign, issued a statement Monday calling for Gruenberg to step down, saying his leadership at the FDIC could no longer be trusted.

Gruenberg was grilled for two days last week on Capitol Hill in hearings largely focused on the FDIC’s workplace culture and the failures disclosed in the report prepared by an outside law firm.

“After chairing last week’s hearing, reviewing the independent report, and receiving further outreach from FDIC employees to the Banking and Housing Committee, I am left with one conclusion: there must be fundamental changes at the FDIC,” Brown said in a statement.

Republicans have been calling for Gruenberg’s ouster for some time and criticized the White House for not calling for his immediate departure.

Gruenberg has held positions in various levels of leadership at the FDIC for nearly 20 years, and this was his second full term as FDIC chair. His long tenure at the agency made him largely responsible for the agency’s toxic work environment, according to the independent report outlining the problems at the agency.

The report released Tuesday by law firm Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton cites incidents of stalking, harassment, homophobia and other violations of employment regulations, based on more than 500 complaints from employees.

Complaints included a woman who said she was stalked by a coworker and continually harassed even after complaining about his behavior; a field office supervisor referring to gay men as “little girls;” and a female field examiner who described receiving a picture of an FDIC senior examiner’s private parts.

____

AP Treasury Department Reporter Fatima Hussein contributed to this report from Washington.

The post The White House says FDIC chairman to step down following report on agency’s toxic workplace culture first appeared on Federal News Network.

CISA confirmed his last day will be in June, but didn’t say exactly when. A CISA spokesperson didn’t say who would be acting in his place after Goldstein leaves. Matt Hartman serves as Goldstein’s deputy.

Goldstein joined CISA in February 2021 from the private sector where he was the head of cybersecurity policy, strategy and regulation for Goldman Sachs.

In his role at CISA, he oversaw an assortment of initiatives to protect and strengthen federal civilian agencies and the nation’s critical infrastructure against cyber threats.

CISA Director Jen Easterly praised Goldstein’s contributions over the last few years.

“I could not be prouder of the work that Eric Goldstein has done to move CISA forward as an agency. He has helped catalyze a shift across the agency to data-driven risk reduction and built an inclusive team that has enabled CISA and our partners to confront the serious cyber threats facing our country,” Easterly said in a statement. “Under Eric’s superb leadership, we pioneered new models of operational collaboration, reshaped our ability to detect and address cyber risks and shifted the balance toward building technology that is secure by design. I consider myself fortunate to be Eric’s teammate and know that he will carry his dedication to a secure and resilient nation forward in his next adventure.”

Federal cyber leaders on the move

Goldstein’s decision to leave government comes two days after Chris DeRusha, the federal chief information security officer, announced his decision to move on.

The departures of DeRusha and now Goldstein are also causing several other changes across CISA. Mike Duffy, the associate director for capacity building in the cyber division, is taking a detail to be the acting Federal CISO. On top of Duffy’s leaving, even for a short time, CISA has also seen several other senior cyber leaders head out the door, including Sean Connelly, who led the federal zero trust and Trusted Internet Connections efforts.

Among his accomplishments during his time at CISA include leading an effort to create the first ever CISA cyber strategic plan last summer, which he said will fundamentally shift the way the agency works, how it prioritizes resources and how they work with their stakeholders.

During his tenure, CISA issued seven emergency cyber directives for agencies, including one in April around Russian hackers taking advantage of a Microsoft vulnerability, to address immediate threats.

Another big focus over the last three years was the Federal Enterprise Improvement Team (FEIT), which the agency funded through a portion of the $650 million CISA received under the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021.

This was Goldstein’s second stint in government. He worked from 2013 to 2017 at CISA’s precursor agency, the National Protection and Programs Directorate, in various roles including policy advisor for Federal Network Resilience, branch chief for Cybersecurity Partnerships and Engagement, senior advisor to the assistant secretary for cybersecurity and senior counselor to the undersecretary.

CNN first reported Goldstein’s departure.

The post Second senior cyber leader this week to exit federal service first appeared on Federal News Network.

• Federal employees will have more support from their agencies when dealing with issues of domestic violence and abuse. Under new guidance issued yesterday from the Office of Personnel Management, employees will be able to take time away from work to deal with the short- or long-term consequences of abusive behavior, like getting medical treatment or securing housing. OPM said the new guidance applies to both federal employees as well as their family members. An employee's statement that he or she is dealing with domestic violence is generally enough for the agency to grant leave.
  (Federal employees get enhanced leave support - OPM)
• The Department of Veterans Affairs’ IT shop is preparing for big cuts across some of its priority areas, but not for its growing workforce. VA’s Office of Information and Technology is proposing a more than 80% cut to IT modernization funding in fiscal 2025 and more than a 65% cut to its infrastructure readiness program. That is because the VA is planning for a major increase in cybersecurity spending. The tech workforce budget is also going up, because of a Special Salary Rate VA approved last summer. VA Chief Information Officer Kurt DelBene said this pay raise doesn’t take away from other budget priorities. “The SSR is not a significant portion of our budgets, in the absolute terms. And I would do it again, because we need the best. The most important resource we have as an organization, bar none, is our people." DelBene said.
  (VA IT shop defends raises under Special Salary Rate amid budget cuts - Federal News Network)
• The Department of Commerce has a new technology leader. Brian Epley, the principal deputy CIO at the Energy Department, will be the new chief information officer at the Commerce Department. Federal News Network has confirmed Epley will start June 3. He will replace Andre Mendes, who left in in January to join Tarrant County, Texas to be its CIO. Epley joined the Energy Department in September 2022 as its principal deputy CIO. He previously worked at the Environmental Protection Agency for six years as the deputy CIO and as the deputy assistant administrator for administration and resources management.
  (Energy deputy takes over as Commerce CIO - Federal News Network)
• The Defense Department will hold a virtual career fair for military spouses. The department is hosting a series of free events to help military spouses meet their career goals and connect with potential employers. The first three days of the symposium are dedicated to career development, including resume tips and negotiation tactics. Next week’s webinar series will prepare spouses for the career fair, which is scheduled for May 29 and May 30.
  (DoD to hold career fair for military spouses - DoD)
• Where are the Best Places to Work in the federal government? NASA is once again the number one. The agency’s gold trophy now marks the 12th year in a row it has maintained that top spot. For midsize agencies, the Government Accountability Office is ranked the best place to work, for the fourth year running. The National Indian Gaming Commission took first place among small agencies, and the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation’s Office of Negotiations and Restructuring once again claimed the number one spot for agency subcomponents. The full rankings from the Partnership for Public Service will be released Monday morning, along with a ceremony to recognize the top-ranked agencies this year.
  (Best Places to Work top 10 list has a few new faces, and many familiar ones - Federal News Network)
• Senators on the Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee are digging in their heels on a federal telework bill. During a mark-up yesterday morning, the committee delayed advancing the Telework Transparency Act. The bill would require agencies to report more up-to-date information on telework. But a few committee Republicans called for even more requirements. They want a stipulation for agency managers to monitor federal employees who work from home. The committee has opted to consider further amendments to the bill before advancing it to the full Senate.
  (Senators delay federal telework bill to consider adding work-from-home supervision - Federal News Network)
• Agencies could save millions of dollars, by making better use of federal buildings, according to the Government Accountability Office. GAO said agencies could save about $100 million if they used predictive models to make smarter decisions about deferred maintenance and repairs. The watchdog office said the government could save even more money by setting federal building utilization benchmarks and addressing underutilized office space. These GAO recommendations are part of a broader package that has helped agencies save tens of billions of dollars over the past 14 years.
  (Billions of Dollars in Potential Savings - GAO)
• Dozens of federal employees gathered in front of the White House yesterday to protest the Biden administration’s stance on the War in Gaza. The government workers came together on Nakba Remembrance Day, which marks the mass Palestinian displacement in 1948, with the emergence of the state of Israel. The government workers are part of a coalition called “Feds United for Peace,” and are calling for an end to the government's support of Israel. After getting questions about federal employees’ ability to discuss the Israel-Hamas War at work, the Office of Special Counsel clarified that feds can share their opinions while on the clock, as long as it is not a statement for or against a political party. To avoid legal trouble, leaders of Feds United for Peace also encouraged feds not to use any government property or resources while planning protests.
  (Nakba Day ceasefire rally and teach-in at White House - Feds United for Peace)
• Brig. Gen. Camilla White, who currently serves as the deputy of the Army’s program executive office for command, control and communications-tactical, will depart from her role in two weeks. Col. Kevin Chaney will take over the position. Chaney most recently served as the project manager for the Future Attack Reconnaissance Aircraft program. The Army canceled that program in February, citing new technological developments, battlefield developments and budget projections.
  (PEO C3T deputy to exit in two weeks - AFCEA Belvoir)
• Agencies now have a prioritized list of areas to focus the collection-and-use of acquisition data around which to drive better results. In the new Circular A-137 released Tuesday, the Office of Management and Budget said agencies should apply the high-definition acquisition framework to market research, to supply chain demand-and-management, and to vendor management-and-engagement support. Agencies will be required to share their acquisition data, such as prices paid and terms-and-conditions, with limited exceptions. The Office of Federal Procurement Policy, meanwhile, will develop policies and practices to support the collection, sharing, and use of acquisition data. It will also provide governance processes to help agencies manage, use, and secure the information.
  (OFPP finalizes acquisition data, management circular - White House)

The post OPM issues time-off guidance for feds experiencing domestic violence first appeared on Federal News Network.

Last year the Defense Department staged an innovation challenge. It wanted new ideas for talent management. And did it ever get them. It got 200 ideas. Now officials have picked nine finalists. For an update, the Federal Drive with Tom Temin spoke with program analyst Beth Stewart and challenge director Dr. Jeannette Haynie.

Interview transcript: 

Tom Temin Last year, the Defense Department staged an innovation challenge. It wanted new ideas for talent management — and did it ever get them. Two hundred ideas came in. Well, now officials have picked nine finalists. And here with an update, program analyst Beth Stewart. Ms. Stewart, good to have you with us.

Beth Stewart Good morning.

Tom Temin And challenge director, Dr. Jeannette Haynie. Dr. Haynie, good to have you with us.

Jeannette Haynie Thank you. I’m thrilled to be here.

Tom Temin And just review for us, exactly, what you were driving at with this challenge. Talent management can mean a lot of things, I guess. Dr. Haynie?

Jeannette Haynie It certainly can, and we are really grateful to be joining you again to talk about this challenge. I’ll just go back briefly to reset on what the challenge was, and why we did it. As you know, the Defense Department has quite a few people. We have several million. And there is no shortage of challenges in the talent management space. And so we recognized pretty early on, as a team and as a department, that we need to be able to leverage the creativity and the ideas that come from the breadth and scope of the whole force. And so we launched this challenge last summer, to identify from those working closest to a lot of the pain points, what the challenges were that they faced in talent management, and what kind of solutions they would propose in response. And so, we opened up that challenge to the entire department, military and civilian personnel alike, and pulled in over 200 ideas from folks across DoD who were very interested in helping us solve these problems. I can talk a little bit about the stages, but let me pause there for you.

Tom Temin All right. And what was the incentive for people to send in ideas? Usually, a challenge has a little squiff there at the end.

Jeannette Haynie It does. It does. And so, part of this was being part of the solution. Part of the draw was, you know, we’re working with folks across DoD who are by these pain points and who want to solve them, if nothing else, to make their daily lives easier. But really, because the folks who contributed ideas to this are passionate about the work they do, and they want to make things better. So, that was part of the draw. Being able to meet with the senior policy leaders and talk through the challenges and solutions, but also being able to be seen as part of the solution set and part of how we solve problems. We use our people. DoD has 3 million people. If we’re not using the strength of that people, then we’re shooting ourselves in the foot.

Tom Temin And did the talent management idea apply to uniform personnel? Because that’s a pretty different world, in some ways, than civilian. And yet, often, they work side by side on the same function.

Jeannette Haynie It did. It was for uniform members and civilian members alike, and we got a range of ideas across pretty much every population you can imagine in DoD.

Tom Temin Sure. So, let’s get to the finalists there. Maybe give us a sense of what it is they proposed.

Jeannette Haynie Absolutely. And just for a little reference, we pulled in over 200 ideas, narrowed them down to 33 for the semifinal round. For the semifinalists, we had folks from every service, every military service, different OSD components. We had military members, civilian members, enlisted officer, different grades and ranks, executives all the way down. So we drew from a wide population and then narrowed it down to nine ideas. And if you’d like, we could go into a little bit a brief overview of those different nine ideas.

Tom Temin Well, first I want to get from Ms. Stewart, what is it that are the pain points in general? I mean, because people chose to enter this, that means they probably had something that really bugged them.

Beth Stewart I think the biggest finding and confirmation is that people have a lot of talent to offer the department, that we’re not even close to tapping into. We get binned by our occupation series or MOS ASFC, and people tend to tend to stay in those channels, but they also have additional skills and aptitude and abilities that we can draw out and lean on, especially when we’re looking for short-term projects and just an additional little help, a boost to a program or a project, that we just have no way of recognizing in this really structured hierarchical system.

Tom Temin And was it mostly HR types of people that answered the challenge, or did you get it from people that have a program or some kind of a functional responsibility who have to deal with the need for talent?

Beth Stewart Not at all. I think there are very few HR applicants. I think everybody else came from a different functional specialty.

Tom Temin All right. We’re speaking with Beth Stewart. She’s a program analyst, and Dr. Jeannette Haynie is director of the Defense Department’s talent management innovation challenge. And let’s get to some of the themes that came out in the nine finalists. What ideas did they come up with?

Jeannette Haynie Most of the ideas were clustered around the idea that we have a vast number of people in this department, and we just don’t know and map their skills and capabilities as well as we could to the jobs in the challenges that we face. So the challenge ideas, the ones that made it to the final round, were really clustered around understanding who our people are, what they bring to the table, and how we can best leverage their diversity, their brilliance, their intelligence and creativity to accomplish the DoD mission.

Tom Temin And Beth, tell us about some of the ideas.

Beth Stewart One of the more intriguing ideas was an idea called Go Fish. Government to fix spousal hiring. This idea aims at bringing in civilian talent, but it also helps us retain military talent, which I think, you know, covering the spectrum there of the people that work for the department. The ideas that are in the final round range from acquiring talent, onboarding, developing, assessing, assigning and retaining them. The next idea in the onboarding category was a talent emerge program. It’s an extensive onboarding program to help people understand the culture of the organization that they’re being drawn into, and give them, you know, a sense of a friend, and colleagues that are in the same boat with them, acculturated into their agency. And this program was not just for new employees to the department, but for people who’ve been around a while and just joined the agency. And we’re getting their feet wet in that new culture.

Tom Temin So it sounds like one of the themes is knowledge of the knowledge that’s there, almost.

Jeannette Haynie We don’t know about people, and if we’re not really accessing all the skills and the capabilities and experiences people have to offer, then we’re not exploring the potential that we have in this department. And one more idea to talk about the agile talent ecosystem powered by Gig Eagle was an idea that was fairly mature, and along the way has been used in various ways in the Air Force already. And that’s a way of mapping people with specific skill sets to short-term opportunities across DoD. All of these kind of get at a broader shift around how we think about our people, how we engage our people, and how we leverage our people.

Tom Temin Right. And maybe the second theme then is not keeping people in the channel or in the bucket that you mentioned, the bin, but maybe tasking them from time to time to something exciting that uses another part of their talent, which makes the career more interesting and makes people maybe want to stay around longer.

Jeannette Haynie Yeah, absolutely. There’s definitely a retention aspect to this. If people feel like they are being able to use the full breadth of skills that they bring to the table to do meaningful work across DoD, that’s a huge point of it. And what was really fascinating about the ideas as well, I’ll say two things. One is, none were in direct conflict with each other, the ones that made it to the final round. There are so many challenges in the space that they were all kind of across a continuum, tackling different facets of talent management challenges and are actually stronger woven together in different ways, which was pretty cool to see.

Tom Temin And by the way, who did the picking of the nine finalists?

Jeannette Haynie Oh, that was a team effort across DoD and particularly the personnel and readiness component. We leaned heavily on experts who own military and civilian personnel policy, talent management force resiliency and diversity, equity and inclusion.

Tom Temin All right. And in the DoD, there’s often a valley of death, as they call it, between the creation of an external idea, say, from industry and turning it into a product that the DoD can use and deploy. Will there be a valley of death on these ideas, or what’s the next steps to make sure they get implemented in some way and into the system?

Jeannette Haynie You know, the valley of death, indeed. So, that’s what we’re in the middle of right now is figuring out what are the near-term actions and what are the long-term actions, and how do we continue to make progress on these right now as a department, while mapping them towards everything we do in the future? I don’t want to get out ahead of the leadership decisions right now, so we’re happy to do another update down the road if there’s interest. But, you know, our goal right now is to weave as much of this into existing efforts and advance what we can via pilots. You know, we’ve got a chief talent management officer on board, working closely with him and his team to figure out what we can bring on from these, moving forward. And how do we make a challenge like this, something that is ongoing year over year.

Tom Temin Beth, let me ask you this. Do you get the sense that the ideas can be implemented if people choose to, without a whole big rigmarole of rulemaking or doctrine rewriting and policy changes?

Beth Stewart Yes. And the rules are there for a reason, but they’re always meant to be challenged. And we have to make sure that our rules serve us well. And we have to think beyond where we’ve come from to where we’re going, and to make sure that we designed a system that values people, puts them at the center of our mission, capability and focus. And we have to just change our our way of thinking about how we leverage talent. People bring a lot more to the table than we ask of them if we let them. And that’s probably the biggest takeaway.

Tom Temin Beth Stewart is a program analyst with the Defense Department’s Talent Management Innovation Challenge. Thanks so much for joining me.

Beth Stewart Thank you.

Tom Temin Good to be here. And Dr. Jeannette Haynie is director of that challenge. Thanks for joining me.

Jeannette Haynie Thank you so much. Good to be here.

Tom Temin We’ll post this interview along with a link to more information at federalnewsnetwork.com/federaldrive. Hear the Federal Drive on demand. Subscribe wherever you get your podcasts.

The post DoD challenge brought in 200 great talent management ideas first appeared on Federal News Network.

Brian Epley, the principal deputy CIO at the Energy Department, will be the new technology leader at Commerce, Federal News Network has learned.

Epley replaces Andre Mendes, who left in in January to join Tarrant County, Texas to be its CIO. Epley will join Commerce on June 3.

Epley joined Energy in September 2022 as its principal deputy CIO and previously worked at the Environmental Protection Agency for six years as the deputy CIO and as the deputy assistant administrator for administration and resources management.

Multiple emails to Commerce seeking comment were not returned.

Epley has been in and out of government for his entire career. He served as the Homeland Security Presidential Directive-12 (HSPD-12) program director at the Department of Veterans Affairs from 2005-2007. He worked as a program manager at Northrop Grumman and CSC, and worked as a consultant for North Highland and for his own company InterSolve-IT.

During his time at Energy, Epley has led the CIO office’s day-to-day operations and assisted with the formation of the office’s strategic direction for the protection and modernization of IT, cybersecurity and data usage across the DOE enterprise.

Over the last two-plus years, Epley also led several specific IT initiatives. He helped moved the department forward to modernize its network and telecommunications infrastructure through the Enterprise Infrastructure Solutions (EIS) contract from the General Services Administration. In its April 2024 report, GSA says Energy has moved more than 80% of circuits to its new contract.

Additionally, Epley lead the effort to develop an artificial intelligence sandbox to safely test out capabilities and tools and led the recent project to establish a five-year enterprise license with Microsoft that is costing the department 19% less than previous contracts.

A third big focus areas for Epley over the last few years has been to update the Energy Department’s five-year IT strategic plan, which hadn’t been updated since 2022, and play a significant role in hiring the CIO office’s senior leadership team.

In coming to Commerce, Epley inherits a $2.9 billion IT budget, according to the Federal IT Dashboard. Of that, $2.1 billion is considered operations and maintenance or about 72% of all spending.

The dashboard also shows most of Commerce’s 98 major IT investments are in good shape, with 78 receiving a “green” rating, meaning low risk of failure. On the most recent Federal IT Acquisition Reform Act (FITARA) scorecard, Commerce earned a “C” grade, receiving low scores on its cybersecurity, transition to the EIS contract and its adoption of cloud computing requirements.

Epley also inherits a Commerce IT modernization strategy that has been focused on moving to software-as-a-service (SaaS) and a troubled financial management modernization project.

The post Energy deputy to take over as new Commerce CIO first appeared on Federal News Network.