Management
The CDC is getting a new leader as it seeks to remake itself after the pandemic
Dr. Mandy Cohen, former head of North Carolina’s Health and Human Services Department, will be stepping in as the public health agency’s new director in July.
Oversight
‘These were not normal times’: A former watchdog reflects on COVID-19 oversight
Bob Westbrooks, who first joined the government in 1994, served as executive director of the Pandemic Response Accountability Committee for over two years.
Management
VA secretary: Automation will help agency ‘make better, faster, more informed decisions’
VA Secretary Denis McDonough said the department is poised “to deliver a completely new, fully integrated experience” for veterans as officials expect a further increase in PACT Act claims.
Workforce
DeSantis pledges to eliminate agencies and slash the federal workforce, following a long line of recent GOP candidates
Florida governor and presidential candidate says his administration would "fundamentally reshape Washington."
Workforce
Schedule F architects say the plan’s critics are ‘hyperbolic’
Officials behind the Trump administration’s abortive effort to strip tens of thousands of federal workers in policy positions of their civil service protections called concerns of politicization overblown, but espoused making all federal employees at-will.
Pay & Benefits
Tips for juggling different retirement systems
Did you know there’s a separate retirement system for employees on military bases in self-funding "morale, welfare and recreation" operations?
Workforce
Supreme Court rejects USPS bid to require employees to work on Sundays
The Postal Service may still prevail in lower court, but the high court has created a new precedent USPS must now follow in providing religious accommodations.
Tech
Critical cyber threats persist on federal networks despite recent directives
Hundreds of devices on federal networks remain in apparent violation of a recent Binding Operational Directive from the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency, according to a new report.
Workforce
OPM’s ‘Intern Experience Program’ promises to standardize, improve agencies’ internship offerings
The plan is the latest in a series of initiatives aimed at boosting participation in internship programs at federal agencies and improving the government’s ability to recruit younger civil servants.
Workforce
Republican leaders take another shot at easing the firing process for VA workers
Previous efforts to speed up firing at VA have fallen flat, but lawmakers are launching a new, bipartisan effort.
Pay & Benefits
Extra pay raises are coming to nearly 33,000 feds next year, thanks to new locality pay rules
The Office of Personnel Management has proposed regulations to create four new locality pay areas, along with a comprehensive map update adding dozens of jurisdictions to existing pay regions.
Oversight
Americans in former Confederate states more likely to say violent protest against government is justified, 160 years after Gettysburg
Residents of what are known as the Border States, the slave states that did not secede from the Union, are also more likely than residents of Union states to say it can be justifiable to violently protest against the government.
Oversight
The congressional COVID-19 oversight commission is about to sunset
Rep. French Hill, R-Ark., is the lone member left on the panel.
Defense
House, Senate China hawks concerned White House will let TikTok stay in the US
Key Republican lawmakers in the House and Senate warned that tweaked language in a new Commerce Department rule could lay the groundwork for TikTok’s proposal to store U.S. users’ data in the country.
Management
Transparency in numbers: Federal contractors must be held accountable for their diversity efforts
COMMENTARY | A more diverse talent pool will result in government services—and access to those services—that are more reflective of the constituents those services support.
Management
Inside DHS’ quest to streamline customer experience and ease public burden
The Department of Homeland Security’s CIO detailed how his agency saved the public 20 million hours accessing agency services in a move that signals a major culture change.
Pay & Benefits
Dead Letter Box: A union advocate’s plea for more reliable notifications to fed retirees
News updates and stories you may have missed.
Oversight
‘Serious failures’ handling Jeffrey Epstein’s custody highlight the staffing crisis at federal prisons, watchdog says
The Justice Department IG blasted the Bureau of Prisons on many fronts in a new report and the bureau’s director concurred with all the recommendations.
Management
Regulator shuts down USPS’ request to implement DeJoy’s overhaul without additional oversight
Postmaster General Louis DeJoy is proposing "dramatic change to every aspect of the postal environment," says the USPS regulator that wants to ensure added scrutiny.
Pay & Benefits