Defense
Security Clearance Backlog Drops By Nearly 40%
Attention is shifting to processing times and rolling out continuous evaluation to the entire clearance population.
Defense
Democrats Couldn’t Agree on Top National-Security Threats
The candidates’ different answers reflect the Democratic Party’s deeper divisions on foreign policy.
Management
One Way to Make the Green New Deal Actually Happen: a Super-Ministry
To administer the Green New Deal, combine Interior, Energy, Housing & Urban Development, and Transportation to create a new Department of Cities and Regions.
Management
Play of the Day: The First Democratic Debate Featured Two Languages
In Miami, Beto O'Rourke and Cory Booker spoke Spanish.
Nextgov
Shifting Priorities, Metrics Lead To Relatively Flat FITARA Grades
The latest scorecard showed agencies are making progress in key areas. But new metrics and a few backslides brought most grades back down.
Management
House Approves 3.1% Pay Raise and Blocks OPM Furloughs, Merger
Lawmakers dealt the Trump administration’s proposal to merge OPM and GSA another setback.
Management
Agencies Meet Small Business Contract Goals
Eight receive an A+ procurement rating, the Small Business Administration says.
Oversight
Special Counsel Defends Career Staff as Panel Subpoenas Trump Counselor Over Hatch Act Violations
Kellyanne Conway’s no-show at a House hearing prompts partisan-tinged questioning of Special Counsel Henry Kerner.
Pay & Benefits
House Approves Shutdown Back Pay for Contractors, Trump Signs Law Expanding Vet Disability Benefits
A weekly roundup of pay and benefits news.
Management
Nine Ideas to Help You Lead Effectively in Pressure Environments
It should be a crime to sacrifice potential in the name of results-at-all costs.
Nextgov
Agencies Are Leaving Sensitive Data Vulnerable to Hackers, Congress Says
Amid growing threats from China, Iran and Russia, most agencies are struggling to put in place even the most basic cybersecurity measures, according to congressional researchers.
Workforce
EPA Unilaterally Imposes New Union Contract Slashing Telework, Easing Firing
Labor group plans a legal fight against the decision.
Management
Federal Staffing Problems Are Inextricably Linked to Pay Problems
When workforce issues impede an agency’s service to the public, it’s more than a line in the budget.
Oversight
Play of the Day: The First 2020 Debate Night Is Here
Important questions will be asked, such as "who are you, exactly?"
Route Fifty
‘There Are No Yachts in Falls Church’: Debate Over State and Local Tax Deduction Flares
GOP House members say Democrats’ claim that eliminating the deduction has hurt ordinary taxpayers is a “false narrative.”
Pay & Benefits
After Dramatic Workforce Reductions, Postal Service Sees Spike in Overtime Hours
Faulty scheduling and fewer employees led to overtime uptick, IG says, in spite of mail volume decline.
Nextgov
Artificial Intelligence is Too Dumb to Fully Police Online Extremism, Experts Say
Algorithms excel at routine tasks, but understanding a post’s context requires a human touch, former Facebook security chief Alex Stamos told lawmakers.
Management
'People Are Crying When They Come Into Work:' Unions Protest OPM-GSA Merger
Lawmakers said they will try to amend an appropriations bill to block the acting OPM director from following through on her threat to lay off 150 agency employees.
Management