Nextgov
DHS Needs to Set Guardrails for Its Expanded Insider Threat Program
As the department starts monitoring activity on unclassified networks, officials need to update policies and procedures to keep the program effective and constitutional.
Management
Senior Executives Association Teams Up with Freelance Gig Exchange
Collaboration aims to broaden opportunities for agency subject-matter experts.
Pay & Benefits
What You Need to Know About TSP's New Withdrawal Options
Changes coming in mid-September will allow participants more flexibility in how they take money out of their retirement savings accounts.
Route Fifty
A City Considers Criminalizing Racially-Motivated 911 Calls
In Grand Rapids, Michigan, the city commissioners are considering an ordinance that would make it a misdemeanor to call the police on people of color for “participating in their lives.”
Nextgov
Inside USDA's Farmer-First Approach to Digital Transformation
The department is mixing technology with human-centered design to produce a better experience for its customers.
Oversight
J. Edgar Hoover’s Revenge: Information The FBI Once Hoped Could Destroy Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. Has Been Declassified
Publication was justified of information from the FBI that Martin Luther King Jr. witnessed and celebrated a woman’s rape, writes a historian, who warns the FBI had long wanted to destroy King.
Nextgov
CBP’s Airport Facial Recognition ‘Is Not a Surveillance Program’
As the public grows wary of facial recognition, the head of CBP’s biometric entry and exit initiative says the agency is using the tech responsibly.
Management
The IRS Now Audits Poor Americans at About the Same Rate as the Top 1%
As the agency’s ability to audit the rich crumbles, its scrutiny of the poor has held steady in recent years. Meanwhile, a new study shows that audits of poor taxpayers make them far less likely to claim credits they might be entitled to.
Route Fifty
To Curb Trashcan Clutter, a City Will Try Stowing Waste Underground
Raleigh, North Carolina is looking to improve on “the old school model” it uses to handle waste from downtown businesses.
Route Fifty
Lawmakers Approve Two-Week Flood Insurance Extension
Congress is under pressure to overhaul the National Flood Insurance Program amid cost and coverage concerns, but has been unable to secure permanent reauthorization of the program.
Nextgov
NSA Deflects Blame for Baltimore Ransomware Attack
The city of Baltimore had more than two years to defend itself against the attack, and it’s officials’ fault they dropped the ball, according to NSA cyber chief Rob Joyce.
Oversight
House Democrats Clash With Education Department Over Watchdog’s Status
The Trump administration’s aborted effort to replace the IG prompts document demands and an oversight dispute.
Nextgov
Developing Standards For AI Won’t Go Like Past Technologies
Top experts and officials working on artificial intelligence say global competition has set the stage for a very different standards discussion than with past technologies.
Management
Secret Service Training Crimped by Rising Workload Under Trump, GAO Finds
Review of remedies following 2014 breach at White House cites some progress.
Route Fifty
A New Way for Firefighters to Track Their Exposure to Carcinogens
A new app allows firefighters to track in real-time their exposure to dangerous substances.
Management
OPM Abandons Proposal that Federal Job Applicants Disclose Pre-Trial Diversion Participation
Although federal officials say the plan was well intentioned, advocates decried the initiative as counter to ongoing criminal justice reform efforts.
Pay & Benefits
Separating Fact and Opinion
It can be difficult to tell the two apart in the federal retirement world.
Pay & Benefits
U.S. Postal Employees’ Retirement Assets Are Invested More Cautiously Than Those of Their Foreign Counterparts
Legally mandated strategy is not risky, but also does not produce high returns that might help reduce a gap in pension assets and liabilities, report notes.
Pay & Benefits
Early Retirement, Severance Options Unclear for Forest Service Workers Facing Layoffs
The decision to eliminate 1,100 Forest Service jobs by Sept. 30 leaves a lot of unanswered questions for employees.
Defense