Ideas
How agencies can harness AIOps to streamline service delivery
2024 was a landmark year for AI, and the relentless pace of innovation will undoubtedly continue throughout 2025.
People
‘What did you do last week?’ Feds get mixed signals on whether to respond
Responses to the new governmentwide email system are meant to be voluntary, as OPM has advised agencies, but billionaire Elon Musk has said feds risk their employment if they choose not to respond — and some agencies are still telling feds to do so.
Exclusive
People
Oversight agency finds Trump’s federal worker firings unlawful, asks for some employees to be reinstated
The findings could have sweeping impacts for the tens of thousands of recently dismissed workers.
Policy
Trump administration asks all feds to justify their jobs or risk losing them
Employees throughout government are receiving emails asking them what they did last week.
Exclusive
Policy
OPM triggers more RIFs after ‘clean cleaving’ an entire office
“The job will not get done without our work,” one laid off employee said.
Defense
Pentagon may break up tech offices in acquisition-policy shift
Shakeup may also consolidate service PEO functions and put more R&D costs on industry, a Pentagon source says.
People
Science Dems press NASA about data security as DOGE turns its attention to the agency
A space agency official told House lawmakers that DOGE “has identified an individual who will be employed by NASA.”
People
Judge denies federal unions’ request to block mass probationary firings
The federal judge said in a preliminary ruling that the National Treasury Employees Union likely must first bring their challenge to the Federal Labor Relations Authority.
Ideas
Trump’s plan to slash the federal workforce isn’t the first, it’s just the worst
COMMENTARY | The triple-meat-cleaver approach to workforce “reform.”
People
Senate confirms Kash Patel to lead FBI
Patel is now poised to lead an agency he has long criticized of being politically biased against Donald Trump
Cybersecurity
Salt Typhoon hackers exploited stolen credentials and a 7-year-old software flaw in Cisco systems
The Chinese hacking collective has widely leveraged vulnerabilities in communications infrastructure to breach dozens of telecom providers in the U.S. and overseas.
People
Virginia governor pressed to support federal workers and contractors
Fairfax County's board of supervisors chairman says the Trump administration's proposed workforce reductions threaten Virginia's economy and wants Gov. Youngkin to take action.
Cybersecurity
DOGE employee Edward Coristine lands at CISA with DHS email
A handle dubbed “Rivage” was reportedly tied to Coristine, and used to discuss and solicit hacking activities with a cybercrime syndicate known as The Com.
People
IRS expected to fire 6,700 employees beginning Thursday
The terminations will walk back much of the progress IRS, which is in the midst of tax season, has made in recent years to increase its workforce.
Digital Government
Diversion of Security Fee funds from TSA harms screening tech adoption, report warns
One-third of the September 11 Security Fee meant to fund the TSA is being redirected to help reduce the national debt.
People
Thousands join class actions as fired feds weigh options to challenge Trump's moves
Former federal probationary employees are hopeful they can prove their dismissals were not actually performance based, as their agencies claim.
People
Trump to nominate John Eisenberg to head Justice’s national security division
During his time as a legal advisor in the first Trump administration, Eisenberg reportedly ordered a 2019 call with the Ukrainian president to be secured on a classified server, turning it into the central evidence in Trump’s first impeachment inquiry.
Emerging Tech
Microsoft debuts new superconductor chip designed for quantum computing
The newly termed “topoconductor,” Majorana 1, is designed to support large qubit data processing for a future quantum computer.
Defense
Katie Arrington announces she is DOD’s new CISO
Arrington, who was once accused of disclosing classified data, was a major proponent of the Cybersecurity Maturity Model Certification program used for DOD contractors.
Digital Government