People

Harris touts skills-based hiring for feds on the campaign trail

The move to skills-based hiring for federal government jobs has been ongoing under the Trump and Biden administrations.

Lawmakers file discharge petition to repeal controversial tax rule affecting federal retirees

The Social Security Fairness Act has broad bipartisan support both in Congress and among federal employee unions.

Cori Zarek exits USDS

The deputy administrator of the U.S. Digital Service has left for a new job at Apolitical.

Biden formally announces 2% average pay raise for feds in 2025

The president each August must declare an “economic emergency” to prevent large automatic increases to locality pay from taking effect, in accordance with the Federal Employees Pay Comparability Act.

Trump calls federal workforce 'crooked,' vows to hold them 'accountable'

In an interview with a right-wing Youtuber, the former president seemingly alluded to reviving Schedule F and other Trump-era policies aimed at making it easier to fire federal employees.

Mike Gallagher talks priorities as Palantir’s new defense business chief

The former lawmaker is looking to draw on a decade of national security policy work in the new position.

Rising Stars nominations extended until August 30

Nominations for the 2024 Rising Stars program are being extended to help showcase some of the best up-and-coming talent in government.

DARPA hires Twitter whistleblower to serve as its CIO

Peiter “Mudge” Zatko — the former security head of then-Twitter who alleged that the platform was overlooking critical security flaws — will be returning to DARPA after almost a decade away in the private sector.

OPM’s retirement backlog continued to creep higher in July

The Office of Personnel Management processed nearly 500 fewer retirement requests than it received last month, causing its backlog to inch up for the second straight month.

Cassidy ties proposed 30% pay and benefits cuts to federal telework

The Louisiana Republican has introduced bills to bar federal workers from receiving locality pay if they telework at least once per week and excising locality pay from all future feds’ pensions.

Lawmakers look to clarify electronic medical device use in secure facilities 

A Senate bill would charge an “Electronic Medical Device Governance Board” with reviewing agencies’ policies regarding the use of digital healthcare instruments in highly-classified facilities.

CISA names Lisa Einstein as first chief AI officer

The new position is part of the agency’s larger strategy to incorporate responsible artificial intelligence solutions both internally and externally to critical infrastructure partners.

East-West prisoner exchange brings home American journalist, returns convicted Russian hackers

The swap that brings home reporter Evan Gershkovich and others will in turn send back imprisoned Russian hackers convicted for pilfering millions of dollars in schemes against U.S. targets.

A decade of data at Transportation

Over 10 years leading data management at the Department of Transportation, Dan Morgan has championed the power of open data and cross-agency collaboration.

Gen Z is underrepresented in the federal workforce. Here’s how some experts would fix that

People younger than 30 represent 7% of the full-time civil service despite being 20% of the overall U.S. labor force.

White House cyber czar office adds new deputy

Harry Wingo, a former national security professor and Navy SEAL officer, will take the position next week, the Office of the National Cyber Director said.

CISA executive director set to depart the agency

Brandon Wales, who temporarily led the agency after a Trump-era management shakeup, has overseen many of the recent CISA-led cyber reporting regulations, as well as coordination during major cyber incidents.