The Administrative Office of the United States Courts says it’s strengthening cyber protections after hackers hit the Judiciary's electronic case management system. The Judiciary says most documents are already available to the public, but that it’s putting in place more rigorous procedures to restrict access to sensitive documents under carefully controlled and monitored circumstances. Politico reported last week that a sweeping cyber intrusion may have exposed sensitive court data across multiple U.S. states.

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Federal employees’ COVID-19 vaccination status will soon no longer appear on their personnel documents. The Trump administration is directing agencies to scrub vaccination information from federal HR files. That includes erasing any instances of employees not complying with vaccine mandates, or requesting exemptions from any mandates. The Office of Personnel Management says no information related to vaccines can be used in decisions on hiring, promotions, discipline or terminations.

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

House Democrats are pushing for details on the Department of Agriculture’s major relocation plans. The lawmakers say testimony from USDA leadership last month did not clarify how well the agency had planned ahead before announcing the relocations. The agency also failed to estimate how many employees would leave their jobs as a result of the move, according to the Congress members. In a letter to USDA, the Democrats requested the agency turn over all documents and communications related to the relocation plans.

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Federal employees submitting their retirement paperwork may have to wait longer to get their claims processed. The Office of Personnel Management reported that during July, it took the agency 59 days, on average, to process a federal employee’s retirement package from start to finish. That’s two weeks longer, on average, than it took OPM to work through cases in June. Another 8,300 federal employees sent their retirement paperwork to OPM last month. All combined, that adds up to nearly 37,000 feds who have submitted a retirement claim since April.

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

There’s a growing effort in Congress to enhance whistleblower protections for FBI employees. A new bill from Republican Senator Chuck Grassley, if enacted, would expand several portions of the existing whistleblower protections at the FBI. For one, the legislation would protect FBI agents who appeal adverse personnel decisions. The bill would also secure protections for agents who cooperate in whistleblower investigations. Grassley says his bill comes in response to what he described as whistleblower retaliation during the Biden administration.

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

The Defense Department is planning on reorganizing and reducing the size of the staff that supports the Defense Technical Information Center or DTIC. The Pentagon says through a reduction-in-force effort, DTIC will cut 40 civilian positions. It expects the RIF notices to go out by August 25. Additionally, Silvana Rubino-Hallman, who is the acting administrator of DTIC, will conduct a zero-based core mission review for all contractor personnel augmenting DTIC staff and will direct contracting officers to issue any stop-work-orders as appropriate. DoD expects the RIF and reorganization to save more than $25 million per year.

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Federal employees saw their retirements account grow across 14 of 16 funds in the Thrift Savings Plan in July. But the rate of growth for most of the funds was under 1% as compared to June. New data from TSP shows only the S and C funds increased month over month by more than 1%. Only two of the funds, F and I, ended up lower in July than in June, but again only by less than 1%. For the year, every fund is showing positive returns with the I fund leading the way with a return of almost 17%.

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Veterans Affairs is getting a new permanent watchdog. The Senate confirmed senior VA advisor Cheryl Mason to serve as the next VA inspector general. President Trump fired the last VA inspector general, Michael Missal, in January along with 16 other agency IGs. Mason previously served as the first woman to chair the Board of Veterans Appeals.

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.