Cybersecurity agencies are warning critical industries, including government contractors, about Russia-linked hackers targeting insecure routers and other devices. In an alert this week, the National Security Agency and 18 domestic and international partner agencies urged organizations to secure their networking devices. They say the targeted sectors include communications, the defense industrial base, energy, financial services, government services and healthcare. The hackers have spent years quietly extracting configuration data from poorly configured routers across critical infrastructure.

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A top Justice Department official that oversees how agencies administer the Freedom of Information Act is stepping down. Sean Glendening has left his job as director of the Justice Department’s Office of Information Policy. He says he’s now pursuing a masters in public administration at Harvard Kennedy School. Glendening took over the OIP role last year after longtime Director Bobak Talebian was fired as part of a wave of DOJ terminations.

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The Defense Department has spent at least $2.6 billion on southern border operations since the beginning of fiscal 2025. It used multiple funding mechanisms to support the mission, including using money set aside for military construction projects and service members’ permanent change of station moves. In fiscal 2025, the Pentagon provided support to the Department of Homeland Security on a non-reimbursable basis. DoD said that approximately $305 million in support provided to DHS in fiscal 2026 is eligible for reimbursement.

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Agencies have new resources to help them run their own versions of the Federal Employee Viewpoint Survey this year. A playbook from the Office of Personnel Management explains how agencies can best plan and design their internal employee surveys. The extra guidance comes after OPM proposed to decentralize FEVS and revise the required survey questions. Agencies will have to administer their own employee surveys by the end of the year, and then report their results back to OPM.

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Federal retirement processing times are slowing down. During June, it took OPM an average of 108 days to process a retirement claim, according to the agency’s latest data release. Processing times for digital-only applications averaged 96 days. That’s a full 30 days longer than the previous month’s average. But at the same time, OPM’s retirement claim inventory in June was the lowest it’s been all year, coming in at just under 34,000 pending applications. OPM received close to 9,000 new claims last month and processed nearly 13,000.

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A move toward skills-based federal hiring is getting another push from Congress. A new bipartisan bill would push agencies to ease college degree requirements for many federal jobs. Agencies would have to consider alternative job qualifications like military service, apprenticeships and community college. If enacted, the bill would also create a separate USAJobs portal for positions not requiring a four-year college degree.

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The Army is replacing its long-criticized height-and-weight tables and tape test with a waist-to-height ratio to measure body composition. The change follows Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth's push for a simpler, more consistent fitness standard across the military. The new policy is drawing mixed reactions from soldiers, with critics questioning whether a single waist measurement is enough. Soldiers with a confirmed waist-to-height ratio of 0.55 or higher will be placed in the Army's body composition improvement program, but no one will be involuntarily separated during a 180-day implementation period.

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The National Institute of Standards and Technology has a new leader. Arvind Raman was sworn is as the fifth undersecretary of commerce for standards and technology on June 30th. He was confirmed by the Senate in May. Raman was previously the dean of engineering at Purdue University. His background is in atomic force microscopy, human biomechanics and electronics manufacturing. As the head of NIST, he’ll be charged with overseeing an array of high-profile work in areas like artificial intelligence, quantum science, and biotechnology.

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