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OpenAI agents accessed Census, SEC data and tried to hack Education website

David DiMolfetta — Mon, 28 Sep 2026 17:12:40 -0400

UPDATED Saturday, Sept. 26

OpenAI’s artificial intelligence agents accessed Census Bureau data using developer keys found online and reposted public Securities and Exchange Commission information on another website, the company confirmed. Researchers separately identified a failed attempt by agents linked to OpenAI to hack an Education Department website.

The details identify specific U.S. agencies following the company’s Friday disclosure that government websites were among the outside systems involved in its investigation of agents acting beyond their assigned tasks or intended methods during training and testing.

The New York Times reported Friday⁠ that researchers at the AI research organization Transluce identified the unsuccessful attempt to hack Education’s website to obtain data from its civil rights office. An Education spokesperson told the newspaper that reviews found no evidence of an impact on its website or databases.

OpenAI said its models accessed only public information from Census and the SEC. In the Census case, agents used Census Data API developer keys found in public GitHub repositories during internal training tasks. Those keys authenticated read-only requests for public demographic and economic data, the company said.

OpenAI said it found no access to Census accounts or key-management functions, and no ability to modify agency data or systems.

At the SEC, agents retrieved information available to any visitor to SEC.gov and Investor.gov, then posted some of it on another public webpage. OpenAI said it found no use of SEC credentials, access to accounts or nonpublic information, changes to agency systems, or evidence of a compromise or vulnerability.

The company said it notified both agencies and shared technical findings. The SEC told the Times it was unaware of unauthorized access to nonpublic information, while Commerce said no private Census data was accessed.

“As we previously announced, we’re conducting an extensive review of misaligned model activity and notifying organizations when we identify potential impacts to their systems,” an OpenAI spokesperson told Nextgov/FCW. “We expect to make additional notifications as that work continues.”

The company has notified dozens of organizations as it reviews activity that may have bypassed security controls, disrupted services or otherwise negatively affected websites. Sites involved include those operated by governments, universities and public agencies.

Nextgov/FCW reported in August⁠ that former officials and cybersecurity experts saw an increasing risk of unintended AI intrusions into federal systems. They cited aging technology, insufficient separation between networks and contractor connections as potential routes into systems the agents were never authorized to enter.

The newly detailed U.S. activity does not establish that federal networks were breached. It offers a broader picture of how government websites can become caught up in AI experiments conducted outside their control, raising questions about developers’ ability to contain agents pursuing routine tasks.

The disclosures could also intensify debate over whether safeguards can keep pace with increasingly capable systems, amid concerns that similar failures could have more serious consequences for sensitive government networks or critical infrastructure.

In Australia, officials revealed this week that an OpenAI agent — autonomous software that uses an AI model to plan and complete tasks — gained unauthorized access to a government health statistics portal in June.

The agent was researching public medicine spending when it accessed infrastructure behind the Medicare Statistics Reporting Service portal, government officials said Thursday⁠. After a request for information was denied, it circumvented the portal’s restrictions.

Officials said the information involved aggregated statistics and that no individual medical records were accessed. The portal was separate from systems handling Medicare claims, payments and personal information.

OpenAI discovered the June activity in August and notified Services Australia on Sept. 10. Prime Minister Anthony Albanese raised concerns directly with OpenAI CEO Sam Altman, and Australian officials announced a task force to examine the incident, government network security and whether existing laws adequately address such activity.

OpenAI cautioned that its notifications should not automatically be interpreted as evidence of significant security incidents. Most cases identified so far were of low severity, with limited or no evidence of meaningful impact, it said.

The company said some organizations may conclude the information accessed was intentionally public or the interaction was not concerning, while others may identify a weakness to address.

The review follows OpenAI models’ July breach of AI platform Hugging Face during an internal cybersecurity evaluation. The company has since broadened its investigation to examine agents’ interactions with outside websites.

“Most of the activity we’ve reviewed so far involved routine research tasks, such as accessing public web content to answer questions,” the OpenAI spokesperson said. “Some involved government websites because our models often turn to them as authoritative sources of public information.”

OpenAI said the review will take months to complete. It is sharing technical findings with affected organizations and generally leaving decisions about public disclosure to them.

The company separately disclosed Friday⁠ that research agents had transmitted training and evaluation data to outside services. It identified 53 instances in which user-provided images were posted to image-hosting sites through links that were not publicly listed. Most of that content has been removed, OpenAI said, and it is working with hosting providers to remove the rest.

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SSA’s lead had set a goal of 200M online accounts this year — experts say that might prove challenging

Christian Robles — Mon, 28 Sep 2026 16:14:14 -0400

The Social Security Administration hit its target of reaching 105 million 'my Social Security' accounts — an online portal Americans use to access services — by the end of the month, an agency spokesperson told Nextgov/FCW on Friday. The agency now aims to reach 110 million by the end of next September, per a strategic plan released in August.

But that 110 million goal is far less lofty than the target SSA Commissioner Frank Bisignano told Congress about last year: 200 million online accounts by the end of 2026.

The SSA spokesperson said the agency continues to strive for 200 million my Social Security account holders, but they did not offer a target date.

Boosting the number of my Social Security accounts is central to Bisignano’s push to transform SSA into a “digital-first” agency.

Nextgov/FCW spoke to over half a dozen lawyers, former SSA officials and other experts about the challenges the agency faces in reaching 200 million my Social Security accounts. Among them are the limited value of making an account for some Americans, a lack of awareness and account creation difficulties.

Amid the issues, lawyers and SSA employees are increasingly encouraging seniors and disability claimants to make online accounts.

“I see [my Social Security accounts] becoming, step by step, more and more relevant to the disability claim process as more is provided in there to the claimant,” David Camp, senior policy advisor and general counsel for the National Organization of Social Security Claimants’ Representatives, told Nextgov/FCW.

Account adoption challenges

Only 44% of adults report having a my Social Security account, including 66% of those aged 65 and older and 29% of those ages 18 to 49, according to AARP survey results published last month.

Adults generally interact with SSA in very specific moments of their lives, which explains much of the tepid adoption in the younger age bracket, Arabella Crawford, a civic tech consultant and Tech Viaduct contributor, told Nextgov/FCW. Those moments include turning 65, being diagnosed with a disability or changing their legal name, she explained.

Over 75 million Americans received Social Security benefits, Supplemental Security Income or both in August 2026, according to SSA data.

“I do not understand why you would expect the majority of Americans to create an account,” Crawford said.

The agency uses public service announcements, social media posts, targeted email and text outreach, agency notices and customer contacts to encourage Americans to make my Social Security accounts.

But even within the subset of Americans who do actively interact with SSA, other barriers to reaching the account goal exist.

Last year, attorneys at the Georgia Legal Services Program, a nonprofit law firm focused on serving rural Georgia, hosted four clinics to explain what my Social Security accounts are and helped about 100 clients make one.

Each clinic had at least two attorneys and was sometimes staffed by as many as five attorneys, Brittany Pasley, the firm’s public benefits specialist and a supervising attorney at the firm’s Augusta regional office, told Nextgov/FCW.

The program noticed that much of its clientele did not know about my Social Security accounts.

Many clients are also not technologically savvy, lack internet access or have disabilities that make it difficult to use technology, Pasley said.

Clients ran into issues using my Social Security accounts’ digital identity verification services, she explained. For example, some clients found it difficult to use video proofing on ID.me — a digital identity validation service used across several agencies — while others had to wait for the government’s in-house option, Login.gov, to send codes through the mail, she said.

Crawford told Nextgov/FCW that online digital identity verification services present a roadblock for other Americans.

The services can be hard to use for Americans who lack a current photo ID, are unhoused or face other difficult circumstances, she said, and the services can sometimes fail to verify someone’s identity through data matching.

Americans struggling with my Social Security’s digital identity verification services can use alternative options to create an account, including in-person verification at USPS locations for Login.gov and remote “trusted referee” video calls for ID.me.

Promoting online accounts

Though Americans face challenges in creating my Social Security accounts, lawyers are increasingly encouraging clients who interact with the agency to use the portal.

“In the past, we rarely encouraged clients to set up an SSA account — it was challenging to set up, and once you were in, the information available on the account was limited,” wrote Stephanie Akpa, head of policy and public affairs at law firm Atticus, to Nextgov/FCW. The firm represents about 100,000 disability claimants each year.

“That started to change last year. SSA made logging in easier, improved the user interface, and started showing more case status details online. Now we have a reason to encourage clients to make accounts, and we’re doing just that,” Akpa added.

In July, SSA announced that disability claimants can submit certain adjudication forms and track the status of their case online. Online account holders can also access proffer letters, which detail when new evidence is added to a case after a hearing, and 26 different kinds of notices. About 79% of Social Security customer transactions with the agency have occurred online this year, according to the most recent SSA performance data.

“SSA is continuing to expand my Social Security so that beneficiaries and other members of the public can complete more routine business securely and conveniently online,” an agency spokesperson told Nextgov/FCW.

But my Social Security still lacks some digital features. The bipartisan Social Security Advisory Board called for improvements to online wage reporting tools and a mobile-friendly app for Supplemental Security Income recipients in a July report.

Pasley said that, while the firm does not have immediate plans to host more clinics, attorneys continue to encourage clients to create online accounts.

SSA employees are also pushing Americans to create accounts.

Since last September, SSA has required teleservice center and field office employees to strongly encourage Americans to do so, according to Rich Couture, president of the American Federation of Government Employees Council 215.

Under the initiative, SSA employees offer to send callers and visitors information about creating my Social Security accounts after checking a system to see if the person has one.

But it’s “common” for callers and visitors to decline the employee’s offer, Couture told Nextgov/FCW.

The agency maintains it wants customers to have the option to be served through field offices and phone calls, though SSA has lost thousands of employees under the Trump administration, according to Office of Personnel Management data.

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$25,000 bonuses for top-performing feds? OPM makes it easier for agencies to award them

Sean Michael Newhouse — Mon, 28 Sep 2026 15:29:29 -0400

The Office of Personnel Management last week delegated to agency heads the authority to award bonuses of up to $25,000 to “highly exceptional and unusually outstanding” civil servants.

Previously, agency heads first had to seek approval from the federal government’s HR agency to distribute awards between $10,000 and $25,000.

“A performance management system that makes meaningful distinctions in performance must also deliver meaningful rewards,” OPM Director Scott Kupor wrote in the memo. “Agencies should use this authority to provide larger awards to their highest performers, ensuring that the employees who contribute most to agency missions and results receive recognition commensurate with their contributions.”

OPM announced the bonus delegation change the same day that it set a 40% cap for fiscal 2026 on the share of federal employees that can receive the top two performance ratings.

“I think you could view this as part of a package to limit the number of people who are achieving the highest ratings and getting bonuses, but sweetening the pot a little bit in terms of the size of the bonuses,” said Alan P. Balutis, who worked in the federal government for nearly three decades and is a fellow of the National Academy of Public Administration.

Likewise, Kupor posted on social media in August that, for OPM’s internal awards, the agency reduced the number of categories but tripled the honor’s monetary value “in-line with our efforts to create a high performance culture across government.”

Balutis also argued that giving agency heads the authority to award these bonuses “seems logical.”

“They're running multi-billion-dollar budgets and programs and [for them] to have the authority to give employees what is — certainly compared to the private sector — a relatively modest annual bonus makes imminently good managerial sense,” he said.

The Partnership for Public Service — a good government nonprofit that has criticized many of the Trump administration’s federal workforce reforms, especially the removal of civil service protections for around 8,000 positions in “policy-making” roles through the Schedule Policy/Career job classification — contended that “streamlining the approval authority for the awards process may be a step in the right direction, [but] it fails to address the core problem that agencies still lack the incentives, tools and culture needed to meaningfully reward high performance.”

“Building a truly high performing workforce requires holistic reform to performance management as opposed to the piecemeal tweaks we continue to see from this administration," said Jenny Mattingley, the organization’s vice president for public policy and stakeholder engagement, in a statement to Government Executive.

OPM canceled the fiscal 2025 presidential rank awards, a program to honor outstanding members of the Senior Executive Service that includes a financial award component, for no specified reason. At the start of this year, however, the agency said the awards would return for fiscal 2026.

While OPM has delegated its authority over federal worker bonuses, it has recently taken several actions to centralize power over the civil servant removal process.

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Lawmaker warns intelligence contractors' Trump ballroom donations may be scrutinized

David DiMolfetta — Mon, 28 Sep 2026 15:10:08 -0400

The House Intelligence Committee’s top Democrat warned Monday that intelligence contractors could face congressional scrutiny over donations to President Donald Trump’s White House ballroom project, including whether the contributions were connected to government contracts or access to senior officials.

Rep. Jim Himes, D-Conn., wrote to the National Defense Industrial Association asking it to remind member companies of their obligations to respond to congressional oversight. He said lawmakers were likely to pursue investigative steps concerning the donations and other dealings between contractors and the administration.

“At times, the Administration has appeared to inappropriately fuse the government contracting process with the attempted extraction of political or private favors,” Himes said in the letter to NDIA President and CEO David Norquist.

The notice signals potential scrutiny in the coming months of the financial relationships between the White House and companies that serve the nation’s vast array of spy agencies.

Nextgov/FCW has asked NDIA and the Office of the Director of National Intelligence for comment.

The White House announced the ballroom project in July 2025, saying private contributions would cover its construction rather than congressionally appropriated funds. The White House has identified donors like Booz Allen Hamilton, Palantir Technologies and Lockheed Martin, alongside technology companies like Amazon, Google and Microsoft.

Himes said some publicly named donors belong to NDIA and have significant intelligence community contracts. His letter did not name specific companies or identify any contract awards he believes warrant examination.

He outlined questions about how donations were solicited, who participated in those discussions and whether contributions were linked to obtaining or retaining government business, presidential access or other benefits. Potential investigative steps could include requests for documents, communications and transcribed testimony.

The warning comes as Democrats appear increasingly well positioned to regain the House in November. The nonpartisan Cook Political Report said Friday that Republicans are on track to lose their majority. A Democratic takeover would give the party control of committee investigations when the new Congress convenes in January.

Under the panel’s current rules, subpoenas compelling documents or testimony require authorization from the chairman, after consultation with the ranking member, or a vote of the full committee.

The inquiry could also examine whether the donations create actual or apparent conflicts of interest or national security risks, and whether Congress should impose additional disclosure requirements or other safeguards.

He framed the issue, in part, as a concern about pressure on contractors, asking whether companies providing national security services were being pushed into arrangements that compromised the contracting process.

“Intelligence Community contractors provide valuable services to the nation, and to the extent they are being pressured in ways that corrupt the contracting process, Congress has a vital oversight interest,” Himes wrote.

The potential scrutiny extends beyond the ballroom. Himes said lawmakers may also seek information about other “unusual dealings” involving the White House, senior administration officials and NDIA members, though he did not identify additional transactions.

“I intend to ensure this matter is thoroughly investigated,” he wrote.

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Shutdown mass-layoff policy rescinded as part of settlement with unions

Jory Heckman — Fri, 25 Sep 2026 17:57:59 -0400

The Trump administration is withdrawing its authorization of widespread layoffs across the federal workforce during a government shutdown.

Federal employee unions reached a settlement with the administration on Friday, putting a pause on a lawsuit that challenged widespread layoffs carried out during a 43-day government shutdown last year.

The lawsuit will be held in abeyance until the end of the year, giving unions the ability to reopen the case if another shutdown occurs, and if the administration uses the funding lapse to terminate more employees.

The Trump administration threatened widespread layoffs as a bargaining chip to avoid a government shutdown last fall, and sent reduction in force notices to thousands of federal employees during the lapse in funding.

RIF notices that agencies issued during last year’s 43-day government shutdown have been rescinded, and employees separated by RIFs issued during that period have been reinstated to their positions.

Congress passed a continuing resolution keeping the federal government funded through Dec. 11, postponing the threat of a government shutdown until after the midterm elections.

As part of the settlement, the Office of Personnel Management and the Office of Management and Budget will have 30 days to notify agencies that earlier guidance making reductions in force a shutdown-exempt activity has been rescinded.

Agencies will also be instructed to remove RIF authorization from their own shutdown contingency plans.

“Within 30 days, Federal Agency Defendants will remove any language from their operative contingency plans for a lapse in appropriations that (1) provides for initiation of RIFs during a lapse in appropriations, or (2) authorizes employees to perform work necessary to administer a RIF process during a lapse in appropriations as an excepted activity, unless performing such work during a lapse in appropriations is expressly authorized by statute,” the settlement agreement states.

Under the settlement, agencies must give a 30-day notice to plaintiff unions if they plan to modify their plans to exempt initiating or administering RIFs during a future shutdown. Agencies will also have to publicly post those updated shutdown plans.

About 4,200 RIF notices were sent to employees at the departments of Commerce, Education, Health and Human Services, Homeland Security, Housing and Urban Development and Treasury, as well as the Environmental Protection Agency.

A federal judge in San Francisco issued a preliminary injunction blocking agencies from issuing or enforcing those RIFs. A spending package Congress passed to end the shutdown further prohibited agencies from carrying out RIFs. A subsequent funding bill kept those layoff protections in place through mid-February 2026.

Federal employee layoffs are not typical during a government shutdown. During most shutdowns, employees are either working — with or without being paid immediately — or are furloughed, meaning they are not working during the funding lapse.

OPM updated its guidance last year, exempting agency RIF procedures from the shutdown. Furloughed employees usually aren’t permitted to use their government-provided devices – including phones and computers – during a shutdown, but OPM said in its now-rescinded guidance that furloughed feds could use those devices to check for RIF notices or “additional RIF information.”

Just before the shutdown, OMB told agencies to draw up plans for RIFs in programs that wouldn’t have alternative funding sources during a lapse in appropriations, and that “are not consistent with the president’s priorities.”

In the early days of the shutdown, President Donald Trump posted an AI-generated video on Truth Social portraying OMB Director Russ Vought as the Grim Reaper targeting federal employees.

Everett Kelley, the national president of the American Federation of Government Employees said in a statement the Trump administration “tried to turn a shutdown into an excuse to fire the public servants who kept this country running without a paycheck on payday.

“We fought back, we held the line, and they backed down,” Kelley said.

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Following court order, OPM replaces 'favorite EO' question for jobseekers

Erich Wagner — Fri, 25 Sep 2026 17:39:54 -0400

The controversial essay prompt asking federal job seekers about their favorite Trump administration policy or executive order is officially on the way out, in the wake of a court ruling earlier this month finding it likely violated applicants’ First Amendment rights.

U.S. District Judge George O’Toole ordered the Office of Personnel Management to halt federal agencies’ use of the question, which critics described as a “loyalty test,” finding that it “directly links” jobseekers’ personal views with their potential duties as a federal employee. O’Toole issued a stay blocking agencies from including the question on federal job applications going forward but said he could not require the reconsideration of hiring actions that already occurred while the question was being distributed.

In a message last week, OPM instructed agencies to cease considering responses to the favorite executive order question for “any open vacancy,” but said they do not need to reopen previous hiring actions or repost job announcements, provided they close by Friday.

For existing job postings that remain open into next week and new job postings, agencies must now ask a new “Question 3,” one more tailored toward avoiding First Amendment concerns.

“In this role, you will be expected to professionally and efficiently implement executive direction,” the prompt states. “Provide an example where you implemented leadership direction on a strategy or policy decision that differed from your own recommendation.”

The memo also posits a new fifth essay question, tasking agencies with choosing between one and three “agency-wide priorities” and asking applicants how they would help the agency advance those initiatives.

“Agencies should populate the bracketed text with important priorities drawn from the agency’s strategic plan, annual performance plan, or other current agency priorities,” OPM wrote. “The text must be the same for all announcements within the agency.”

Although OPM’s essay questions, which the HR agency has stressed are optional, no longer explicitly query job applicants’ personal political views, Don Kettl, professor emeritus at the University of Maryland and former dean of its School of Public Policy, said the questions still create friction that will hurt federal hiring.

“The administration has been arguing strongly that they are using purely objective measures to measure the merit of potential employees in the application process,” Kettl said. “But when you start introducing essays that are inherently subjective both in the way they are framed and in the way they are graded, you run counter to the other thrust of this. OPM wants to be able to say, ‘This is just another measure,’ but to have essays graded subjectively in a process that is aimed at being objective creates an inherent contradiction.”

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Watchdog won’t discipline agencies over partisan shutdown posts but warns against ‘derogatory’ messaging

Sean Michael Newhouse — Fri, 25 Sep 2026 14:32:59 -0400

The Office of Special Counsel on Friday said that it is not pursuing disciplinary action over widespread messaging from agencies blaming the fall 2025 government shutdown on Democrats because officials misconstrued an earlier Hatch Act decision that they thought permitted the communications. But OSC staffers were not able to correct that misinterpretation at the time because they were furloughed due to the funding lapse.

The Hatch Act is an ethics law enforced by OSC that limits the political activities of federal employees. Specifically, civil servants are not permitted to engage in political activity while on duty or in their official capacity.

In the report, OSC said that it received more than 1,000 complaints about partisan messages from the White House and 37 agencies during the record-breaking shutdown, which ended in November.

At the time, Democratic lawmakers and good government nonprofits pointed to banners on agency websites blaming congressional Democrats for the shutdown and furloughed Education Department employees reporting that their out-of-office messages were modified to express the same sentiment as examples of Hatch Act violations.

OSC also cited a satirical webpage from the White House called “mysafespace” that pretended to be a social media profile for congressional Democrats.

“That fake profile contained a biography section that included, ‘Hey we’re Democrats in the House and Senate. We love DEI, transgender for everyone, and handing out taxpayer benefits to illegal immigrants,’ listed as heroes ‘anyone who identifies as a radical leftist[,] transnational gangs, [and] illegal immigrants,’ and made multiple references to the shutdown.”

Agencies generally defended these messages to OSC by referencing a 2024 advisory opinion finding that former Education Secretary Miguel Cardona did not violate the Hatch Act when he sent a letter to federal student loan borrowers criticizing lawsuits from “Republican elected officials” that temporarily blocked certain student debt forgiveness plans.

In that opinion, OSC staffers determined that there wasn’t evidence suggesting Cardona intended to influence election results and that the agency historically hasn’t considered references to a political party in discussions of pending legislation or government policy to constitute prohibited political activity.

OSC employees in Friday’s report said that the earlier opinion was not intended to be applied so broadly but that agencies’ interpretation was “understandable, especially because agencies could not consult OSC for clarification during the shutdown because OSC’s Hatch Act Unit staff was furloughed.”

“Because of agencies’ reasonable reliance on the 2024 advisory, OSC has determined that disciplinary action is neither warranted nor appropriate in the shutdown messaging cases,” they wrote. “Further investigation to determine facts like how the communications were developed and the roles of individual employees would tax OSC’s limited resources and not materially change the outcome.”

The agency clarified, however, that similar partisan messaging in the future still could run afoul of the Hatch Act.

“Some of the shutdown messaging had the clear non-electoral purpose of influencing pending legislation — namely the pending appropriations bills that would have restored government funding — while others had the non-electoral purpose of conveying operational impacts. Neither is prohibited under the Hatch Act,” staffers wrote. “But the derogatory tone and broad dissemination of some communications might weigh in favor of finding that their purpose went beyond influencing legislation to affecting the outcome of future elections, a purpose the Hatch Act prohibits.”

The Senate in August confirmed Charles Baldis, a former GOP Senate staffer, as special counsel, though he’s been leading OSC since spring 2025 as the designee of the former acting chief. In 2025, the president removed the former special counsel — Hampton Dellinger, who was appointed by President Joe Biden — before the end of his five-year term.

In August, the nonprofit Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington sent a letter to OSC criticizing the length of time it is taking to complete Hatch Act investigations into six senior administration officials, five of which have been pending for more than 10 months. In response, the agency said that it “doesn’t comment on open cases.”

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FDA nominee faces bipartisan scrutiny over vaccines and abortion drug

Jennifer Shutt, States Newsroom — Fri, 25 Sep 2026 06:00:00 -0400

President Donald Trump’s nominee to lead the Food and Drug Administration appeared to disappoint senators from both political parties Thursday with how she answered questions about medication abortion access during her confirmation hearing.

Dr. Heidi Overton also faced skepticism from committee Chairman Bill Cassidy, R-La., about her work on vaccine policy during the current administration, indicating she may not have the support needed to secure the job.

“You're a medical doctor. Of course, that resonates with me. You've seen patients. You have a deep understanding of the healthcare system and health policy, but I have concerns,” he said. “You were behind the president in the Oval Office when he signed an executive order to break up the vaccine schedule into more doses, completely ignoring the reality of families today struggling to make life affordable.”

Cassidy said that executive order was “based on zero scientific evidence” and would require parents to spend more time and more money taking their children to medical appointments to receive vaccine shots.

Overton, he said, needed to convince him and others on the Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee that if confirmed by the full Senate, she would be “radically honest.”

“You'll also need to ensure that uninformed ideologies do not influence FDA's decisions on whether to approve individual products, even if the president is pressuring you,” Cassidy said.

In response to a question from Cassidy about the vaccine for measles, mumps and rubella, Overton said she believed it as well as “every vaccine on the U.S. market right now” is safe and effective.

She added the MMR vaccine remains “our best tool right now in the public health response to the measles outbreak” and that it is “97% effective in stopping transmission of the virus after two doses.”

Questions on medication abortion

In addition to several questions about vaccine and food safety, senators pressed Overton about her personal views on mifepristone, one of two prescription pharmaceuticals used in medication abortion.

Senate confirmation would place Overton as the head of the agency conducting a safety review of the drug, though she declined to say how she would handle that process.

“Mifepristone was approved by the FDA as having met its safety and efficacy standard,” she said in response to a question from Sen. Patty Murray, D-Wash.

The senator then referenced a policy brief that Overton wrote with Matias Perttula for the America First Policy Institute that was published in February 2023.

The co-authors began by writing that “Abortion is corrosive to children, women, and society broadly because it devalues and extinguishes innocent human life.” They later added that medication abortion, which is approved for up to 10 weeks’ gestation, had become “the most common method of terminating a pregnancy” and that it “deserve(d) greater medical scrutiny.”

Overton declined to answer a question from Murray about whether an IUD counts as an abortifacient, saying that if confirmed she would be “fully briefed on all their prior decisions and make determinations according to the standards of safety and efficacy.”

Hawley presses on FDA position

Missouri Republican Sen. Josh Hawley also questioned Overton on her statements during the hearing about mifepristone, saying they didn’t match what the Trump administration was arguing in ongoing legal cases.

“I want to get to the bottom of this. I want to be sure that the FDA is not changing its position. I think this could be news to the court,” Hawley said. “So, are you saying that the FDA's position is now that the drug is safe and effective and appropriately labeled?”

Overton replied that the current Risk Evaluation and Mitigation Strategy for mifepristone, which changed during the Biden administration to allow for it to be prescribed via telehealth appointments and shipped to patients, is under FDA review.

“That safety study is ongoing and very important. Women's health and women's safety is a critical piece of this. So there is no change in position,” she said. “The FDA does need to do that safety study to look at the internal data that has not been looked at since a REMS change was made.”

The FDA wrote in a statement to States Newsroom that “Due to active litigation, the FDA and HHS cannot comment” on the safety review.

Murkowski sees 'political pressure'

Alaska Republican Sen. Lisa Murkowski also didn’t ask Overton any questions about mifepristone, but said she believes there was “political pressure” on FDA officials to “revisit the approval status of certain products.”

“We're going to be in a very challenging position in a very rural state like Alaska if in fact the move to require in-person dispensing of the medication as opposed to telehealth appointments is the direction,” Murkowski said. “You have effectively taken about ... 80% of the communities in the state, and put them in a very challenging position in terms of access to providers, access to this FDA-approved drug.”

Murkowski added that she didn’t ask Overton a specific question on the issue since it appeared she would “go down this same rabbit trail and probably get the exact same very specific technical responses that you have provided the committee.”

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ICE’s $45 billion detention expansion is littered with costly missteps, watchdog reports

Sean Michael Newhouse — Thu, 24 Sep 2026 18:19:41 -0400

The Trump administration does not have a plan on how to spend billions in additional funding for building and otherwise purchasing new facilities to detain migrants “resulting in wasted, or potentially wasted, resources,” according to a Government Accountability Office report that was published on Thursday.

“In the absence of a comprehensive strategic plan to guide detention expansion, [Immigration and Customs Enforcement] has wasted funds on unsuccessful detention initiatives and lacks important information about the long-term affordability of its investments,” auditors wrote.

For example, ICE reported purchasing 11 warehouses for $1.07 billion to repurpose as detainment facilities, but, as of June, officials are now working to sell seven of those properties.

In addition to spending more than $20 million on nonrecoverable costs (e.g. zoning) and ongoing utilities, GAO also warned that the warehouses could lead to additional waste if ICE sells the buildings for less than the $707 million they purchased them for.

Auditors also reported that the Homeland Security Department reimbursed Florida for $608.4 million through a Federal Emergency Management Agency grant program for the detention center nicknamed “Alligator Alcatraz.” Earlier this month, the DHS inspector general reported that the center, which closed in June, “did not provide detainees with sufficient living space, creating cramped conditions for detainees who spent most of their time in their housing units, which may harm detainees’ physical and mental health.”

Specifically, GAO faulted ICE for not entering into an agreement with Florida before the facility opened.

“ICE typically negotiates detention facility costs before it enters into contracts or agreements for detention facilities. However, according to ICE officials, senior leadership directed implementation of this initiative,” auditors wrote. “As a result, ICE did not follow its normal process of entering into a contract or intergovernmental service agreement with the state of Florida and, as a result, did not negotiate costs for [Alligator Alcatraz].”

Auditors also flagged that ICE spent about $43 million from the start of fiscal 2025 through June 30, 2026, on detaining migrants at Guantanamo Bay. While the administration at one point had plans to house 30,000 individuals there, the average daily population of noncitizens at the naval station in fiscal 2026 was 16.

The congressional watchdog also criticized an agreement between ICE and the Bureau of Prisons to house migrants, as the median bed rate at the eight participating BOP facilities was $182 daily per detained noncitizen in fiscal 2026 compared with a median bed rate of $92 for ICE centers. And the auditors referenced a June GAO report that found an immigration detention facility that opened in 2025 on a military base in Texas generated millions in waste, such as paying for meals when there were no detainees, and experienced other issues that “posed serious risks to the safety and security of both detained noncitizens and staff in the facility.”

As the Trump administration pursues mass deportations, ICE received $45 billion through fiscal 2029 in the One Big Beautiful Bill Act to increase detention capacity. In comparison, the agency got about $3.8 billion in fiscal 2025 annual appropriations for detention facilities.

Likewise, ICE’s average daily population of detained noncitizens increased 71% between Jan. 20, 2025, and July 30, 2026, going from around 39,300 migrants to nearly 67,200.

GAO recommended that ICE develop a strategy for its efforts to increase the number of detention facilities. DHS concurred and provided an estimated completion date of Aug. 31, 2027, but the auditors cautioned that “given ICE’s unprecedented multi-year detention funding and the potential for continued waste of taxpayer dollars, more timely completion may be warranted.”

Last week, the White House withdrew the nomination of Richard “Lance” Schroyer, a former Oklahoma state trooper, to lead ICE.

The current acting director of ICE is David Venturella, a longtime federal immigration official and former vice president of the private prison company GEO that has received billions through federal contracts by detaining immigrants at its facilities across the country. The last time the Senate confirmed someone to lead ICE was 11 years ago.

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VA’s contracting crackdown gave some staff hours to do hundreds of reviews

Jory Heckman — Thu, 24 Sep 2026 18:11:15 -0400

The Veterans Affairs Department moved quickly to eliminate hundreds of contracts last year at the Department of Government Efficiency’s urging – in some cases, giving officials only a few hours to review contracts marked for elimination.

VA’s Office of Inspector General found in a report this week that the agency terminated 435 contracts last year, valued at $1.1 billion. About 86% of those cancelled contracts were for consulting services. VA OIG reviewed 2,210 contracts in total.

These contracts were “terminated for convenience,” meaning the VA determined it was in the federal government’s best interest to end them. The report also found VA contracting officers terminated another 100 contract actions, but eventually reinstated them.

The watchdog office, led by a former senior adviser to VA Secretary Doug Collins, noted VA reviewed these contracts quickly under strict deadlines, but found contracting officials generally complied with Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) requirements for terminating contracts.

“Despite a challenging and fast-paced process, VA officials implemented procedures to review contracts before terminating them, which reduced the risk of terminating critical services,” the report states.

VA has the second-largest acquisition budget in the federal government. It obligated more than $78 billion in contracts in fiscal 2025.

VA Press Secretary Quinn Slaven told Government Executive in a statement that “thanks to the methodical and careful review process VA put in place, these contract cancellations had no negative impact whatsoever on VA care and benefits.”

“Instead, the department is reinvesting these massive savings to make landmark improvements to VA care and benefits,” Slaven added.

At the request of officials from DOGE and the General Services Administration, VA created a list of professional services and consulting contracts that the agency should consider eliminating.

VA contracting staff were instructed to complete a questionnaire for each contract marked for termination. The OIG report notes these contracts were culled by VA officials, “not a Department of Government Efficiency artificial intelligence program." ProPublica reported last summer that a DOGE official developed an error-prone AI tool to assist VA in its review of contracts to terminate.

According to the OIG report, senior VA officials set up a process to reduce the risk of terminating critical contracts. Offices were required to justify keeping critical contracts and identify the potential impact of veterans’ healthcare and benefits if certain contracts were terminated.

Officials were required to fill out questionnaires for contacts deemed essential. The questionnaire asked officials to consider whether the contracted tasks could be performed by VA employees, how soon it would take the VA workforce to take over this work, and whether these contracts provided specialized skills that VA could not easily hire on its own.

The IG office wrote that the “speed and volume” of these contract reviews created challenges for VA staff. In some cases, VA officials had two weeks, or “only a few hours,” to review hundreds of contracts.

According to the VA OIG, some officials were given less than 11 hours to complete their review, obtain approval from deputy undersecretaries, deputy assistant secretaries or senior leaders, and submit responses to the Office of Acquisition, Logistics, and Construction (OALC).

A VA Category Management Support Office director told OIG auditors that VA senior advisers and DOGE officials directed VA employees to terminate contracts on Feb. 25, 2025, regardless of "incomplete reviews.”

President Donald Trump signed an executive order on his first day in office last year eliminating “diversity, equity, and inclusion” activities in the federal government. By February 2025, Collins ordered a review of all VA contracts.

VA submitted two lists of terminated contracts to Congress – one in May 2025, the other in July 2025. The OIG determined that “both lists of terminated contracts were incomplete and inaccurate.”

The report determined that “officials who contributed to the information provided to Congress were unfamiliar with contracting and acquisition terminology, which may have caused the mischaracterization of the data.”

The May 2025 list reported that VA terminated 446 contract actions worth about $120 billion. A contracting official told the OIG that VA created a dashboard to track the terminated contracts, but miscalculated the contract values. A VA official told the OIG that DOGE representatives also “wanted to claim credit for any contacts that ended, including those that simply reached the end of their performance period.”

“VA has since provided Congress with updated and clearer information on the contracts that it terminated,” VA OIG wrote.

VA OIG began its audit last summer at the request of Senate VA Committee Ranking Member Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., and Sen. Angus King, I-Maine, a member of the committee.

Blumenthal said in a statement that the OIG report shows the cancellation of contracts at the VA was driven by DOGE and political leadership, not subject-matter experts at the VA.

“Secretary Collins owes us answers on how VA will replace lost services and how much this fiasco has cost taxpayers in arbitration, settlements, and reinstatements. Veterans and taxpayers deserve transparency and a full public accounting,” Blumenthal said.

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GSA claims it found $1.2B in suspected COVID-related contracting fraud

Christian Robles — Thu, 24 Sep 2026 16:02:38 -0400

The Trump administration claims it found more than $1.2 billion in suspected fraud and stopped $41 million more across five COVID-related contracts, according to a Wednesday press release from the General Services Administration.

GSA said although the COVID-19 national emergency and related acquisition flexibilities were cancelled in 2023, unnamed federal contractors continued to receive funding. The alleged fraud was uncovered in collaboration with the Health and Human Services Department and under the direction of the White House Task Force to Eliminate Fraud.

“The COVID emergency ended over three years ago, yet fraudsters continue to weaponize outdated emergency contracts to abuse taxpayer dollars,” GSA Administrator Edward Forst said in the release. “GSA will continue to work with the Vice President’s task force to stop improper payments, refer suspected fraud to law enforcement, and fight to recover every dollar.”

GSA estimates that about 93% of the contract funding — which would have been distributed for COVID vaccines and other pandemic-related services — has not yet been distributed to vendors, while roughly 6.78% has already been expended, according to a Fox News exclusive attached to the release. The agency has suspended payments to contractors, although the uncovered funding is not currently tied to criminal charges for contractors, the outlet reported.

“We're not after the honest contractors who did real pandemic work — we're after the leftover contracts hiding behind a crisis that no longer exists. The emergency is over. So is the free pass,” said Scott Brady, executive director of the White House Task Force to Eliminate Fraud, in the GSA press release.

The alleged COVID-related contracting fraud comes roughly a month after GSA said it found $13 billion in suspected procurement-related fraud since March 2026. At the time, an expert told Nextgov/FCW the alleged procurement-related fraud is a “trust but verify situation” and cautioned that fraud suspicions are different from adjudications.

In announcing suspected procurement-related fraud, GSA said it was reviewing COVID-19 spending, the Small Business Administration’s 8(a) program spending, contractor eligibility, bid rigging, cybersecurity false claims, bribery and other contractor-integrity risks.

The administration claims it has uncovered about $260.7 billion in fraud since January 2025, including $96.4 billion at HHS and $13.9 billion at GSA, according to its fraud.gov ledger.

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Your federal benefits changed this year. Here’s what to know

Tammy Flanagan — Thu, 24 Sep 2026 15:00:00 -0400

What changed in your federal benefits in 2026 — and what could change next? Agencies updated federal retirement, insurance, Social Security and Thrift Savings Plan programs, while Congress considered proposals affecting future pay and benefits. This article summarizes the changes that took place in 2026 along with the links to official sources.

Review the 2026 changes now and watch for 2027 updates this fall. During Federal Benefits Open Season, OPM will soon begin to publish 2027 plans, premiums and coverage information. The September CPI release on Oct. 14, 2026, will provide the final CPI-W data used to determine 2027 Social Security and federal retirement COLAs.

Legislative watch: enacted changes and congressional proposals

Status as of Sept. 24, 2026: A proposal changes benefits only after both chambers pass identical text and the president signs it. The section below separates current-law changes from selected 119th Congress proposals.

How likely is enactment? Remember that most proposals do not become law. By September 2026, 112 of the 18,956 measures in the 119th Congress had become stand-alone laws; 431, or only about 2%, had been enacted alone or through another measure. Bills often stall in committee, lose floor time, face policy or budget objections, fail to clear Senate procedures or expire before both chambers agree.

H.R. 8364 has advanced the furthest among the proposals below because it passed the House. These are not bill-specific forecasts.

Track a bill: Search its number on Congress.gov, then review “Latest Action,” committees, text and related bills. Cosponsors show support; committee action or chamber passage shows more meaningful progress.

Other resources: Membership associations, unions and nonpartisan public-interest organizations may provide education and legislative updates. Compare their information with official OPM, SSA, TSP and Congress.gov sources. Examples: NARFE serves active and retired federal employees; AFGE and NTEU serve represented employees; FMA serves eligible managers, supervisors, executives and retirees; and NAPS serves eligible Postal Service supervisors, managers and postmasters. Eligibility, dues, services and viewpoints vary.

Federal employee pay for 2027

Administration plan: The Aug. 26 alternative pay plan would keep most 2027 General Schedule base and locality rates at 2026 levels. OPM is developing a 3.8% special-rate increase for covered law-enforcement personnel, tentatively effective Jan. 10, 2027; final coverage is still pending. OPM pay information.
FAIR Act (H.R. 7480/S. 3823): Would raise statutory basic and prevailing-rate pay 3.1% and locality pay 1% for 2027 — an average 4.1%, according to sponsors. Both bills remain in committee. House bill; Senate bill.

Federal retirement benefits

No broad 2026 FERS reduction: House-passed 2025 proposals, including elimination of the FERS annuity supplement for many future retirees, were not included in the enacted law. C
Equal COLA Act (H.R. 491/S. 624): Would give eligible FERS annuitants the full CSRS/Social Security COLA formula. Both bills remain in committee and neither has passed a chamber.
Federal Retirement Fairness Act (H.R. 1522): Would allow certain post-1988 temporary service to count under FERS after a deposit. Introduced Feb. 24, 2025, it remains in House committee.
Targeted proposals: H.R. 8364, allowing a Capitol Police retirement age of 57-65, passed the House April 27, 2026, and awaits Senate action. H.R. 10283, limiting retirement credit for certain Members, remains in House committees. Neither affects the general workforce.

Federal insurance benefits

No broad 2026 FEHB, PSHB, FEGLI or FEDVIP benefit law identified: The 2026 premium and plan-option changes described below are annual program changes, not newly enacted benefit statutes.
FEHB Protection Act (H.R. 2193): Would require OPM to verify qualifying life events and family-member eligibility when dependents are added to FEHB or PSHB coverage and to include ineligible enrollment in fraud-risk reviews. The House committee ordered the bill reported, but it has not become law.

Social Security retirement and survivor benefits

Current-law changes affecting 2026 payments: The 2.8% COLA, higher taxable maximum and revised earnings-test thresholds took effect automatically under existing law; they were not created by a new 2026 act of Congress. The most recent major statutory benefit change remains the Social Security Fairness Act, enacted Jan. 5, 2025, which repealed the Windfall Elimination Provision and Government Pension Offset for benefits payable after December 2023.
Social Security 2100 Act (H.R. 9519/S. 5042): Would temporarily raise benefits, revise COLAs and minimum and survivor benefits, add caregiver credits and increase revenue. Both 2026 bills remain in committee. House bill; Senate bill.
Senior Citizens’ Freedom to Work Act (H.R. 8344): Would repeal the Social Security retirement earnings test, which currently withholds some benefits when a beneficiary below full retirement age has earnings above the annual limit. Read the bill.
Other proposals: H.R. 1700 and S. 3462 would raise benefits, change the COLA measure and tax higher earnings. Both remain in committee, and neither has passed a chamber.

Medicare

Current-law changes effective in 2026: Under the Inflation Reduction Act, negotiated prices took effect for the first 10 selected high-spending Medicare drugs, and the Part D annual out-of-pocket threshold rose to $2,100 after inflation adjustment.
Medicare Advantage Improvement Act of 2026 (S. 4384): Would shorten certain prior-authorization decision timeframes and make other Medicare Advantage reforms. Introduced April 27, 2026, it remains referred to the Senate Finance Committee.
Commission on Sustaining Medicare and Social Security Act (H.R. 9089): Would establish a commission to recommend options on solvency, premiums, fraud and program integrity. Introduced June 2, 2026, it remains in House committees.

Thrift Savings Plan

SECURE 2.0 rules effective in 2026: Under legislation enacted in 2022, catch-up contributions must be Roth for participants whose prior-year wages from the plan sponsor exceeded $150,000, and participants ages 60 through 63 retain the higher $11,250 catch-up limit. The regular 2026 TSP deferral limit is $24,500 and the general age-50 catch-up limit is $8,000.
TSP Modernization Act (H.R. 9214): Would require permitted transfers from TSP accounts to qualified retirement plans at brokerage firms to be available electronically. The bill was introduced June 9, 2026, and remains referred to the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform; it has not become law.
TSP Fiduciary Security Act (H.R. 7357): Would add a national-security consideration to TSP fiduciary duties and require a compliance review.
Emergency withdrawals: S. 2966/H.R. 5674 would waive the 10% additional tax on up to $30,000 during a shutdown; H.R. 6929 would allow certain separated employees up to $100,000 in penalty-free distributions. All remain in committee.
FORWARD Act (H.R. 4996): Would allow certain retired or totally disabled former uniformed-service members with an existing TSP account to continue contributing from retired pay or disability compensation, without agency matching.

The proposals above may shape future policy, but the sections below focus on changes already affecting employees, annuitants, survivors and TSP participants in 2026. Each section links directly to the agency responsible for administering the program.

Recent OPM updates

2026 retiree COLAs: Eligible Civil Service Retirement System annuitants receive a 2.8% increase, while eligible Federal Employees Retirement System annuitants receive 2.0%. The adjustment took effect Dec. 1, 2025, and was reflected in January 2026 payments. A first COLA may be prorated. FERS COLAs generally do not apply before age 62, subject to statutory exceptions, and do not increase the FERS annuity supplement.
Federal Workforce Data site: In January 2026, OPM launched the redesigned Federal Workforce Data site to replace FedScope. The separate data site offers interactive visuals, downloadable datasets, monthly updates and expanded workforce information; it was not a redesign of the entire OPM.gov website.
CHCO Council memoranda: On Aug. 28, 2025, OPM moved Chief Human Capital Officers Council memoranda directly onto OPM.gov. The change organizes agency guidance alongside other OPM resources, making policy updates easier to find and access.
Online retirement processing: OPM’s digital Online Retirement Application provides pre-filled information, annuity estimates, document uploads, completeness checks and status tracking. Contact your agency HR office to begin; OPM assists after receiving the case and assigning a CSA claim number.
August 2026 processing: OPM received 7,618 claims, processed 15,281 and ended with 15,427 pending. Average processing time was 70 days for digital claims, 150 for paper and 79 overall.
Reemployed annuitants: OPM issued new decision tables on March 24, 2026, to help agencies determine CSRS/FERS retirement coverage and the treatment of FEHB and FEGLI benefits when an annuitant is reemployed, separates or dies during reemployment.
2026 coverage: OPM offered 132 FEHB, 75 PSHB, 21 FEDVIP dental and 10 vision options. Average enrollee premiums rose 12.3% for FEHB, 11.3% for PSHB, 3.35% for dental and 0.47% for vision.

Recent Social Security updates

2026 benefit increase: Social Security retirement and survivor benefits increased 2.8% for 2026. SSA estimates the average retired-worker benefit at $2,071 per month and the average benefit for an aged widow or widower living alone at $1,919 per month after the increase.
Working while receiving benefits: The 2026 earnings limit is $24,480 before full retirement age, with $1 withheld for every $2 above it. In the year full retirement age is reached, the pre-birthday-month limit is $65,160, with $1 withheld for every $3 above it. No limit applies afterward.
Survivor eligibility: A surviving spouse may qualify at 60, at 50 if disabled or at any age while caring for the deceased worker’s child under 16 or with a disability. Eligible divorced spouses may also qualify. Benefits generally range from 71.5% to 100% based on claiming age.
Applying: Survivor benefits cannot currently be requested online; call 1-800-772-1213. If both retirement and survivor benefits apply, SSA generally pays the higher amount rather than adding them together.

Recent Medicare updates

2026 Parts A and B costs: The standard Part B premium is $202.90 per month. The Part A inpatient deductible is $1,736 per benefit period; most beneficiaries continue to receive premium-free Part A.
Part D prescription costs: The annual out-of-pocket threshold is $2,100 in 2026. Negotiated prices for the first 10 selected drugs also took effect Jan. 1, 2026, alongside updated Part D plan, manufacturer and Medicare payment responsibilities.

Recent Thrift Savings Plan updates

Refreshed TSP website: It is now easier to find what you need on tsp.gov. The redesigned site helps you quickly check contribution and withdrawal information, compare funds, find guidance for major life events, use forms and calculators and get help with My Account.
Death reporting: Anyone may report a participant’s death, although an agency reports an active employee’s death. The secure Life Events Hub accepts documents and provides updates. Gather identifying, marital and employment information plus a legible certified death certificate; foreign certificates may require English translation. Reports may also be made through the ThriftLine at 1-877-968-3778, by mail or by fax.
My Account has a new address: TSP says the new sign-in address is tsp.gov/login and advises participants to update saved bookmarks. Sign in at the new My Account address.
2026 limits: The elective-deferral limit is $24,500. Catch-up limits are $8,000 for ages 50-59 and 64+, and $11,250 for ages 60-63.
Roth catch-up rule clarification: Beginning in 2026, catch-up contributions must be Roth for participants whose prior-year FICA wages from their TSP-contributing employer exceeded $150,000. TSP updated its agency guidance in June 2026 to specify that, beginning in 2027, payroll offices should use Box 3 of Form W-2 to determine prior-year FICA wages for this rule.
Roth conversions: Eligible participants and spousal beneficiaries may convert traditional TSP money to Roth in My Account. The minimum is $500, with up to 26 conversions per account annually; conversions are irrevocable and generally taxable that year

Summary

In 2026, key developments included retirement and Social Security COLAs, digital retirement processing, insurance changes, updated TSP limits and Roth rules and new online tools. Pending bills could affect future pay and benefits, but current benefits change only when a proposal becomes law.

To prepare for retirement, review benefit statements, beneficiaries, insurance, Social Security estimates and TSP elections regularly. Watch Open Season, COLA, pay and legislative announcements, and confirm decisions with the administering agency. Acting early can make the transition smoother and protect future income, coverage and survivors.

Beginning next month and through the end of this year, get ready for the announcements of the 2027 updates for Social Security, Medicare, health insurance, TSP and your retirement.

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FLRA ruling puts ball back in courts’ court on Trump’s union EOs

Erich Wagner — Wed, 23 Sep 2026 17:37:29 -0400

The National Treasury Employees Union said Wednesday that a new ruling from a semi-adjudicative agency bolsters its argument in the fight over whether President Trump can strip wide swathes of the federal workforce of their collective bargaining rights.

Unions have been in protracted litigation over the question since Trump signed a pair of executive orders last year exempting most agencies from federal sector labor law under the auspices of national security. In total, the so-called ‘exclusion’ orders impacted roughly two-thirds of the federal workforce.

While the labor groups have succeeded in some instances of blocking the orders’ implementation at individual agencies, they have struggled to halt the initiative government-wide. In NTEU’s lawsuit, which has languished before the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit since oral arguments were held last December, the three-judge panel has publicly grappled with the question of whether unions may directly challenge the executive orders’ legality in court, without first going through administrative channels like the Federal Labor Relations Authority.

The FLRA, which at the time of Trump’s orders was deadlocked due to his firing of former Chairwoman Susan Tsui Grundmann last year, initially responded to the edicts by placing cases involving the unions and agencies at issue in abeyance.

But in a 2-1 decision involving employee discipline at a U.S. Marine Corps facility in Twentynine Palms, Calif., Tuesday, the agency dismissed management’s appeal on grounds that it lacked jurisdiction, due to the Defense Department’s inclusion in the executive orders. It extensively cites the American Federation of Government Employees’ lawsuit challenging the edicts’ legality, in which a Ninth Circuit appellate panel overturned an injunction blocking their implementation, and stressed the decision does not weigh in on the orders’ legality.

“Importantly, the authority did not review the merits of [previous] presidential national-security determinations at issue in any of those cases before dismissing them,” the majority wrote. “Considering the factors mentioned above—including the pertinent precedent—the authority finds it appropriate to take this case out of abeyance at this time, and to dismiss the agency’s exceptions due to a lack of jurisdiction.”

Following the ruling, NTEU submitted a letter to the court Wednesday arguing that the decision reinforces its argument that requiring unions to first seek redress from the FLRA would be time-consuming and fruitless. And it noted that the union in that case could not appeal it if it wanted to, due to restrictions on which types of arbitration cases can be reviewed by circuit courts.

“The union in U.S. Marine Corps cannot challenge EO 14251’s validity in an appeal of the decision because the decision is not subject to judicial review,” wrote Paras Shah, NTEU’s general counsel. “An FLRA order ‘involving an award by an arbitrator,’ like U.S. Marine Corps, is not reviewable by a U.S. court of appeals ‘unless the order involves an unfair labor practice.’ . . . As this decision shows, no FLRA order dismissing a case for lack of jurisdiction will ‘include a substantive evaluation’ of an unfair labor practice.”

The FLRA case is unusual in that U.S. Marine Corps officials agreed with the FLRA that it lacked jurisdiction to adjudicate management’s appeal. And although the AFGE local technically won the case, it is unclear how it can ensure compliance with the arbitrator’s underlying award now that the union is no longer recognized.

FLRA Member Anne Wagner, the agency’s lone Democratic appointee, dissented from Tuesday’s decision, calling it premature, given the litigation surrounding the executive orders.

“I continue to believe that the most prudent course of action is to keep cases covered by the exclusion orders in abeyance until the litigation over those orders reaches a definitive conclusion—including any actions by the U.S. Supreme Court,” Wagner wrote. “Although the majority cites previous examples of the authority dismissing cases based on executive orders that excluded the relevant entities from the statute, the executive orders in those cases were not the subject of pending litigation.”

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Trust in government is sinking, but a new survey suggests civil servants’ stock is rising

Sean Michael Newhouse — Wed, 23 Sep 2026 15:11:23 -0400

As the Trump administration downsizes the civil service and weakens federal employee job protections, new survey data shows that, by some metrics, more Americans have a favorable opinion of civil servants, even as trust in the federal government diminishes.

“Views of civil servants are more positive now than any of the previous few years,” researchers for the Partnership for Public Service wrote. “Whether that trend continues will probably depend on how the Trump administration continues its efforts to change the federal workforce and how much competence and experience are valued.”

The good government nonprofit has been conducting national surveys on the public’s view of the federal government since 2021. Its most recent data comes from a nationally representative survey of 1,000 U.S. adults performed between March 31 and April 5.

While the percentage of respondents who said they trust civil servants did decrease to 44% from 49% last year, the Partnership noted that that statistic is higher than the 27% who reported trusting the federal government in 2026.

Researchers, however, emphasized that the shares of people who agreed that most civil servants are committed to helping people “like me” and are competent have surged to record highs, largely due to increases in the sentiments among Republicans and independents.

This year, 65% of respondents said that “most civil servants are competent,” with majorities of Democrats, Republicans and independents agreeing.

“Since 2021, far more people agreed that civil servants are competent than disagreed — often by a ratio of more than two-to-one,” the researchers wrote. “Now, that number is the highest it has been since the Partnership started the yearly surveys.”

Likewise, the percentage who agreed that “most civil servants are committed to helping people like me” went from 56% in 2025 to 61% this year.

“The increase was particularly notable among Republicans — who increased from 52% last year to 63% now — and independents, who increased from 31% to 48%,” the researchers wrote. “In fact, the view that civil servants are committed workers has risen in each of the last four years the Partnership has conducted surveys.”

The good government group argued that there are likely several different reasons for these results.

“There's obviously been a lot of attention on the federal workforce over the past two years, particularly because of the cuts made by the current administration,” said Paul Hitlin, a senior research manager at the Partnership, during a webinar on the survey data Wednesday. “It's very possible that people have learned more about civil servants and what they do and think a little more highly of them. It is [also] possible that some people think that less effective civil servants have been removed from the government.”

During the webinar, Hitlin also highlighted survey data from April showing that 64% of respondents said “the management of the federal government is headed in the wrong direction.”

Overall, trust in the federal government decreased six points from last year to 27%. This statistic has never surpassed 35% in any of the Partnership’s surveys.

“It goes up and down a little bit, but generally a third or less of the country say they trust the federal government,” Hitlin said. “That's obviously a major challenge.”

Additionally, 49% of respondents agreed that their experiences with the federal government (e.g. applying for a passport, receiving veterans benefits) have been mostly positive compared with 38% who disagreed. But a breakdown of that data by political affiliation shows a partisan gap that changes depending on who the occupant of the White House is.

In 2024, 69% of Democratic respondents said their experiences with the federal government were mostly positive compared with 41% currently. In contrast, the percentage of Republican participants who agreed with that sentiment increased from 31% to 62% over the same period.

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IRS and Social Security will see more employees quit without advanced leave, senators warn

Jory Heckman — Wed, 23 Sep 2026 12:39:28 -0400

Senate Democrats are warning that new limits on annual leave and sick time at the IRS and the Social Security Administration will push more employees out the door, making it harder for Americans to get assistance from these agencies.

The IRS and SSA both announced in July that employees will no longer be granted advanced annual or sick leave until further notice. Federal employees are generally allowed to use “advanced” annual or sick leave for major medical emergencies, family care and bereavement of an immediate family member if they have already exhausted their annual leave or sick leave. With advanced leave, employees essentially borrow from a reserve of leave hours they will eventually accrue.

In nearly identical emails, the IRS and SSA told employees this policy change will ensure both agencies are providing a high level of customer service to the public and address several individual cases where employees took excessive amounts of advanced leave.

In a letter to Frank Bisignano, the IRS chief executive officer and Senate-confirmed commissioner of SSA, Sens. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass. and Chris Van Hollen, D-Md. led colleagues in denouncing this new policy as a “cruel and unjustified plan that is likely to drive additional employees out the door, doubling down on the administration’s already disastrous efforts to push out federal employees.”

Sens. Kirsten Gillibrand, D-N.Y. and Ron Wyden, D-Ore., also signed onto the letter, shared exclusively with Government Executive.

“We are concerned that this policy will further weaken the already stressed resources of these agencies, leaving the American people with degraded access to their rightful Social Security benefits and needed IRS services,” the senators wrote. They estimate that the suspension of advanced annual and sick leave will collectively impact more than 120,000 IRS and SSA employees.

The IRS and SSA told staff that the suspension of advanced leave will remain in effect, pending efforts to reduce “significant” balances of advanced leave already taken. Both agencies wrote that in several cases, employees are unlikely to earn back the large amounts of advanced leave hours they’ve already used.

“This is debt carried against the future work of all our employees, work that has not yet occurred, and work the public expects us to deliver. This constrains our ability to invest in the people, tools, and resources our mission requires,” both agencies wrote in an email to employees.

The senators, however, say excessive use of advanced leave isn’t an issue at these agencies because “its availability is limited.” According to the Office of Personnel Management, agencies may grant a maximum of 240 hours of advanced sick leave to a federal employee, although the total number of hours permitted varies depending on the circumstances.

OPM guidance states advanced sick leave is a “flexibility” agencies can use to help new employees who haven’t accrued much leave yet, as well as more tenured employees experiencing personal hardships.

“Your actions give the appearance that this policy is less about improving service delivery, and more about punishing federal employees — and by extension, the American people,” the senators wrote.

Federal employees replenish their annual and sick leave over time. Employees who leave government service with a negative leave balance are legally obligated to refund the agency the cost of that advanced leave.

“In sum, this policy provides critical assistance to employees with significant needs and provides sufficient protections to ensure that employees’ leave does not materially affect government operations or lend itself to any attempted abuse,” the senators wrote.

An IRS spokesperson previously told Government Executive that the agency’s advanced leave restriction “aligns with the agency’s efforts to build a high-performing, highly engaged workforce operating as One IRS to deliver a world-class customer experience and aligns to our commitment to be responsible stewards of taxpayer dollars.”

The senators, however, wrote that “it stretches the bounds of plausibility to blame advanced leave, and not widespread, chaotic job cuts,” as a drain on agency efficiency.

The IRS has shed more than a quarter of its employees since President Trump's return to office, largely through voluntary separation incentives. About 7,000 SSA employees took those same incentives last year, bringing the agency to its lowest staffing level in about 50 years.

The senators wrote that the “chaos and short-staffing resulting from these cuts” led to longer wait-times over the phone, a backlog of unprocessed tax returns, longer wait times for claims appointments and employees attempting to do more with reduced training.

“When employees inevitably leave as a result of your policies, Americans will face additional challenges receiving assistance from the SSA and IRS, delaying their access to benefits and critical tax refunds, respectively, exacerbating existing failures in service delivery with the added employer costs, borne by taxpayers, stemming from an increase in the quit rate, which includes a loss in productivity and quality, as well as needed new funds to support hiring, onboarding, and training,” they wrote.

Bisignano has touted the performance metrics at both agencies, telling lawmakers that SSA and IRS don’t need more employees to meet public expectations. Both agencies are relying on widespread employee reassignments to address acute staffing shortages across their operations.

Among their questions, the senators asked Bisignano to provide data from the past 10 years on the number of employees who have taken advanced leave, the total hours of leave taken, and the total cost of providing that leave.

They’re also asking Bisignano to explain why the IRS and SSA are “imposing a blanket suspension” of advanced leave, rather than pursue “specific and targeted policy enforcement,” and whether the agencies have conducted any analysis on the impact this policy will have on recruitment and retention.

The National Treasury Employees Union is asking a federal judge to block the IRS from enforcing its suspension of advance leave, on the grounds that Bisignano’s de facto leadership of the agency without Senate confirmation violates the Appointments Clause of the Constitution.

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ShinyHunters claims FBI data theft, demands bureau retract cyber warning

David DiMolfetta — Tue, 22 Sep 2026 18:21:00 -0400

The ShinyHunters cybercriminal group claims it has stolen sensitive information about FBI employees and job applicants and is demanding that the bureau retract a public warning about its tactics within a week.

The demand, addressed to FBI Director Kash Patel and Cyber Division Assistant Director Brett Leatherman, seeks to pressure the agency into changing its public account of the group’s activities. The group claims the effort was not financially motivated.

In a statement attributed to the group, the hackers claimed access to several FBI services, including human resources systems and a service identified as Medlink.

“We have compromised the FBI. We hold very sensitive data on almost ALL FBI Agents and individuals who filed an application with the FBI for a job,” the statement says.

An FBI jobs page also displayed a “Scheduled Maintenance Underway” notice Tuesday, saying the site was temporarily unavailable. The notice did not identify a security incident or explain whether the outage was related to the hackers’ claims. An earlier version of the webpage appears to show a seizure notice posted by the group.

The language ShinyHunters wants removed appears in a May 15 FBI public service announcement issued after an attack disrupted an online learning management system used by educational institutions.

In the announcement, the FBI warned that ShinyHunters uses harassment to pressure victims, including threatening communications to victims and family members and, in some cases, swatting, the practice of calling in false emergency reports intended to trigger an armed police response at someone’s home. The alert also warned that attackers may exaggerate their access to personal information or falsely claim to possess compromising photographs or videos.

ShinyHunters denied those practices in its statement and gave the bureau one week to correct or remove the warning.

“The FBI is aware of claims regarding unauthorized activity affecting FBIjobs.gov and is currently investigating,” the bureau said in a statement after this story was published. Nextgov/FCW has also reached out to the FBI Agents Association, which advocates on behalf of active and retired FBI special agents.

If the claimed employee records are authentic, their exposure could give criminals or foreign intelligence services information useful for identifying, contacting or intimidating FBI personnel and their families.

The claims come as the FBI works to pursue a more coordinated campaign focused on dismantling hackers’ infrastructure and arresting cybercrime operatives. Its new cyber strategy released this month in part emphasizes disrupting criminal hackers even when those responsible remain beyond the immediate reach of U.S. law enforcement.

A ShinyHunters representative sent Nextgov/FCW a text file appearing to contain sensitive personal information on nearly 5,000 FBI employees, including their names, home addresses, phone numbers, and data about their spouses and siblings. Nextgov/FCW queried some of the listed peoples’ names online and found that they are employed with the FBI. The job postings in the data included employees designated as intelligence analysts, attorneys, student trainees and special agents, among other roles. The entire data set was not verified.

A representative told 404 Media, which earlier reported the incident Tuesday, that the hackers gained access Monday night through what they described as a previously unknown vulnerability in Oracle’s PeopleSoft software, then accessed servers in Amazon Web Services’ GovCloud environment. The representative claimed the group took between two and three terabytes of data.

The account of the intrusion has not been independently verified. Nextgov/FCW has asked Oracle and AWS for comment.

Cybersecurity specialists should focus on the group’s claims regarding an exploit in the PeopleSoft platform because it could be used more broadly to breach other systems, said Dan Calderone, the chief technology officer at cybersecurity and AI firm Suzu Labs.

“They also say this isn't financially motivated, but I’d take that with a grain of salt. I have a hard time believing terabytes of FBI personnel data just sit on a shelf,” Calderone said. “Foreign intelligence services would love to have it, and having the FBI on their resume makes every future extortion demand more believable, and if the PeopleSoft zero-day is real, the exploit may be worth more than the data.”

On top of that, FBI agents and their spouses “could have their home addresses posted publicly within a week if this threat is followed through,” he added.

Editor’s Note: This story was updated to include a statement from the FBI, remarks from Dan Calderone and additional details about the data allegedly accessed by ShinyHunters.

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FAA administrator defends withholding part of ATC pay raise

Erich Wagner — Tue, 22 Sep 2026 17:49:00 -0400

Democrats on a House spending panel had pointed questions last week for Federal Aviation Administration Administrator Bryan Bedford over his decision to withhold a portion of a pay raise for air traffic controllers that Congress enacted earlier this year.

Earlier this year, Congress set aside $140 million in appropriations to fund a 3.8% pay raise for federal air traffic controllers, enacted as part of the deal to end the 76-day shutdown of the Homeland Security Department. But to date, Bedford has only OKed the dispersion for a 1% pay raise, arguing that the workforce must adopt new efficiencies in order to “unlock” the rest.

Bedford has justified his position by noting that the funding law authorizing the 3.8% pay increase grants him “sole discretion” to implement the raise, subject to the implementation of improvements in “workforce scheduling, staffing utilization and other operational efficiencies.”

Democrats on the House Appropriations Committee’s subcommittee on Transportation, Housing and Urban Development and Related Agencies pressed Bedford on that decision during an FAA oversight hearing last week.

“Part of the way we tried to address the staffing issues was with a 3.8% raise, but they’re getting 1%,” said Rep. Mike Quigley, D-Ill. “This can’t supercharge the plan to dramatically increase [staffing], I would see it’s discouraged. For someone who wants to do this or currently does this, it shows a lack of concern about the stress they’re under, financial and otherwise. Why hasn’t it happened yet? Why haven’t we given them this pay raise that we voted for?”

Bedford noted that in addition to the 1% raise, air traffic controllers received a “contractual” 1.6% raise, an apparent reference to their union contract, and said he was following Congress’ instructions.

“Let’s be clear, I have the utmost respect for ATCs; I value the work they do, and as a pilot myself, I rely on them,” he said. “I’m grateful we have them up there and we are supercharging the hiring . . . I could quote the statute, but Congress asked me to look for ways to improve staffing efficiency. That’s what you asked me to do, and if we could get it, then we would do the 2.8% [raise] as part of that. But we have not been able to.”

At issue are statistics indicating that the average time an ATC is actively managing air traffic per shift has fallen from more than five hours per shift 15 years ago to roughly four hours per shift today, Bedford argued.

“That’s not to say that they aren’t doing work, we just don’t know exactly what that work is because we don’t punch time cards, per se,” Bedford said. “But we can tell with the data we have that 15 years ago we were operating many more hours ‘on desk’ than today . . . We’re asking questions and what we’re seeing are schedules that are very inefficient.”

But Rep. Bonnie Watson Coleman, D-N.J., said air traffic controllers are already stretched too thin. An irony of the FAA’s push to hire thousands more ATCs is that training those new hires adds even more to employees’ workloads, at least in the short term.

“Is it your contention that you don’t have operational efficiency while you have understaffed, overworked individuals who are responsible for the safety of air traffic,” she asked. “Is that what you’re saying?”

“I listen to the data,” Bedford said. “I know you’re listening to a lot of anecdotal information, but the data will tell something totally different.”

“You may look at data, but I listen to people,” Watson-Coleman said. “If I hear consistently that the people that we as Congress are supposed to protect are being negatively impacted, that the people responsible for the safety of our airways are depressed and overworked and have mental health issues that aren’t being addressed properly, I listen to that and I recognize it as more than just anecdotal.”

Later, Bedford touted the more than 4,000 new hires the agency has made in the last 18 months but expressed frustrations at improving staffing levels in the New York region.

“There’s a lot of work between hiring and then training someone before they can actually dispatch traffic,” he said. “There’s another fact of whether we can get them to New York. That’s the most difficult place in the national aviation system to staff. I’m not sure why, but we’ve got to figure that out.”

Rep. Jim Clyburn, D-S.C., the panel’s ranking member, said he had a different recollection of Congress’ intent behind the pay raise language.

“I’ve been here three decades, but before that I spent three decades as a manager of governmental entities,” he said. “As I read the legislation on the pay raise, the intent was to put air traffic controllers on par with law enforcement. That was the intent of the 3.8%. The discretion that was given to you, I think, was with then improving the environment [they work in]. And I suspect that the reason you may be having trouble getting people to work up in New York is because of their pay.”

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Login.gov is now accepting mobile driver’s licenses

Christian Robles — Tue, 22 Sep 2026 17:36:00 -0400

Login.gov began widely accepting mobile driver’s licenses for digital identity verification services last month, providing protections against artificial intelligence-generated deepfakes and counterfeit identity documents, the General Services Administration announced Tuesday.

Users of the federal government’s identity verification platform can use an eligible mobile driver’s license from a digital wallet on their smartphone to share information required for identity proofing, according to the agency.

Login.gov currently supports mobile driver’s licenses stored in Google Wallet and Samsung Wallet but is in the process of adding support for other sources, GSA said.

The agency said the platform's implementation “is narrowly scoped to identity proofing for access to government services and gives users an additional, rather than mandatory, option.”

“The new process grants users greater control over their privacy, as they can preview and share only the specific attributes required for verification rather than their entire document,” GSA added.

Mobile driver’s licenses use cryptographic verification to confirm that a digital credential is valid and not altered. As of March 2026, 20 states and one territory offer mobile driver’s licenses, making them available to approximately 71.5 million drivers.

Agency officials previously said they planned to add mobile driver’s licenses to Login.gov by March of this year.

GSA said the new feature builds on a recent Office of Management and Budget directive mandating agencies to use Login.gov and other efforts to boost use of the service, such as lower pricing.

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Congress — not the president — should appoint the next GAO head, bipartisan coalition argues

Sean Michael Newhouse — Tue, 22 Sep 2026 14:55:49 -0400

A bipartisan coalition on Monday argued that lawmakers should enact reforms so that the next head of the Government Accountability Office is appointed without the president’s involvement.

“We urge Congress to resolve the institutional framework for selecting the next comptroller general before the next appointment is made,” according to the letter organized by the American Governance Institute. “Congress, and Congress alone, should choose its agency heads.”

The Institute is a fiscally sponsored project of the Fund for Constitutional Government nonprofit. More than 20 other individuals and organizations signed the letter, including nonprofits critical of the Trump administration such as Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, the Partnership for Public Service and the Project On Government Oversight as well as right-leaning groups such as Americans for Prosperity and the R Street Institute.

GAO is housed within the legislative branch and examines the effectiveness and efficiency of agency programs. For fiscal 2025, the agency reported that its work generated $62.7 billion in financial benefits for the federal government.

Under the current process, the comptroller general selection procedure begins with a commission of 10 senior House and Senate lawmakers from both parties that recommends individuals for the position to the president. Whoever the president selects is subject to Senate confirmation for one nonrenewable 15-year term.

The organizations behind the letter did not prescribe how the comptroller general should be chosen without the president’s involvement but also contended that the existing congressional review panel doesn’t need to be reinvented.

“Whatever structure Congress chooses, preserving GAO's independence, impartiality, professionalism and credibility across party lines is essential to its ability to serve Congress and hold the federal government accountable,” they wrote. “It is time to change the process by which the comptroller general is chosen so the next person to serve in that office is chosen solely by Congress.”

The comptroller general position opened up in December 2025 when Gene Dodaro retired. Orice Williams Brown, the agency’s chief operating officer, is currently leading GAO in an acting capacity.

If Congress acts on the letter’s suggestion, it would continue a trend of lawmakers claiming hiring and firing authority over legislative branch agency heads from the president.

The House in June passed, by voice vote, the Legislative Branch Agencies Clarification Act (H.R. 6028) that would require the librarian of Congress and director of the Government Publishing Office to be appointed by a bipartisan congressional commission. Currently, those positions are chosen by the president subject to Senate approval.

The librarian of Congress leads the more than 200-year-old cultural institution and overseer of copyright law, while the GPO distributes official government publications.

Trump in 2025 removed Carla Hayden as the librarian of Congress. Under the House measure, however, an official in either position could only be removed by a majority vote of the House and Senate majority and minority leaders.

Likewise, President Joe Biden in 2023 enacted a bill that authorized a bipartisan congressional commission to appoint or remove an architect of the Capitol, who leads the office that preserves and maintains the complex.

The Trump administration has criticized GAO, particularly over instances when the agency found that officials violated rules around impoundments, which is when the executive branch delays or withholds congressionally approved spending. Lawmakers also have accused agencies of not cooperating with and being slow to respond to GAO audits under the current president.

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Trump wants an ‘AI Force.’ What would that actually look like?

Edward Graham — Tue, 22 Sep 2026 12:06:51 -0400

President Donald Trump said over the weekend that he plans to create an ‘AI Force’ and appoint a new artificial intelligence lead to boost U.S. development of the emerging technologies, even as he continues to push back on calls for stronger regulations on more advanced models.

In a Truth Social post on Saturday morning, Trump blamed “Radical Left Dumocrats” for growing concerns about the number of data center deployments and the potential dangers of unchecked AI development, saying that “we will not in any way hinder or stifle the Growth of this incredible Industry.”

He wrote, however, that his administration “will also be looking for BAD” and that “for this purpose, I am forming the AI Force, much like I did Space Force, which has been a tremendous SUCCESS, in my First Term.” He added that he plans to soon appoint an AI czar to align with that effort.

The president’s announcement comes after weeks of high-profile warnings from leading tech executives about the potential harms that advanced AI models could cause unless officials step in to regulate the industry. Congressional lawmakers and state leaders have also floated proposals to institute so-called ‘kill switches’ to disable AI systems that go rogue. But Trump and others have pushed back on calls for across-the-board development slowdowns.

David Sacks, who served as Trump 2.0’s AI and crypto czar until March 2026, reshared Trump’s post on X and agreed that a pause on AI development “would not make America safer” and “would hand the frontier to China.”

Trump’s newest proposal is light on details about what role the AI Force would have in overseeing advanced models, or what additional responsibilities it would be handed. The White House did not respond to a request for comment about the role of the AI Force or its primary mission.

Michael Kratsios, who heads the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy, appeared on Fox News Sunday and said that Trump’s post describes “how important it is that we as an administration coordinate in order to make sure that this great technological innovation that’s transforming the country, that’s driving economic growth, continues to do so.”

He added that “these implications of AI spread across so many different agencies, so being able to have someone at the White House to be able to work on all those issues across the agencies is really critical.”

But stakeholders in the space have expressed confusion surrounding what, exactly, the AI Force would do.

“Poll after poll shows the American public is alarmed by recent warnings from AI developers and whistleblowers as well as the rogue AI incidents that took place this summer,” said a spokesperson for AI safety advocacy group Americans for Responsible Innovation. ”There’s pressure on the President to do something, and that’s what this announcement could be designed to address.”

Earlier this month, the Institute for Security and Technology released a survey of current and former national security officials which found that respondents believed there was a 10% chance or higher that an AI model will operate outside human control within the next decade.

Philip Reiner, the think tank’s CEO and co-founder, said Trump’s analogy of the new unit being like Space Force means “you get the shape of an answer, but without the substance.”

The military service branch was established during Trump’s first term and includes a focus on maintaining and protecting U.S. interests in space. As Reiner noted, that force was only created after passing Congress as part of the fiscal year 2020 National Defense Authorization Act and being signed into law.

“Space Force works because Congress can give it a doctrine, a budget, a personnel system, but there's no equivalent for AI,” Reiner said. “It's a capability that cuts across every domain.”

He posited, however, that the AI Force might be akin to Space Force in terms of Pentagon oversight, saying that “this is more of an actual [Defense Department] lane, is the sense that you get.”

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IRS watchdog audits employee reassignments, as agency looks to extend some tours of duty

Jory Heckman — Mon, 21 Sep 2026 18:29:10 -0400

Updated Sept. 22 at 2:10 p.m.

An IRS watchdog is taking a closer look at the agency’s temporary reassignment of mid-career employees to frontline entry-level jobs many of them had no prior experience doing.

The audit by the Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration comes as the IRS is looking for employees currently serving in these temporary details to sign up for a third tour of duty.

The IRS in February put IT and human resources employees on 120-day details to work in taxpayer services. These employees were assigned entry-level roles answering inquiries from taxpayers and processing tax returns. The National Treasury Employees Union estimates that about 1,500 IRS employees have been placed on these details.

Most of the employees had no background in the work they were being asked to perform, but received months of training by the time IRS officials extended most of these details for another 120 days. IRS officials suggested in May that details could be extended for a third term, depending on how quickly employees cleared a “huge backlog” of amended tax returns.

The IRS cut tens of thousands of jobs last year — more than a quarter of its workforce — and fell short of its hiring goals for this year’s filing season.

IRS Chief Executive Officer Frank Bisignano said the IRS carried out a successful filing season this year, despite losing more than 25,000 employees. He told the House Ways and Means Committee in March that “I feel good about the number of employees I have right now.”

An IRS spokesperson said in a statement Tuesday that "employees detailed to Taxpayer Services functions receive training, coaching, and other resources to support this important work."

"These efforts are helping improve service for taxpayers," the spokesperson said, adding that the agency "is focused on providing the best possible experience for taxpayers and employees."

Employees placed on these involuntary details are doing jobs several pay grades below the work they were hired to perform, but continue to receive their regular paychecks. In practice, the IRS is paying them double or triple what a normal customer service representative or tax examiner would make.

TIGTA is reaching out to employees about their experience with their temporary reassignments, as part of a broader audit of the IRS workforce. In a “Strategic Staffing Survey” obtained by Government Executive, TIGTA asked impacted IRS employees if they volunteered for these details, or if they were “involuntarily assigned” to this work.

A TIGTA spokesperson said in a statement that the watchdog office is “conducting an audit on the IRS’s efforts to reshape its workforce,” and that as part of this review, TIGTA is surveying employees who have been “reassigned/detailed to other positions within the IRS.” According to the spokesperson, TIGTA expects to complete its report in May 2027.

The survey asks how qualified employees felt when they started the detail, what level of training they received for their new roles and whether they currently feel qualified for their new positions.

TIGTA also asked employees what communication — if any — they received from IRS management about the rationale for the detail, and if these details were “the most efficient way to accomplish the goal(s) or purpose(s) communicated to you.”

The watchdog office asked employees if they considered leaving the IRS for a new job, or applying for a new job within the IRS in order to get out of the detail.

Several impacted IRS employees told Government Executive that the initial details were involuntary, they have received insufficient training and support for this work, and they have no clear idea what work is available to them at the IRS if they leave these details.

According to two IRS employees currently on details, the agency is looking for volunteers to remain in taxpayer services for a third 120-day tour of duty. Employees who complete a third stint would be away from their day jobs for nearly a year. But these employees say the agency is giving them few alternatives. Both previously worked in IT roles at the agency, and have been told they cannot return to their former jobs.

“I decided to stay because there are no permanent jobs for us displaced IRS IT employees,” one detailed employee said. “They are still paying us at our primary grade, even though the position we have is at a lower grade.”

A second IRS employee confirmed that the agency “asked for volunteers to stay in the current detail for another 120 days.”

In May, IRS Chief Human Capital Officer Alex Kweskin acknowledged that some employees on temporary details were unhappy with their current arrangements, and encouraged them to apply for other roles within the agency. Employees, however, said they have applied for other 2210-classified IT positions at the IRS, only for those job announcements to be cancelled days later.

“Although we are displaced employees, we do not get any hiring preference. They just tell us to find a permanent job. Not internal support at all,” the first IRS employee said.

A third IRS employee placed on this detail said he has experienced “multiple technical issues that have affected my ability to perform my duties.” The employee said that for weeks, he’d been unable to access the Integrated Data Retrieval System (IDRS), a massive clearinghouse of taxpayer data at the IRS. After that issue was resolved, the employees said he was unable to log onto an internal portal needed to access amended tax returns.

“My inability to access the necessary systems has created challenges beyond my control,” he said.

The employee said he hasn’t been able to get timely feedback on the quality of his work, because the supervisor assigned to review it clocks in 30 minutes before the employee’s shift ends.

“This limited overlap makes it difficult to adequately review my cases, receive timely feedback, and understand any errors so that I can improve my performance,” the third employee said.

A fourth IRS employee on this detail said colleagues have raised concerns about “compressed training schedules and the volume of information required to be learned in a short period of time,” an expectation to “independently work taxpayer cases while still developing proficiency,” and a lack of timely feedback on errors in their work.

“Of particular concern is that multiple employees independently documented these issues in writing, requesting additional guidance, designated points of contact, feedback on errors, and greater access to technical support resources. These employees were not refusing work assignments. Rather, they were seeking the tools and support necessary to perform taxpayer work accurately and responsibly,” the fourth employee said.

Several IRS employees told Government Executive that they were involuntarily detailed to taxpayer services, but were later removed from the detail following medical emergencies. These employees remain in limbo. The IRS hasn’t assigned them to new roles, and have been repeatedly told they cannot return to their old jobs.

“I’ve essentially been isolated and placed on an island by myself,” a fifth IRS employee said. A sixth employee said they’re also waiting for a new assignment.

“According to leadership, all IT jobs are gone since the 2210 category is overmanned,” the sixth employee said.

This story was updated to include a statement from an IRS spokesperson

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