Management

The U.S. banned farmers from using a brain-harming pesticide on food. Why has it slowed a global ban?

When officials from around the world gathered in Rome last fall to consider whether to move forward with a proposed global ban on chlorpyrifos, the pesticide had a surprising defender: a senior official from the EPA.

Management

The State Department’s first DEIA officer departs

They leave behind the department’s first-ever disaggregated data report on demographics, which will “help hold us accountable for doing the work that we say that we want to do.”

Tech

How some agencies used tech to decrease improper payments

Governmentwide, improper payments are up relative to fiscal year 2020. But digital tools — alongside other management tactics — enabled some agencies to find reductions.

Defense

The Pentagon will create an office to monitor users and insider threats in the wake of leaks

Review came after a junior airman was charged with posting Ukraine war documents and other secret information online.

Management

That Time acronymic management fads were all the rage

When an alphabet soup of concepts for organizational improvement swept through government. 

Management

Democrats try again to reform the vacancies act

Democrats are trying once again to reform the parameters on acting federal officials.

Management

Biden looks to swap leadership at civil service watchdog agencies

White House nominates a Trump appointee for a new role overseeing enforcement of civil service laws.

Tech

Third-party contractor software exploited in attack on HHS data

An official with the Health and Human Services Department said attackers gained access to data by exploiting a major vulnerability found in the popular MOVEit file transfer service.

Pay & Benefits

TSP funds bounce back following debt limit uncertainty

Only one of the federal government’s 401(k)-style retirement savings plan’s portfolios finished June in the red.

Oversight

As veteran disability claims soar, unaccredited coaches profit off frustration with the VA system

Austin, Texas-based VA Claims Insider says it has helped hundreds of thousands of clients. It has also touched off complaints and investigations.

Pay & Benefits

Saving for retirement in your TSP with a federal annuity: How much is enough?

Planning for retirement with a federal pension is different from planning for retirement without one.

Management

Almost but not quite: Acting commandant will face limitations in role

Gen. Eric Smith will have to juggle the Marine Corps’ top two positions when Gen. David Berger retires.

Management

The CDC is getting a new leader as it seeks to remake itself after the pandemic

Dr. Mandy Cohen, former head of North Carolina’s Health and Human Services Department, will be stepping in as the public health agency’s new director in July. 

Oversight

‘These were not normal times’: A former watchdog reflects on COVID-19 oversight

Bob Westbrooks, who first joined the government in 1994, served as executive director of the Pandemic Response Accountability Committee for over two years.

Management

VA secretary: Automation will help agency ‘make better, faster, more informed decisions’

VA Secretary Denis McDonough said the department is poised “to deliver a completely new, fully integrated experience” for veterans as officials expect a further increase in PACT Act claims.

Workforce

Schedule F architects say the plan’s critics are ‘hyperbolic’

Officials behind the Trump administration’s abortive effort to strip tens of thousands of federal workers in policy positions of their civil service protections called concerns of politicization overblown, but espoused making all federal employees at-will.

Pay & Benefits

Tips for juggling different retirement systems

Did you know there’s a separate retirement system for employees on military bases in self-funding "morale, welfare and recreation" operations?

Workforce

Supreme Court rejects USPS bid to require employees to work on Sundays

The Postal Service may still prevail in lower court, but the high court has created a new precedent USPS must now follow in providing religious accommodations.

Tech

Critical cyber threats persist on federal networks despite recent directives

Hundreds of devices on federal networks remain in apparent violation of a recent Binding Operational Directive from the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency, according to a new report.