- Agencies have 45 days to identify Senior Executive Service roles that were made career-only positions during the Biden administration. A new memo from the Office of Personnel Management directs agencies to reverse the career-only status for those roles, and instead open them to potentially political appointments. For any career positions agencies think should be exempted from conversion, agencies have to explain their reasoning for why it should remain a career-only role. The White House said it’s taking the action after seeing reports of agencies redesignating positions to career-only during the previous administration. OPM’s memo is an effort toward implementing President Trump’s executive order to make feds in policy-related positions at-will workers.
(Maintaining the integrity of the career Senior Executive Service – Office of Personnel Management)
- The Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency is telling employees they’re now eligible for the deferred resignation offer. CISA staff had previously been exempt from taking the Office of Personnel Management’s offer. But yesterday, CISA leadership reversed course and told employees they could take it. OPM is pushing agencies to get more employees to take the offer ahead of the deadline today.
(CISA clarifies deferred resignations options for agency employees – CISA spokesman)
- There could be a temporary resolution as soon as today in a legal dispute over access to sensitive Treasury records by staff affiliated with Elon Musk’s U.S. DOGE Service. In a lawsuit filed by a federal union and an advocacy group, attorneys were working into Wednesday evening to reach agreement on data access and dissemination restrictions for the DOGE employees. If no agreement is reached, Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly is scheduled to hold a hearing on a temporary restraining order that would impose those restrictions on Friday.
(Temporary resolution expected in legal dispute over DOGE access to sensitive Treasury records – U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia)
- OPM explains why the governmentwide email system meets all security and privacy requirements. The Office of Personnel Management is trying to tamp down concerns over its new governmentwide email system. In a newly released Privacy Impact Assessment or PIA, OPM said the Office 365 mailbox has received an authority to operate, which includes a system security plan. OPM created the list based on employee contact information found in the Enterprise Human Resources Integration (EHRI) and Official Personnel Folder (OPF) record systems. Additionally, OPM said the information in the email system is accessible by a handful of individuals within OPM and is overseen by its CIO.
(OPM release PIA for govermentwide email system – Office of Personnel Management)
- President Trump has picked a Senate staffer to head up the National Telecommunications and Information Administration. In a post on X earlier this week, Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas.) said Arielle Roth has been nominated to serve as NTIA administrator. Roth is a policy director for Cruz at the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation, where Cruz is chairman. She’s also previously worked as an advisor at the Federal Communication Commission and as a legal fellow at the Hudson Institute.
(Senate Staff to head up NTIA – Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas))
- House lawmakers said the White House is thwarting recent efforts to boost the government’s cyber workforce. Democrats on the Homeland Security Committee are asking whether the Trump administration’s hiring freeze applies to cyber personnel. The freeze includes broad exemptions for national security-related functions, but lawmakers said it’s unclear whether that includes cybersecurity. The freeze comes just months after the Biden administration launched a campaign to fill hundreds of cyber and technology jobs across government.
(Lawmakers warn hiring freeze could thwart cyber workforce efforts – Federal News Network)
- Senate Democrats are trying to delay the vote on Russ Vought to be the Office of Management and Budget director. Lawmakers held a 30-hour take over of the Senate floor protesting Vought’s nomination, in part, because they said he’s the author of Project 2025. Democrats boycotted the Budget Committee vote on Vought’s nomination. He won approval from the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee on a vote along party lines. Senator Jeff Merkley, the ranking member of the Budget Committee, said Vought is dangerously unfit to serve in government and owns the chaos and confusion rippling across America right now.
(Senate Democrats try to delay vote on OMB director – YouTube)
- Federal employees have just hours before the deferred resignation offer expires. But top Democrats are urging the Trump administration to rescind the program altogether. Democratic lawmakers are questioning the deferred resignation program’s legal standing. The ranking members on the appropriations subcommittee overseeing the Office of Personnel Management are asking for specific details on the program. In a letter to OPM’s acting director, they pushed for answers on compliance with laws around privacy, paid administrative leave and how it can promise funds that are not yet appropriated by Congress. This comes just hours before the deadline for feds to decide if they want to resign. The Trump administration has repeatedly defended the legality of its deferred resignation program.
(Trump administration’s “deferred resignation” scheme is deceptive, legally questionable – Appropriations subcommittee Democrats)
- The Trump administration’s pick to run the Department of Veterans Affairs is outlining his plans for the job. VA Secretary Doug Collins said the department will provide Veterans with the health care choices they have earned while maintaining and improving VA’s direct health care network. He also said he’ll hold VA employees accountable when they fall short of the mission.
(VA Secretary Doug Collins – Social media platform X)
- IRS employees are getting a major update on Office of Personnel Management’s “deferred resignation” offer. Some IRS employees who accepted OPM’s deferred resignation” offer are now being told they must stay on the job through May 15, because the agency has deemed their work “essential” to this year’s tax filing season. That’s roughly half the paid administrative leave OPM offered in its first message to federal employees. OPM has given all federal employees until the end of today to accept its offer.
(Some IRS employees taking OPM’s ‘deferred resignation’ offer told to keep working until May 15 – Federal News Network)
- The new pentagon’s top spokesperson is a former republican congressional candidate. Sean Parnell, a veteran and Fox-news contributor, ran for office for the first time in 2020 but lost to former Democratic Representative Conor Lamb. Parnell said on social media platform X he “accepts this position with great humility.” President Donald Trump endorsed Parnell when he ran for a Senate seat in 2022, but he left the race amid abuse allegations and losing custody of his children.
(Pentagon has new spokesman – Social media platform X)
- Senate lawmakers demand answers from the White House about the Department of Government Efficiency team’s access to sensitive government data. In a letter to White House Chief of Staff Susie Wiles on Wednesday, Senate lawmakers asked to provide a list of personnel operating under DOGE, their roles and responsibilities, and if the staff has security clearances to access sensitive and classified information. The lawmakers said DOGE seems to have “unimpeded access” to massive volumes of sensitive information, including classified data and the private personal and financial information of Americans. The letter comes after the DOGE unit led by Elon Musk gained access to key government systems across multiple agencies.
(DOGE’s access to classified data poses ‘unprecedented’ risks to national, economic security – Federal News Network)
The post Agencies given a 45-day deadline to identify Biden era SES career only positions first appeared on Federal News Network.
