Poll: Trust in the U.S. Postal Service delivering mail-in ballots on time has fallen

Postal Service employee manipulation schemes impacted customer service scores, report finds

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<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Efforts from some Postal Service employees to manipulate customer service surveys compromised survey integrity at the agency and artificially inflated customer satisfaction ratings, according to a new audit by the organization’s independent watchdog. </span></p>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">The USPS Office of Inspector General published findings about two alleged survey manipulation efforts by Postal Service employees. The Postal Service rejected the OIG’s six recommendations, but the oversight office warns that without corrective action, customer surveys will remain compromised and the Postal Service could face fines from the Postal Regulatory Commission. </span></p>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">The report found that some employees created fake issues on the Postal Service’s customer service system so that when a customer satisfaction survey was then sent to their personal email, they could fill out the survey with positive results. In the other effort, employees improperly entered everyday interactions, such as daily mail delivery, into the system to generate surveys and inflate scores. </span></p>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Pressure from supervisors to deliver higher scores was a factor in the schemes, the OIG found. It also found gaps in policy, deterrence measures and other processes that allowed the manipulative actions to continue.</span></p>

<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">“Although management was aware of these schemes, it did not address the underlying culture driving score manipulation,” the report reads. “Some employees faced pressure, at times, from supervisors who benefited from the misconduct.”</span></p>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">The OIG’s recommendations include measures to address pressure and improve systems and procedures. After USPS’ rejection of all the recommendations, the OIG said it will pursue the disagreement through the audit resolution process.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">The OIG conducted its evaluation specifically to assess the integrity of USPS’ customer surveys after the agency reported one scheme of manipulated surveys to the office. In its investigation, the OIG analyzed 40.2 million customer service requests covering from FY 2023 to 2025. </span></p>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">In those years, the Postal Service reported a 5% increase in customer service satisfaction. But the OIG found the spike was caused in part by the employee manipulation efforts. The report identified 124,000 out of 3.8 million surveys, or about 3.3%, that auditors believe were affected by those efforts. </span></p>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">USPS employees document and resolve customer service issues in the Customer 360, or C360, system. That documentation triggers a survey to be sent to the customer. Feedback collected from the survey results are then submitted to the Postal Regulatory Commission as part of USPS’ annual customer satisfaction reports, which are mandated through the Postal Accountability and Enhancement Act of 2006.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">The Postal Service initially identified employee misconduct regarding customer surveys in FY24 and, after establishing mitigation measures, referred the issue to the OIG, which began its audit last September. The OIG found the Postal Service’s Customer Experience team successfully addressed the initial scheme, but employee manipulation continued in other areas. </span></p>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Because of the manipulation, local and district customer scores rose, with one Post Office’s score seeing an increase of 21%. </span></p>

<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">The OIG found about 119,000 surveys that were tied to employees posing as customers. Employees would create false customer profiles with real delivery addresses that were linked to their own personal email addresses, then submit service requests to generate customer surveys. </span></p>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">The other scheme, according to the OIG, was a coordinated “booster” campaign in the Western Pacific, or WestPac, region. The “booster” scheme saw employees improperly submit service requests that had already been resolved and did not require follow-ups. Employees created almost 22,000 of these requests, which generated about 5,200 surveys, the OIG found. </span></p>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Though “excessive pressure” to raise customer satisfaction scores led to the widespread manipulation, the WestPac region especially experienced unrealistic targets from leadership, including by setting a customer satisfaction score target of 65% rather than the C360 target of 48.2%.  </span></p>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">“We found that leadership set artificial, unrealistic targets, sent constant reminders, and tracked daily status of C360 results, creating an environment where altering surveys became routine,” the report says.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">The OIG identified at least 83 postmasters, managers and supervisors who directly manipulated scores, and sometimes directed their employees to do the same. The Postal Service itself also identified two managers and seven Customer Service supervisors who manipulated customer contact information for surveys. </span></p>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Other factors that amplified the schemes’ impact were the lack of consideration of survey response quality, such as time spent on the survey or presence of detailed comments, and lack of holistic action to address employee misconduct. </span></p>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">“Ongoing performance pressure and unaddressed misconduct created an environment where score manipulation became routine, compromising customer data and the integrity of the C360 results,” auditors wrote. “As a result, reported C360 scores are not fully reliable and may not reflect actual customer sentiment.”</span></p>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">The OIG said the Postal Service should: </span></p>
<ul>
<li aria-level="1" style="font-weight: 400;"><span style="font-weight: 400;">Issue guidance telling area vice presidents and district management not to issue artificial, unrealistic performance goals</span></li>
<li aria-level="1" style="font-weight: 400;"><span style="font-weight: 400;">Evaluate its current Customer 360 scoring system and implement scoring system changes to address pressure to manipulate survey scores, including specifically evaluating fraud or quality indicators</span></li>
<li aria-level="1" style="font-weight: 400;"><span style="font-weight: 400;">Monitor booster activity during the upcoming year and take action if it increases </span></li>
<li aria-level="1" style="font-weight: 400;"><span style="font-weight: 400;">Set up deterrents, including rules and system controls to temporarily or permanently suspend Customer 360 system access to address known, repeat offenders</span></li>
<li aria-level="1" style="font-weight: 400;"><span style="font-weight: 400;">Develop a holistic escalation process for documenting, escalating, and addressing suspected misconduct schemes</span></li>
<li aria-level="1" style="font-weight: 400;"><span style="font-weight: 400;">Examine and update their survey impact analysis to include all suspected fraudulent surveys and report updated Customer 360 scores for fiscal years 2023, 2024, and 2025 to the Postal Regulatory Commission.</span></li>
</ul>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">USPS management disagreed with the findings and rejected each recommendation, however. Officials argued the findings lacked context and said the OIG declined an earlier request for assistance in March 2024. </span></p>

<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">USPS management also said that the 119,000 surveys the OIG had identified as high-risk were “not substantiated, inconsistently explained, and could not be replicated,” and disagreed that it set unrealistic customer satisfaction goals that pressured employees. </span></p>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">The OIG in turn disagreed with USPS managements’ responses. </span></p>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">“Regarding the finding, the Postal Service disagreed with the OIG’s methodology and could not replicate it, and stated the OIG denied it access to the data,” according to the report. “However, the OIG used Postal Service data, and the audit team provided detailed descriptions of the filters it applied to that data in writing, including in this report.”</span></p>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">“The OIG maintains that to fully comply and meet its legal obligations, the Postal Service must comprehensively evaluate and update C360 scores across all fiscal years, enabling management to identify genuine service issues that support continued customer use of Postal Service products,” it concludes. </span></p>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">The report on survey manipulation comes as the Postal Service continues to face financial woes. The agency has consistently faced </span><a href="https://federalnewsnetwork.com/agency-oversight/2025/11/usps-sees-9-billion-net-loss-in-fy-2025-renews-push-to-borrow-more-from-treasury/"><span style="font-weight: 400;">significant budget losses</span></a><span style="font-weight: 400;"> and has </span><a href="https://federalnewsnetwork.com/agency-oversight/2026/06/usps-staves-off-immediate-cash-crisis-but-warns-of-continuing-financial-woes/"><span style="font-weight: 400;">projected facing a cash crisis</span></a><span style="font-weight: 400;"> sometime between 2031 and 2035. </span></p>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Another recent report, from the Government Accountability Office,</span><a href="https://www.gao.gov/products/gao-26-108527"><span style="font-weight: 400;"> found USPS is struggling to meet service standards,</span></a><span style="font-weight: 400;"> even as it’s lowered those standards partially due to cost-cutting initiatives. </span></p>
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Congress — not the president — should appoint the next GAO head, bipartisan coalition argues

House lawmakers eye a makeover for the AbilityOne program

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<ul><li style="margin-top:20px;">Two House lawmakers want to give the AbilityOne program a makeover. Reps. Steny Hoyer (D-Md.) and Pete Sessions's (R-Texas) American Procurement Improvement Act would modernize the statutory framework governing AbilityOne. The legislation would expand eligibility and help more Americans with disabilities get hired, promoted and grow in their careers. It also would speed up the timeline to add new products and services to the list maintained by the AbilityOne Commission. The bill would be the first major update to AbilityOne in nearly 50 years. The lawmakers say the bill is endorsed by a coalition of 50 organizations, unions, disability stakeholders and advocacy groups. <div style="display:block; font-style: italic;">(<a href="https://hoyer.house.gov/media/press-releases/hoyer-sessions-introduce-american-procurement-improvement-act">Bipartisan bill seeks to modernize AbilityOne program</a> - Rep. Steny Hoyer (D-Md.))</div></li><p></p><li style="margin-top:20px;">The Treasury Department's appeal of an arbitrator's telework ruling falls short. The Federal Labor Relations Authority found the Treasury Department's arguments were moot in appealing a third-party arbitrator's ruling around telework and return-to-office requirements. Treasury appealed the findings after the arbitrator concluded the agency violated its collective bargaining agreement with Bureau of Printing and Engraving employees represented by the National Treasury Employees Union. FLRA denied or dismissed all of Treasury's arguments, saying the agency failed to make its case. Charles Arrington, one of the three FLRA members, dissented from the majority, saying the arbitrator did not honor the plain language of negotiated provisions. Typically, after the FLRA rules, the arbitrator's decision becomes final. <div style="display:block; font-style: italic;">(<a href="https://www.flra.gov/decisions/v74/74-79">FLRA rejects Treasury's appeal of arbitrator's telework ruling</a> - Federal Labor Relations Authority)</div></li><p></p><li style="margin-top:20px;">The Coast Guard has a housing problem that is particularly acute in remote areas and vacation destinations, but the Defense Department does not have enough information about which areas have the most significant housing availability and affordability challenges, according to the Government Accountability Office. In addition, the service has failed to utilize the findings of its housing satisfaction survey. Approximately 41% of Coast Guard units are in remote areas or high vacation rental places where housing supply is limited. Meanwhile, about 76% of Coast Guard personnel rely on private housing. <div style="display:block; font-style: italic;">(<a href="https://www.gao.gov/assets/gao-26-109300.pdf">Coast Guard housing challenges persist in remote, vacation areas </a> - Government Accountability Office )</div></li><p></p><li style="margin-top:20px;">The General Services Administration doesn’t have a clear way to determine whether it’s disposing of unused government property efficiently. A new report from the Government Accountability Office recommends that GSA create a better system for measuring how quickly it gets rid of property, and the return on investment from those efforts. That’s especially important, GAO said, since government property disposal is likely to grow as GSA continues working to optimize the federal real estate portfolio. GSA said it’s developing a plan to address the issue, but has not provided details on the scope or timeline of that plan.<div style="display:block; font-style: italic;">(<a href="https://www.gao.gov/products/gao-26-108521">Federal personal property: GSA can better assess the effectiveness of its disposal efforts</a> - Government Accountability Office)</div></li><p></p>

<li style="margin-top:20px;">Federal health insurance enrollees will soon have a new option for their flexible spending accounts. The FSAFEDS program will be offering a Flexible Spending Account (FSA) card beginning in 2027. Using the card option will let enrollees pay directly for eligible health care expenses. It will make for more convenient checkouts and easier account management, the program’s website says. At the same time, FSAFEDS also plans to launch a new website later this fall.<div style="display:block; font-style: italic;">(<a href="https://www.fsafeds.gov/">Card option for 2027</a> - FSAFEDS)</div></li><p></p><li style="margin-top:20px;">An IRS watchdog said the agency’s cybersecurity program for fiscal 2026 was “not effective,” leaving taxpayer data vulnerable to bad actors. The Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration released a report last week that found three of the program’s function areas - identify, protect and detect - were not up to an acceptable maturity level. TIGTA did say that the IRS has made progress, but it needs to take additional steps to fully implement all of its security program components.<div style="display:block; font-style: italic;">(<a href="https://www.tigta.gov/sites/default/files/reports/2026-09/2026200053fr.pdf">IRS watchdog finds cybersecurity efforts were insufficient</a> - Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration )</div></li><p></p><li style="margin-top:20px;">Some Postal Service employees are using manipulative tactics to change customer service survey results. A report from the Postal Service Office of Inspector General found that though the Postal Service effectively addressed one scheme of survey manipulation, two others persisted. The OIG found that some employees created fake issues in the Postal Service’s customer service system so that when a customer satisfaction survey was then sent to their personal email, they could fill out the survey with positive results. The other effort saw employees improperly enter normal interactions, such as daily mail delivery, in the system to generate surveys and inflate scores. The Postal Service disagreed with all six of the OIG’s recommendations. Factors such as supervisor pressure and culture may have influenced these schemes, the report found. The OIG said these actions impacted about 124,000 out of 3.8 million surveys, or about 3.3% and helped drive the 5% increase in customer satisfaction the Postal Service reported from fiscal 2023 to 2025.<div style="display:block; font-style: italic;">(<a href="https://www.uspsoig.gov/reports/audit-reports/customer-survey-integrity">Report finds employee manipulation of Postal Service customer service surveys</a> - Postal Service Office of Inspector General )</div></li><p></p><li style="margin-top:20px;">The Space Development Agency is getting closer to completing what the agency calls “Tranche 1” of its planned constellation of small and inexpensive satellites. SDA director GP Sandhoo said during the Air, Space and Cyber conference last week that the agency wants to complete two more launches “in the next six to eight months,” and finish the Tranche 1 campaign by spring 2027. The agency has faced a number of challenges, including supply chain issues and technical hurdles deploying Tranche 1 satellites. So far, SDA has fielded 63 of the 154 planned satellites.<div style="display:block; font-style: italic;">(<a href="https://www.afa.org/air-space-cyber-conference/">SDA plans two more launches as it works to complete Tranche 1 campaign </a> - Air, Space and Cyber conference)</div></li><p></p></ul>
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If bipartisan support were enough to pass legislation, Congress would be heading home with a shorter to-do list

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<p><em>Interview transcript</em></p>
<blockquote><p><strong>Terry Gerton </strong>Well, here’s a word we don’t use often when we talk about GAO, a bombshell report. But last week, GAO issued their analysis of the cost of paying federal employees not to work under DOGE’s direction. And it really got a lot of attention up there on the Hill. Why did it land with such a big impact?</p>
<p><strong>Mitchell Miller </strong>I think, you know, speaking of words that are not used that often, at least by me, when I saw the report, I thought it was jaw-dropping. I mean, the fact that this whole organization, DOGE, was set up to save money, of course. I think people kind of knew that this was going to cost a lot of money, but when the Government Accountability Office came out and said that more than $9.5 billion was paid on an administrative leave last year, and it was such an increase over past years. I think it just got everyone’s attention here that you can’t forget about this, and Democrats are pointing this out. They’re saying, if you’re going to try to save money, we’re going to pour into this if we retake the House, at least. They want to investigate what actually happened there. And then if we dig into it a little bit deeper, of course. Out of that $9.5 billion in administrative leave, $6.7 billion of it was paid administrative leave from that deferred resignation program, the infamous fork in the road email that Elon Musk had sent to all the federal workers. And so this is just something that people can’t believe that it was that much because If you compare it to past years, there were like 600 people that took paid leave for more than three months, for several of the years leading up to this. And now we’re talking about more than well over 100,000 people took this. And this was a deliberate decision, as you know, made by the administration saying that over the long haul, it’s going to save money. And that’s what people at OMB are trying to push back a little bit, saying that this is actually a money saver in the long run. But certainly. Whenever anybody hears the phrase, people getting paid not to work, that certainly raises a lot of eyebrows.</p>

<p><strong>Terry Gerton </strong>Well, let’s raise our eyebrows on that very last phrase since the House departed a couple of days early last week for seven weeks away from Washington, what did they get done and what’s left?</p>
<p><strong>Mitchell Miller </strong>Well, they didn’t get a lot done, frankly, although House Speaker Mike Johnson says they did pass dozens of bills. Many of them were in the hopper for a long time. There were a few significant matters. One of them was the Rate Payer Protection Act. That was overwhelmingly passed, and that’s the one that would encourage states to use federal standards to require data process center operators to pay for the extra use of electricity and changes to the grid. Essentially It’s designed to make sure that utility customers don’t get hit with higher costs and big bills related to what the data center operators are doing. So that was pretty significant, and that was a bipartisan piece of legislation. And then they also passed the War Powers Act. That was important because it had now seven Republicans joining with Democrats to try to rein in the president on the war against Iran. And you can see what’s happening with the midterms, two of those lawmakers who decided to join are in tough races in Iowa. Republicans Mariannette Miller-Meeks and zack nunn, they changed their votes. Two of the GOP incumbents among seven that voted for this war powers resolution. So, again you’re starting to see these cracks in connection with the the Republicans and the president</p>
<p><strong>Terry Gerton </strong>One of the last actions that the House saw, but left before taking action on, was Representative Massie’s (Ky.) proposal to impeach the Secretary of war, Pete Hegseth. And it sounds like that approach to impeaching cabinet secretaries might be getting some more traction.</p>
<p><strong>Mitchell Miller </strong>Yeah, absolutely. That was really the reason why House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) decided to leave a day early. By the way, more than 60 legislative days have been canceled this year by the speaker. That’s quite a few of days that they could have been in session working, and he’s been criticized not only by Democrats for that, but Republicans as well. But speaking of Democrats, they have basically said that if they retake the House, the oversight committees are going to do a lot of probing and looking into various cabinet secretaries and on the Republican side they say to voters, you don’t want democrats just willy-nilly investigating all these cabinets secretaries in people high up in government, that this is not the way to run the government. So that is a warning shot that the Democrats have sent out now we’ll have to see what happens with the resolution related to Pete Hegseth but Thomas Massie the Kentucky lawmaker, republican lawmaker who introduced the articles of impeachment against him, he was on the floor last week for quite a while complaining a lot about the GOP and the fact that every time he seems to bring up something that makes them uncomfortable, the House seems to go on recess, and he pointed out that that happened also with his legislation linked to the Epstein files.</p>
<p><strong>Terry Gerton </strong>Mitchell Miller is the Capitol Hill correspondent for WTOP. Mitchell, let’s catch up quickly with the Senate. They are in town this week, at least for this week and they have some things they wanna try to get done.</p>
<p><strong>Mitchell Miller </strong>Right. The biggest thing they want to get done is permitting for energy projects they’ve been working on this issue for a long time trying to get to a final agreement for easing permitting approvals essentially cutting red tape so projects can move forward more quickly. A lot of lawmakers on both sides of the aisle really want this to happen but it’s been grinding away as things do in the senate. Some other things that are up before the senate, the college sports reform bill. And people might be saying, well, with all these affordability issues and a variety of other things happening ahead of the midterms, why are they tackling this? But this is sort of the way the Senate has to work. The Senate majority leader, John Thune, promised to Texas Senator Ted Cruz (R) months ago that if they got it to the point where they think that it’s basically done, that he would try to get it on the floor. So that’s why they’re taking it up now. It’s a huge bill with lots of changes in the payments to college athletes, how long they can stay at a school before moving on to another. And it’s getting a lot of attention from members of both sides of the aisle, and it’s also eating up a lot time for senators. So we’ll have to see what happens this week with that, if they can get it to the finish line. And then going back to the data center legislation, there was an interesting moment last week where Ohio Senator John Husted (R), who’s in a tough election battle in his home state, he brought up the house passed rate payer protection act trying to get it passed by unanimous consent but it was objected to by New Mexico’s Martin Heinrich (D) who had his own proposal. That was in turn objected too as well. Of course all the senators have to agree to it if it’s going to pass. So another sign that data centers are on the political radar for a lot of these lawmakers as we approach the midterms.</p>
<p><strong>Terry Gerton </strong>Mitchell, I think data centers gives us a good example here because we’re going to have a few weeks, maybe a quiet on the Hill to ponder why Congress can’t get anything done even when there’s bipartisan support or large public support, like a lot of people concerned about data centers, why can’t they move even the easy stuff forward?</p>

<p><strong>Mitchell Miller </strong>You know, I put a question to Virginia Senator Mark Warner (D) in connection with that, because he has been somebody who’s been sounding the alarm on artificial intelligence for years now. And part of the problem is he says everybody has got their own bills, and they’re moving in all kinds of different directions. And some people want a big, huge comprehensive approach. Others want something a little more narrow. He said, at the moment, if they really are going to get something done, he said he would love to have them tackle all the things that he has in a broad umbrella of AI issues. But he said right now what they need to do is focus on something very simple and straightforward so they can get it to a vote. And in his case, he believes that’s the safety safeguards in connection with AI. Basically saying that these companies cannot just do what they’re doing without any kind of oversight from the federal government. And he points to the example of the auto industry when you had seat belts going into cars or when you have safety oversight over aviation. So part of the problem is that all these lawmakers are going in different directions. And even though they say that this is imminent and this is important, they have a real tough time finally agreeing to legislation that gets passed and put into law.</p>
<p><strong>Terry Gerton </strong>Well, there’s even a case of the air safety legislation that was linked to that crash at Reagan National a year or so ago that passed 100 to 0 in the Senate. And here we are a year later and we don’t have any law.</p>
<p><strong>Mitchell Miller </strong>Yeah, I was at a news conference last week with the families of the victims in connection with that crash that killed 67 people. And everyone agrees on what went wrong there. And there are technical improvements that can be made in the cockpits. The FAA and the NTSB have known about these for years. And lawmakers from both sides of the aisle, as you point out, unanimously said this needs to be addressed. And yet here were these poor families last week, still trying day after day to get this legislation finally passed because they feel they owe it to the victims who died in that plane crash. What has happened though is it has stalled in the House, and the House wants to have its own version of the legislation. There’s been accusations that the Army has dragged its feet on its investigation in connection with the crash. And all of these different elements, even though everyone agrees that something must be done, something hasn’t been done up to this point.</p>
<p><strong>Terry Gerton </strong>There are an awful lot of predictions about how the midterms are going to go. And you can place your bets on whichever one you think is right at this point. But should we really expect anything to get better after the election?</p>
<p><strong>Mitchell Miller </strong>You know, I’d love to leave it on a positive note but I don’t think so. Everybody is kind of walking on eggshells right now because they don’t really know exactly what’s going to happen after the midterms. When the midterms of course take place will see who’s in power in the House and in the Senate. And then they’ll have to decide, what are the priorities that they’re going to take up in the lame duck and what’s interesting is we keep hearing over the last few weeks that Oh, we’re going to take that up. In the lame duck session or this is going to be addressed in the lane duck session will they’re not gonna have any time to deal with that because then they’re going to have to also go back to getting to the things that Congress actually is supposed to be doing, which is passing spending bills. And their woefully behind in that regard so we’ll have to see what happens in November but there’s certainly going to be a lot of work piled up when they get back.</p></blockquote>
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USPS fails to meet lowered service standards, GAO finds

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<ul><li style="margin-top:20px;">The Postal Service has largely failed to meet service standards, even after reducing those standards. A new report from the Government Accountability Office found the declining services are in part due to cost-cutting initiatives. In response, USPS officials said they have made some progress to modernize and improve services, but emphasized that a full solution would require significant structural reforms made by Congress and the White House.<div style="display:block; font-style: italic;">(<a href="http://gao.gov/products/gao-26-108527">U.S. Postal Service: Cost-cutting initiatives and other factors have contributed to declining service performance</a> - Government Accountability Office)</div></li><p></p><li style="margin-top:20px;">The Trump administration’s new employment classifications have taken a step forward. The Office of Personnel Management has proposed regulations to retroactively align with the creation of Schedule Policy/Career and Schedule G. The proposal would also allow Pathways Program participants to be converted to Schedule Policy/Career once they graduate. OPM’s regulations come after the Trump administration reclassified thousands of career federal employees earlier this year, stripping their job protections and making them easier to fire.<div style="display:block; font-style: italic;">(<a href="https://public-inspection.federalregister.gov/2026-19222.pdf">Employment in the excepted service</a> - Office of Personnel Management)</div></li><p></p><li style="margin-top:20px;">The Space Force is accepting service members from across the military. For the next two weeks, active-duty Soldiers, Sailors and Airmen and Marines can apply to transfer into the newest service branch and become Guardians. The interservice transfer application window is open through Oct. 2. Service members do not need prior experience in space operations to apply. Those selected will have to commit to four years of service in the Space Force.<div style="display:block; font-style: italic;">(<a href="https://www.spaceforce.mil/transfer-programs/">Troops across the military can join Space Force through interservice transfer program </a> - U.S. Space Force)</div></li><p></p><li style="margin-top:20px;">The Space Force wants to more than double its size in the next five years. Service leaders this week laid out a vision to grow from less than 11,000 guardians to around 25,000 as space operations become more important to the Pentagon. To get there, recruiters need to bring in about 3,000 new troops, instead of 1,000, each year. The officer in charge of the service's combat units said that spike is needed to handle exponential growth in missions like satellite control.<div style="display:block; font-style: italic;">(<a href="https://www.spaceforce.mil/News/Article-Display/Article/4603973/space-force-leaders-outline-blueprint-to-double-force-size-over-next-5-years/">Space Force wants twice as many troops</a> - U.S. Space Force)</div></li><p></p>

<li style="margin-top:20px;">The departments of Commerce and Education violated the Federal Vacancies Reform Act for leaving executives in the role of acting inspector general for too long. The Government Accountability Office determined that Duane Townsend's use of the acting IG title in the transmittal memorandum for the Commerce's Office of Inspector General's (OIG) Top Management Challenges Report issued on December 1, 2025, was in violation of the Vacancies Act. GAO said Townsend began serving as acting IG on July 7, 2025. Over at Education, Mark Priebe was acting IG from December 7, 2025, to April 7, 2026, longer than the 210 days allowed by law. <div style="display:block; font-style: italic;">(<a href="https://www.gao.gov/legal/federal-vacancies-reform-act">Commerce, Education had acting IGs for too long </a> - Government Accountability Office)</div></li><p></p><li style="margin-top:20px;">The second set of proposed changes to the Federal Acquisition Regulation is out for public comment. Agencies and industry have 30 days to comment on changes to another 17 sections of the FAR as part of the Trump administration's procurement overhaul. The FAR Council released 1,657 pages in four separate notices in today's Federal Register. Among the major sections out for comment are FAR Part 8 for government supply sources, Part 52 for contract terms and conditions, Part 16 for expanding the contract type options and FAR Part 12 for buying commercial items. The FAR Council issued the first tranche of updates in June and currently is reviewing comments. <div style="display:block; font-style: italic;">(<a href="https://www.federalregister.gov/public-inspection/2026/09/17">FAR Council proposes changes to 17 more sections of the FAR</a> - Federal Register)</div></li><p></p><li style="margin-top:20px;">The Air Force and Space Force are asking Congress for thousands of civilian jobs after acknowledging they cut staffing below established requirements in 2026. The department wants to add more than 4,300 full-time positions, including jobs in base support, nuclear forces, intelligence and communications. That comes as more than 34,000 Air Force and Space Force civilians have left since January 2025. Air Force Secretary Troy Meink said AI can lead to efficiencies across some civilian roles, but they'll look at adding workers in more physical areas like flightline maintenance. <div style="display:block; font-style: italic;">(<a href="https://federalnewsnetwork.com/defense-main/2026/09/air-force-plans-to-rehire-after-cutting-below-established-requirements/">Air Force admits it cut too many civilian employees</a> - Federal News Network)</div></li><p></p><li style="margin-top:20px;">The organization responsible for delivering the Department of the Air Force Battle Network is facing a talent shortage. The Air Force portfolio acquisition executive for command, control, communications and battle management said the organization currently has more than 250 civilian vacancies. “We need engineers, program managers, contracting professionals, logisticians, software and cyber professionals, financial managers and other acquisition experts who want to solve hard problems for the warfighter and join the C3BM mission,” Brig. Gen. Joshua Williams said. Since transitioning to the PAE model, C3BM now has the authority to make hiring decisions, including setting pay and offering incentives. Previously, those decisions required higher-level approvals, significantly slowing down the hiring process. <div style="display:block; font-style: italic;">(<a href="https://www.afa.org/air-space-cyber-conference/">DAF Battle Network organization seeks to fill more than 250 civilian vacancies</a> - Air &amp; Space Forces Association)</div></li><p></p></ul>
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Report finds DHS whistleblower retaliation complaints have spiked

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<p>With whistleblower retaliation complaints on the rise at the Department of Homeland Security, the Government Accountability Office is reporting that DHS whistleblowers face lengthy investigations into those complaints and delays in taking action on substantiated cases of retaliation.</p>
<p>GAO’s <a href="https://www.gao.gov/assets/gao-26-108106.pdf" rel="noopener" target="_blank">report, </a>released Thursday, finds those challenges could cause major challenges for whistleblowers and undermine the reporting process itself, at a time of rising complaints across DHS.</p>
<p>The DHS Office of the Inspector General, which is responsible for investigating cases of whistleblower retaliation, told GAO it has taken steps to increase staffing and improve timeliness in its Whistleblower Protection Division (WPD).</p>
<p>GAO found the DHS OIG’s Office of Investigations received roughly 236,000 complaints alleging wrongdoing between fiscal 2018 and 2025. Out of those, 3,025 complaints were identified as allegations of whistleblower retaliation and routed to the WPD.</p>

<p>The number of whistleblower retaliation complaints reviewed by the OIG increased from 75 in 2018 to 834 complaints in fiscal 2025, according to GAO’s report. More than half the retaliation complaints at DHS over the seven-year period reviewed by GAO occurred in either 2024 or 2025.</p>
<p>“WPD officials said they were not sure why the number of complaints increased in this period but noted that one factor could be employees’ increased awareness of whistleblower protections and processes,” GAO wrote.</p>
<p>Over the seven-year period reviewed by GAO, three agencies – Customs and Border Protection, Immigration and Customs Enforcement and the Transportation Security Administration – accounted for 69% of the retaliation complaints reviewed by WPD.</p>
<p>However, WPD opened investigations into just 115 of the whistleblower retaliation complaints between 2018 and 2025. Of those, the Coast Guard accounted for eight of the 11 complaints that were substantiated over those seven years.</p>
<p>GAO’s report didn’t divulge details of any investigations.</p>
<p>However, it found the WPD investigations were the longest step in the complaint process, with the division taking anywhere between 14 days and six years to investigate the 73 retaliation cases closed between 2018 and 2025.</p>
<p>While 11% of cases were closed within one year, it took more than three years to close 53% of the investigations, according to GAO.</p>

<p>“While OIG policy requires timely review of whistleblower retaliation complaints, OIG has not defined this objective in specific, measurable terms; evaluated timeliness; or implemented other mechanisms to help enhance accountability and ensure more timely investigations,” GAO states. “Improving timeliness could lessen the personal, financial, and professional hardships on complainants and help convey that protecting whistleblowers is a priority.”</p>
<p>DHS Inspector General Joseph Cuffari’s response to the report, included in the document, argues he has worked to whistleblower protection processes since taking over as IG in 2019.</p>
<p>Cuffari wrote that he realigned the WPD and appointed new leadership, while increasing staffing at the division. He said the division is now closing out a greater number of retaliation cases each year “without sacrificing thoroughness or objectivity.”</p>
<p>He agreed with GAO’s recommendation to set timeliness goals for investigation retaliation complaints.</p>
<p>“At the outset of my tenure as inspector general it would have been difficult, if not downright unrealistic, to set goals around timeliness, given the large standing inventory of whistleblower retaliation complaints, the age of those complaints, and the additional problems with WPD’s mismanagement,” Cuffari wrote. “WPD is in a much better place now and it is reasonable to set timeliness goals.”</p>
<p>Meanwhile, GAO found the DHS secretary did not meet a statutory requirement to take corrective action within 30 days on the 11 substantiated whistleblower retaliation cases.</p>
<p>Instead, DHS leadership has taken between four months and more than two years to move forward with corrective actions, which can include correcting an employee’s performance rating or promoting the employee.</p>
<p>GAO found six of the 11 substantiated cases remain pending. DHS agreed with GAO recommendations to address those issues.</p>
<p>“Until the secretary decides on corrective action for the six pending cases and takes steps to ensure timely decisions on future substantiated cases, whistleblowers with substantiated cases will not receive timely restorative personnel actions,” GAO wrote. “This could decrease confidence in DHS whistleblower protections and discourage other whistleblowers from coming forward.”</p>

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Survey: The public’s trust in government is declining

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<ul><li style="margin-top:20px;">The public’s trust in government is declining, new research from the Partnership for Public Service shows. Just about 27% of Americans say they trust the federal government — that’s down 6% from last year. The findings confirm persistently low levels of trust since the nonprofit began its polling in 2021. At the same time, public views of civil servants are more positive, with nearly two-thirds of Americans agreeing that civil servants are “competent.”
<div style="display:block; font-style: italic;">(<a href="https://ourpublicservice.org/know-the-facts/resource-library/reports/state-of-trust-2026">The state of public trust in government 2026</a> - Partnership for Public Service)</div></li><p></p><li style="margin-top:20px;">Senate Democrats are doubling down on efforts to stop the collection of federal employees’ personal medical records. Lawmakers are urging the Office of Personnel Management to reverse plans to gain unprecedented access to health data across the federal workforce. A letter sent to OPM Wednesday marks the second time Democrats have demanded the agency halt its data collection efforts. The senators warned that there are still major risks at play involving employee privacy, as well as legal and constitutional concerns.<div style="display:block; font-style: italic;">(<a href="https://www.schiff.senate.gov/wp-content/uploads/2026/09/Follow-up-Letter-from-Senate-Dems-to-OPM-on-Health-Data.pdf">Letter to OPM on federal health data collection efforts</a> - Sens. Adam Schiff (D-Calif.) and Mark Warner (D-Va.))</div></li><p></p><li style="margin-top:20px;">House Transportation Committee lawmakers are pushing for more transparency about federal real estate. Congress wants to ensure the Government Accountability Office can access data on how agencies are using federal office space. A new bill passed earlier this week by the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee would require the General Services Administration to make federal real estate space utilization data more accessible by auditors. Rep. Scott Perry's (R-Penn.) Strengthening Oversight in Public Buildings Act builds on his USE IT Act that became law last year. The new bill also extends the life of the Public Buildings Reform Board by two more years to December 2028. There is no Senate companion bill. The management of federal real property has been on GAO's high-risk list since 2003.<div style="display:block; font-style: italic;">(<a href="https://transportation.house.gov/news/documentsingle.aspx?DocumentID=410275">House committee bill would give GAO more access to office space data </a> - House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee)</div></li><p></p><li style="margin-top:20px;">The Interior Business Center has a new leader. Keith O'Neill takes over the top spot of the shared service provider. He replaces Steve Brand, who has been the permanent director since March. O'Neill has been the associate director of IBC since February 2025 and also served as the head of contracting activity for the Coast Guard and the Interior Department. IBC provides shared services to agencies, including contracting and program management, drug and alcohol testing services, financial management systems and services, human resources systems and services and many others.<div style="display:block; font-style: italic;">(<a href="https://lnkd.in/p/e6uxQsgj">IBC names new director </a> - Keith O'Neill on LinkedIn)</div></li><p></p>

<li style="margin-top:20px;">The Defense Department wants to make it easier to recruit new cyber operators from within the armed forces. Pilot programs will look at troops who might not have started in a cyber field but have the right skills to succeed. To find promising people, the Pentagon is creating a set of cognitive tests to judge problem-solving skills and calm under pressure. It asks troops who code on weekends, or have plenty of experience with artificial intelligence, to consider transferring.
<div style="display:block; font-style: italic;">(<a href="https://federalnewsnetwork.com/">Pentagon wants to move more troops into cyber roles</a> - Federal News Network)</div></li><p></p><li style="margin-top:20px;">Lawmakers are concerned about quality of life in the Coast Guard. The Coast Guard is investing billions in new ships, aircraft and shore infrastructure thanks to last year’s reconciliation bill. But lawmakers on the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee are concerned Coast Guard service members are falling behind when it comes to rising housing costs, healthcare access and childcare availability. During a hearing on Wednesday, Coast Guard leaders said they’re focused on the high cost of living and are considering how to improve tools like the Basic Allowance for Housing. <div style="display:block; font-style: italic;">(<a href="https://federalnewsnetwork.com/workforce/2026/09/lawmakers-surface-coast-guard-housing-quality-of-life-issues/">Lawmakers surface Coast Guard housing, quality-of-life issues</a> - Federal News Network)</div></li><p></p><li style="margin-top:20px;">The Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency has a new human resources leader. Robert Dorr has been appointed CISA’s chief human capital officer. He officially joined the cyber agency on Sept. 14. Dorr previously served as executive director of the enterprise business management directorate within the Department of Homeland Security's Office of the Chief Information Officer. His appointment comes as CISA ramps up hiring again, with the agency expected to onboard roughly 250 new employees in the near term. <div style="display:block; font-style: italic;">(<a href="https://www.cisa.gov/about/leadership/robert-dorr">Robert Dorr bio</a> - CISA)</div></li><p></p></ul>
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Low wages — not refusal to work — driving more eligibility for SNAP, Medicaid

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<p><em>Interview transcript</em></p>
<blockquote><p><strong>Terry Gerton </strong>You recently issued a report on federal safety net programs that updates work you first published years ago as you were recalculating and reassessing these programs, especially Medicaid and SNAP. What did you find that had changed in the intervening years?</p>
<p><strong>Kathy Larin </strong>So our report looked at the extent to which adults who are enrolled in two public assistance programs, Medicaid and SNAP, are working. And we also looked at who they’re working for in 11 states. And what we found is that there are a lot of people who are working, and working full-time, and they are still eligible for public assistance programs. That was a consistent finding from years ago, and it continues to hold true today.</p>

<p><strong>Terry Gerton </strong>To be counter to the normal narrative about people who are on these programs — that they aren’t working, that they should be in the labor force. There’s a lot of new legislation designed around work requirements. But if they’re working full schedules, how does that compare to folks who aren’t working with these benefits?</p>
<p><strong>Kathy Larin </strong>There is a misperception that adults who are enrolled in public assistance programs are not working. And our analysis really challenges that assumption. It shows that about half of all adults that are enrolled in Medicaid or who lived in a household that received SNAP worked at some point during the year. And of those who were working, about two-thirds of those on Medicaid and about 70% of those on SNAP worked full time for at least part of the year in 2024. So it really does fly in the face of some of those misperceptions.</p>
<p><strong>Terry Gerton </strong>What did you find about the concentration of industries and occupations where these folks consistently showed up?</p>
<p><strong>Kathy Larin </strong>We found that most people who are working and participating in these programs work for private sector employers, and that jobs are concentrated in certain industries. These include food service, food preparation, hospitality, transportation, retail sales, just to give some examples.</p>
<p><strong>Terry Gerton </strong>As you looked across the industries, did you see any changes in the trends from your previous work?</p>
<p><strong>Kathy Larin </strong>We saw a lot of the same names, but one trend we noticed is an increase in the number of people who were either working for a ride-sharing company or for an app-based delivery company. Both of those were much more heavily represented.</p>
<p><strong>Terry Gerton </strong>Why is that important as you’re looking at who’s eligible for public assistance?</p>

<p><strong>Kathy Larin </strong>People who are working in these industries, it’s not clear if they are even making the minimum wage, because they shoulder a lot of the costs of their employment, including the costs of their car, their gas, their car insurance. So once that is added up, it’s not clear that these people are even making minimum wage.</p>
<p><strong>Terry Gerton </strong>So then what does that tell us about where dependence on these programs is showing up in the labor market?</p>
<p><strong>Kathy Larin </strong>I think what it really highlights is the wage levels in these industries are very low. Because in order to participate in Medicaid or SNAP, an individual’s income has to be below a certain threshold, and that threshold is not that far above the poverty line. So people who are working — even if they’re working 40 hours a week, 52 weeks a year — if they’re making the federal minimum wage, they are still eligible for these programs. People are having to rely on these programs to make ends meet.</p>
<p><strong>Terry Gerton </strong>Kathy Larin is a director on the Education, Workforce, and Income Security team at the Government Accountability Office. Kathy, when you looked at the data across, you said, 11 states, you found the same large employers repeatedly showing up across those states. Tell us a little bit more about that finding.</p>
<p><strong>Kathy Larin </strong>When we looked at the companies that employ the largest number of Medicaid and SNAP recipients, we saw some widely recognized names, including companies that are in the top 50 of Fortune 500 companies. So these are names like Walmart, Amazon, McDonald’s. Those are the names that we saw when we previously did this work, and those companies continue to be large employers of people who are enrolled in these programs.</p>
<p><strong>Terry Gerton </strong>What should policymakers conclude from those kinds of findings?</p>
<p><strong>Kathy Larin </strong>I think really the bottom line is large employers are paying their employees low enough wages that they are still eligible for public assistance programs. And one of the responses that we have heard from large employers is that their employees are working part time, or they’re working for them as a second job. But in order to be eligible for public assistance programs, all wages are included. So even if people are piecing together multiple part-time jobs, overall their incomes remain below the eligibility thresholds for these programs.</p>
<p><strong>Terry Gerton </strong>So as we’re thinking about the labor market and minimum wage, are there policies that this data do support or policies that this data doesn’t support?</p>
<p><strong>Kathy Larin </strong>As you said, it’s a policy decision, so we don’t make any judgments about that. But we believe that this information is critical for policymakers as they are making decisions on issues such as the minimum wage.</p>

<p><strong>Terry Gerton </strong>So is this really an industry story? Is it an individual employer story? Is it a salary story, a wage story? What is going on in the labor market that is allowing this problem, this low wage problem to persist?</p>
<p><strong>Kathy Larin </strong>I think what this really comes back to is a reminder that most of the people who are participating in Medicaid and SNAP who are able to work are in fact working. And yet, even if they work full time, a full-time schedule, they’re still eligible for these programs. So it really is related. The issue is their income level.</p>
<p><strong>Terry Gerton </strong>Kathy, a lot of recent policymaking around these two programs seems to assume that the majority of beneficiaries are able to work, not working and just taking advantage of public benefits. What does your data really tell you about that group of people?</p>
<p><strong>Kathy Larin </strong>So, our data tells us that most of those people are already working. Some adults who are receiving Medicaid and SNAP are not working for legitimate reasons, that they are unable to work. They are either elderly or they’re disabled and unable to work. And so it’s not clear whether, say, requiring more Medicaid and SNAP recipients to work is going to result in a lot more people working — because of those who can work, most are already working.</p>
<p><strong>Terry Gerton </strong>That is so helpful. And then as we take together all of the data that’s in this report, and you’ve lived with it closely as you’ve done the assessment, how do you want it to shape or change the conversation we’re having around these two programs?</p>
<p><strong>Kathy Larin </strong>Really, I think the most important contribution of this report is challenging that assumption, the assumption that most adults who are receiving public assistance are not working. Our data shows the opposite: that most of adults who are receiving these programs are in the labor force, and of those who are working, most are working a full-time schedule.</p>
<p><strong>Terry Gerton </strong>So we really need to get after the salary levels in the market to change the outcomes.</p>
<p><strong>Kathy Larin </strong>It is the salary levels that makes these people eligible for these programs.</p></blockquote>
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SDA director wants to keep some authorities as Congress considers eliminating agency

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<ul><li style="margin-top:20px;">As Congress pushes to eliminate the Space Development Agency as an independent organization, the organization’s director said he “has some concerns, but not too many.” SDA Director Gurpartap "GP" Sandhoo told reporters that as long as the agency is able to keep some of its unique authorities, such as special hiring and original classification authorities, the move would be “just a name change.” While it is still unclear what the final language in the annual defense bill will look like, Sandhoo said it is possible Congress will dissolve the organization.<div style="display:block; font-style: italic;">(<a href="https://www.afa.org/air-space-cyber-conference/">SDA director wants to keep some authorities as Congress considers eliminating agency</a> - Air, Space and Cyber conference )</div></li><p></p><li style="margin-top:20px;">The House Veterans Affairs Committee is compelling the two leaders of the software giant Oracle to testify on Dec. 10. Lawmakers sent subpoenas to Oracle Chairman Larry Ellison and co-CEO Mike Sicilia after they refused to show up at a Sept. 2hearing on the implementation of the electronic health record system at the Department of Veterans Affairs. Committee members from both sides of the aisle were frustrated that Oracle didn’t explain the status of the program and why it needed potentially an extra three years and almost $17 billion more from VA to complete the roll out. An email to Oracle seeking comment wasn’t immediately returned.<div style="display:block; font-style: italic;">(<a href="https://democrats-veterans.house.gov/news/press-releases">House lawmakers subpoena Oracle leaders about VA's EHR effort</a> - House Veterans Affairs Committee)</div></li><p></p><li style="margin-top:20px;">The Trump administration’s overhauls of the Education Department are coming under more scrutiny. Lawmakers, union officials and former employees assembled outside the Capitol Building yesterday to urge the administration to halt the department’s dismantling. Speakers at the conference emphasized that Education grants and workforce expertise are "critical" to public schools nationwide. The department has recently lost nearly half of its career workforce and transferred many of its employees and functions to other agencies across government.
<div style="display:block; font-style: italic;">(<a href="https://www.youtube.com/live/gnKWL_NMeBI">Conference opposes Education Department overhaul</a> - American Federation of Government Employees)</div></li><p></p><li style="margin-top:20px;">Agencies’ spending on paid administrative leave surged sixfold last year. That 435% increase in paid leave costs was largely due to the Trump administration’s deferred resignation program. In total, the Government Accountability Office estimates that agencies spent $6.7 billion on salaries for employees who took the DRP. But due to data limitations, GAO said it’s impossible to tell how much was actually spent, or how much was potentially saved, by the separation program.<div style="display:block; font-style: italic;">(<a href="https://federalnewsnetwork.com/management/2026/09/trump-administrations-drp-cost-6-7b-last-year-watchdog-estimates/">Trump administration’s DRP cost $6.7B last year, watchdog estimates</a> - Federal News Network)</div></li><p></p>

<li style="margin-top:20px;">Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin isn’t happy with a judge's recent decision on workforce cuts at the Federal Emergency Management Agency. Speaking in Omaha, Neb., on Monday, Mullin criticized U.S. District Judge Susan Illston’s ruling that DHS officials unlawfully directed a 50% workforce cut at FEMA. “When some federal judge tries to come in and tells us how many people we have to have on staff, yet they're not in the building, they're not running the agency, is laughable. Stay in your lane, deal with law,” Mullin said. Illston found officials violated a post-Hurricane Katrina law designed to insulate FEMA from political decisions made at DHS headquarters. While FEMA didn’t move forward with the 50% cut, Mullin argued the agency can be more effective with a leaner staff and better technology. <div style="display:block; font-style: italic;">(<a href="https://federalnewsnetwork.com/workforce/2026/09/mullin-defends-fema-staffing-cuts-after-court-ruling/">Mullin defends FEMA staffing cuts after court ruling</a> - Federal News Network)</div></li><p></p><li style="margin-top:20px;">Air Force and Space Force leaders say starting another year without a fresh defense budget in place is making it harder to achieve a generational overhaul of military technology. Though officials are glad to avoid another government shutdown, a stopgap spending bill only allows the armed forces to spend money they were given for the previous year. That's affecting everything from the speed of modernization to improvements for military dorms. Congress may shift money from the reconciliation bill into the military's base budget for 2027 to help cover costs.<div style="display:block; font-style: italic;">(<a href="https://federalnewsnetwork.com/">Military officials criticize lawmakers' failure to fund defense on time</a> - Federal News Network)</div></li><p></p><li style="margin-top:20px;">The Air Force Academy in Colorado will continue to be a key source of new Space Force officers, even as NASA launches a new Space Academy, according to a top Space Force official. But the Space Academy could also send a steady stream of civilian workers to the Space Force, which heavily relies on their deep technical expertise for its complex missions. That's top of mind as the service looks to rebuild its civilian workforce. The presidential commission created to plan the new school has 120 days to present its recommendations.
<div style="display:block; font-style: italic;">(<a href="https://federalnewsnetwork.com/defense-main/2026/09/space-force-sees-new-space-academy-as-civilian-talent-pipeline/">NASA's Space Academy won't replace USAFA, but can grow civilian staff</a> - Federal News Network)</div></li><p></p><li style="margin-top:20px;">The Pentagon is simplifying accounting and compliance requirements to make it easier for commercial firms to do business with the department. The department will move away from government-unique Cost Accounting Standards to Generally Accepted Accounting Principles, more commonly known as GAAP, to make the accounting more similar to the commercial sector. In a memo released on Tuesday, Deputy Defense Secretary Steve Feinberg said the department will “ask suppliers for the cost and pricing information they already keep when necessary to foster transparency and fairness.” The new memo appears to walk back the language from the recent directive that suggested the Pentagon would install its own software in company data systems “to pull cost information directly.”  <div style="display:block; font-style: italic;">(<a href="https://media.defense.gov/2026/Sep/15/2003997826/-1/-1/1/FOSTERING-ONE-STRONG-INDUSTRIAL-BASE.PDF">DoD moves to simplify accounting, compliance rules for industry</a> - Defense Department)</div></li><p></p><li style="margin-top:20px;">The National Institute of Standards and Technology has updated guidelines for protecting online identity and access tokens from being misused. Tokens are a key digital tool for securing access to online platforms and services, but hackers can steal, forge and otherwise misuse them to pull off cyber attacks. NIST’s publication, finalized this week, includes updates for protecting cryptographic keys. It also features new considerations for handling artificial intelligence and the migration to post-quantum cryptography. 
<div style="display:block; font-style: italic;">(<a href="https://www.nist.gov/news-events/news/2026/09/nist-finalizes-guidelines-protecting-online-identity-and-access-tokens">NIST finalizes guidelines on protecting online identity and access tokens from misuse</a> - NIST)</div></li><p></p></ul>


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Decides which products and services federal agencies must buy from nonprofit agencies that employ people who are blind or have significant disabilities: it maintains the Procurement List published in the Federal Register and sets the fair market price for everything on it. Orders are distributed through two designated central nonprofit agencies.

AbilityOne Commission

Chairperson of the AbilityOne Commission

The Administration for Children and Families is an operating division of the United States Department of Health and Human Services. It administers federal programs that promote the economic and social well-being of children, youth, families, and communities, including Temporary Assistance for Needy Families, Head Start, child care, child support enforcement, foster care and adoption assistance, refugee resettlement, and services for Native Americans. It was established in 1991 through a reorganization of the Department.

Administration for Children and Families

Alex J. Adams

The Administration for Community Living is an operating division of the United States Department of Health and Human Services. It administers programs that help older adults and people with disabilities live independently and participate in their communities, coordinating aging and disability services authorized largely by the Older Americans Act. It was created in 2012 by consolidating the Administration on Aging with offices serving people with disabilities.

Administration for Community Living

Administrator of the Administration for Community Living

Runs the aging services network created by the Older Americans Act: it funds state and area agencies on aging, which pay for congregate and home-delivered meals, in-home services and caregiver support. It also houses the long-term care ombudsman program and elder-rights protection work.

Administration on Aging

Mary Lazare

Sets policy and oversight for the federal child welfare and youth programs run by its two bureaus: the Children's Bureau, which administers foster care, adoption and child abuse prevention funding to states and tribes, and the Family and Youth Services Bureau, which funds runaway and homeless youth services and adolescent pregnancy prevention.

Administration on Children, Youth and Families

Cody Inman

The Administrative Conference of the United States is an independent federal agency that studies the administrative procedures of federal agencies and develops recommendations to improve the fairness, efficiency, and transparency of regulatory, benefit, and other government programs. Its members are drawn from federal agencies, academia, and private practice. It was established by the Administrative Conference Act of 1964 and operates under 5 U.S.C. 591 and following.

Administrative Conference of the United States

Presides over the Administrative Conference of the United States and is its chief executive, hiring and supervising the staff, preparing the Conference's budget estimates and serving as its official spokesman to the other branches. Appointed by the President with the advice and consent of the Senate for a five-year term (5 U.S.C. 593(b), 595(c)).

Chairman of Administrative Conference of the United States

The Administrative Office of the United States Courts is the central administrative and support agency for the federal judiciary. It provides budget, human resources, technology, statistical, program, and management support to the United States courts and serves as the staff for the Judicial Conference of the United States. It was established by the Act of August 7, 1939, and operates under Chapter 41 of Title 28 of the United States Code, headed by a Director appointed by the Chief Justice of the United States.

Administrative Office of the United States Courts

Robert J. Conrad Jr.

Issues the government-wide procurement policies that bind executive agencies and oversees how agencies buy and the federal acquisition workforce. Appointed by the President, by and with the advice and consent of the Senate.

Administrator for Federal Procurement Policy

Kevin Rhodes

Has authority over and responsibility for all NNSA programs, including the weapons laboratories, production plants and nonproliferation work. The office is held by the Under Secretary of Energy for Nuclear Security, appointed by the President with Senate confirmation.

Administrator for Nuclear Security

Brandon Williams

Administrator of General Services, the institutional head of General Services Administration. Appointed by the President, with the advice and consent of the Senate, under Federal Property and Administrative Services Act of 1949 (40 U.S.C. 301); directs the agency's staff, budget, and statutory functions.

Administrator of General Services

Edward C. Forst

Administrator of the Administration for Community Living, the institutional head of Administration for Community Living. Appointed by the President, with the advice and consent of the Senate, under Department of Health and Human Services reorganization (2012); programs under the Older Americans Act of 1965; directs the agency's staff, budget, and statutory functions.

Directs the agency's national research programs and its network of laboratories and research centers, and decides which lines of in-house science USDA pursues. Selected within the Department rather than appointed by the President, reporting through the Under Secretary for Research, Education, and Economics.

Administrator of the Agricultural Research Service

Joon Park

Administrator of the Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau, the institutional head of Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau. Appointed under Homeland Security Act of 2002 (Public Law 107-296), 116 Stat. 2135; directs the agency's staff, budget, and statutory functions.

Administrator of the Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau

Mary G. Ryan

Directs BPA's power marketing, transmission operations and rate-setting, and makes the arrangements for the sale and disposition of the federal power the agency sells to Northwest utilities. Appointed by, and responsible to, the Secretary of Energy.

Administrator of the Bonneville Power Administration

John L. Hairston

Administrator of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, the institutional head of Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services. Appointed by the President, with the advice and consent of the Senate, under Social Security Act, Titles XVIII and XIX (42 U.S.C. 1395, 1396); directs the agency's staff, budget, and statutory functions.

Administrator of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services

Mehmet Oz

Administrator of the Drug Enforcement Administration, the institutional head of Drug Enforcement Administration. Appointed by the President, with the advice and consent of the Senate, under Reorganization Plan No. 2 of 1973; directs the agency's staff, budget, and statutory functions.

Administrator of the Drug Enforcement Administration

Terrance C. Cole

Directs the government's central energy data and forecasting program and, by statute, publishes its statistical and forecasting reports without any other official's approval. Appointed by the President with the advice and consent of the Senate, from people specially qualified to manage an energy information system.

Administrator of the Energy Information Administration

Tristan Abbey

Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency, the institutional head of Environmental Protection Agency. Appointed by the President, with the advice and consent of the Senate, under Reorganization Plan No. 3 of 1970; directs the agency's staff, budget, and statutory functions.

Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency

Lee M. Zeldin

Runs the agency's commodity, farm loan, disaster and conservation programs and its state and county office network. Appointed by the Secretary of Agriculture; the post is not Senate-confirmed.

Administrator of the Farm Service Agency

William Beam

Administrator of the Federal Aviation Administration, the institutional head of Federal Aviation Administration. Appointed by the President, with the advice and consent of the Senate, under Federal Aviation Act of 1958 (72 Stat. 731); directs the agency's staff, budget, and statutory functions.

Administrator of the Federal Aviation Administration

Bryan Bedford

Runs FEMA and is the principal advisor to the President, the Homeland Security Council and the Secretary of Homeland Security on emergency management. Appointed by the President with the advice and consent of the Senate, from candidates with demonstrated emergency management ability and at least five years of executive leadership experience.

Administrator of the Federal Emergency Management Agency

Cameron Hamilton

Administrator of the Federal Highway Administration, the institutional head of Federal Highway Administration. Appointed by the President, with the advice and consent of the Senate, under Department of Transportation Act (49 U.S.C. 104); directs the agency's staff, budget, and statutory functions.

Administrator of the Federal Highway Administration

Sean McMaster

Administrator of the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration, the institutional head of Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration. Appointed by the President, with the advice and consent of the Senate, under Motor Carrier Safety Improvement Act of 1999 (113 Stat. 1748; 49 U.S.C. 113); directs the agency's staff, budget, and statutory functions.

Administrator of the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration

Derek D. Barrs

Administrator of the Federal Railroad Administration, the institutional head of Federal Railroad Administration. Appointed by the President, with the advice and consent of the Senate, under Department of Transportation Act of 1966 (49 U.S.C. 103); directs the agency's staff, budget, and statutory functions.

Administrator of the Federal Railroad Administration

David Fink

Administrator of the Federal Transit Administration, the institutional head of Federal Transit Administration. Appointed by the President, with the advice and consent of the Senate, under Reorganization Plan No. 2 of 1968 (5 U.S.C. app.; 49 U.S.C. ch. 53); directs the agency's staff, budget, and statutory functions.

Administrator of the Federal Transit Administration

Exercises the Secretary's authority under the Federal Meat Inspection Act, Poultry Products Inspection Act, Egg Products Inspection Act and Humane Slaughter Act, and directs the inspection workforce. Appointed by the Secretary of Agriculture and reporting through the Under Secretary for Food Safety.

Administrator of the Food Safety and Inspection Service

Justin Ransom

Runs the Foreign Agricultural Service and, by statute, also oversees the General Sales Manager and the Agricultural Attache Service, making the Administrator USDA's senior official on agricultural trade. The post is filled by the Secretary of Agriculture and is not Senate-confirmed.

Administrator of the Foreign Agricultural Service

Daniel Whitley

Administrator of the Great Lakes St. Lawrence Seaway Development Corporation, the institutional head of Great Lakes Saint Lawrence Seaway Development Corporation. Appointed by the President under Saint Lawrence Seaway Act of May 13, 1954 (33 U.S.C. 981-990); directs the agency's staff, budget, and statutory functions.

Administrator of the Great Lakes St. Lawrence Seaway Development Corporation

J. M. (Mike) McCoshen

Administrator of the Health Resources and Services Administration, the institutional head of Health Resources and Services Administration. Appointed under Public Health Service Act (42 U.S.C. 201 et seq.); directs the agency's staff, budget, and statutory functions.

Administrator of the Health Resources and Services Administration

Thomas J. Engels

Administrator of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, the institutional head of National Aeronautics and Space Administration. Appointed by the President, with the advice and consent of the Senate, under National Aeronautics and Space Act of 1958 (Public Law 85-568); directs the agency's staff, budget, and statutory functions.

Administrator of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration

Jared Isaacman

Awards and administers the office's grants and judges whether states comply with the Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention Act's core protections. The Administrator is appointed by the President from among people with experience in juvenile justice programs.

Administrator of the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention

Eileen M. Garry

Administrator of the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration, the institutional head of Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration. Appointed by the President, with the advice and consent of the Senate, under Norman Y. Mineta Research and Special Programs Improvement Act of 2004 (49 U.S.C. 108); directs the agency's staff, budget, and statutory functions.

Administrator of the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration

Paul J. Roberti

Directs the federal crop insurance program and also serves as Manager of the Federal Crop Insurance Corporation. Appointed by the Secretary of Agriculture; no Senate confirmation required.

Administrator of the Risk Management Agency

Patricia Swanson

Directs the agency's rural business loan, loan guarantee and grant programs under the Under Secretary for Rural Development. Appointed by the Secretary of Agriculture; no Senate confirmation required.

Administrator of the Rural Business-Cooperative Service

J.R. Claeys

Directs the agency's rural housing and community facilities loan, guarantee and grant programs under the Under Secretary for Rural Development. Appointed by the Secretary of Agriculture; no Senate confirmation required.

Administrator of the Rural Housing Service

George Kelly

Directs the agency's electric, telecommunications and water and waste lending programs. Appointed by the President; no Senate confirmation required.

Administrator of the Rural Utilities Service

Karl Elmshaeuser

Administrator of the Small Business Administration, the institutional head of Small Business Administration. Appointed by the President, with the advice and consent of the Senate, under Small Business Act of 1953 (15 U.S.C. 631 et seq.); directs the agency's staff, budget, and statutory functions.

Administrator of the Small Business Administration

Kelly Loeffler

Runs the power marketing administration: negotiates its wholesale sales contracts, sets rates that repay the federal investment in the dams, and directs generation scheduling with the Corps. Appointed by the Secretary of Energy.

Administrator of the Southeastern Power Administration

Virgil G. Hobbs III

Runs the power marketing administration: negotiates its wholesale contracts, sets rates that repay the federal investment in the dams, and oversees its transmission system. Appointed by the Secretary of Energy.

Administrator of the Southwestern Power Administration

Mike Wech

Directs federal security screening at airports and security regulation across all transportation modes, and receives and distributes transportation security intelligence. Appointed by the President with Senate confirmation for a five-year term; the statute requires experience in transportation or security.

Administrator of the Transportation Security Administration

David P. Cummins

Administrator of the Wage and Hour Division, the institutional head of Wage and Hour Division. Appointed by the President, with the advice and consent of the Senate, under Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938 (29 U.S.C. 204); directs the agency's staff, budget, and statutory functions.

Administrator of the Wage and Hour Division

Andrew Rogers

Runs WAPA's power marketing, rate setting and transmission operations, exercising on the Secretary's behalf the power marketing functions transferred from the Bureau of Reclamation. Appointed by the Secretary of Energy.

Administrator of the Western Area Power Administration

Tracey A. LeBeau

Funds high-risk energy research that industry will not finance on its own, awarding cost-shared projects to companies, universities and national laboratories and cutting them off when technical milestones are missed. Its targets are set by statute: energy imports, emissions, efficiency, nuclear waste, and the resilience of energy infrastructure.

Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy

Conner Prochaska

Runs the Section 106 process, under which a federal agency must consider how a project it funds, permits or carries out would affect historic properties and consult states and tribes before proceeding. It writes the regulations for that review, joins the hardest cases itself, and advises the President and Congress.

Advisory Council on Historic Preservation

Chairman of the Advisory Council on Historic Preservation

The Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality is an operating division of the United States Department of Health and Human Services within the Public Health Service. It produces evidence and funds research to make health care safer, higher in quality, more accessible, and more affordable, and works to ensure that the evidence is understood and used. It was established in 1999 under the Healthcare Research and Quality Act, succeeding the Agency for Health Care Policy and Research, and is codified at 42 U.S.C. 299.

Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality

Roger D. Klein

The Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry is a public health agency of the United States Department of Health and Human Services, administered through the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. It evaluates and works to reduce human exposure to hazardous substances from waste sites, spills, and other releases, conducts public health assessments, and studies the health effects of toxic exposures. It was authorized by the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act of 1980.

Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry

Aaron Bernstein

Runs the Department of Agriculture's own laboratories: its scientists work on crop and livestock production, plant and animal disease, food safety, human nutrition and natural resource management. Results are published for public use rather than sold, and much of the work is done with land-grant universities.

Agricultural Research Service

Flies the aircraft and crews the vessels that Customs and Border Protection uses to detect, track and interdict smuggling and other unlawful cross-border activity. It is CBP's air and sea arm: the Border Patrol covers the land between ports of entry and the Office of Field Operations staffs the ports.

Air and Marine Operations

Jonathan P. Miller

Reviews court-martial convictions from the Air Force and Space Force, sitting in panels of at least three appellate military judges. It can affirm, modify or set aside findings and sentences, may hold a sentence inappropriately severe, and its decisions can be taken on to the Court of Appeals for the Armed Forces.

Air Force Court of Criminal Appeals

Provides graduate and professional education to Air Force and Space Force members and Department of the Air Force civilians: its graduate school awards master's and doctoral degrees in engineering, science and management, and its continuing-education schools train civil engineers, logisticians and strategic-force specialists.

Air Force Institute of Technology

James C. Bowers

The Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau is a bureau of the United States Department of the Treasury. It collects federal excise taxes on alcohol, tobacco, firearms, and ammunition and regulates the production, labeling, advertising, and importation of alcohol and tobacco products. It was established on January 24, 2003, under the Homeland Security Act of 2002, which split the former Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms and retained the tax and trade functions in the Treasury.

Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau

Serves as the principal cyberspace policy official within State Department senior management and as the Secretary's adviser on cyber and digital issues, leading the Department's cyber diplomacy. Appointed by the President with the advice and consent of the Senate, with the rank and status of ambassador.

Ambassador at Large for Cyberspace and Digital Policy

Adam Cassady

Designs, builds and maintains the permanent American military cemeteries and memorials outside the United States - the graves, chapels, monuments and grounds where American war dead are buried or commemorated. It also controls the erection of other United States war memorials and monuments on foreign soil.

American Battle Monuments Commission

Chairman of the American Battle Monuments Commission

The American Printing House for the Blind is a private nonprofit corporation that holds a federal charter and serves as the official national source of educational materials for students who are legally blind and enrolled in programs below the college level. It produces and distributes braille and large-print textbooks, educational aids, and assistive technology, funded through an annual federal appropriation administered by the Department of Education. It was chartered by Congress in 1879.

American Printing House for the Blind

Craig Meador

The President of the American Printing House for the Blind leads the Louisville nonprofit that manufactures and furnishes braille, large-print and tactile materials for the instruction of blind students, distributed to schools each year under a federal per-pupil quota (20 U.S.C. 101, 102). Its Board of Trustees selects the president.

President

Funds economic development in the Appalachian counties of thirteen states, approving grants for broadband and water infrastructure, workforce training and business development, mostly delivered through local development districts. It is run jointly by the governors of the member states and a federal co-chair.

Appalachian Regional Commission

Gayle Conelly Manchin

The Architect of the Capitol is a legislative branch agency responsible for the maintenance, operation, development, and preservation of the United States Capitol, the congressional office buildings, the Library of Congress buildings, the Supreme Court building, the United States Botanic Garden, and the grounds of the Capitol campus. The title refers to both the agency and the official who heads it. Permanent statutory authority for the office dates to the Act of August 15, 1876.

Architect of the Capitol

Thomas E. Austin

The Architect of the Capitol has the care and superintendence of the Capitol and maintains the buildings and grounds of the Capitol campus (2 U.S.C. 1812). A commission of congressional leaders and appropriations and administration committee members appoints the Architect to a renewable 10-year term and can remove the holder at any time (2 U.S.C. 1801a).

Archivist of the United States, the institutional head of National Archives and Records Administration. Appointed by the President, with the advice and consent of the Senate, under National Archives and Records Administration Act of 1984 (Public Law 98-497); directs the agency's staff, budget, and statutory functions.

Archivist of the United States

Bradford Pentony Wilson

Arctic Research Commission

Chairman of the Arctic Research Commission

Operates the two homes for retired and former enlisted members of the armed forces, Armed Forces Retirement Home-Washington and Armed Forces Retirement Home-Gulfport, providing residences, meals and graduated levels of health and long-term care. Eligibility is statutory, turning on length of service or wartime service.

Armed Forces Retirement Home

Stephen T. Rippe

Hears and decides contractors' appeals from the final decisions of Department of Defense and NASA contracting officers - disputes over payment, delay, termination and contract interpretation. Its full-time judges must have at least five years of experience in public contract law and are selected the way administrative law judges are.

Armed Services Board of Contract Appeals

Reviews court-martial convictions from the Army, sitting in panels of at least three appellate military judges. It can affirm, modify or set aside findings and sentences, may hold a sentence inappropriately severe, and its decisions can be taken on to the Court of Appeals for the Armed Forces.

Army Court of Criminal Appeals

Heads the National Security Division and is the Justice Department's primary liaison to the Director of National Intelligence. One of the Senate-confirmed Assistant Attorneys General, designated for the role by the President (28 U.S.C. 507A).

Assistant Attorney General for National Security

John A. Eisenberg

Assistant Attorney General for the Office of Justice Programs, the institutional head of Office of Justice Programs. Appointed by the President, with the advice and consent of the Senate, under Justice Assistance Act of 1984; directs the agency's staff, budget, and statutory functions.