Viewpoint: Latest Reports from The Washington Posts ‘Federal Insider’

Peace Corps suspends El Salvador program as violence surges

The Peace Corps has suspended its half-century-old program in El Salvador, highlighting the violence that has wracked the Central American nation and helped propel a wave of migration to the United States. In a statement, the agency begun by President John F. Kennedy said it is pulling out its 55 volunteers, who work on youth […]

Feds face harassment from extremists related to Oregon takeover

As scandalous as it is that federal employees have been kept from their workplaces because armed intruders have taken over the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge in Oregon, now those staffers are being warned they might be victimized by “paper terrorism.” An email sent to agency leaders Friday warned that self-appointed judges associated with the right-wing […]

VA strikes against Hill assertions over corrupt agency

When two members of Congress took a shot at the Department of Veterans Affairs in an op-ed last week, management decided it was not going to duck and cover. Rather than issue another string of VA mea culpas, as the agency has appropriately done for the cover-up of excessive patient wait times, Deputy Secretary Sloan […]

U.S. illegal immigrant population falls below 11 million, continuing nearly decade-long decline, report says

The illegal immigrant population in the United States has fallen below 11 million, continuing a nearly decade-long decline that has the potential to reshape the debate over reforming the nation’s immigration system, according to a study released Wednesday. The total undocumented immigrant population of 10.9 million is the lowest since 2003, says the report from the […]

VOA journalist killed in Yemen

Almigdad Mojalli, a freelance journalist working with the Voice of America (VOA), was killed during an air raid in Yemen this week, according to the Broadcasting Board of Governors (BBG). He had been reporting on the human and economic impact of the war when he died in a Saudi-led airstrike Sunday, VOA and BBG announced. […]

Postal reform consensus develops; 5-day delivery dead

For many years, postal reform was the poster child of a do-little Congress. Each U.S. Postal Service financial report was more bleak than the last, accompanied by increasingly dire doomsday predictions. Yet pleas for help generated much talk on Capitol Hill and no action. Management and labor had stark differences, controversial plans to end six-day […]

Pentagon to take over control of background investigation information Updated: The Defense Department will take over responsibility for storing sensitive information on millions of federal employees and others from the Office of Personnel Management and the government will create a new entity to oversee background investigations, Obama administration officials announced Friday. Those changes and others are the result of an internal review of how the […]

Senators seek to cut federal administrative leave

Tales of federal employees languishing on administrative leave for long periods could come to an end under legislation introduced this week by a group of bipartisan senators. The Administrative Leave Act of 2016 is designed to “cut down on excessive, abusive, expensive leave and protect whistleblower employees who are put on leave in retaliation for […]

Why presidential candidates should be presumptuous

Perhaps the difference between campaigning and governing is never starker than in the months after a new president’s inauguration. Candidates spend many months touting what they would do if they win the White House, but not nearly enough time figuring out how to actually do it. Being too presumptuous is not a good political look. Being […]

Flint sullies EPA’s name, despite efforts of individual feds

Given the federal government’s response to the Flint water scandal, EPA could stand for Ever Procrastinating Administrators, instead of the Environmental Protection Agency. While most of the blame for poisoning the city water system rests with Michigan officials, EPA’s reputation has been sullied as an enabler, an accessory and an agency that failed to promptly […]

OPM opens additional but limited insurance enrollment for feds

The Office of Personnel Management will hold a limited open enrollment period for active federal employees who want to sign up for single plus one health insurance coverage. Self plus one is a new option in the Federal Employees Health Benefits (FEHB) program. It allows enrollees to obtain coverage for themselves and one other family […]

EPA’s fall in Flint, an aberration or part of a pattern?

The Environmental Protection Agency’s lethargic response to the Flint water crisis makes the agency look like an accomplice after a crime – the poisoning of the city’s water system and assaulting its population. But was EPA’s dawdling in largely poor and black Flint an aberration or part of a pattern of lax oversight and enforcement? […]

ISIS threatens feds, military after theft of personal data

The federal workforce, already shaken by a massive cybertheft of personal data, now confronts another reality – ISIS has some of that same information. Ardit Ferizi, 20, from Kosovo, was in federal court last week on charges he provided the brutal terrorist organization names, email addresses, passwords and locations of federal employees and military members. […]

How FBI blocks whistleblower fighting dismissal; new bill could help others

Sometimes Uncle Sam’s rules and regulations just don’t make sense. Take the case of Darin Jones, a former FBI employee who said he was fired after making whistleblower disclosures about a $234,000 awards ceremony, improper procurement spending and a conflict of interest involving a former assistant director and computer help desk contract among other complaints. […]

Key investigator of OPM data security lapses will retire

A government watchdog, who repeatedly raised warnings about computer security at the Office of Personnel Management both before and after breaches of its databases containing personal information on millions of people, has announced his retirement. Patrick E. McFarland, inspector general at OPM since 1990, is leaving with positive words for the direction the agency has taken recently, […]

What Obama plans for federal pay raises in 2017

President Obama will include an average 1.6 percent pay raise for federal employees in his fiscal 2017 budget proposal. This year, the average raise is 1.3 percent. The 2017 pay increase was announced in a conference call with administration and union officials. The complete budget will be announced next week. “The President’s 2017 Budget will propose […]

Affordable Care Act dispute could hang up confirmation of new federal personnel chief

A long-simmering dispute over how the Obama administration applied the Affordable Care Act to members of Congress and some of their staff has been revived and could hang up the confirmation of a new federal personnel chief. In advance of the scheduled Thursday confirmation hearing for Beth Cobert to become director of the Office of […]

Fewer families, children surging across border, yet ICE raids to continue

The U.S. government will continue its controversial deportation raids targeting Central American immigrants even as the number of new illegal migrants has fallen dramatically, Department of Homeland Security officials say. After surging for months, the numbers of children crossing the southwest border — either unaccompanied or with family members — suddenly dropped in January, DHS data […]

Should federal pay increase? If so, how much?

1. David Cox Sr. can be a jolly fellow, but he might be confusing budget time with the Christmas season. The American Federation of Government Employees (AFGE) leader reacted to President Obama’s call for a 1.6 percent federal employees’ pay raise as if Santa left stones in their stockings. “AFGE is calling on lawmakers to […]

Better pay, workplace rights among top congressional priorities for feds

Federal employees are in the midst of a legislative season in which they are struggling with friend and foe alike, on issues ranging from pay  to an attack on unions in their sector where membership is the strongest. Labor organizations have already launched a preemptive strike against the 1.6 percent pay raise President Obama will […]