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• Raphael Sanchez, the former chief counsel for Immigration and Custom Enforcement’s Office of Principal Legal Advisor, received four years in prison for using the identities of numerous undocumented immigrants to open lines of credit. The Justice Department said he was also ordered to pay nearly $200,000 in restitution. (Department of Justice)

• One congressman warned there could be more cuts to telework options at more agencies. After Congressman Gerry Connolly met White House officials to express his concerns about reduced telework policies, he said he fears the administration’s new policy for the Education department may be a sign of things to come. In May, the agency told its employees they’ll have to be in the office four days a week starting in October. The Agriculture Department also scaled back its telework policy earlier this year. (Federal News Radio)

• The General Services Administration began planning to take on new services under the administration’s reorganization plan. Mary Davie, the deputy commissioner of GSA’s Federal Acquisition Service, is taking on more responsibilities by leading the agency’s reform efforts. Federal News Radio confirmed Davie is heading up an internal task force to determine what it will take to bring the HR Solutions and health and retirement services from OPM to GSA. The Trump administration is proposing to move these services from the Office of Personnel Management as part of its government reform initiative.

• A bipartisan group of senators introduce a bill to fix the National Park Service’s maintenance backlog. The Restore Our Parks Act would set up a restoration fund to help address the park service’s $12 billion backlog of unaddressed projects. The bill was brought forth by senators Mark Warner (D-Va.), Angus King (I-Maine), Rob Portman (R-Ohio), and Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.). Department of the Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke has come out in support of the bill. (Sen. Mark Warner)

• New guidance for agencies on improper payments was issued as the Office of Management and Budget updates Circular A-123 to reflect a more streamlined, comprehensive approach to improper payments. OMB Director Mick Mulvaney said it is intended to give agencies more incentives to improve payment integrity and their handling of the Do Not Pay initiative. OMB last updated its improper payment guidance in 2014. (White House)

• The House Armed Services Oversight and Investigations Subcommittee is looking into the security clearance process. Members of the committee were briefed earlier this week by the Office of the Secretary of Defense, the Defense Security Services and the National Background Investigations Bureau on plans to reduce the security clearance backlog and what efficiencies are being put in place. (House Armed Services Committee)

• The administration is building on new ideas it developed for reforming the security clearance process to create a five-year strategy. An update on Performance.gov shows the security executive agent and suitability executive agent held a two-day summit to gather new ideas to change how agencies handle background investigations. The Office of the Director of National Intelligence also issued new guidelines for implementing continuous evaluation. (Performance.gov)

• A veteran of federal law enforcement took on what might be the toughest job in Washington. Ronald Vitello has been named deputy director and acting director of ICE. He moved over from Customs and Border Protection, where he was acting deputy commissioner. A Homeland Security Department release said Vitello started as a Border Patrol agent in 1985. He replaced acting director Tom Homan at a time when ICE finds itself in the political crossfire of the immigration debate. (Department of Homeland Security)

• The NSA said it’s deleting all of the records it’s received since 2015, the year that Congress overhauled the way it collects metadata about phone calls. The changes required call detail records on U.S. persons to be stored by phone companies themselves – and only sent to NSA with court approval. But the agency said it’s discovered “irregularities” in the data that suggest it got a hold of information Congress never authorized. NSA didn’t identify the specific problem, but said it’s so widespread that it can’t be fixed without purging all of the metadata it’s obtained over the past three years. The agency did say they problem has been fixed with regard to future data collections. (Federal News Radio)

• Lt. Gen. Scott Miller is confirmed as commander of U.S. Forces in Afghanistan by the Senate. He currently serves as the chief of the Joint Special Operations Command. He also served as the commanding general for the U.S. Army Maneuver Center. Miller will take the place of General John Nicholson who has been commanding U.S. Forces in Afghanistan since 2016.

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