Senior EOIR executive accused of abusing hiring authority

• A senior executive with the Executive Office for Immigration Review has been accused of abuse of authority by hiring friends and use non-public information to benefit them. The Justice Department’s Inspector General said the unnamed official ignored merit system principles to hire close friends on seven separate occasions, even going so far to promote one who was not eligible. (Department of Justice Office of Inspector General)

• Rep. Trey Gowdy (R-SC) is tapped to replace Rep. Jason Chaffetz (R-Utah) as chairman of the House Oversight and Government Reform committee. He beat out  Rep. Steve Russell (R-OK).  Chaffetz, who’s resigning from Congress on June 30, said Gowdy is the right person for the job. (Federal News Radio)

• The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) received some more bad news when it comes to federal acquisition. For the second time in the last week, the DHS came up short on a major procurement. After canceling its $1.5 billion contract vehicle for agile services, DHS lost a bid protest of a multiple award contract for cloud computing services. The Government Accountability Office (GAO) sustained the protest by KnightPoint Systems of DHS’s $1.6 billion blanket purchase agreement. DHS awarded KnightPoint one of four spots on the Blanket Purchase Agreement in November, only to pull the contract back because of a protest. It made new awards in February to three vendors, leaving KnightPoint out of the winner’s circle. GAO ruled DHS did not reevaluate KnightPoint’s bid fairly and recommended DHS redo the technical evaluations and make new awards. (Government Accountability Office)

•  Secret Service as it tries to improve low employee morale, staffing shortages and high attrition. Homeland Security Department Inspector General John Roth said the president’s 2018 budget for the Secret Service isn’t sufficient to help the agency hire enough personnel. The agency would get 450 more employees under the budget, but not enough to cover for staffing shortages and high attrition that have led to reports of low morale.  (Federal News Radio)

• The Environmental Protection Agency’s Inspector General reportedly has opened an investigation of an EPA employee who allegedly colluded with a major agrochemical company. The Huffington Post reported the IG is looking to see if former EPA manager Jess Rowland was paid to help quash investigations of a herbicide made by Monsanto. A recent lawsuit alleged that herbicide causes cancer. (Huffington Post)

• The top Republican and Democrat on the House Armed Services Committee saidthe Defense Department (DoD)  needs to do more to keep Congress in the loop on military cyber operations. Reps. Mac Thornberry (R-Texas) and Adam Smith (D-Wash.) are among the co-sponsors of new legislation that would require the Pentagon to brief Congress on cyber activities, legal determinations about when cyber tools can be used, and the development of new cyber weapons. In each case, DoD would have to loop Congress in within 48 hours. They argued the legislation is necessary because cyber operations are increasingly a normal part of modern warfare, and that the reporting requirements largely mirror what DoD has to do when it’s launching traditional, kinetic strikes against an enemy. (Federal News Radio)

• The Defense Department said it wants to congressional fears over possible military base closures. DoD wants another round of Base Realignment and Closures in 2021 to save money. Acting Assistant Secretary of Defense for Energy, Installations and Environment Peter Potochney said DoD would do an extensive study on what bases should be closed and then have a commission make the decisions. (Federal News Radio)

• Two of President Trump’s nominees have been approved by the Senate Judicary Committee. Voting along party lines, the committee advanced the nominations for Noel Francisco, who is tapped to be the next Solicitor General, and Steven Engel, for the role of Assistant Attorney General in the Office of Legal Counsel. The nominations now go before the full Senate.  (Senate Judiciary Committee)

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