Three postal workers convicted in scheme to ‘deliver’ cannabis in D.C.

• A post office manager and two letter carriers are found guilty of bribery and conspiracy in a scheme which involved the trio distributing hundreds of pounds of cannabis in the D.C. area through the U.S. Postal Service. Authorities said the three used USPS computers to track packages containing the illegal drugs, then delivered them in postal vehicles. They’ll all be sentenced in the fall. (Department of Justice)

• Former Census Bureau Director John Thompson said the agency is on track to make the 2020 count more efficient. But it may cost more than the Congress or the agency originally anticipated. At least six years of lower-than-anticipated budgets forced the bureau to delay some preparations. It’s also moving some automated activities back to paper. (Federal News Radio)

• Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Scott Pruit issued 11 directives to improve the Superfund program. The recommendations include identifying sites where the risk of human exposure is not fully controlled within 60 days and using enforcement authorities to discourage long negotiations with potentially responsible parties. The recommendations come after a report from EPA’s Superfund Task Force brought forth 42 recommendations to make the program run better. Pruitt said more guidance will be coming, but he demands work begin on implementing these newest ones immediately. (Environmental Protection Agency)

• More than 10,000 business tax returns have been flagged by the IRS for potential identity theft in the first five months of this year. While it saw an increase in business tax-related fraud, the agency said there’s a decline in individual tax-ID theft. IRS found around 100,000 taxpayers claiming ID theft in the first half of 2017, about half as many for the same timeframe last year. (Federal News Radio)

• The Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration, who oversees the IRS, said it needs to start utilizing the Governmentwide Critical Position Pay Authority to recruit experts in cybersecurity and information technology. The IRS had been using its own Streamlined Critical Pay authority, but all the employees hired through that will need to be off the payroll by the end of September. (Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration)

• Two senior senators have thrown their support behind a recent GSA cybersecurity decision. Sens. Ron Johnson (R-Wis.) and Claire McCaskill (D-Mo.), the chairman and the ranking member of the Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, respectively, praised the General Services Administration’s decision to remove Kaspersky Labs from its approved products list. GSA recently decided to withdraw software titles from Kaspersky Labs from the schedules contract after concerns arose about the firm’s connections with Russia. Johnson and McCaskill said there is more that can be done. The committee is awaiting a briefing by GSA, OMB and DHS officials on how to ensure agencies don’t buy Kaspersky products through other contract vehicles. (Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee)

• The Air Force is giving enlisted airmen a break on required education courses. The service is giving airmen a longer period of time to complete distance learning courses before going to an academy. This is just one of the many personnel policy changes the Air Force has made in an attempt to make family life better for airmen. (Federal News Radio)

• Defense Secretary Jim Mattis has ordered a review of all the requirements the Pentagon imposes on soldiers that prevent them from focusing on warfighting. In a memo obtained by Military Times, Mattis wants to take a look at “requirements for mandatory force training that do not directly support core tasks” in an effort to verify U.S. military policies “also support and enhance warfighting readiness and force lethality.” He also wants analysis on the retention or separation of permanently non-deployable service members and the civilian workforce hiring process. The review will be conducted by a working group led by Acting Undersecretary for Personnel and Readiness Tony Kurta. (Army Times)

• A former employee with the Army Corps of Engineers has pleaded guilty to bribery while working in Afghanistan. The Justice Department Mark Miller attempted to get over $300,000 in bribes from Afghan contractors, in exchange for his help with U.S. government contracts. Miller will be sentenced in late November. (Department of Justice)

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