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• A half century after serving in Vietnam, hundreds of veterans have been given a new reason to believe they may be dying from a silent bullet. Test results from a study commissioned by the Veterans Affairs Department (VA) showed some men may have been infected by a slow-killing parasite while fighting in the jungles of Southeast Asia.  VA commissioned a small pilot study to look into the link between liver flukes ingested through raw or undercooked fish and a rare bile duct cancer. About 700 veterans with the cancer have been seen by the VA in the past 15 years. Less than half of them submitted claims for service-related benefits, mostly because they were not aware of a possible connection to Vietnam. (Federal News Radio)

• Members of the military will have to wait a little longer to find out if transgender people will still be welcome in the ranks. A federal court has blocked President Trump from changing the military’s transgender policy as a case against his ban works its way through court. The judge said that the plaintiffs are likely to succeed in their case, arguing the transgender ban violates their Fifth Amendment right to due process. However, the judge denied the plaintiff’s motion to block the ban on funds for gender reassignment surgery. (The Hill)

• Despite its $600 billion budget, the Defense Department (DoD) has been called into question about its skill in handling money. DoD’s Inspector General  highlighted financial management as one of the top five management issues for the Pentagon in 2018. Other issues include cybersecurity, overseas operations and ensure ethical integrity. DoD has never been audited, making it the only federal agency with that distinction. The Pentagon was required by law to be audit-ready by Sept. 30.  Defense Secretary Jim Mattis said DoD will begin a full audit this fiscal year. (Federal News Radio)

• The National Treasury Employees Union (NTEU) said the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit should review and reverse lower court decisions that denied three federal employees hearings on three separate adverse actions. NTEU said the employees missed deadlines to send court petitions, but only because the court posted incorrect dates on its website. NTEU doesn’t represent the employees but issued friend-of-the-court briefs. Two of the federal employees are whistleblowers. (NTEU)

• The Office of Personnel Management (OPM) issued a fast-track hiring authority for agencies looking to fill positions for work on IT modernization programs. The authority is for positions needed to directly carry out provisions of IT Modernization and Smarter IT Delivery Initiative projects, and are limited to positions related to cloud architecture, solutions architecture and migrating information from legacy systems into the cloud. Using a separate classification called “excepted service,” agencies are able to avoid the standard evaluation system and aren’t required to file public notice of the jobs. The hiring authority can be used to fill GS-11 to GS-15 positions related to IT modernization projects in their 2017 and 2018 fiscal year budgets.  (Chief Human Capital Officers Council)

• The National Park Service has extended the comment period on proposed fee hikes in its most popular parks. The Park Service said it will hear public comment through Dec. 22 on its plan to raise entry fees during peak season.The higher rates would apply to its 17 busiest parks. In some cases, the fee would double the current fee.  The original comment period was set to close on Thanksgiving. (NPS.gov)

• The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) has made it official — it backs a plan to change government policy on internet neutrality.  FCC Chairman Ajit Pai formally announced his long-awaited position replacing the policy put in place during the Obama administration by his predecessor, Tom Wheeler. That rule classified internet service providers as common carriers, ensuring equal access to the internet.  Under Pai’s proposal, they would return to their status as information services, clearing the way for providers to charge users more to see certain content and to curb access to some websites. The five-member commission will vote Dec. 14 on the draft plan. ( FCC)

• Reps. Greg Walden (R-Ore.) and Steve Chabot (R-Ohio) requested information from the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) asking whether it is complying with a law to spend a certain percentage of its research and development funding on small businesses. According to a letter from the congressmen, the EPA failed to report funding information for 2015 to the Small Business Administration (SBA). The Defense Department was the only other agency that failed to report its small business spending.  The congressmen urged EPA establish procedures to report obligations data or propose to Congress an alternative methodology for calculating spending requirements.(House Energy and Commerce Committee)

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