Federal Newscast

DHS’s top lawyer is stepping down

DHS General Counsel Jonathan Meyer says he’s returning to the private sector after nearly three years on the job.

Michele Sandiford

September 10, 2024 3:24 pm

< a min read

The Department of Homeland Security’s top lawyer is stepping down. DHS General Counsel Jonathan Meyer said he’s returning to the private sector after nearly three years on the job. Meyer had previously served as deputy general counsel and senior counselor at DHS during the Obama administration. Before that, he had worked in various posts at the Justice Department and Amtrak, as well as counsel on the Senate Judiciary Committee for then-Senator Joe Biden.
(Jonathan Meyer announces resignation - LinkedIn)

Lawmakers are officially filing their discharge petition today to try to move the Social Security Fairness Act to a floor vote. The bill aims to repeal the WEP and GPO, two provisions that reduce or eliminate Social Security for certain public servants. The discharge petition will only move forward if the document gains 218 signatures, a House majority. The Social Security Fairness Act currently has 326 cosponsors. NARFE is urging all House representatives to sign the petition to move the bill to a floor vote.
(Social Security Fairness Act - Reps. Spanberger and Graves)

Federal employees working overseas face a 22% pay cut if Congress doesn’t reauthorize the necessary funds. Foreign Service officers and other federal employees serving abroad receive the equivalent of locality pay for the Washington, D.C. metro area through Overseas Comparability Pay. But Congress needs to reauthorize this program before October 1 to avoid a lapse in funds. That lapse would affect thousands of Foreign Service officers as well as federal employees working for the Foreign Commercial Service and the Foreign Agricultural Service. A continuing resolution introduced by House Republicans does not reauthorize this program.
(Feds working overseas face a 22% pay cut if Congress doesn't reauthorize funds - Federal News Network)

Federal agencies are meeting all the Biden administration’s goals so far to bring experts in artificial intelligence into government. The White House has created an AI and Technology Task Force and identified priority mission areas for increasing AI talent. The federal government is nearly halfway to its goal of hiring 500 AI experts by the end of fiscal 2025. Agencies are already using AI to analyze weather hazards, deliver benefits and combat fraud.
(Agencies are implementing management and personnel requirements - Government Accountability Office )

Two former Obama administration senior executives will now bring their government expertise to the table as they advise the White House on AI issues. Aneesh Chopra, a federal chief technology officer, and Beth Cobert, who served as acting director of OPM and deputy director for management at OMB, joined the Commerce Department’s National Artificial Intelligence Advisory Committee. Two other nongovernment members, Christopher Howard and Angie Cooper, are also new appointments to the NAIAC. Commerce established the committee in 2022 to provide recommendations on AI competitiveness, science and workforce challenges.
(Former US CTO one of 4 new members for Commerce AI advisory committee - Department of Commerce)

The Cyber Safety Review Board made a splash with its Microsoft review earlier this year. What’s next for the board? The Cyber Safety Review Board will soon announce its latest project. The Department of Homeland Security is also pressing to get congressional authorization for the board. President Joe Biden created the CSRB as part of his May 2021 cyber executive order. DHS’s legislative proposal would give the board funding and limited subpoena power. The board has been applauded for a critical review of Microsoft’s cloud security errors released in January.
(DHS cyber review board to announce latest project 'soon' - Federal News Network)

The Customs and Border Protection directorate eliminated a big piece of its technical debt. CBP is out of the mainframe business altogether. For the first time in 60 years, the agency isn't relying on this legacy technology to process transactions or database requests. Instead, CBP has transitioned to a modern environment with 86% of all applications now residinf in the cloud. CBP still has about 276 applications that need to be moved off-premise. The migration off the mainframe meant CBP modernized its last legacy mainframe application, the Automated Commercial System, which is a 35-year-old system comprised of 3.9 million lines of antiquated Common Business-Oriented Language or COBOL code.
(CBP achieves historic technology modernization milestone with retirement of mainframe-as-a-service - Customs and Border Protection)

Agencies overseeing Small Business Innovation Research or SBIR and Small Business Technology Transfer or STTR programs are facing more aggressive attempts to defraud the government. A new analysis by the Government Accountability Office found 25 schemes involving awards from more than one agency, and 14 involving both SBIR and STTR awards. GAO looked at SBIR award data from 2016 to 2021 and identified more than 800 awardees with at least four fraud, waste or abuse risk indicators. Auditors recommended agencies conduct more fraud awareness training for SBIR/STTR employees as well as SBA to provide more guidance and information sharing.
(Small business research programs: Opportunities exist for SBA and agencies to reduce vulnerabilities to fraud, waste and abuse - GAO)