• Federal agencies are facing a partial shutdown on Dec. 21 at midnight if Congress doesn't pass another continuing resolution or the funding bills for fiscal 2025. Agencies began preparing for a partial government shutdown on Friday as required under Circular A-11, which initiates the process when the expiration of current funding is a week away. House Speaker Mike Johnson, however, said last week that negotiations to extend the current CR are moving forward. The White House asked Congress in November to add more than $98 billion to the next CR in additional funding to help respond to disasters.
  (Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget - Site: Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget)
• The Office of Personnel Management is telling agencies to gear up for standard presidential transition changes over the coming weeks. A new memo from OPM last week details how agencies should handle the departure of political appointees, and protocols for career members of the Senior Executive Service. OPM’s guidance also details expectations for ethics and security, as well as how to ensure continuity in key agency positions. The transition guidance is a requirement for OPM to publish ahead of each presidential administration change.
  (Presidential transition guide for federal HR management matters - Office of Personnel Management)
• Republican lawmakers are taking aim at where federal employees work, how well they work and what it takes to fire them. Senator Joni Ernst (R-Iowa) wants to move at least 30 percent of all SBA employees who work at headquarters in Washington, D.C. out to the districts. The chairwoman of the Senate's Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) caucus also wants to add software to federal networks to gather data to measure the potential adverse impacts of telework by monitoring computer use. These are two of the latest bills GOP lawmakers have introduced or plan to introduce to turn up the heat on federal employees. Another bill from Congressman Barry Loudermilk (R-Ga.), the MERIT Act, would reduce the time it takes to dismiss poor performers.
  (Sen. Ernst's bill would monitor employee computer use - Federal News Network )
• The 2025 compromise defense policy bill would require the National Security Agency to establish an artificial intelligence security center. The center’s mission would include mitigating counter-AI threats and promoting secure AI practices. The bill would also require the Defense Department to launch a pilot program to evaluate AI-enabled software aimed at improving workflows in DoD’s depots, shipyards and manufacturing facilities. Additionally, the bill would task the DoD to expand its AI education initiatives, including developing courses on foundational AI and machine learning concepts. The annual defense bill has cleared the House and is moving to the Senate for debate this week.
  (NDAA to mandate establishment of AI security center - House Armed Services Committee)
• The Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency has boosted its visibility across federal agencies since the 2020 SolarWinds cyber attack. CISA said it can now monitor more than five million devices across 94 agencies. And it also has access to 400,000 network logs as well. CISA said that access allows its threat hunters to work with agency cyber defenders to work together and hunt down network threats like the Russian hackers who pulled off the SolarWinds incident four years ago.
  (CISA cyber leader says agencies have addressed SolarWinds gaps - Federal News Network )
• Service members will receive an average 5.4% increase in their basic allowance for Housing starting January 1, 2025. The Pentagon will allocate approximately $29.2 billion in housing payments, which will benefit about one million service members. Service members will have 95% of their housing costs covered, leaving them to pay $90 to $202 per month out of pocket, depending on their rank and dependency status. The average 5.4% increase is the same percentage as the 2024 increase. In 2023, the Defense Department increased Basic Allowance for Housing rates by an average of 12.1% after housing costs had skyrocketed the previous year.
  (Service members to receive average housing allowance increase of 5.4% - Department of Defense)
• President-elect Donald Trump is naming political appointees at a record clip. Just over one month since the presidential election, Trump has already announced more than 100 appointments. That averages to about three appointees each day. Trump’s appointment pace is more than twice as fast as the last three presidential transitions, according to the Partnership for Public Service. About one-third of Trump’s appointments so far can step into their roles on Inauguration Day. The other two-thirds of Trump’s picks so far will have to go through the Senate confirmation process.
  (To the moon: Trump’s record-setting pace of personnel announcements - Partnership for Public Service)
• The National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency has a new second in command. Brett Markham will serve as NGA’s tenth deputy director, the agency announced earlier this month. Markham has 37 years of combined military and federal service including 16 years at NGA. He most recently served as the agency’s chief of staff responsible for overseeing functions ranging from logistics and personnel security to corporate communications and congressional engagement. Markham also previously served as NGA’s deputy associate director of operations.
  (NGA announces Brett Markham as deputy director - National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency)

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