• House Democrats are pressing the Defense Department about the military services pausing sexual assault prevention and response training programs. In a letter to Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, the lawmakers said the decision is “not only irresponsible but also dangerous.” The lawmakers also said the law requires providing this training to incoming service members, civilian employees, first responders and staff directly supporting victims. At least some military branches have paused the program as the Defense Department works to comply with President Donald Trump’s executive order banning all diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives across the government.
  (Democrats seek answers about DoD’s pause on sexual assault training - Rep. Sara Jacobs)
• President Donald Trump is taking steps to ensure the State Department’s Foreign Service implements his policy agenda. An executive order tasks Secretary of State Marco Rubio with reforming standards for recruiting, retaining and evaluating Foreign Service officers. The executive order also calls on Rubio to ensure training programs at the Foreign Service Institute align with the administration’s goals.
  (One voice for America’s foreign relations - White House )
• Colleen Duffy Kiko is the new chairwoman of the Federal Labor Relations Authority. President Donald Trump fired Susan Tsui Grundmann from the board earlier this week and named Kiko to replace her. Kiko has been a member of the FLRA since December 2017 and previously served as FLRA chairwoman from 2017 to January 2021. Grundmann was chairwoman since January 2023 and served on the FLRA since May 2022. The President will have to name another member to the FLRA to fill out its three member group. Anne Wagner, who joined in July, remains with the agency.
  (Trump names new chairwoman to oversee federal labor relations - FLRA)
• The Air Force exempts part of its workforce from the return-to-office mandate due to a shortage of workspace. Acting Air Force Secretary Gary Ashworth said in a memo the Air Force doesn’t have enough space to accommodate 100% of its workforce in the National Capital Region and across the Air Force and Space Force installations, both inside and outside of the United States. Commands were directed not to take any drastic measures, such as converting conference rooms, gymnasiums or hallways into workstations or displacing their contracting workforce to create additional workspace. It’s unclear how many employees the Air Force is not able to accommodate, but the Pentagon said the number of remote work and telework employees is evolving as it works to comply with all executive orders.
  (Air Force doesn’t have enough space to accommodate its remote workers - Federal News Network)

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• President Donald Trump has tapped a former congressman to lead his revamped President’s Intelligence Advisory Board. Former House Intelligence Committee Chairman Devin Nunes will serve as chairman of the board. Trump also picked his former national security advisor Robert O’Brien and retired CIA officer Amaryllis Fox Kennedy, the daughter-in-law of Robert F. Kennedy Jr. The advisory board appointments come the same week that the Senate confirmed Tulsi Gabbard to serve as the director of national intelligence.
  (President Trump announces the President’s Intelligence Advisory Board - White House)
• President Donald Trump begins filling out key management positions across the agencies. Three agencies are getting new chief financial officers. President Donald Trump nominated Richard Topping to lead the Department of Veterans Affairs' financial office. Toppings is the former president and chief legal officer at CareSource and an Army veteran. Additionally, the President nominated Catherine Hanson to be the Environmental Protection Agency's CFO. Hanson is a lawyer and worked for EPA during the first Trump administration. Finally, Trump nominated Tina Pierce to be the Energy Department's CFO. Pierce would come to Energy after serving as the deputy CFO for the Defense Department since July.
  (CFOs nominated for VA, EPA, Energy - White House)
• Here is some good news for federal employees still under their probationary period. The Trump administration is backing away from its push to terminate all employees with less than a year or two of experience. An administration official confirmed that informal guidance from OPM said agencies should focus their efforts on terminating probationary employees mainly for conduct or performance issues. The official, however, added that each agency will make its own decision about whether to keep employees who remain in their probationary period.
  (Trump administration backs away from firing all probationary employees - OPM)
• The Environmental Protection Agency is rescinding telework and remote work agreements for its employees. The EPA said it’s following a memorandum from President Donald Trump from his first day in office calling for all federal employees to return to the office full-time. The agency will still allow reasonable accommodations, medical telework, Domestic Employees Teleworking Overseas and military spouses working remotely under the Military Spouse Employment Act. AFGE Council 238 said EPA’s return-to-office memo is in violation of the union’s collective bargaining agreement.
  (Several agencies end telework, remote work agreements and set return-to-office dates - Federal News Network)
• Former agency watchdogs fired by President Donald Trump are suing to get their jobs back. The former inspectors general said Trump was required by law to give Congress 30 days’ notice and give specific reasons for their removal, but didn’t follow either of those requirements. The lawsuit includes former IGs for the Departments of Defense, Veterans Affairs, Health and Human Services, State, Education, Agriculture and Labor, as well as the Small Business Administration.
  (Storch v. Hegseth - U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia )
• The White House names President Donald Trump's pick for a top cyber role. Trump is nominating Sean Cairncross to serve as national cyber director. Cairncross previously served as CEO of the Millenium Challenge Corp, and as a deputy assistant to the President during the first Trump administration. He also was an executive on the Republican National Committee. If confirmed, Cairncross would succeed Harry Coker, who stepped down at the beginning of the Trump administration. Congress created the national cyber director position four years ago to lead federal cyber policy and serve as the President’s top cyber advisor.
  (Nominations sent to the Senate - White House)
• A green light for the Trump administration to continue pursing its controversial deferred resignation program, at least for now. Yesterday afternoon, a federal judge in Boston lifted a restraining order that had put the program on pause since last week. Judge George O'Toole found the unions who challenged the program in court didn't have the standing needed to justify a temporary restraining order. The unions said they're still weighing their next legal steps. The Office of Personnel Management said it's now closed the program to new resignations, but hasn't yet said how many feds opted to retire before that window closed.
  (Judge lifts restraining order on 'deferred resignation - Federal News Network)

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