Federal Newscast

Federal employee retirement applications hit another record high

In February, another 31,000 retirement claims entered the Office of Personnel Management's systems.

Michele Sandiford

March 9, 2026 12:42 pm

< a min read

Federal employees’ retirement applications are continuing to flood the Office of Personnel Management. In February, another 31,000 retirement claims entered the agency’s systems. That puts OPM’s Retirement Services center at yet another record high of pending applications — now reaching above 65,000 cases with pensions that are yet-to-be finalized. That’s an 88% increase since OPM’s inventory last October, when retirements from the deferred resignation program first began trickling in.
(Retirement statistics update - Office of Personnel Management)

The Defense Department is tapping a former Department of Government Efficiency employee to lead its AI efforts. The Defense Department on Friday named Gavin Kliger as its next chief data officer. Kliger was part of DOGE cost-cutting efforts at the Pentagon and oversaw the launch of the department’s GenAI.mil initiative. The Defense Department said Kliger will be a “key leader in executing the department's AI strategy” and aligning its AI projects. Kliger takes over the role amid the Pentagon’s dispute with Anthropic over how the military can use the company’s AI models.
(DoD taps former DOGE employee as the next new chief data officer - Social media platform X)

The Federal Employee Education and Assistance Fund is accepting applications for its annual scholarship award through March 12. FEEA gives between $1,000 and $5,000 to high school and college children of federal employees to help pay for their college. Last year, FEEA awarded 220 scholarships out of more than 3,700 applications to the children of feds who work at 67 different agencies. Since 1986, FEEA has awarded over 12,000 merit scholarships to federal public servants, their spouses, children, and grandchildren.
(FEEA scholarship applications are due March 12 - Federal Employee Education and Assistance Fund)

The Trump administration's Schedule Policy/Career is on the brink of becoming reality. Final regulations last month set a 30-day deadline before some federal employees may lose their job protections. It will take an executive order from President Trump before those changes can be made official, which may happen as soon as today. It’s not yet clear how many federal positions will be affected. But administration officials estimate about 50,000 employees would be placed into Schedule Policy/Career.
(Federal employees face looming finalization of Schedule Policy/Career - Federal News Network)

The Army has launched its annual Tenant Satisfaction Survey to gather feedback from more than 200,000 residents living in privatized, government-owned and government-leased housing. The survey is a key tool the service uses to assess its housing conditions. Army officials say tenants’ feedback will be “instrumental in guiding future improvements to housing, resident services and community amenities across all Army installations.” The survey is confidential and voluntary.
(Army launches its annual tenant satisfaction survey - Army.mil)

The long-awaited national cyber strategy is out. The White House is making the modernization of federal networks a key pillar of its new National Cyber Strategy. The seven-page document released on Friday outlines some high-level goals for federal networks, including elevating the importance of cyber in government leadership and accelerating the modernization, defensibility, and resilience of federal information systems. The strategy didn't offer any details or specific objectives of how the administration would meet these goals. The other pillars included securing critical infrastructure, building talent and capacity in the workforce and shaping adversary behavior.
(White House issues National Cyber Strategy - White House)