Lawmakers look to strengthen protections against fraud across government

• House lawmakers are looking to beef up protections against fraud risks across government. A new bipartisan bill would create a standardized training program for federal employees to learn how to identify and root out fraud. Sponsors say federal employees are not currently equipped with consistent training on fraud prevention. The lawmakers say that has led to higher vulnerabilities in government programs.
  (Federal Fraud Prevention Workforce Training Act - Reps. Glenn Grothman (R-Wis.) and Raja Krishnamoorthi (D-Ill.))
• The General Services Administration has announced its 2026 class of Presidential Innovation Fellows. The 17 technology experts who were selected for the program will spend the next year working on modernization projects across 10 different federal agencies. The latest fellowship class builds on other efforts to hire temporary tech talent, like the Trump administration’s new Tech Force program. GSA has been running the Presidential Innovation Fellows program since 2013.
  (New Presidential Innovation Fellows class announced - General Services Administration)
• The Social Security Administration is now planning an incremental rollout of new appointment-scheduling and case-management tools before deploying them nationwide. SSA is planning to launch its Appointment Scheduling Calendar and Workload Management system in Nevada and Tennessee on April 25. The Appointment Scheduling Calendar will allow the public to self-schedule initial claims appointments online. The Workload Management (WLM) system will centralize the processing of applications with the goal of mitigating some of the agency’s staffing shortages. SSA lost more than 7,000 employees last year, about 12% of its workforce.
  (Appointment Scheduling Calendar limited rollout - Social Security Administration )

        Federal and industry experts explain why visibility, crypto agility, and execution — not just new algorithms — will define quantum readiness in this new ebook. Download today!

• The Agriculture Department is expanding its reorganization plans. USDA plans to move hundreds more employees from its component agencies out of the Washington, D.C. area. USDA said its Food Safety and Inspection Service will move about two-thirds of its D.C. area workforce out of the region to relocate them to sites that include Iowa and Georgia. USDA also said it will move more employees at the Economic Research Service (ERS) and National Institute of Food and Agriculture (NIFA) out to Kansas City. Hundreds of employees were relocated there under President Donald Trump’s first term, but more than half of impacted staff quit their jobs rather than move.
  (USDA expands reorganization plans, doubling down on employee relocations from first Trump administration - Federal News Network)
• The White House has tapped Erich Hernandez-Baquero, a Raytheon executive, to serve as the next assistant secretary of the Air Force for space acquisition and integration. He would replace Frank Calvelli, who stepped down from the role last January. President Donald Trump has also nominated Roger Mason, a V2X executive, to serve as the next director of the National Reconnaissance Office. He would succeed Christopher Scolese, who resigned from the post last year.
  (White House taps industry executives for space acquisition, NRO top roles - Congress.gov)
• The Department of the Air Force has selected three companies to “potentially” develop and operate nuclear microreactors at U.S. bases as part of a new energy resilience initiative. The service recently announced two bases as potential sites for nuclear microreactors and has now added Joint Base San Antonio, Texas, as a third location under the initiative. The Air Force has selected three companies from a pool of eight competitors who were eligible for the Advanced Nuclear Power for Installations program last year and paired them with installations in Texas, Colorado and Montana. Michael Borders, assistant secretary of the Air Force for energy, installations and environment, said this is a “pivotal moment for the Department of the Air Force.”
  (Air Force taps companies for nuclear microreactor pilot - Department of the Air Force)

Copyright © 2026 Federal News Network. All rights reserved. This website is not intended for users located within the European Economic Area.