Federal Newscast

There’s a new recruitment opportunity at Health and Human Services. The agency has just launched the Roy Wilkins Fellowship. It’s reserved for students at Historically Black Colleges and Universities, or HBCUs, who are interested in public service. Many of HHS’s divisions will host career fairs to promote the new fellowship, including the National Institutes of Health and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The opportunity comes in response to an executive order President Trump signed in April, on promoting innovation at HBCU’s. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

The Pentagon inspector general found the Defense Health Agency failed to issue finalized guidance defining roles, responsibilities and access-to-care standards after reorganizing the military health system. The average wait for urgent medical appointments at military medical treatment facilities outside the United States stretched as long as 21 days in some locations, while routine appointments were delayed by as much as 37 days. Auditors also said many overseas facilities were understaffed, and personnel working in military clinics and hospitals experienced burnout and low morale. The inspector general recommended that the DHA director track data on why personnel are leaving military medical facilities.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

The Pentagon inspector general found the Army and Navy miscalculated the number of low-scoring recruits entering the military through their preparatory programs. The watchdog found the services used recruits’ improved test scores instead of the scores they had when they first signed up. As a result, both services exceeded the legal limits of recruits with low test scores entering the program. The courses are designed to help recruits meet academic and physical standards before starting basic training. The services also failed to notify the Secretary of Defense and Congress that they had exceeded that limit, as required by law.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

More than 60% of the government’s security clearance data last year was either inaccurate or incomplete. That’s according to a recent review conducted by the Government Accountability Office. In a new report, GAO says delays and issues with IT systems continue to make the security clearance process a top management challenge in the federal government. The issue has remained on GAO’s High-Risk List since 2018.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Federal retirement numbers at the Office of Personnel Management are continuing to skyrocket. In November, OPM took in another 23,000 applications from retiring employees. That’s on top of more than 20,000 that entered OPM’s systems in October. Together, those numbers mean retirement applications are triple the volume they were at this time last year. In total, OPM’s retirement inventory is now closing in on 50,000 applications that are still awaiting finalization. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.