Veterans Affairs says it has guaranteed 29 million home loans for service members
More than 4 million service members and veterans have active home loans guaranteed by the VA.
- Veterans Affairs said it’s now guaranteed 29 million home loans for service members and veterans. That’s more than $4 trillion dollars in loans issued over the history of the program. More than 4 million service members and veterans have active home loans guaranteed by the VA. The department’s Home Loan Guaranty Program began in 1944 as part of the G.I. Bill of Rights.
- The Defense Counterintelligence and Security Agency is reporting a rise in counterintelligence and insider threat concerns. DCSA received more than 32,000 suspicious contact reports last year, with 3,000 to 4,000 considered serious. That’s according to DCSA Director David Cattler, who spoke at the National Insider Threat Awareness Month conference in Alexandria, Va., last week. Cattler said DCSA is taking new steps to deploy insider threat representatives at Defense Department commands, insider threat hubs and installations nationwide. That comes amid recent insider incidents, including a Defense Intelligence Agency analyst who allegedly tried to sell sensitive information in exchange for foreign citizenship and the Aug. 6 shooting by an Army sergeant at Fort Stewart, Georgia.
- Agencies have seen a 110% increase in Freedom of Information Act requests over the past decade, sending FOIA backlogs soaring across government. Now, the Justice Department’s Office of Information Policy has some new tips for reducing those backlogs. In guidance released last week, OIP said FOIA backlog reduction plans need leadership support and employee buy-in. Agencies also need to identify the primary cause of their backlog and set goals to reduce the number of overdue FOIA requests. But OIP said agencies should also be flexible if a sudden increase in requests or lengthy FOIA litigation requires them to shift resources.
- A whistleblower is warning that the Department of Government Efficiency has put sensitive Social Security information at risk of exposure. The Social Security Administration’s top data official said DOGE employees created a live, cloud-based version of SSA’s entire dataset. That contains personal information of over 300 million Americans with Social Security cards. The whistleblower said DOGE officials uploaded the dataset to a vulnerable system, without including measures for security or oversight. The Government Accountability Project, which filed the whistleblower disclosure this week, is urging Congress and the Office of Special Counsel to investigate the situation further.
- A labor union coalition is urging Congress to vote on legislation that seeks to restore collective bargaining at federal agencies. The bill, called the Protect America’s Workforce Act, would revoke President Trump’s executive order from March, which sought to terminate union contracts at a majority of agencies. The labor coalition is calling on lawmakers to sign a discharge petition on the bill. If the petition gets enough signatures, the legislation would move to a floor vote. In the meantime, several agencies have begun implementing Trump’s anti-union orders by eliminating their collective bargaining agreements.
- The State Department said it’s promoting several diplomats who received layoff notices last month. The American Foreign Service Association said at least 10 laid-off Foreign Service officers were included on a list of promotions the State Department distributed this week. Laid-off employees who received promotions are not being reinstated to their jobs. The department laid off more than 1,300 employees last month. Department leaders said the mass layoffs were not merit-based, but instead focused on eliminating and consolidating offices they considered redundant.
- Jane Rathbun is exiting the federal government after more than three decades of service. Rathbun announced her departure in a LinkedIn post last Friday. She’s served as the Navy’s chief information officer since 2023. Rathbun’s exit comes just months after Venice Goodwine retired as the Air Force’s CIO in May. “It is with gratitude, pride, and humility that I close out this chapter of my career as a civil servant. It’s hard to sum up 30+ years of an amazing career in National Security,” she wrote. During her tenure as DON’s CIO, Rathbun oversaw the Navy’s $12 billion IT portfolio, focusing on cyber readiness, zero-trust architecture and the shift to cloud and enterprise services. It’s unclear who will take over her role.
- The General Services Administration is parsing through more than 1,200 comments and 240 questions on its initial plan to expand its OASIS+ multiple award contract. Vendors submitted ideas and suggestions for how GSA could develop evaluation criteria or scoring cards and refine technical capabilities for five new potential domains, financial services, human capital, marketing and public relations, social services and business administration. The feedback came as part of a request for information from the agency back in June. GSA said it has not yet decided on whether to expand OASIS+ with a new solicitation.
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