The Judicial Conference of the United States is requesting $1.54 billion from Congress to be put towards information technology and cybersecurity updates, stronger security measures, and courthouse construction. This funding could be part of either an infrastructure package to be released by lawmakers or a budget plan that is still being negotiated.

Last month, the Government Accountability Office (GAO) released a report entitled Sex Trafficking: Online Platforms and Federal Prosecutions. The report examines Department of Justice (DOJ) enforcement actions against online platforms that promote sex trafficking from 2014 to 2020. Two events in 2018 shifted the landscape of the online sex market and therefore the landscape of online sex trafficking.

Secretary of the Department of the Interior (DOI) Deb Haaland signed a memo last week creating a task force to review law enforcement policies and procedures across the department. The memo cites the June 2021 Office of Inspector General (OIG) report “Review of U.S. Park Police Actions at Lafayette Park" as an impetus for the task force creation.

Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) issued a new policy directive regarding the identification, detention, monitoring, and use of restraints against persons who are pregnant, postpartum, or nursing. Generally, the directive notes that ICE should not detain, arrest, or take into custody individuals who are pregnant, postpartum, or nursing for administrative immigration violations “unless release is prohibited by law or exceptional circumstances exist.”

According to a Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) press release from June 29, 2021, Anne Milgram was sworn in on June 28 as the Administrator of the DEA, where she will oversee an agency of more than 10,000 employees, including nearly 5,000 Special Agents and 800 Intelligence Analysts, in 239 domestic offices in 23 divisions throughout the United States and Puerto Rico, and in 91 foreign offices in 69 countries.

July 6, 2021 marked six months since the U.S. Capitol riot where the Capitol was attacked by individuals who attempted to undermine the peaceful transition of power between presidents.

Representatives Derek Kilmer (D-WA) and Tom Cole (R-OK) recently introduced a bipartisan piece of legislation titled the Federal Retirement Fairness Act. This legislation would allow employees enrolled in the Federal Employees Retirement System (FERS) who initially entered government as temporary workers to make catch-up retirement contributions to cover for the years when they were temps.

The Department of Justice Office of the Inspector General (DOJ OIG) released an audit in June 2021 that reviewed DOJ policy on body worn cameras for federal law enforcement officers. The review period covered October 2019 through January 2021.

The Partnership for Public Service and the Boston Consulting Group released their annual Best Places to Work in the Federal Government rankings, which rank the best and worst places to work in federal government based on responses to the Office of Personnel Management's annual Federal Employee Viewpoint Survey.

The Safer Federal Workforce Task Force, led by the White House COVID-19 Response Team, the General Services Administration (GSA), and the Office of Personnel Management (OPM), recently announced updates to travel guidelines for federal employees. In accordance with CDC guidelines, the government has lifted all limits on official travel for fully vaccinated federal employees- meaning those who have received their final dose of COVID-19 vaccine at least two weeks previously.

The Office of Personnel Management (OPM) recently announced that federal employees can enroll in flexible spending accounts from now through June 30, implementing provisions of the FY 2021 spending package and the COVID-19 relief bill passed in March 2021.

The House Committee on Appropriations Subcommittee on Financial Services and General Government advanced a draft bill that makes no mention of a federal pay raise for General Schedule employees. Thus, the legislation effectively endorses President Biden’s proposed 2.7 percent average federal civilian pay raise.

Representatives Ted Lieu (D-CA), Mondaire Jones (D-NY), and Pramila Jayapal (D-WA) of the House Judiciary Committee sent a letter to Department of Justice (DOJ) Inspector General (IG) Michael Horowitz on June 17, 2021 urging an investigation into alleged misconduct by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) as part of the China Initiative.

The Biden administration recently released its National Strategy for Countering Domestic Terrorism, which includes plans to combat domestic terrorism in the United States through interagency collaboration, hiring new personnel, and updating the screening process to remove extremism from government.

Congress passed legislation this week making June 19 a federal holiday in observance of Juneteenth. The date celebrates the arrival of Union troops in Galveston, Texas following the end of the Civil War. While two years after the Emancipation Proclamation was signed, the date is viewed as the effective end of slavery in the United States.

The Biden administration released a memo on June 10, 2021 to facilitate the safe, effective, and efficient return of federal employees to the physical workplace given the declining threat of COVID-19. The administration lifted the 25 percent occupancy rule for federal buildings, but continues to require detailed plans from agencies regarding return-to-work initiatives prior to increasing occupancy.

The Senior Executives Association (SEA) and BGRS Relocation, a global leader in employee relocation solutions for public and private sector organizations, presented data from a global relocation trends survey indicating areas for improvement for American public sector organizations seeking to attract top talent from across the country following the pandemic.

The Biden administration recently announced that it would extend Title 5 federal employee protections to workers at the Transportation Security Administration (TSA). This includes granting them collective bargaining rights, access to the Merit Systems Protection Board (MSPB), and aligning their wages with the General Schedule.

When President Biden issued a solicitation back in March requesting help from the federal workforce to handle the influx of unaccompanied children at the Southern border of the U.S., hundreds of employees from several agencies volunteered.

In a memo released June 7, 2021, Deputy Attorney General Lisa Monaco announced that it will be a requirement for federal agents in the Department of Justice (DOJ) to wear body cameras when they are executing search warrants or making pre-planned arrests.