Originally published Army surpasses its reenlistment goals for 2025 on by https://federalnewsnetwork.com/federal-newscast/2025/04/army-surpasses-its-reenlistment-goals-for-2025/ at Federal News Network
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- Even if military recruiting still isn’t as strong as officials would like, there are more signs that retention isn’t a problem. The Army announced this week that it’s surpassed its reenlistment goals for 2025, just a little over midway through the fiscal year. As of this week, the service had reenlisted 15,600 soldiers, easily beating its target of 14,800 for the year. Officials said they’ll begin pulling back on financial incentives designed to encourage reenlistments for the rest of the year, though some will still be available for understaffed occupational fields.
- The U.S. DOGE Service faces another lawsuit accusing it of violating federal open records laws. The latest suit, filed Wednesday by the group American Oversight, specifically calls out DOGE’s alleged use of commercial platforms like Signal and Google Docs to circumvent recordkeeping requirements under the Federal Records Act and the Freedom of Information Act. It’s one of several lawsuits that could eventually provide an answer to whether DOGE is an “agency” for purposes of FOIA. In a separate lawsuit, DOGE officials are under court orders to submit to depositions to help probe that same question, but government attorneys said they intend to appeal that order.
- The Trump administration is looking to change the rules for federal employees’ probationary periods. Agencies will soon have to actively check a box if they want employees to remain in the civil service beyond their probationary period. A new executive order from President Trump calls for the creation of something called “Civil Service Rule XI.” That new rule, once implemented, will require agencies to “affirmatively determine” that probationary feds should continue their employment before their appointments are finalized. The order comes after tens of thousands of probationary workers were targeted as part of governmentwide layoffs earlier this year. Regulations from the Office of Personnel Management to make the changes are expected within 30 days.
- Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has ordered a review of the medical conditions that disqualify potential recruits from military service. Hegseth said the Biden administration lowered the standards and “gave waivers to people who should have never been in the military in the first place.” The undersecretary of defense for personnel and readiness will reevaluate the medical criteria for accession, Hegseth said on Thursday. Under the previous administration, the military services expanded waiver criteria for minor and manageable health conditions, including asthma, food allergies, and some cases of hearing loss.
- House lawmakers are making a second attempt to extend the life of the Technology Modernization Fund. Congresswoman Nancy Mace (R-S.C.) and Congressman Gerry Connolly (D-Va.) want to keep the Technology Modernization Fund open for at least seven more years. With the TMF scheduled to sunset in December, Mace and Connolly reintroduced the Modernizing Government Technology (MGT) Reform Act to keep the fund open through 2032 and make other updates to the overall program. Among those changes the bill would require agencies to create a legacy IT inventory and prioritize those systems modernization and require the TMF Board to focus on investments that modernize or replace old IT systems. The lawmakers’ bill passed the House last May, but never got any traction in the Senate.
- Sethuraman Panchanathan, director of the National Science Foundation, stepped down from his position yesterday. Panchanathan was appointed as NSF director during President Trump’s first term. He served as the agency’s leader for about five years. In announcing his departure from NSF, Panchanathan expressed appreciation for the agency’s progress in science, as well as the NSF workforce. In the last few months, however, NSF has fired dozens of probationary employees and canceled more than 400 research grants. NSF Chief of Staff Brian Stone will serve as acting director until President Trump appoints a permanent replacement to lead the agency.
- Navy Secretary John Phelan kills the service’s climate action program. Phelan said the service needs to focus on “having a lethal and ready naval force, unimpeded by ideologically motivated regulations.” A Navy spokesperson said the Navy will “no longer be sidetracked by climate-focused decision-making.” The report Phelan canceled was issued in 2022 under then – Navy Secretary Carlos Del Toro. The plan laid out the case for why bringing a climate lens to the Navy’s work is important for the core mission of the military. Del Toro said climate change is “one of the most destabilizing forces of our time.”
- NITAAC, the National Institutes of Health’s procurement shop, is not out of business. Ricky Clark, NITAAC’s director, tells Federal News Network that it’s still processing task orders under CIO-SP3 and other contract vehicles, and its website should be back online in the coming days as well. Clark is seeking to dispel any rumors that President Donald Trump’s executive order calling for contract consolidation for IT services GWACs put NITAAC out of business. Clark said NITAAC remains in discussions with the Office of Management and Budget and the General Services Administration about its future. Meanwhile, NITAAC extended its CIO-SP3 contract for another year, through April 2026.
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Originally published Army surpasses its reenlistment goals for 2025 on by https://federalnewsnetwork.com/federal-newscast/2025/04/army-surpasses-its-reenlistment-goals-for-2025/ at Federal News Network
Originally published Federal News Network
