CBP appears to be like to develop its use of facial recognition expertise

CBP appears to be like to develop its use of facial recognition expertise

The expertise could be used at ports of entry to check biometrics in CBP’s Traveler Verification Service.

• Customs and Border Safety is trying to develop its use of facial recognition. In a brand new request for data, CBP mentioned it’s searching for options for capturing facial photographs of occupants in automobiles. The expertise could be used at ports of entry to check biometrics in CBP’s Traveler Verification Service. CBP and different Homeland Safety businesses have been increasing their use of facial recognition to expedite traveler screening in recent times.
• The Workplace of Particular Counsel mentioned businesses can hearth probationary workers for just about any purpose and at any time. In a reversal of its personal authorized place earlier this yr, OSC now argues that present federal laws permit businesses to fireplace probationers “with very restricted restrictions.” OSC has acquired greater than 2,000 complaints on the mass terminations of probationary workers, with workers alleging the firings on the idea of “efficiency” have been illegal. In its new transient, OSC mentioned businesses could also be in violation of federal laws however moderately than the violation stemming from too many workers being fired, the counsel believes businesses weren’t firing sufficient probationary workers.
• The Trump administration mentioned it’s completed sending court-ordered notices to the 1000’s of federal workers who have been laid off throughout their probationary intervals beginning in February. Because the April 18 injunction required, the notices instructed staff they weren’t, in actual fact fired for “efficiency” causes, as their termination letters claimed, however as a part of a “government-wide mass termination.” At the least some businesses submitted separate declarations to the court docket itemizing the staff who really have been fired after particular person determinations of their efficiency, however these paperwork are below seal. As Federal Information Community reported final week, the administration is interesting the injunction that required these notices.

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• The Division of Well being and Human Providers is pursuing main spending cuts subsequent yr, after chopping practically 1 / 4 of its workforce final month. The fiscal 2026 funds request for HHS requires $94 billion {dollars} in discretionary funding. That’s a greater than 25% reduce from present spending ranges. HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. instructed members of the Home Appropriations Committee that the HHS funds request for fiscal yr 2026 will “shift funding away from forms.”
  “We gained’t resolve this downside by throwing more cash at it. We should spend smarter. We are going to shift funding away from forms towards direct impression,” Kennedy mentioned.
• The Senate took closing motion yesterday on a number of extra Trump administration nominees, confirming Emil Michael as below secretary of Protection for analysis and engineering, Michael Rigas as deputy secretary of State for administration and sources, and Katharine MacGregor as deputy secretary of Inside. In the meantime, the Senate Armed Providers Committee despatched a number of extra DoD nominations to the total Senate, together with Matthew Lohmeier to be the below secretary of the Air Power, Michael Obadal to be below secretary of the Military, Anthony Tata to be below secretary of Protection for personnel and readiness, and Katherine Sutton to be assistant secretary of Protection for cyber coverage.
• The Trump administration needs more cash to extend hiring at Customs and Border Safety, however that plan comes with challenges. Home Republicans are contemplating including $6.2 billion to the reconciliation invoice for CBP to recruit 8,500 workers over the subsequent decade. However the Congressional Finances Workplace mentioned there’s “appreciable uncertainty” round how shortly CBP can recruit new workers. Hiring at CBP has taken 300 to 600 days in recent times. And the Authorities Accountability Workplace discovered greater than two-thirds of all CBP candidates between 2018 and 2024 failed the company’s polygraph examination.
• Democratic lawmakers are urging the Workplace of Personnel Administration to reverse course on its deliberate revival of Schedule F. In a letter despatched to OPM this week, the lawmakers warned that OPM’s proposed rule on Schedule F will upend what they mentioned are a long time of optimistic civil service reforms. The Trump administration’s revived Schedule F coverage goals to reclassify some profession federal workers to make them simpler to fireplace. In distinction, the Democrats are touting their laws known as the Saving the Civil Service Act, which might enshrine federal workforce protections and stop Schedule F from resurfacing.
• New knowledge reveals why the Small Enterprise Innovation Analysis Program stays weak to international affect. Of the 12 businesses working Small Enterprise Innovation Analysis and Small Enterprise Know-how Switch applications, just one has made important progress to stop or restrict international adversaries from making the most of the analysis and growth funding. New knowledge from Senator Joni Ernst (R-Iowa), chairwoman of the Small Enterprise and Entrepreneurship Committee, reveals that the Nationwide Institutes of Well being each flagged and denied all purposes that included firms or folks from locations like China and Russia. However the investigation report reveals 10 different businesses both didn’t flag purposes or in the event that they did, the general quantity they denied was low relative to the quantity flagged. General in 2023 and 2024, businesses recognized 835 purposes for SBIR-STTR funding as having international dangers however denied 303 or about 36% of them.
• The Common Providers Administration is contemplating altering how contractors determine industrial merchandise on its a number of award schedule. GSA is asking distributors for suggestions on what it will take to start utilizing international commerce merchandise numbers. In a request for data, GSA is searching for feedback from authentic gear producers, wholesalers and others on whether or not they presently use GTINs.
• The Air Power has digitized greater than 500 safety classification guides. It’s now utilizing them to determine inconsistencies between the guides which can be blocking the service’s capacity to share knowledge throughout methods. The trouble is a part of the service’s challenge that goals to automate classification processes. The objective is to have a system that may not simply make suggestions however would additionally be capable to make classification selections by itself primarily based on constant and complete coverage.

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• A federal court docket is quickly blocking the Trump administration’s plans to get rid of collective bargaining at a number of businesses. The US District Courtroom for DC issued a preliminary injunction placing implementation on maintain on the State Division, USAID and the Workplace of Personnel Administration. President Trump lately signed an govt order stripping collective bargaining rights from greater than one million federal workers.
  (AFSA v. Trump – U.S District Courtroom for the District of Columbia)
• The Area Power is launching its first-ever preliminary qualification coaching program designed to offer space-specific acquisition coaching to Guardians coming into their first acquisition assignments. It integrates program supervisor and engineer coaching course to make sure new personnel are able to ship important house capabilities. The Area Power additionally plans to develop this system sooner or later to incorporate mid-career and senior acquisition professionals. The service misplaced a few of its acquisition workforce because the Protection Division continues its efforts to scale back its civilian workforce by 8%.

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