Lawmakers press acting CISA director on workforce reductions

The Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency’s acting director testified that CISA is “getting back on mission,” but he provided few specifics after the agency lost nearly a third of its staff over the past year. Acting Director Madhu Gottumukkala testified in front of the House Homeland Security Committee on Wednesday. Asked by Chairman Andrew Garbarino (R-N.Y.) about reports of plans for a reorganization at CISA, Gottumukkala said there are no plans to reorganize the cyber agency. “We do have a lot of changes in the last year, but we have…

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Lawmakers press OPM on ‘critical’ staffing, funding issues in Postal insurance program

Less than two months away from this fall’s Open Season, Democrats in Congress are raising concerns that the Office of Personnel Management may not be fully prepared to administer the major health insurance program for millions of Postal Service employees and annuitants. Top Democrats from several congressional committees sent a letter Friday to OPM Director Scott Kupor to push for answers about key issues recently identified in the new Postal Service Health Benefits program. The letter comes a few months after the agency’s inspector general office found “critical” staffing vacancies…

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Inside the White House: ‘New Media’ Journalist Olohan on Power, the Press, and What You Don’t See

Working weekends, flights on Air Force One, and jockeying for position to ask presidential press secretary Karoline Leavitt a question in the White House briefing room is all a part of life as a White House correspondent, according to Mary Margaret Olohan.   As a member of the “new media” in the White House, Olohan says the interactions between reporters for the legacy media and journalists like herself have “by and large been pretty polite,” but notes little differences between the two groups remain. For example, new media do not…

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Trump’s Press Team Won’t Respond to Emails With ‘Preferred Pronouns’ in Signature

Reporters often contact government officials to request statements or quotes on significant events or policies, but President Donald Trump’s press deputies have determined that one group of journalists won’t be getting a response to their emails. According to The New York Times, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt and other Trump administration communications officers have implemented a policy effectively ignoring emails from journalists who include their “preferred pronouns” in their email signatures. Leavitt explained, “As a matter of policy, we do not respond to reporters with pronouns in their bios.” She…

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