FCW Insider: Jan 21

For feds, mask mandate, diversity training reversal on Day 1 of Biden presidency

President Joe Biden is expected to reverse a raft of Trump-era federal workforce policy, but some executive actions will take time.

White House names GSA senior leaders

The Biden-Harris administration tapped former officials to senior slots at the General Services Administration, but the nomination of an administrator is still to come.

Austin tackles cyber and social policy in nomination hearing

Senators question defense secretary nominee about cyber and racism as several National Guardsmen removed from inauguration duty.

Trump issues last-minute order targeting foreign cyber threats

A Jan. 19 executive order from Donald Trump in the waning hours of his presidency aims to force cloud providers to keep more complete records about their customers to support U.S. investigations of hacks and other computer crimes.

Quick Hits

*** The federal CIO Council published an updated roster on the Biden-Harris administration's first day in office. Acting tech chiefs are in place at six of seven cabinet-level agencies with politically appointed CIOs. These are: Dominic Cussatt at the Department of Veterans Affairs, John Sherman at the Department of Defense, Sean Brune at the Social Security Administration, Elizabeth Cappello at the Department of Homeland Security, Jack Albright at the Department of Transportation and Michael Mestrovitch at the Department of State. The CIO post at the Department of Housing and Urban Development is currently vacant, according to the CIO Council website.

*** Twitter's permanent suspension of former President Donald J. Trump's @realdonaldtrump account means that the archive of Trump tweets isn't readily available from the social network. However, a record of Trump's tweets as president is expected to be made available soon through the National Archives. "A number of Trump administration officials, including President Trump, used personal accounts when conducting government business," NARA stated on the Trump Presidential Library website. "The National Archives will make the social media content from those designated accounts publicly available as soon as possible."

*** Jenny Yang, an attorney who served as chair of the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission under the Obama administration, has been selected to head the Office of Federal Contract Compliance Progams at the Department of Labor. The office is in charge of regulating companies that do business with the federal government.

*** Kathy McGettigan, a 30-year veteran of the Office of Personnel Management, is acting director of human resources agency, according to a Jan. 20 White House email.