Lawmakers press Defense secretary to reverse dismantling of weapons testing office
In May, Hegseth instructed the director of the Operational Test and Evaluation Office to “immediately eliminate any non-statutory” functions of the office.
- A top lawmaker is pressing Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth to immediately reverse his decision to gut the Pentagon’s independent weapons testing office. In a letter to Hegseth, Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) is demanding documentation justifying the cuts, the office’s current oversight list, whether the office will continue its cyber assessment program, and how the Defense Department is adhering to the statutory requirement for the office to be independent. In May, Hegseth instructed the director of the Operational Test and Evaluation Office to “immediately eliminate any non-statutory” functions of the office, slashing the office’s staff by 74% and its budget by nearly 80%. Warren said cutting this deep into the office can violate the law.
- The Federal Acquisition Regulations overhaul is tackling one of the toughest chapters so far, describing agency needs. The FAR Council has cut down the requirements in Part 11, which outlines how agencies should go about describing what they are trying to buy in solicitations. One major change is removing the requirement to add provisions for brand name or equal descriptions. The FAR Council also took out the part focused on purchase descriptions for service contracts and how to describe what inherently governmental functions should not be overseen by vendors. In all, the FAR Council deleted 12 clauses or provisions that were outdated, redundant or not necessary. Feedback on the changes to FAR Part 11 is due by August 4.
- Top lawmakers on the Senate VA Committee are calling for an agency watchdog to take a closer look at the mass-cancellation of contracts at the Department of Veterans Affairs. Ranking Member Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.) and committee member Angus King (I-Maine) are calling on the VA’s inspector general to investigate what impact the recent cancellation of hundreds of VA contracts had on its services to veterans. Democrats on the committee said a majority of the 650 cancelled contracts impact critical VA operations, including health care delivery.
- A federal judge is directing the Office of Personnel Management to review how Department of Government Efficiency engineers gained access to OPM systems. District Judge Denise Cote has ordered OPM to deliver a DOGE Access Report to her courtroom within four weeks. Her preliminary injunction signed Friday comes in a lawsuit brought forward by federal employee unions alleging OPM broke the law in hastily granting DOGE access to sensitive personnel systems. Cote wants the DOGE Access Report to detail the type of access granted to DOGE engineers at OPM as well as the training and vetting they received.
- Agencies have eight new tenets that will underlie their scientific research. In a new memo from the Office of Science and Technology Policy, agencies should apply these standards to all of the scientific activities they manage, including both intramural and extramural research, from the selection phase throughout closeout. Agencies have until August 22 to publish their implementation plan for meeting these goals, online. OSTP says these eight gold standard science tenets include concepts like transparency and reproducibility to ensure science generated and utilized by agencies withstands scrutiny, fosters cross-disciplinary collaboration and remains free from bias or undue influence.
- A new bill that is still in the works seeks to give the Army more flexibility in how it handles construction and engineering projects. Sen. Jerry Moran (R-Kan.) wants to expand the use of Intergovernmental Support Agreements, which would allow the Army to work with private entities outside of the Army Corps of Engineers. The bill would also expand the types of funds eligible for use in these agreements. Moran said it would allow the Army to pursue construction options aside from the Army Corps of Engineers. “We’ve seen this in a few instances and in the country in which we can save money and time by dealing with a local entity, rather than the Army Corps of Engineers to engineer these projects,” Moran said.
- The Federal Communications Commission is reviewing a cybersecurity labeling program that agencies had just started adopting. FCC Chairman Brendan Carr said he is reviewing the Cyber Trust Mark program over reported ties to the Chinese government. Under the program, Internet of Things devices can receive a “cyber trust mark” label for following strong security practices. Carr did not say how long he expects the review to last. The Biden administration officially launched the program in January.
- A government watchdog faces a nearly 50% cut to its budget in the next year under a proposal from House lawmakers. The legislative branch portion of the fiscal 2026 spending bill would cut the Government Accountability Office’s budget nearly in half. It would also prevent GAO from using any of its funding to investigate violations of the Impoundment Control Act unless Congress passes a measure allowing it. The legislation generally prohibits the executive branch from not spending funds appropriated by Congress. GAO found the Trump administration violated this law twice and has dozens more investigations underway.
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