The Federal Drive with Terry Gerton

One highly visible appointee of former president Joe Biden has filed suit to keep her job. Bureau of Prisons Director Collette Peters filed her appeal of what she calls a wrongful dismissal to the Merit Systems Protection Board. Peter has retained federal employment attorney Mary Kuntz, who joins me now.

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

The original architect of the Defense Department's Cybersecurity Maturity Model certification program, CMMC was marched out of the Pentagon early in the Biden administration. Well, now she's back. Katie Arrington has joined the Defense Department and the Trump administration again, she'll oversee DoD cybersecurity, Federal News Network's Justin Doubleday joins me with the details.

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

President Trump's order directing the military to seal the border with Mexico gave the Pentagon a big part in immigration enforcement. The Defense Department has said the southern border operations will cost nearly a billion dollars over the next eight months. Some members of Congress say the department doesn't have a realistic estimate. Federal News Network's Anastasia Obis brings us the latest in that cost estimate.

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Today on the Federal Newscast

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

One of the most difficult debates right now is whether the new career civil servant classification is a good thing or a bad thing. It's called Policy-Career, a new name for Schedule F. The Trump administration has willed it into being with an executive order. For the case against this classification, we turn to long-time government accountability watcher Joe Spielberger from the Project on Government Oversight.

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

A unique component of the Smithsonian marks 60 years in business this year. Smithsonian Associates bills itself as the largest museum-based education program in the world. It offers many courses and seminars for lifelong learners. Joining me in studio with the details, Smithsonian Associates director Fredie Adelman.

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

We just heard the case against that new class of civil service called career-policy. Formerly called Schedule F, it's the Trump administration's way to make the civil service more accountable. For a cautious view of why it might work this time around, we turn to a senior fellow at the Competitive Enterprise Institute, Sean Higgins.

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Today on the Federal Drive with Tom Temin

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

At the National Science Foundation, 168 federal employees lost their jobs Tuesday. They got a couple of hours notice to say goodbye to their colleagues and pack up their belongings. This story is echoing widely across the government and impacting thousands of federal employees, and it comes after the Trump administration encouraged agencies to fire people in their probationary periods, when they've got fewer job protections. Here with an update, Federal News Network's Drew Friedman.

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

The Veterans Affairs Department has exempted many of its front line employees from the Trump administration's federal workforce policies that includes the hiring freeze, the deferred resignations and the firing of probationary hires. But not everybody, multiple VA employees, including some working at the Veterans Crisis Line, say they're not exempt. Federal News Network's Jory Heckman joins us with the latest.

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.