• A dozen Senate Democrats are pressing the Pentagon for a full accounting of U.S. troops who have been killed or injured in connection with the Iran War. In a letter to Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and other senior defense leaders, members of the Senate Armed Services Committee criticized the Defense Department for appearing to leave nearly 100 troops who were wounded in action out of the Pentagon's monthly statistics for July. The Pentagon's public casualty count for Operation Epic Fury also fell from 18 to 14 deaths last week. A response is due Thursday.
• Aviators in the Navy and Marine Corps are more likely to be diagnosed with non-melanoma skin cancers than officers in non-aviation jobs, suggesting their occupation could contribute to a higher risk of carcinomas. That's according to the results of a study published last week in the academic journal Military Medicine. The study compared the rates of melanoma and non-melanoma skin cancers among active-duty Navy and Marine Corps aviators with that of other officers in the Department of the Navy between 2016 and 2024. The findings suggest a need for risk mitigation strategies and more cancer surveillance in the military aviation community.
• By the end of December, the Federal Aviation Administration will move the final tranche of employees into the Transportation Department's headquarters building in Washington, D.C. The FAA will take up seven total floors of the east building as part of the department's office space consolidation effort. DoT told the Government Accountability Office in response to a new report that the FAA's move will address a long-standing challenge of under-utilization of the headquarters building. Additionally, DoT is implementing a standard of 150 usable square feet per employee to guide current and future office space planning efforts.
• For the second time this month, a third-party arbitrator has ruled the Trump administration violated federal employees collective bargaining rights. The Department of Health and Human Services violated its national agreement with the National Treasury Employees Union (NTEU) when it terminated approximately 3,495 probationary and trial employees on February 14, 2025, and again when it let go of approximately 1,600 of these employees on May 8, 2025. Kathleen Jones Spilker, a third-party arbitrator, sustained NTEU’s grievance on July 24, opening the door for a negotiated remedy between the two sides. Spilker found HHS violated two provisions of the collective bargaining agreement by conducting a reduction in force (RIF) and failing to negotiate the terms with NTEU as required by the contract.
• Navy Information Professionals have a new name. The service has redesignated its Information Professional community as the Communications Systems Warfare Officers. Navy leaders said the “Information Professional” title no longer reflects “the strategic reality of a community charged with stewarding the Navy’s digital environment and delivering the maritime information advantage from seabed to space.” Officials said the change is necessary to help attract and retain the talent needed to support fleet operations and integrate the service’s systems with the Joint Force and its allies and partners.
• The Office of the Director of National Intelligence continues to face workforce cuts. Acting Director of National Intelligence Bill Pulte says ODNI recently completed its fourth round of layoffs. In a post on X early Monday morning, Pulte says the layoffs are being done “smartly” and “carefully.” The Trump administration has targeted ODNI for workforce cuts, with former Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard advancing a plan to cut the office’s staff by more than 40%. The latest update on workforce changes at ODNI comes as the Senate could vote on Trump’s pick to replace Gabbard, U.S. Attorney Jay Clayton, as soon as Tuesday evening.
• One senator is urging the Trump administration to phase out remote access software, arguing it’s often to blame for successful cyber attacks on government systems. Oregon Democrat Ron Wyden says agencies should move quickly to replace virtual private network technology. He points to how hackers have targeted legacy VPN technology to pull off attacks, ransomware attacks and other cyber breaches. In a letter to the Office of Management and Budget this week, Wyden proposes a two-year deadline for agencies to phase out VPN’s.
• The fiscal 2026 defense policy bill made significant changes to defense acquisition processes, but it barely addressed the workforce, a gap some experts warned could undermine those reforms. Now, House lawmakers are putting forward a number of reforms that could change how the Defense Department recruits, develops, evaluates and manages its acquisition personnel. The 2027 defense authorization bill would require the Defense Department to create a centralized dashboard that would track the acquisition workforce size, composition, geographic distribution, skills, certifications, vacancy rates, career progression, as well as employee performance. DoD could also get a new chief acquisition talent officer responsible for overseeing departmentwide acquisition workforce strategy. Another provision would change how DoD evaluates its civilian acquisition workforce.

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