The Wrap: Cyber EO Tackles Fed Security; Telework in the Balance; 2026 Pay Raise Bills

Welcome to The Wrap for Thursday, January 16!

From the newsroom at MeriTalk, it’s the quickest read in Federal tech news. Here’s what you need to know today:

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Cyber EO Tackles Fed Security

Improving Federal network security – through a dozen or more steps including boosting the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency ’s threat-hunting abilities, getting better assurances on software security, and further developing AI tech for cybersecurity purposes – took top billing in President Biden’s latest cybersecurity-themed?executive order?issued today. The order – which came out with just four days to go before the Biden administration hands off to the incoming Trump administration – may have a long life if the new administration’s favors its sensible steps, or a short duration if it wants to pursue different aims. We can’t lay it all out here – but if sections on supply chain security, open source software, cloud services, quantum tech, and digital identity are your game – then please do click through for the whole story.

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Telework in the Balance

While the incoming Trump administration may settle the question as early as next week, whether and to what extent many Federal employees will be able to continue teleworking hangs in the balance, and the arguments for and against were on full display at a House Oversight and Reform Committee on Jan. 15. Committee Chairman James Comer, R-Ky., long a telework skeptic, allowed that “there are always going to be certain employees who telework,” but said the “the overwhelming majority of workers, have to work from the office. There’s no reason why we can’t go back to pre-pandemic levels.” Rep. Comer said he is reintroducing the Stopping Home Office Work’s Unproductive Problems (SHOW UP) Act, which would roll back Federal telework levels to 2019 levels – before the coronavirus pandemic nearly emptied many Federal offices. At the same hearing, Ranking Member Rep. Gerry Connolly, D-Va., argued that telework is a tool that should be leveraged to retain the Federal workforce of the future. He said that telework “has long been a powerful tool for the Federal government to hire, recruit, and retain the best employees, and that’s going to be increasingly true with the younger generation of workers.”

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2026 Pay Raise Bills

Rep. Connolly and Sen. Brian Schatz, D-Hawaii, today?introduced?their latest version of their Federal Adjustment of Income Rates (FAIR) Act, which would provide Federal employees with a 4.3 percent pay increase in calendar year 2026. For over a decade, the two Democratic lawmakers have introduced similar versions of the legislation, and while Congress has yet to pass any versions of those bills, the effort has tracked with a general upswing in Federal pay over the past few years. “The Federal workforce is our country’s single greatest asset,” said Rep. Connolly. “Even after serving dutifully through a global pandemic and enduring the Trump Administration’s cruel personal attacks, unsafe work environments, pay freezes, government shutdowns, sequestration cuts, furloughs, and mindless across-the-board hiring freezes, they come to work every day in service to the American people.” He added, “as we prepare for another Trump Administration and its impact on our civil servants, it is only right that they be compensated fairly.” Federal civilian employees?received?a 2.0 percent pay raise this year – the smallest since President Biden took office. However, Federal employees received a?5.2 percent?raise in 2024,?4.6 percent?in 2023, and?2.7 percent?in 2022.

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Ratcliffe Pledges CIA Tech Focus

John Ratcliffe, President-elect Donald Trump’s pick to lead the Central Intelligence Agency , pledged to lawmakers on Wednesday to keep the United States – and the intelligence agency – ahead of foreign adversaries on key emerging technology issues if the Senate confirms his nomination. During a Jan. 15 Senate Intelligence Committee hearing, Ratcliffe told senators that as technological innovation has shifted from the public to the private sector over recent decades, “the CIA has struggled to keep pace.” Ratcliffe spoke approvingly of the CIA’s recently created Transnational and Technology Mission Center, along with its move to establish a chief technology officer position, saying the agency has shown “an effort to increase technological cohesion internally and to build bridges with cutting edge technologists externally.”

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Once again, let’s “call IT a day,” but we'll bring you more tomorrow. Until then please check the MeriTalk breaking news website throughout the day for the latest on government IT people, process, and policy. And finally, please hit the news tip jar [with leads, breaking news, or simply your two cents] at [email protected].