The Government Accountability Office found that the agency responsible for consumer protection in the financial sector has failed to implement a systematic process for prioritizing financial risks. The lack of an agency-wide process at the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau may allow companies that offer financial products and services, such as credit cards and loans, to engage in practices that pose financial risks to consumers, GAO said in a Dec. 21 report. 

GAO cited that “companies may obscure the costs of products or use lending practices to trap consumers in a cycle of debt.”

“Implementing a bureau-wide prioritization process could help to ensure that CFPB effectively focuses its resources on the most significant financial risks to consumers and enhances its ability to meet its statutory consumer protection objectives,” the agency said. 

GAO also found that CFPB is failing to utilize its existing policy tools, such as rulemaking, supervision, enforcement and consumer education, to address the risks.

A lapse in federal appropriations that started on Saturday due to a partial government shutdown has affected some federal agencies, Federal News Network reported Thursday.

About 32K employees at the Department of Homeland Security have been precluded from going to work, including 1.5K personnel at DHS’ management directorate who have been put on emergency furlough.

“Only those functions and activities that are exempt or excepted from the work restrictions specified in the Anti-Deficiency Act (ADA) may continue during a lapse in appropriations,” according to DHS’ updated guidance on the shutdown.

The Department of Commerce is set to furlough more than 80 percent of its workforce, according to the agency’s contingency plans in the event of a shutdown.

The report also cited the shutdown’s impact on staffing levels at some public-facing agencies such as the Department of Interior’s National Park Service, Department of Housing and Urban Development and the Department of Agriculture’s rural development office and economic research service.

Some uniformed service members at the U.S. Coast Guard, Department of Health and Human Services’ Public Health Service and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration‘s Commissioned Officer Corps are also facing uncertainty when it comes to their pay dates due to the shutdown, the report added.
 

President Donald Trump plans to sign an executive order that would keep U.S. firms from buying and using products from Chinese telecommunications firms ZTE and Huawei, Reuters reported Thursday.

Sources told Reuters the White House could release the executive order as soon as January.

The policy would implement the International Emergency Economic Powers Act and require the Department of Commerce to bar U.S. companies from purchasing telecommunications equipment from foreign manufacturers associated with national security risks, according to people familiar with the matter.

The report said updates on the proposed order come as U.S. wireless communications providers seek partners in preparation for the adoption of 5G networks.
 

Ellen Lord, undersecretary for acquisition and sustainment at the Department of Defense, has said one of her goals for calendar year 2019 is to revise the DoD Instruction 5000.02 policy, Defense News reported Thursday.

“In 2019, one of my key objectives is to rewrite 5000.02,” she told reporters on Dec. 17.

 “We are going to invert that approach and take a clean sheet of paper and write the absolute bare minimum to be compliant in 5000.02, and encourage program managers and contracting officers to add to that as they need for specific programs.”

Lord said she intends to come up with an intellectual property policy for implementation across the department and expects the Defense Innovation Board to release its report on software development by the end of March.

Other goals she mentioned include the move to open the Selected Acquisition Reports on some defense programs to the public again and advance the use of prototyping and other transaction authorities.

“Usually they should be used when you don’t have a clear requirement. So, true prototyping when you don’t know what you’re going to get,” Lord said of OTAs.

“Prototyping early on, probably before you get to the middle-tier acquisition,” she added.
 

The Government Accountability Office has called on the armed forces to assess hiring, training and retention programs at their depots to address the emerging challenges keeping skilled workers for future maintenance works. In a report published in mid-December, GAO found that current shortages in skilled personnel and the aging workforce at military depots have delayed maintenance for aircraft, ships and other weapon systems.  

The agency added that the service branches’ plans to address workforce-related concerns appear outdated or not being implemented. GAO recommended the Air Force, Army, Marine Corps and Navy review the effectiveness of their depot workforce programs to improve hiring, training and retention efforts. The four service branches plan to revise their program plans by end of fiscal year 2019. 

“Increasing numbers of depot workers have been retiring, and the number eligible to retire is expected to increase,” GAO said. 

The agency added that it commonly takes five years or more “to become proficient in some occupations, DOD must systematically plan and prepare to hire, train and retain the workforce it needs to support its vital maintenance and repair mission.”

Military depots have launched efforts to help maintain their workforces, such as offering recruitment and hiring incentives, providing training and apprenticeship programs and partnering with local vocational schools. For the report, GAO interviewed depot officials and analyzed depot strategic plans and personnel data from fiscal years 2013 through 2017.

The partial government shutdown extended to its fourth day on Tuesday as President Donald Trump continues his call for lawmakers to approve funding for a border wall, The Hill reported Tuesday.

“I can’t tell you when the government is going to be open,” he told reporters Tuesday.

“I can tell you, it’s not going to be open until we have a wall, a fence, whatever they’d like to call it,” he added.

Reuters reported that funding for the departments of Justice, Agriculture and Homeland Security and other federal programs expired early Saturday and a top aide of Trump said the partial shutdown could run through Jan. 3.

Trump on Monday mentioned a contract to build another section of a border wall in Texas.

“I am in the Oval Office & just gave out a 115 mile long contract for another large section of the wall in Texas,” he said in a tweet.

Some lawmakers associated the shutdown with Congress’ move to hand over more authorities to the executive branch, The New York Times reported Monday.

“I think that Speaker [Paul] Ryan and House Republicans totally ducked their responsibilities by not allowing an up-and-down vote,” said Sen. Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.).

“They’ve contracted out their authority to the president, as opposed to acting like a separate body,” he added.
 

Lawmakers and the White House have advanced a set of bills that would require federal agencies to improve their public websites and digital services in 2019, Nextgov reported Friday. 

President Trump in the past week signed two bills into laws that separately require agencies to improve the accessibility, security and ease of use of public websites and require the Department of Homeland Security to put all its data into a single system to improve access to information.

All agencies have one year to update their websites. One of the new laws also include determining in-person and paper-based services across the government that could be digitized.

House and Senate lawmakers also passed other data-related bills including the SECURE Technology Act that combines three other legislations aimed at strengthening cyber defense of DHS and the federal supply chain. 

The bill would launch DHS’ first enterprise-wide bug bounty program, establish a vulnerability disclosure program with the industry and form a federal council to assess potential cyber risks in the government’s supply chain.

The OPEN Government Data Act also passed both the House and Senate, which would support evidence-based policymaking. 

The bill would require agencies to disclose all non-sensitive data and appoint a chief data officer to oversee the effort.

The George C. Marshall Center for Security Studies, a German-American security training partnership, has released a new batch of 72 professionals who have completed a cybersecurity policy program.

The graduates, who came from 52 countries, trained with a number of U.S. agencies on internet governance, online freedom, international cyber policy, public-private partnerships and other matters related to cyber regulation, the Department of Defense said Friday.

“Our program focuses on areas that are not just within the normal Department of Defense or Ministry of Defense lanes or areas of expertise, but also examines whole-of-government approaches in addressing cyber security issues and challenges,” said Philip Lark, the course director of the center’s Program on Cyber Security Studies.

“We are the only DoD regional center that has the authority to do a transnational program like this with participants from all over the world,” said retired U.S. Army Lt. Gen. Keith Dayton, the center’s director.

The Marshall Center has trained security professionals for the past 25 years, and has been providing transnational courses since 2014.