• The Office of Naval Research is rolling out a new science and technology strategy that focuses the service on meeting its own unique needs, not keeping up with commercial tech companies. Chief of Naval Research Dr. Rachel Riley said turning inward can stop the Navy from spending money to duplicate the private sector's efforts. It can also make the service better prepared for long-term upgrades to its highly technical military platforms, like submarines. The office also wants closer ties to industry and troops to get new equipment to the field faster.
• The FBI named 20-year bureau veteran Karl Schumann as its new chief information officer. Schumann started his career in 2005 as a special agent and rose through the bureau’s ranks. His last job was as deputy assistant director the Operational Technology Division. Schumann also spent 22 years in the Air Force as an active duty and reserve officer, rising to be a Lieutenant Colonel before retiring in 2020.
• The Trump administration’s deferred resignation program has paid out $11 billion for federal employees not to work. Public Citizen, a nonprofit advocacy group, said its new estimate is on the lower end of the DRP’s actual likely cost, which may be as much as $15 billion. Trump administration officials have argued the government will spend $20 billion less each year due to savings from the DRP. Close to 140,000 federal employees accepted a DRP offer, agreeing to quit their jobs in exchange for months of paid leave.
• The Office of Personnel Management is facing a probe about the 2026 Federal Employee Viewpoint Survey. House and Senate Democrats are pressing OPM for details on its planned questions and timeline for this year’s FEVS. In a new letter to OPM, the lawmakers also questioned whether the anticipated governmentwide survey will meet statutory requirements to assess the federal workforce annually. After canceling the 2025 FEVS, OPM has said it plans to administer the federal workforce survey this year. But OPM has so far not shared when the survey will go out, or what it will ask employees.
• The Marine Corps wants to grow by as much as 5% by 2032. A senior official said the Force Design plan would add thousands of troops to hit the Marine Corps' highest end strength in about a decade. Lt. Gen. Eric Austin, a deputy commandant, said the change can fill gaps in the skills the force needs when it goes to war. The Marines are working with Pentagon leaders and lawmakers to fund a larger workforce starting in 2028. Around 200,000 Marines are in the active-duty force and the Reserve this year.
• Service members would receive a 3.6% across-the-board pay raise under the Senate’s fiscal 2027 defense policy bill, setting up a clash with House lawmakers who proposed a larger salary boost for troops. The House Armed Services Committee backed the Trump administration‘s proposed pay raises for troops. Under the committee’s authorization bill, service members would see their salaries increased by 5 to 7% depending on their rank. The Senate support for a flat 3.6% military pay raise could complicate the White House effort to implement tiered pay increases, a proposal that was also backed by House appropriators. The Defense Department's comprehensive review of the military compensation system warned that pay compression can lower incentives for promotion and higher performance.
• Some of the acquisition reforms that failed to survive negotiations last year are resurfacing in the Senate Armed Services Committee’s version of the fiscal 2027 authorization bill. Last year, both the House and Senate sought to close the loophole that allows companies to submit cost and pricing data after contract price is agreed upon. Now, Senate lawmakers are once again trying to bar contractors from “submitting updated cost or pricing data after the date of agreement on the price of a contract.” Right to repair is also making a comeback. Senate lawmakers are taking a different approach to the issue this year that industry will fiercely oppose, just like last year. Plus, the Senate wants contractors to notify DoD when the price of goods and services goes up.

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