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Our online community now tops 150,000 federal workers and supporters across TikTok, Instagram, YouTube, Facebook, and LinkedIn. Each briefing distills the day’s most consequential developments, adds clear-eyed legal analysis, and pairs it with mindfulness tools that keep you steady no matter how turbulent the news cycle becomes. If this newsletter helps you stay informed, please pass it on: https://fedlegalhelp.com/newsletter. Your advocacy broadens the protective circle for every federal employee.

As promised, here’s the link to the OPM Performance Management Memo: FedLegalHelp.com/OPM. This memo contains crucial guidance affecting thousands of federal workers nationwide—kindly share with colleagues who may benefit.

Top Three News Stories:

1. Hegseth Reportedly Orders ‘Passive Approach to Juneteenth’ at Pentagon

A leaked email shows Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth instructed public-affairs teams not to publish Juneteenth content, limiting the holiday to routine schedule notices. The message comes amid the administration’s January executive order that abolished Diversity, Equity & Inclusion programs across the military. Critics inside and outside DoD say the muted stance undermines morale and contradicts Congress’s 2021 law making Juneteenth a federal holiday. Pentagon officials responded that limited observances are still allowed if tied directly to mission needs. The Guardian

Legal Insight:

Federal agencies must observe the holiday under 5 U.S.C. § 6103, but nothing requires promotional materials. However, Title VII and the federal EEO system still bar race-based harassment; a policy that singles out a civil-rights holiday for silence could support hostile-work-environment claims if employees link it to broader anti-DEI actions. Next year and going forward, counsel should document content-neutral criteria for all commemorations and remind supervisors that disciplinary or appraisal decisions must remain free of retaliatory or discriminatory motive.

2. Agencies Grapple with Cyber-Skills Gap in Control-System Security

The Air Force and DoD have created new training pipelines and an “operational-technology” work role to protect power grids, pipelines and other physical systems that now fall in hackers’ sights. Speakers at a recent conference said state-sponsored actors—and even “unsophisticated” hackers—are targeting these networks, yet most agencies lack staff who understand both engineering and cyber. DoD’s Cyber Resiliency Office of Control Systems is partnering with NIST and CISA to standardize competencies, while Idaho National Laboratory is retraining electricians and maintenance crews in cybersecurity fundamentals. Federal News Network

Legal Insight:

Under FISMA and OMB Circular A-130, agencies already must identify and staff all high-value assets; the new OT work role offers a framework they can cite when justifying hiring or reskilling budgets. Incorporating the role into the DoD Cyber Workforce Framework lets agencies rely on existing series-qualification authorities instead of creating a brand-new occupational code.

3. GAO Finds Agencies Lack Data on Remote-Work Impact, Urges New OPM Guidance

A Government Accountability Office study shows that fully remote staff account for roughly 9 percent of the federal workforce—more than 200,000 employees spread across all 50 states. Remote job announcements drew 366 applications on average, compared with only 51 for comparable on-site positions, helping agencies meet critical hiring goals, yet many agencies froze further office-space reductions after the President’s return-to-office order. GAO concluded that OPM’s 2024 decision to withdraw telework-assessment guidance leaves agencies unable to measure how remote work affects mission delivery, recruitment, or real-estate costs. It recommended that OPM issue new, data-driven guidance so agencies can evaluate benefits and costs consistently and report results to Congress. Government Accountability Office

Legal Insight:

While GAO recommendations are not self-executing, they often shape appropriations riders and oversight hearings; OPM is therefore under practical pressure to act. If new guidance issues, agencies will need to incorporate it into telework agreements under 5 U.S.C. § 6502 and may have to collect metrics on productivity, retention, and workspace utilization to justify remote arrangements. Any curtailment of existing remote positions will trigger collective-bargaining obligations and must be reconciled with reasonable-accommodation duties under the Rehabilitation Act. Agencies that proactively assemble baseline performance and cost data now will be better positioned to defend duty-station decisions in future grievances, EEO complaints, or bid protests.

Mindful Moment of the Day: 

Mindful Use-or-Lose Leave Planning    

The next time you open e-OPF to schedule annual leave, pause and imagine—vividly—the first three sensory details of that future downtime: ocean spray, mountain pine, or simply silence over morning coffee at home. Neuroscientists call this “episodic future thinking,” and studies at NIH show it boosts dopamine release, making the restoration feel real enough to motivate follow-through. When you submit the SF-71 with that mental picture fresh, you’re not just blocking dates; you’re wiring the prefrontal cortex to protect those boundaries when last-minute projects appear. Paradoxically, employees who ritualize this visualization take *fewer* sick days the quarter after vacation because the nervous system has practiced being at ease.