The National Science Foundation is taking steps to slash its workforce, including reducing the number of senior executive service roles as well as temporary and non-federal roles, according to an internal memo to staff obtained by FedScoop. The memo was emailed to staff Friday afternoon by Chief Management Officer Micah Cheatham. It also included plans to require in-person work starting June 16 and the elimination of the Division of Equity for Excellence in STEM in the next two months, which it announced publicly Friday as well. Details of the agency’s workforce reduction plans come after its termination of hundreds of grants that don’t align with President Donald Trump’s policies, such as those that included diversity, equity and inclusion activities. Amid those actions, Sethuraman Panchanathan resigned his position as NSF’s director. Panchanathan had been appointed by Trump during the president’s first term.  Per the memo, NSF began on Thursday a reduction-in-force of its senior executive service workforce, which is a designation for federal senior leadership and management officials. Of the 143 total SES roles — including vacant positions — that NSF had on Jan. 20, just 59 are needed under the agency’s “new organizational structure and proposed future year budgets.”

A bipartisan group of senators introduced legislation last week that would scale back the Transportation Security Administration’s facial recognition program, giving travelers the right to not have their faces scanned when passing through airports. The lawmakers say their push for the Traveler Privacy Protection Act comes as the Department of Homeland Security component seeks to expand the use of facial recognition at hundreds of airports. Specifically, the bill would require the TSA to clearly inform passengers of their right to not participate in the DHS facial recognition program and bar the agency from providing worse treatment to passengers that choose not to participate. The legislation would also forbid the TSA from storing traveler facial recognition data indefinitely and from using the technology to target people or conduct mass surveillance. Sens. Jeff Merkley, D-Ore., John Kennedy, R-La., Ed Markey, D-Mass., and Roger Marshall, R-Kan., are co-sponsors of the bill. 

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NSF announces RIF plans; Senators want TSA to scale back facial recognition at airports

Greg Otto talks with Rob Ragan, Principal Technology Strategist at Bishop Fox, as he shares his vision of building an “Iron Man suit” for human security testers that is shaping how AI is used in offensive cybersecurity. Rob dives into lessons learned from developing adaptive AI tools, the unique challenges and risks facing modern AI systems, and effective strategies for safeguarding against adversarial attacks and data leakage. Discover how ethical frameworks, innovation, and industry collaboration can drive responsible offensive security, what organizations often get wrong about AI threats, and what’s needed to secure the future as AI transforms the cybersecurity landscape.

In our reporter chat, Greg Otto talks with Matt Kapko about a new wave of zero-days impacting Ivanti products. 

Bishop Fox’s Rob Ragan and Iron Man Suit for pen testers

Greg Otto talks with Eran Barak, CEO and co-founder of MIND, on the dramatic rise of insider threats in cybersecurity, exploring recent high-profile cases and the factors fueling this surge. He discusses which industries and data types are most at risk, how insider tactics have evolved, and practical strategies for organizations to detect and prevent internal threats. In our reporter chat, Greg talks with Derek Johnson on how vibe coding can be secure as it grows into a practice that software developers rely on for their work.  


LINK: https://cyberscoop.com/vibe-coding-ai-cybersecurity-llm/


MIND’s Eran Barak

A podcast covering the latest news & trends facing top government leaders on topics such as technology, management & workforce. Hosted by Billy Mitchell on FedScoop and released Monday-Friday.

NSF announces RIF plans; Senators want TSA to scale back facial recognition at airports

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