The Congressional Military Range and Test Facility Caucus was formed with the purpose of highlighting the role military ranges and test facilities play in advancing research, technology development and test missions for the military, according to a Tuesday announcement.

“America’s military ranges and test facilities are where our nation’s warfighters get their edge, and I am proud to represent some of the most critical in the world,” Rep. Vince Fong, R-Calif., who launched the caucus, said in the release. 

“This caucus will ensure that Members of Congress understand what is at stake, fight for the resources these facilities need, and protect the missions that keep America ahead of our adversaries,” he continued.

The caucus was formed by Fong alongside co-chairs Reps. Ken Calvert, R-Calif., George Whitesides, D-Calif., and Gabe Vasquez, D-N.M. Other members include Reps. Jay Obernolte, R-Calif., Julia Brownley, D-Calif., and Mike Haridopolos, R-Fla., per the statement.

The caucus news comes after the Army announced earlier this year that it is opening five of its test ranges to private industry, aiming to quicken the development and testing of drones, counter-drone systems, long-range fires and cheap interceptors. 

The Army isn’t the only service that eyed opening up its ranges to approved companies. Earlier this month, Air Force leaders said they were working with the Army to understand how they could also apply the concept.

Although the Air Force has yet to open any ranges, Brig. Gen. Mark Massaro, the commander of the Air Force Test Center, said at an October Mitchell Institute for Aerospace Studies forum that in a previous posting he worked with officials and contractors to coordinate smaller-scale test range access for specific tests, which gave him insight into how opening the ranges to industry could work. 

The Total Army Combat and Training Munitions Information System, or TACTMIS, is meant to replace the previously used Total Ammunition Management Information System, or TAMIS, once it retires on Oct. 30. TACTMIS aims to update how the Army plans, manages and reports munitions for training, testing, operational and combat activities, according to a recent release.

“TACTMIS is a foundational step in modernizing how the Army manages the munitions that enable readiness and warfighting,” Army Chief of Munitions and G-3/5/7 Deputy Chief of Staff John C. Hinnant said in the release. “It gives the Total Army a more authoritative, integrated and accountable way to generate requirements, manage authorizations and maintain trusted visibility of munitions data across the force.”

TACTMIS, developed under the Software Acquisition Pathway, was built using the Appian Platform to be a cloud-enabled, low-code “Software-as-a-Service” capability, the announcement says. The system supports a variety of inputs such as requirements calculations, authorization management, request processing and enterprise reporting.

Using a common organizational framework, the system is meant to reduce manual workload, improve data integrity and increase the visibility of munitions demand and fulfillment across the service and its joint partners.

The upgraded system can coordinate workflows across enterprise systems while maintaining the commanding role of the Army systems and data sources it interacts with, per the statement, supporting readiness planning while providing timely data to inform decision-making for senior leaders and defense industrial base requests.

“TACTMIS moves the Army from fragmented and manual munitions-management processes toward a modern digital capability built for the scale and speed of today’s force,” CW3 Deidre Burgos, TACTMIS program manager, said in the release. “Our focus is ensuring commanders and staffs have reliable tools to manage munitions requirements, authorizations, forecasts and expenditures with greater accuracy, transparency and confidence.”

The system is also aligned to support the Army’s broader modernization efforts such as Ammo360, which is a software initiative meant to boost ammunition accountability and unify the operating picture within the service’s network.

TACTMIS is designed to support over 10,000 users across the globe and operate without dedicated unit-level administrators. The system’s platform allows for TACTMIS to evolve in increments as the Army’s requirements, policies and mission needs change so redesigns are unnecessary for future enhancements.

Planned enhancements include a classified capability intended to support real-time combat munition requirements and expenditure reporting for readiness and logistics operations, the announcement reads.

“Delivering this initial release is an important milestone, but it is also the beginning of an enduring modernization effort,” Burgos said. “TACTMIS provides the digital foundation the Army needs to evolve alongside future operational requirements while maintaining uninterrupted support to the force’s ability to arm, train, and sustain.”

Sen. Chris Murphy, D-Conn., visited the Middle East this week on a Congressional Delegation trip, speaking with Gulf region leaders and visiting American facilities to assess damage done by the Iran war. Murphy was denied access to Al Udeid Air Base, Qatar, which had suffered damage from drone strikes during the conflict.

“They are using every tool they can, including withholding information about damages, slow walking the pace of reports about casualties and denying us access to see the damage as part of a campaign of cover-up, so as to mask the true cost of the war,” Murphy told reporters on Thursday.

The “unprecedented” base denial prepared Murphy, a member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee and Defense Appropriations Committee, in the coming days to draft language that would explicitly require the Department of Defense to grant members of Congress access to military bases overseas under all circumstances if needed.

“I don’t have any illusions that that’s going to pass between now and the end of the year, but I think that’ll be a really important part of the discussion around an appropriations bill next year and the defense authorization bill,” he said during the press call.

Prior to his trip, Murphy requested access to the base through a letter and direct appeal to U.S. Central Command leadership. But he was denied access even as the Department of State supported his trip to the region, with the Defense Department saying it was due to previously imposed travel restrictions.

“Senator Murphy’s office was informed before his trip to the Middle East that he would not receive Department of War support to access Al Udeid Air Base, consistent with the Secretary of War’s directive on travel restrictions in the region ordered on March 3, 2026,” a senior Defense Department official told Military Times on Thursday.

“That decision was communicated in advance by the Office of the Secretary of War for Legislative Affairs,” the official continued. “The Department applies the Secretary’s guidance evenly.”

In early March, the State and Defense departments issued travel guidance, calling on Americans to depart areas in the region and updating its travel advisory to recommend against visiting certain countries, including Qatar.

“It is absolutely ordinary for members of Congress to travel to areas of conflict and get to talk directly to the military leaders and the soldiers that are involved in the conflict and see for ourselves the damage that has been done to our bases and equipment,” Murphy said, highlighting how during the Iraq and Afghanistan wars he was able to visit operating bases.

He argued that since Congress decides funding and authorization for war, it is necessary to see the consequences, but he was unable to visit Al Udeid or have a briefing on the war with American military officials while in the region.

On the same day the travel advisory was issued in March, the U.S. embassy in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, was hit ​by two Iranians drones, resulting in building damage and a fire. Murphy said that the drones impacted multiple floors of the embassy and part of the space is now “uninhabitable” with permanent damage.

The U.S. previously announced in 2023 plans to build a new embassy compound in Riyadh, which Murphy attributes the lack of repairs to.

Even though no injuries or casualties were reported from the strike, Murphy said that if the attack happened during the day it would have killed many Americans.

“[Secretary of Defense Pete] Hegseth is determined to hide the cost and the consequences of this war from the American public, and it is absolutely outrageous that I and Republican senators are being denied the ability to see the damage for ourselves,” he said.

The Senate Armed Services Committee included a provision in its version of fiscal year 2027 National Defense Authorization Act that would reduce funding for Hegseth’s travel to no more than 25% until the committee receives what lawmakers describe as overdue reports and supporting documents.

The committee approved its version of the NDAA last week in an 18-9 vote, sending the bill to the full Senate. House lawmakers advanced their version the week prior.

The provision cuts Hegseth’s travel funding by 75% until the committee receives the civilian harm investigations for three separate 2025 Yemen strikes and the February strike on the girls’ school in Minab, Iran.

On Feb. 28, the first day of the Iran war, a school in southern Iran was struck by a U.S. Tomahawk cruise missile, killing at least 165 people, most of them schoolgirls.

President Donald Trump claimed that Iran could have obtained the missile, despite questions about how Tehran would have gained access. The strike has been under investigation by the Pentagon since March.

Speaking on Wednesday in France, Trump was asked about the investigation and whether anyone in the Trump administration would be held accountable.

“It’s such a strange question to be asked at this state because you’re talking about a long time ago, but nobody did that on purpose,” he said in response.

“Mistakes are made. War is nasty. But I know it’s under investigation, and I could have a report for you tomorrow. I would ask Pete Hegseth that question because they have it under investigation,” he concluded.

Another provision in the Senate NDAA moved to prohibit the use of military funds for the operations against Iran without congressional authorization and restricted travel funding for Hegseth’s office until lawmakers submit a report on how the Iran war has impacted readiness. The amendment failed to pass in a 13-14 vote.

Unedited video of strikes conducted by U.S. Southern Command on terrorist organizations that were allegedly smuggling drugs in Latin American waters would also need to be submitted.

Since September 2025, the U.S. military has conducted strikes on vessels in the Caribbean Sea and eastern Pacific Ocean that they alleged were carrying drugs.

As of June 16, the military has disclosed 64 strikes that have killed at least 191 people.

The committee is also seeking information about the Defense Department procedures for notifying Congress about sensitive military operations.

Lawmakers have previously criticized Hegseth over congressional oversight following reports that a special operations team attacked survivors of an alleged drug-smuggling vessel strike off Venezuela’s coast in September 2025.

Hegseth refused to publicly release footage of the attack, instead only showing members of the House and Senate Armed Services Committee.

The provision would also require the unredacted investigation by U.S. Special Operations Command into Operation Absolution Resolve, the U.S. military operation executed on Jan. 20 to capture Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro.

Senate lawmakers also requested a certification that shows contractor support for clandestine and intelligence activities and a report on support to Ukraine required under last year’s NDAA.

Following recent “unauthorized disclosures,” the Office of Personnel Management on Tuesday announced its intention of drafting a governmentwide NDA that agencies can implement at their discretion for workers who have access to sensitive information, such as personnel records and operational plans.

“OPM believes that a standard NDA form will promote consistency across government, better protect confidential information and better inform federal employees of their rights and obligations regarding confidential information,” the proposal reads.

OPM’s proposal was published Wednesday in the Federal Register and opened a 30-day public comment period through June 26.

The OPM said the move follows several recent leaks of internal government information.

“There have been several recent instances in which internal agency communications related to rulemaking and policy development were disclosed without authorization,” the proposal says.

“Such disclosures risk chilling candid interagency feedback, disrupting orderly decision-making and weakening trust within and among federal agencies,” the proposal continues.

The draft lists several examples, with one dating back to 2022 when a Supreme Court opinion overturning abortion rights was leaked to a reporter, prompting the Court to implement its own NDA in 2024.

The proposal cited a 2025 incident in which several Federal Bureau of Investigation and Department of Homeland Security workers released immigration enforcement plans when unauthorized to do so.

More recently, in early January 2026, the proposal also claims that the New York Times and Washington Post received unauthorized disclosures from federal employees about the planned U.S. raid on Venezuela before it began, which prompted the organizations to postpone “publishing what they knew to avoid endangering US troops.”

The New York Times disputes that assertion.

“Contrary to some claims, however, The Times did not have verified details about the pending operation to capture Maduro or a story prepared, nor did we withhold publication at the request of the Trump administration,” the New York Times Executive Editor Joe Kahn wrote in January 2026 in response to questions from readers.

OPM’s announcement comes less than two months after President Donald Trump vowed to find the “leaker” behind the release of information involving a missing U.S. airman from a downed fighter jet in Iran. In an early April press conference, Trump did not specify which media company received the leak but did threaten to put the reporter in jail if they, or their organization, did not disclose their source.

OPM previously published a separate rule in June 2025 addressing federal employee “suitability and fitness” requirements with nondisclosure requirements.

The draft says that the NDA will be an “Optional Form,” allowing federal agencies to decide for themselves whether or not to use the agreement. If an agency decides to use the NDA, it would be given to new hires as well as current employees.

Even though the draft says that the proposal is not meant to implement “new substantive restrictions on employee speech or disclosure rights,” union leaders have criticized the move, calling it unnecessary and warning it could silence workers.

“This proposed NDA is another attempt by the administration to purge the civil service of nonpartisan career employees and replace them with loyalists who won’t speak out against waste, fraud and abuse,” Everett Kelley, the national president of the American Federation of Government Employees, the largest federal employee union, said in a statement.

Doreen Greenwald, the president of the second largest federal employee union, National Treasury Employees Union, said there was “no basis” for this action and that the union would oppose the proposal.

“Existing law protects our nation’s secrets. Non-disclosure agreements would preemptively chill First Amendment-protected speech and dissuade protected whistleblowing activity,” Greenwald said in a release.

There are currently over two million federal employees, according to OPM, with the largest share of workers serving in the Department of Defense and the Department of Veterans Affairs.

The department persists in attempts to recruit its civilian employees to volunteer and support DHS operations, according to a Thursday email sent to DOD civilian employees that circulated on social media.

“I am renewing the call for additional dedicated civil servant volunteers to meet continued mission-critical roles in support of DHS,” the email reads.

The email, sent by the Office of the Secretary of Defense for Personnel and Readiness, first circulated on the unofficial Air Force amn/nco/sno Facebook page. A Pentagon official declined to confirm or deny the authenticity of the email to Military Times on Thursday.

DOD’s encouragement of civilian employees’ interagency collaboration when it comes to DHS is nothing new. Since August 2025, the department has tried recruiting civilian employees for up to six-month details in support of the southern border mission at participating DHS agencies.

Last week DOD issued a release urging civilian employees to consider volunteering. Any civilian can volunteer regardless of their job or skills and no resume is required, according to the release, which states 1,000 civilians have been “added to the roster to assist DHS” and 200 have already been deployed.

The Pentagon official declined to comment on whether civilian volunteers approved undergo any additional training.

Details typically last 60 days, but volunteers can opt to complete three 60-day details for a total of 180 days, according to the release.

The email, meanwhile, states that many personnel have already “answered the call to defend the homeland,” claiming that 900 individuals have already submitted applications.

Detailees, which is how the email referred to the individuals, will directly support Immigration and Customs Enforcement and Customs and Border Protection, according to the email.

The email states that participants have assisted ICE and CBP in developing “concepts of operations, provide logistics support, and managed informant tiplines that led to the arrests of human smugglers, drug dealers and other criminals.”

The Pentagon official declined to comment on how many applicants have been approved and deployed already out of the 900 or on what the application process looks like exactly.

Amid President Donald Trump’s push for immigration enforcement operations across the country, ICE has offered large signing bonuses and reduced their age requirements in an effort to expand its workforce.

Despite claims that ICE has exceeded its recruitment goals, National Guard troops have been mobilized in the past to offer the department support on top of Federal Emergency Management Agency employees being temporarily reassigned to ICE, according to The Washington Post’s reporting.

According to an August 2025 Defense Department memo, the agreement between DOD and DHS agencies lasts until Sept. 30, 2026.

The department granted 20 state veterans cemeteries over $77 million in fiscal 2025 for their improvement, expansion, reimbursements and the new establishment of one in Alaska, according to a VA statement released Dec. 30.

“Under President Trump, VA is committed to ensuring America’s Veterans cemeteries have the resources they need to provide excellent memorial benefits and services to our nation’s Veterans and their families, and these grants underscore that fact,” VA Secretary Doug Collins said in the release.

The cemeteries awarded grants include cemeteries in Arizona, Arkansas, Kansas, Kentucky, Massachusetts, Montana, New Mexico, North Carolina, Tennessee, South Carolina, Texas, Virginia and Wisconsin, as well as the establishment of the Interior Alaska Veterans Cemetery in Fairbanks.

VA’s National Cemetery Administration works to reimburse states for their state-run veterans cemeteries’ building, improvement or expansion costs.

The administered grants usually fund items such as improvements necessary for burials and operations and the construction of pre-placed crypts or columbaria, per the memo.

In fiscal 2025, more than 43,705 veterans and eligible family members were interred in VA grant-funded cemeteries, making up roughly 25% of the 174,705 total annual interments in all national and VA grant-funded veterans cemeteries.

The department has long strived to establish a veterans cemetery close to where almost every American veteran resides to improve burial options.

Currently, just under 94% of veterans nationwide have “reasonable access” to one, meaning about 77 million veterans live within 75 miles of a national, state or tribal veterans cemetery, according to the VA.

Since 2023, VA officials have set the goal to 95%, but the task requires a mix of federal and local funding as well as a commitment from regional leaders for preservation of the cemeteries.

The VA has awarded a total of over $1.1 billion in grants since 1980 to 124 veterans cemeteries in 47 states, 14 tribal nations and three territories, working in tandem with the VA’s 157 national cemeteries to provide more access for veterans.

As ranking member, Sen. Jerry Moran, R-Kan., led 19 other senators who asked McDonough to ensure veterans’ right to community care — a program the VA utilizes to connect veterans to health care through local providers. The senators claim that a panel, dubbed the Red Team, meant to assess the reasoning behind community care’s increased spending, made recommendations that are negatively impacting veterans in need of care.

“VA leaders — including yourself — addressed the Red Team and provided it with select data and briefings that contributed to the conclusion that frames community care as a potential existential threat to VA’s direct care system, rather than the vital lifeline it is for veterans and for VA,” the senators wrote.

The letter states that the Red Team suggests the VA reduce community care referrals for veterans needing emergency, oncology or mental health care.

“It is unconscionable that VA would consider leaving them with fewer options to seek needed care,” the senators said in the letter.

Even as the Red Team’s recommendations have not formally been implemented yet, the senators write they noticed a steep uptick in reports from veterans and their families, saying the suggestions are being adhered to already. The VA already canceled, revoked or denied community care for a number of veterans, according to the letter.

VA issued a hiring pause in February and is striving to reduce staffing by 10,000 employees, which the letter argues will affect veterans’ welfare, especially for those in need of care.

The letter cites the VA’s 2018 MISSION Act, with the goal of giving veterans more options for health care access, that included the community care program, launched in 2019.

“VA must embrace both the spirit and letter of that transformational piece of legislation to ensure this does not continue,” the senators said. “Doing anything less is detrimental to the progress VA has made through the MISSION Act and a personal affront to veterans across the country.”

Editor’s note: This story was updated 5 a.m. ET on July 8.

The NATO Summit will be held at the Walter E. Washington Convention Center, marking the first time D.C. hosts the Summit since 1999. The last time it was held in the U.S. was in 2012 in Chicago.

The District expects higher rates of vehicular traffic and commute times for those working in the D.C. area, propelling OPM to urge agencies to allow those workers the ability to telework, request leave or explore other avenues to compensate for next week.

OPM is asking agencies to be more flexible in their workplace practices, telling employees they can request annual leave, earned compensatory time off or other authorized time off.

Even though the Summit is being held July 9 to 11, agencies and their employees should still expect traffic-related issues, like road closures and increased travel times, the entirety of next week.

D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser released Monday a traffic plan and security map, outlining the temporary areas of impact D.C. residents and workers should look out for during the week of the Summit.

The OPM announcement follows the fight from Republican lawmakers to make telework for federal workers stricter, citing the necessity for in-person work and how agencies, like OPM, don’t know how many employees are teleworking.

Some agencies, like OPM and the Office of Management and Budget, have defended the Biden administration’s telework policy, saying they need help from Congress to gather telework data on its effectiveness.

The review of FDIC’s workplace culture was released last May, conducted by the law firm Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton, which the FDIC’s Special Committee oversaw. The report showcased the toxic work environment within the agency, filled with stalking, sexual harassment and favoritism, along with other workplace violations.

“We also find that a patriarchal, insular, and risk-averse culture has contributed to the conditions that allowed for this workplace misconduct to occur and persist, and that a widespread fear of retaliation, as well as a lack of clarity and credibility around internal reporting channels, has led to an underreporting of workplace misconduct over the years,” the report states.

The report claimed more than 500 employees used their hotline to recount personal experiences of harassment, discrimination and other instances of workplace misconduct. Some employees have never told anyone about their experience before, while others reported internally, but were left “disappointed” by the agency’s response, according to the report.

One of the new offices approved by the FDIC is the Office of Professional Conduct where employees can file claims on harassment, retaliation and misconduct. The office will then investigate, determine and enforce disciplinary action, an issue seen in the report. The report showed a lack of accountability among those in the FDIC.

The second office approved is the Office of Equal Opportunity, which will take, investigate and report on complaints of discrimination and retaliation outlined in laws under the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission.

Both offices will use independent, third-party investigators, and the FDIC still needs to appoint directors to both offices.

The report also followed Chairman Martin Gruenberg’s behavior in the FDIC and classified “unsettling,” outlining instances where the chairman lost his temper on his employees.

Even though Gruenberg apologized for his behavior on the agency’s website, lawmakers still called on him to resign from his post. In a June 12 hearing, held by the House Financial Services Committee, committee members took a look into the FDIC’s toxic workplace culture and failed leadership.

“While we do not find Chairman Gruenberg’s conduct to be a root cause of the sexual harassment and discrimination in the agency or the long-standing workplace culture issues identified in our review, we do recognize that, as a number of FDIC employees put it in talking about Chairman Gruenberg, culture ‘starts at the top,’” the report said.

The report recommended that the agency institute requests for proposals, and the agency announced they have issued two RFPs: the Independent Transformation Monitor and the Expert Third-Party. The Independent Transformation Monitor will monitor all recommendation to improve the FDIC’s culture and structure, and the Expert Third-Party will guide those efforts.

According to the June 28 announcement, the FDIC’s Board of Directors will make final selections on the RFPs after they received proposals.