August was a month of rebounds for the TSP

All TSP funds ended in the black, with the highest increase being the I Fund at 3.3%, followed by the C and S Funds at 2.7% and 2.3%, respectively.

• August was a month of rebounds for the Thrift Savings Plan. All TSP funds ended in the black, with the highest increase being the I Fund at 3.3%, followed by the C and S Funds at 2.7% and 2.3%, respectively. The G and F Funds posted more modest increases, both below 1%. For 2026 so far, all but one of the 16 TSP funds have grown, with more than half seeing double-digit percentage increases.
• President Donald Trump wants to take the “acting” title away from Hung Cao. He nominated Cao to be he permanent Navy secretary yesterday. Cao has been acting since John Phelan resigned in April after 13 months on the job. Trump has called on the Senate to confirm him immediately. The Senate approved Cao as the undersecretary of the Navy in October 2025.
• Another top agency IT official is stepping away from government service. Keith Busby, who served as acting chief information security officer at the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services for more than two years, is joining health services firm Optum Serve. Busby had been in various roles at CMS since 2021. He joins a growing list of senior IT departures across government in recent months, including federal chief information officer Greg Barbaccia, as well as CIOs at the Department of Health and Human Services, the Department of Homeland Security and the Interior Department.
• Lawmakers have passed a short term extension of a key cybersecurity law. The continuing resolution passed by the House Tuesday would extend the Cybersecurity Information Sharing Act of 2015 through early December. The law had been set to expire Sept. 30. Lawmakers have been unable to agree on a long-term reauthorization of the law after it first expired last year. Industry groups say the law’s protections are critical for government and industry to tackle cyber risks ranging from recent hacks into water systems to rapid advancements in artificial intelligence.
• The Army is making open systems a must-have for its acquisition programs. A new directive said program managers must include requirements for open architectures, open interfaces and detailed documentation in all new acquisition programs and upgrades, regardless of their size or acquisition pathway. The policy also tells contractors to let the Army securely access their software features and data, and blocks companies from creating proprietary barriers that could make systems harder to connect. The Army said the goal is faster integration and better interoperability across its systems.
• A major Marine Corps training base is getting new barracks to improve living conditions for troops. The Navy is asking industry how to build new barracks faster. The service is calling for white papers on industrialized construction methods to replace 10 outdated barracks buildings, totaling nearly 656,000 square feet, for Marines at Camp Pendleton, California. The goal is to cut construction timelines by at least 30% and costs by at least 20%. The Navy said it will use a progressive design-build approach to bring contractors and off-site manufacturers into the process early. White papers are due Oct. 1.
• The Technology Modernization Fund has new life, at least until Dec. 11. When the House passed the Senate’s version of the continuing resolution yesterday, the bill included a provision to extend the TMF and its board for another 70-plus days. The TMF was set to sunset on Sept. 30 if Congress didn’t act. The IT modernization initiative made a new push for investment proposals earlier this summer with a focus on artificial intelligence and approaches to speed up the federal permitting process.
• A former federal union official has been convicted on multiple counts of fraud and conspiracy charges. Kimberly Goodwin, formerly president of a local chapter of the American Federation of Government Employees, was found guilty of illegally funneling nearly $1 million from union members. The Justice Department charged Goodwin with eight counts of money laundering this week. A second defendant involved in the case was also convicted last year.

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