England Emphasizes Importance of Internal Checks

By Donna Miles

American Forces Press Service

WASHINGTON, Nov. 29, 2007 – Deputy Defense Secretary Gordon England donned a Santa hat today to remind Defense Department managers to take the red-suited fellow’s lead by checking their lists twice to enforce internal controls within the department.

Internal controls are critical as DoD manages a budget of more than $500 billion, not including war costs, England told attendees at the Manager’s Internal Control Program and Check-It Campaign Conference at Fort McNair here. The way the department enforces its internal controls has a direct impact on the men and women in uniform defending the United States and its friends and allies, England said.

"We are the people behind the lines, and we make it possible for our men and women who serve on the front lines … to do their jobs. They count on us every single day. They count on us doing this job, and they count on us doing it right. And we know that we do it right when we check it every day," he said.

http://www.defenselink.mil/news/newsarticle.aspx?id=48272

Report examines troop voting problems

Posted : Friday Nov 30, 2007 6:59:12 EST

NEW YORK — U.S. troops in Iraq and other places around the world are center stage in this year’s presidential election. But when it comes to casting votes for the candidates, American soldiers and other U.S. citizens living abroad often face daunting obstacles. A new report from the Century Foundation sheds light on this problem, which has received surprisingly little public attention. It also warns that with a frontloaded primary system and a large number of caucuses, U.S. military personnel and other citizens living abroad could find it more difficult than ever to have their votes count.

In a report titled "Bringing Voting Rights to Military and Overseas Voters," author Tova Wang, Democracy Fellow at the Century Foundation, explains how difficult it is for military and overseas voters to cast a ballot, examines the problems encountered in making sure that their votes are counted, and suggests reforms for both easing the procedural problems and improving turnout among this often neglected group of voters.

According to the report, a survey by the U.S. Election Assistance Commission showed that only 5.5 percent of eligible military and overseas voters actually participated successfully in the 2006 midterm election.

http://www.navytimes.com/news/2007/11/ap_troopvoting_071130/

Marine Corps continues building Special Operations Command force

By Megan Scully CongressDaily November 29, 2007

The commander of the Marine Corps' nascent Special Operations Command Thursday said he has roughly 65 percent of his force in place, with plans to fill all 2,600 positions by next year. Maj. Gen. Dennis Hejik said growing the new command, which was created in February 2006, initially proved challenging because he had to recruit from within the Marine Corps' ranks.

"That in itself was a little bit difficult to start with," Hejik said. But over the last 20 months, he has attracted hundreds of special operators, all of whom have combat experience. The command, Hejik added, is "a very top-heavy organization" by Marine Corps standards, with most personnel having eight to 10 years of experience. Of the 1,700 personnel under his command, Hejik said 70 are majors -- an unusually high number of mid-grade officers for the Corps.

http://www.govexec.com/story_page.cfm?articleid=38691&dcn=todaysnews

The Good Fight (religion in the workplace)

By Alyssa Rosenberg arosenberg@govexec.com
Government Executive November 15, 2007

Dispatches from opposite sides of the debate about religion in the workplace.

At the beginning of our first phone conversation, Mikey Weinstein asks me if I'm Jewish. At the end of our first e-mail exchange, Angie Tracey tells me to have a blessed evening. Weinstein has spent the past four years fighting what he calls a war against Christian proselytizing through the chain of command in the military; Tracey founded the first officially recognized Christian federal employee association in the nation.

Though they are separated by 1,900 miles, religious traditions, and civil and military backgrounds, Weinstein and Tracey personify the poles in a debate about the role religious faith plays when a person picks up a weapon or sits down at a computer in service of the U.S. government.

http://www.govexec.com/features/1107-15/1107-15s2.htm

Senators urge closer eye on military housing

Lawmakers say Air Force overestimated demand, owes subcontractors

By Ben Evans - The Associated Press
Posted : Thursday Nov 29, 2007 19:39:02 EST

Two U.S. senators want the Pentagon to tighten its oversight of private housing construction on military bases, citing delays at four Air Force projects that could keep thousands of military families out of new homes for years.

Sens. Saxby Chambliss, R-Ga., and Mark Pryor, D-Ark., said they plan to introduce legislation next month aimed at holding contractors more accountable for the kind of problems that have plagued bases in their states and in Florida and Massachusetts.

http://www.navytimes.com/news/2007/11/ap_housing_071129/

Transcript of SECDEF Speech

Landon Lecture
Remarks as Delivered by Secretary of Defense Robert M. Gates
Manhattan, Kansas
Monday, November 26, 2007

Excerpt:

"[M]y message today is not about the defense budget or military power. My message is that if we are to meet the myriad challenges around the world in the coming decades, this country must strengthen other important elements of national power both institutionally and financially, and create the capability to integrate and apply all of the elements of national power to problems and challenges abroad. In short, based on my experience serving seven presidents, as a former Director of CIA and now as Secretary of Defense, I am here to make the case for strengthening our capacity to use "soft" power and for better integrating it with 'hard' power."

Transcript at http://www.defenselink.mil/speeches/speech.aspx?speechid=1199

The Hon. Ike Skelton on Civil-Military Relations

By Ike Skelton
November 2007

Congressman Ike Skelton (D-Mo) is Chairman of the House Armed Services Committee. He is a graduate of Wentworth Military Academy and the University of Missouri at Columbia, where he received A.B. and L.L.B. degrees. He gave this keynote address at the conference, “Mind the Gap: Post-Iraq Civil Military Relations in America, sponsored by the Foreign Policy Research Institute and the Reserve Officers Association, held October 15, 2007, in Washington, D.C.

Videotapes, a conference report, and other conference papers are available at www.fpri.org/research/nationalsecurity/mindthegap.

Excerpt:

"Still, recently Congress has been the scene of what I consider to be an example of a breakdown in the acceptable roles and norms of civil-military relations. I am referring, of course, to the recent hearings with General David Petraeus on the Iraq War. It is nearly impossible to steer clear of the politics surrounding these hearings, but let us try for a moment to focus on the role the General found himself playing. Congress required the General to report on the progress in Iraq, and Congress required that the report be issued in public. This, I believe, is appropriate.

"However, in the weeks leading up the report, the President indicated that he would wait until the General’s testimony to Congress before he would announce the next phase of his Iraq War policy. The result was that the President largely abdicated his policymaking role and placed the burden of making U.S. war-related policy on the shoulders of a serving military officer. I spoke earlier of the natural constitutional tension that exists between the Legislative and Executive branches. The President should have received General Petraeus’ report in private first, and then issued his policy for the nation. At that time, it would have been more than appropriate to hold a hearing with General Petraeus to determine if that civilian-determined war policy was supportable by the facts presented in his report and his professional military judgment."

Transcript at http://www.fpri.org/enotes/200711.skelton.civilmilitaryrelations.html

Announcing New Blog: TFX Reader

TFX READER links to professional periodicals and popular military blogs. Posted (more or less) monthly.

Check out TFX READER today. Add it to your Favorites so you'll have links to professional periodicals at your fingertips whenever you need to look at them (the magazines, that is, not your fingertips).

http://www.tfxreader.blogspot.com/

Comfort mission: Public health or public relations?

Political value may overshadow better options, some say

By Chris Amos - Staff writer
Posted : Monday Nov 26, 2007 6:08:31 EST

BALTIMORE — The hospital ship Comfort has operating rooms, a dental clinic, intensive care and neonatal care units, some of the most sophisticated medical imaging equipment in the world, and a flight deck that can accommodate the world’s largest helicopters.

On a wall near its quarterdeck are plaques and certificates from foreign governments visited on its recent four-month humanitarian deployment to 12 Caribbean and Latin American countries. On another wall there are pictures of a sailor playing basketball with Colombian children and a foreign man waving an American flag.

Navy medical officers familiar with the deployment say the photos and plaques — and not Comfort’s array of medical equipment — are the reason the ship is still in service, and the reason that Comfort, and not a smaller Navy ship with better logistical capability, was sent on the humanitarian deployment this summer.

http://www.navytimes.com/news/2007/11/navy_comfort_071125w/

High-tech helmet may help indicate injury

The Associated Press
Posted : Monday Nov 26, 2007 5:44:57 EST


LEBANON, N.H. — A high-tech helmet invented by a New Hampshire company is helping football teams and the military learn more about head injuries.

The helmet and sensors created by research-and-development company Simbex LLC measures and records the force of impacts to the head. The system already is being used by many football teams looking to detect and prevent injuries. The military also has ordered some of the systems.
The Head Impact Telemetry System, or HIT system, includes a helmet and data transmitter and a console and can monitor dozens of football players or soldiers simultaneously.

http://www.navytimes.com/news/2007/11/ap_hightechhelmet_071124/

Data: Thousands of TBI cases off the record

By Gregg Zoroya - USA Today
Posted : Sunday Nov 25, 2007 11:13:21 EST

Along with 20,000 other veterans, Marine Lance Cpl. Gene Landrus is not included in the Pentagon’s official count of U.S. troops wounded in Iraq and Afghanistan. That’s because his wound was to his brain and hidden from view.

Landrus — who faces medical separation from the Corps and is up for the Purple Heart for wounds sustained in a May 2006 roadside bomb attack outside Abu Ghraib, Iraq — said he did not realize the nausea, dizziness, memory loss and headaches he suffered after the blast were signs of a lasting brain injury.

http://www.navytimes.com/news/2007/11/gns_tbi_071123/

Injured Diplomats Get Little Support

By Tom Shoop Wednesday, November 21, 2007 09:57 AM

Jeff Klein of CQ Homeland Security notes one reason diplomats didn't respond with relish to the notion of forced assignments to Iraq: "Wrecked physically and mentally from terrorist attacks or duty in combat zones," he writes, "State Department employees from senior diplomats on down to foreign aid workers say they have too often had to fend for themselves when they were hurt."

http://blogs.govexec.com/fedblog/2007/11/injured_diplomats_get_little_s.php

Younger generation redefines public service

By Gregg Sangillo, National Journal

President Kennedy's call for young people to serve their country once energized an entire generation, and government institutions such as the Peace Corps and the Foreign Service were often the beneficiaries. If a president made a similar appeal today, young people might respond by asking not what they could do for their government but what they could do for a nonprofit organization.

The very meaning of public service has changed, and the transformation has had huge ramifications in Washington. Young professionals today often choose careers in the nonprofit world, as opposed to traditional jobs in government agencies. The rise of nonprofits, advocacy groups, think tanks, and lobby shops has made it much harder for federal agencies to attract young people to government service. Even when aspiring public servants enter government, they are often enticed to leave by job offers in the nonprofit or private sector.

Greg Berger, a 23-year-old administrative assistant with Public Citizen, a group founded by Ralph Nader, liked the idea of working for an independent organization. "I was very attracted by the fact that they don't take corporate or government money. The fact that they have a mandate to really do what their members think is the right thing to do. And they're not tied down by any other major political goals. And I think that gives them an incredible amount of freedom," he says.

Full story: http://www.govexec.com/story_page.cfm?articleid=38641&dcn=e_wfw

Generational stereotyping seen as barrier to recruiting

By Alyssa Rosenberg

Workforce planners should avoid stereotyping the needs and expectations of different generations of federal workers, experts at the Human Capital Management: Federal 2007 conference said on Wednesday.

Younger workers "want to be challenged, and they like to be treated with respect," said John Allison Jr., deputy director for human capital at the Defense Intelligence Agency. "They don't like to be lumped into this category, Generation Y, because it's made up with individuals…. If I address them as a generation, they turn me off."

Their aversion to being treated as a phenomenon rather than as individuals may stem from some of the assumptions about younger workers, including that they are self-centered or lack commitments to organizations or jobs, Allison said.

Full story: http://www.govexec.com/story_page.cfm?articleid=38594&dcn=e_wfw

Experts call for top leaders at agencies to commit to diversity

By Alyssa Rosenberg

Federal agencies need strong leadership commitment, structural changes and a willingness to confront internalized biases if they want to create a truly diverse workforce, speakers at a National Academy of Public Administration panel said on Friday.

"People look at mechanisms to improve diversity, but the bottom line is if you don't have support at the top, those other things don't matter," said John Palguta, vice president for policy at the Partnership for Public Service. "Managers need to be held accountable for providing that culture."

Tania Shand, staff director for the House Oversight and Government Reform Subcommittee on Federal Workforce, Postal Service and the District of Columbia, said a new bill introduced by Rep. Danny Davis, D-Ill., would provide some of that structural reform and accountability. The bill would create three-person panels that include a woman and a member of a racial minority group to review appointments to Senior Executive Service positions, and then report those appointments to agency heads.

Full story: http://www.govexec.com/story_page.cfm?articleid=38637&dcn=e_hsw

Bush orders agencies to appoint 'performance improvement officers'

By Robert Brodsky

President Bush has issued an executive order requiring heads of federal agencies to set clear annual goals, lay out specific plans for achieving them, and designate "performance improvement officers" to assess progress toward meeting the goals and report on it to the public.

With the order, issued Tuesday and detailed at a press briefing today, the Bush administration hopes to establish a lasting legacy for its management improvement agenda.

The performance improvement officers will be required to oversee agencies' "strategic plans, annual performance plans and annual performance reports as required by law," the order states. The officers also will review the goals of agency programs to determine if they are "sufficiently aggressive toward full achievement of the purposes of the program," and "realistic in light of authority and resources assigned to the specified agency personnel."

Full story: http://www.govexec.com/story_page.cfm?articleid=38565&dcn=e_tma

Executive Order at http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2007/11/20071113-9.html

Senate panel OKs bill to expand telework eligibility

By Andy Leonatti, CongressDaily

Citing the need to reduce long commutes and traffic congestion, the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee on Wednesday approved a bill make more federal employees eligible to work from home or other remote sites.

The bill, S. 1000, was adopted by unanimous voice vote. It would make all federal employees eligible to telework unless they fall under categories that would prohibit it. Current law makes all federal employees ineligible to telecommute unless granted permission.

Employees who handle secure materials, work in protecting national security or the intelligence field, or have a job requiring their physical presence still would be ineligible.

Full story: http://www.govexec.com/story_page.cfm?articleid=38584&dcn=e_hsw

FCC announces creation of telehealth initiative

By Aliya Sternstein, National Journal's Technology Daily

The FCC is moving into the healthcare arena. Chairman Kevin Martin last week announced a plan for a $400 million effort to expand treatment access for Americans in rural and impoverished areas via high-speed Internet services.

The expansion of long-distance healthcare, known as telehealth, will help lay the foundation for the nationwide exchange of e-health records, according to experts. The president has set a goal of ensuring that most Americans have access to e-health records by 2014.

The FCC's plan will fund dedicated broadband networks for telehealth activities, like videoconference consultations or second opinions from out-of-state specialists. Telemedicine is intended to cuts costs, travel time and medical errors, especially for people in remote or poverty-stricken regions of the country.

Full story: http://www.govexec.com/story_page.cfm?articleid=38621&dcn=e_gvet

HHS Turns Up Heat on ePrescribe

Monday, November 19, 3:56 p.m. ET:

Health and Human Services Secretary Mike Leavitt wrote <http://secretarysblog.hhs.gov/my_weblog/> in his blog that he wants to see Medicare and Medicaid and large federal health care providers make e-prescribing "a mandatory part of medical practice soon."

Full column: http://blogs.govexec.com/techinsider/

House Armed Services panel fills vacancies

By Rick Maze - Staff writer
Posted : Monday Nov 19, 2007 16:36:36 EST

The House Armed Services Committee has filled two vacancies, one for each political party.
Rep. Niki Tsongas, D-Mass., who will serve on the military personnel and strategic forces subcommittees, fills an opening left by the resignation earlier this year of Rep. Martin Meehan, who represented the same congressional district.

The new Republican on the committee is Rep. Doug Lamborn of Colorado, who fills a vacancy created by the death of Rep. Jo Ann Davis, R-Va. Lamborn, whose congressional district includes Colorado Springs, is also a member of the House Veterans’ Affairs Committee. He was assigned to the readiness and seapower subcommittees.

http://www.navytimes.com/news/2007/11/military_housecommittee_vacancies_071119w/

Army, Marine Corps struggle with mandate to expand

By Art Pine, National Journal

The Bush administration's plan to increase the size of the Army and the Marine Corps by 92,000 troops over the next five years is running into trouble.

In January, Defense Secretary Robert Gates proposed adding 65,000 soldiers and 27,000 marines to bring the Army's total to 547,000 troops and the Marines' to 202,000. The idea was to relieve pressure on today's overstressed ground forces in Iraq and Afghanistan and to better equip the military to deal with similar unconventional wars in the future. The move, designed to provide six more combat brigade teams and their support units, complements President Bush's order late last year to boost U.S. troop strength temporarily for the current "surge" in Iraq.

Now, nine months later, the services are clearly struggling with the expansion, and there are signs that the effort may face serious problems. Although Army leaders announced last month that they will meet Gates's targets by 2010 -- two years sooner than the secretary called for -- outside analysts say that the numbers belie such optimism. The Army fell short of its monthly recruiting goals in May and June, and it has begun lowering standards for new entrants in an effort to fill the gap. It also is paying unprecedented bonuses -- as much as $35,000 -- to retain midlevel officers and sergeants.

Full story: http://www.govexec.com/story_page.cfm?articleid=38540&dcn=e_wfw

I Want You … Badly - A complete guide to Uncle Sam's recruiting incentives

By Phillip Carter and Brad Flora
Posted Wednesday, Nov. 7, 2007, at 7:24 AM ET

Last month, Pentagon officials proudly trumpeted their recruiting and retention results, announcing they had met or exceeded the past year's goals for every branch of the service except the Army and Air National Guard. According to Undersecretary of Defense David Chu, the results show the continuing viability of the "all-volunteer" military, even as the Iraq and Afghanistan wars grind on. Top Pentagon officials say these numbers also refute arguments that Iraq is breaking the force, or that we need a return to the draft. However, critics charge that the huge and varied incentives being offered to recruits show the desperation of the all-volunteer force and its inability to cope with the sustained demands of the Iraq war. Others point out that these recruitment programs focus too much on quantity, rather than quality, leading to a lower-caliber military.

Slate's comprehensive list of Army recruiting and retention programs [complete with links to regs and releases] illustrates how the service is stretching to make manpower ends meet.

http://www.slate.com/id/2177426/

Mattis Watch Bulletin: JFCOM Change of Command

Allied Command Transformation, U.S. Joint Forces Command honor outgoing commander, welcome new leader

NATO's Allied Command Transformation and U.S. Joint Forces Command honored its outgoing commander, Air Force Gen. Lance Smith, and welcomed the Supreme Allied Commander Transformation and commander of U.S. Joint Forces Command, Marine Gen. James Mattis, in a change of command ceremony aboard the aircraft carrier USS George Washington.

By MCC(SW/AW) Chris Hoffpauir USJFCOM Public Affairs
(NORFOLK, Va. – Nov. 9, 2007) – Air Force Gen. Lance Smith relinquished command of NATO's Allied Command Transformation (ACT) and U.S. Joint Forces Command (USJFCOM) to Marine Gen. James Mattis at a change of command ceremony aboard the aircraft carrier USS George Washington here today.
As Supreme Allied Commander Transformation (SACT), Mattis will lead the transformation of NATO's military structures, forces, capabilities and doctrines to improve interoperability and military effectiveness of the Alliance and its partner nations.
As commander, U.S. Joint Forces Command, he will oversee maximizing present and future military capabilities of the United States by leading the transformation of joint forces in the areas of providing joint forces to combatant commanders, joint training, joint interoperability, and joint innovation and experimentation.
***
Mattis discussed his enthusiasm in taking over both organizations.
"We have all inherited our freedoms here today thanks to the blood, sweat and tears of our predecessors, and here today ambassador, secretary, chairman, I pledge to give all I've got to build the strongest coalitions, the most agile forces, and the most ethical defenders of our nations, because we too have an obligation to pass on these freedoms to our children… and our children's children. Thank you. I look forward to working with all of you."
***
More at http://www.jfcom.mil/newslink/storyarchive/2007/pa110907.htm

Senate Confirmation Hearing: http://www.jfcom.mil/newslink/storyarchive/2007/pa092707.htm

Report seeks 'smart power' overhaul of federal operations

By Greg Grant ggrant@govexec.com
November 6, 2007
America's global image is at an all-time low and is heading lower, crippling Washington's ability to shape world events and allowing other nations to usurp American leadership, concludes a recent report by a Washington think tank. The reason is that since the Sept. 11 attacks, America has elevated the war on terror to the central component of our global engagement, said study co-chair and former Deputy Secretary of State Richard Armitage.
Since Sept. 11, Americans have been "exporting our fear and anger," said Armitage at an event Tuesday at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, which sponsored the Commission on Smart Power report. "I believe we need to get back to exporting more traditional values, such as hope, optimism and tolerance and opportunity."
More at http://www.govexec.com/story_page.cfm?articleid=38492&dcn=todaysnews

New rules for recruits with criminal records?

By Lolita C. Baldor - The Associated Press
Posted : Wednesday Nov 7, 2007 5:54:37 EST
WASHINGTON — Faced with higher recruiting goals, the Pentagon is quietly looking for ways to make it easier for people with minor criminal records to join the military, The Associated Press has learned.
The review, in its early stages, comes as the number of Army recruits needing waivers for bad behavior — such as trying drugs, stealing, carrying weapons on school grounds and fighting — rose from 15 percent in 2006 to 18 percent this year. And it reflects the services’ growing use of criminal, health and other waivers to build their ranks.
More at http://www.navytimes.com/news/2007/11/ap_recruitwaivers_071106/

Rising Expectations (GAO employees' union)

By Brittany R. Ballenstedt bballenstedt@govexec.com
November 7, 2007
More than a year ago, about 20 employees from the Government Accountability Office began meeting in the basement of Holy Rosary Church in Washington, charting their plans to bring in the first union in the agency's 86-year history.
On Sept. 19, the plan came to fruition. Out of an eligible bargaining unit of 1,800, analysts voted 897-445 to join the International Federation of Professional and Technical Engineers, giving employees the ability to negotiate with management over pay and other personnel policies. And in an era when human capital reform and pay for performance in the federal government seem inevitable, the case at GAO indicates how older and even younger generations of employees are increasingly seeking a voice in the way management decisions are set.
http://www.govexec.com/dailyfed/1107/110707mm.htm

DoD civilians will take more command positions

Staff writer
Posted : Tuesday Nov 6, 2007 14:07:39 EST
Career civilian executives at the Defense Department will be taking over more leadership posts held by generals and admirals in the coming months and years.
Positions overseeing logistics and other non-warfighting operations — traditionally considered as military billets — will increasingly be done by members of the Defense Department’s Senior Executive Service (SES), said Patricia Bradshaw, the deputy undersecretary of Defense for civilian personnel policy, in a Nov. 2 interview.
http://www.navytimes.com/news/2007/11/fed_seniorses_071106/

Love, via Video, from Alaska

What's Brewin: There's Simple, Then There's Complex
By Bob Brewin
In 2006, Celine Johnson, chief of the Local Network Operations and Security Center of the 507th Signal Company, which is part of the 59th Signal Battalion at Fort Wainwright, Alaska, wanted to find a way to electronically bridge the gap between families on the base and their husbands, wives, mothers and fathers in the 172nd Stryker Brigade deployed to Iraq.
Sure, the soldiers had phones and e-mail, but Johnson wanted to add a video system that would help families see, as well as talk, to each other. She knew she needed a secure system that would conserve bandwidth. While attending the Army LandWarNet conference in September 2006, Johnson discovered VIDITalk, a streaming video system. She obtained a license and had the system up and running just in time to deal with a crisis: a three-month tour of duty extension for the 172nd in late 2006.
Full story: http://www.govexec.com/story_page.cfm?articleid=38465&dcn=e_gvet

Forward Observer: Knights Among Us (EOD Volunteers)

By George C. Wilson, CongressDaily
EGLIN AIR FORCE BASE, Fla. -- The biggest issue polarizing Congress is the Iraq War.
I came to this sprawling base on the Florida Panhandle to find out why our uniformed young men and women are volunteering to do the most dangerous job in that war: Finding and disarming the bombs before they blow up and kill their military buddies and Iraqi civilians.
Their reasons make the so-called debate in Congress look all the more like petty partisanship.
Full story: http://www.govexec.com/story_page.cfm?articleid=38472&dcn=e_gvet

Report praises OPM's workforce planning

By Alyssa Rosenberg
The Office of Personnel Management has taken significant steps to address concerns about leadership and workforce management raised by the 2004 Federal Human Capital Survey, but could improve a morale gap between General Schedule and Senior Executive Service employees and centralize its workforce planning, according to a new report from the Government Accountability Office.
"The results of the 2004 FHCS and the responses of the focus groups [convened in response to the survey] showed that OPM employees were most concerned with leadership and leadership's ability to deal with staff about policies and performance," the report (GAO-08-11) noted. "Employees identified additional problem areas for OPM, including lack of management support, inadequate training for supervisors and managers on performance culture and accountability, and a lack of senior executive interest in and respect for employees."
GAO identified interpersonal skills as a key area where managers and supervisors needed to improve, and issued a requirement that senior executives, managers and supervisors develop plans to close those competency gaps, according to the report.
Full story: http://www.govexec.com/story_page.cfm?articleid=38473&dcn=e_gvet

Pilot project on handling veterans' employment complaints called inconclusive

By Brittany R. Ballenstedt
A demonstration project designed to study which of two federal agencies is better suited to investigate military service members' complaints about their federal employment rights was inconclusive and merits further review, members of a Senate committee said Wednesday.
Congress created the demonstration project in 2004 after criticism from several Guard members and reservists that the Labor Department's Veterans Employment and Training Service took far too long to investigate alleged violations of the 1994 Uniformed Services Employment and Reemployment Rights Act at federal agencies. The law is designed to protect veterans from employment discrimination resulting from their service.
"As our troops are returning home from battle, many of them seek to return to the jobs they held prior to their military service," said Senate Veterans' Affairs Committee Chairman Daniel Akaka, D-Hawaii. "I must admit to being particularly upset at the volume of claims related to federal service."
Full story: http://www.govexec.com/story_page.cfm?articleid=38448&dcn=e_gvet

Firm tracks brain waves to find stressed troops

Max Jarman - The Arizona Republic
Posted : Thursday Nov 1, 2007 13:16:45 EDT
Imagine a critical wartime mission with lives on the line. There are no outward signs of agitation, but several key soldiers are so stressed that the operation could be in jeopardy.
New technology, being developed by Honeywell International's aerospace division, could alert the commanding officer, and the troubled fighters could be replaced.
http://www.navytimes.com/news/2007/11/gns_brainwaves_071101/

E-health woes in the military frustrate lawmakers

By Aliya Sternstein, National Journal's Technology Daily
At the third hearing on the topic this year, lawmakers on Wednesday struggled to understand why the departments of Defense and Veterans Affairs continue to have problems electronically sharing information necessary to treat service members and veterans.
"I hope and I expect that DOD and VA will tell us today that, by no more than a year from now, clinicians in DOD and VA will have full electronic access to the medical information they need to treat their patients, whether that information resides in computers owned by DOD or by VA," Arizona Democrat Harry Mitchell, chairman of the House Veterans Affairs Oversight and Investigations Subcommittee, said at a hearing.
According to findings released at the hearing by the Government Accountability Office, the departments have ad hoc processes in place if there is an immediate need to provide data on severely wounded service members to VA centers that specialize in treating such patients. The manual workarounds, like scanning paper records, are generally feasible only because the number of such patients is small.
Full story: http://www.govexec.com/story_page.cfm?articleid=38372&dcn=e_gvet

Report: Contracting workforce needs more training

By Elizabeth Newell
A recent survey of the skills of the federal acquisition workforce shows that while contracting officials generally are operating at expected levels, they could benefit from additional training to bridge competency gaps.
The survey by the Office of Management and Budget's Office of Federal Procurement Policy and the Federal Acquisition Institute aimed to help determine where resources should be concentrated to improve or maintain essential skills. OMB touted the report as "the first-ever baseline analysis of the proficiency levels of the civilian agency contracting workforce."
OFPP and FAI conducted the survey between April and May and had 5,400 respondents. The vast majority fit into the desired GS-1102 contracting officer or specialist category.
Full story: http://www.govexec.com/story_page.cfm?articleid=38356&dcn=e_gvet

Rigid pay systems listed among top workforce challenges

By Brittany R. Ballenstedt
Rigid pay systems and leadership skills gaps are among the challenges agencies will face as they seek to offset a talent shortage expected over the next decade, top government officials and an outside observer said Tuesday.
At a breakfast sponsored by the Georgetown University Public Policy Institute and the management and consulting firm Accenture, representatives from three agencies and a nonprofit group agreed that federal officials should immediately begin planning for how they will address such challenges.
If that doesn't happen, "rather than getting the best of the brightest, we're going to end up with the best of the desperate," said John Palguta, vice president for policy and research at the nonprofit Partnership for Public Service.
Full story: http://www.govexec.com/story_page.cfm?articleid=38349&dcn=e_gvet

Lawmakers probe health care staffing shortages at VA

By Brittany R. Ballenstedt
In the face of a critical shortage of health care professionals at the Veterans Health Administration, stronger incentives are needed to attract top talent into the workforce, group representatives told a House subcommittee Thursday.
"Shortages in health care staff threaten the VHA's ability to provide quality care and treatment to veterans," Joseph Wilson, assistant director of veterans affairs and rehabilitation for the American Legion, told the House Veterans' Affairs Subcommittee on Health.
By 2020, nurse and physician retirements are expected to create a shortage of about 24,000 physicians and almost 1 million nurses nationwide, according to government estimates. Further complicating the shortage is a lack of teaching faculty and classroom space in universities, which caused more than 42,000 qualified applicants to be turned away from nursing schools last year, the American Association of Colleges of Nursing reported separately.
Full story: http://www.govexec.com/story_page.cfm?articleid=38325&dcn=e_gvet

Navy wants under 1,000 sailors on new carriers

By Andrew Scutro - Staff writer
Posted : Monday Oct 22, 2007 8:34:26 EDT
The Navy wants to figure out a way to put an aircraft carrier to sea with a crew of fewer than 1,000 sailors.
Huh? Or better, how?
In an era when manpower costs devour 60 percent of annual Navy budgets, the service has been hard pressed not only to reduce its end strength so it can afford the ships and aircraft it wants, but to pare down crew sizes while making the most of each sailor.
The manning goals for future Navy warships are far below that of current surface combatants, with just 75 sailors expected to be aboard the Littoral Combat Ship and fewer than 150 crew members aboard the Zumwalt-class destroyers. Future submarine crews also are being optimized.
But when it comes to the next-generation aircraft carrier, the cuts may be more dramatic.
More at http://www.navytimes.com/news/2007/10/navy_optimalmanning_071019w/