By Army Staff Sgt. Michael J. Carden
Sept. 3, 2008
Hurricane Katrina provided valuable lessons three years ago that local, state and federal response agencies along the Gulf Coast were able to put to work for Hurricane Gustav this week, Army National Guardsmen providing relief efforts here said yesterday.
Tables and charts citing those lessons are posted in unit headquarters all across Mississippi. Though Hurricane Gustav was weaker than expected when it hit the shores of the Gulf Coast early Labor Day morning, the National Guard was ready, Army Sgt. Michael Webb of the Mississippi National Guard said.
“The planning was a lot better this time,” Webb said. “Every battalion in the state had a plan and knew exactly what they had to do. Even if Gustav had been as bad [as] or worse than Katrina, we were 10 times more prepared.”
http://www.defenselink.mil/news/newsarticle.aspx?id=51016
Thursday, September 4, 2008
OPM criticizes proposal for a compressed work week
By Brittany R. Ballenstedt
September 3, 2008
The Office of Personnel Management opposes a proposal by House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer to create a four-day, 40-hour work week for federal employees.
A compressed schedule would hurt the government's ability to provide essential services and weaken national security, OPM acting Director Michael Hager wrote in a letter to the Maryland Democrat. Homeland security and intelligence operations, for instance, must run around the clock, Hager stated.
He also expressed concern that some employees could find the new hours burdensome. Many care for young children or aging adults, he said, making it difficult for them to work longer days. Others depend on mass transit or carpools, he noted.
http://www.govexec.com/dailyfed/0908/090308b1.htm
September 3, 2008
The Office of Personnel Management opposes a proposal by House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer to create a four-day, 40-hour work week for federal employees.
A compressed schedule would hurt the government's ability to provide essential services and weaken national security, OPM acting Director Michael Hager wrote in a letter to the Maryland Democrat. Homeland security and intelligence operations, for instance, must run around the clock, Hager stated.
He also expressed concern that some employees could find the new hours burdensome. Many care for young children or aging adults, he said, making it difficult for them to work longer days. Others depend on mass transit or carpools, he noted.
http://www.govexec.com/dailyfed/0908/090308b1.htm
Bush signs sole-survivor benefits bill
By Rick Maze
September 2, 2008
President Bush on Friday signed into law an expansion of military benefits to sole surviving members of a military family who decide to leave the military.
The law applies retroactively to sole surviving members of families in which one or more siblings were killed or severely injured in the military. It is called the Hubbard Act, named for an Iraq war veteran, Jason Hubbard, who took an early discharge from the Army after two of his brothers were killed in Iraq. Because his discharge left him several months short of completing the three-year enlistment for which he had signed up, the combat veteran was denied some benefits.
http://www.navytimes.com/news/2008/08/military_solesurvivor_bush_082908w/
September 2, 2008
President Bush on Friday signed into law an expansion of military benefits to sole surviving members of a military family who decide to leave the military.
The law applies retroactively to sole surviving members of families in which one or more siblings were killed or severely injured in the military. It is called the Hubbard Act, named for an Iraq war veteran, Jason Hubbard, who took an early discharge from the Army after two of his brothers were killed in Iraq. Because his discharge left him several months short of completing the three-year enlistment for which he had signed up, the combat veteran was denied some benefits.
http://www.navytimes.com/news/2008/08/military_solesurvivor_bush_082908w/
Bush Praises Cooperation in Hurricane Response
By Jim Garamone
September 1, 2008
Cooperation among federal, state, local governments and non-governmental agencies has been much better as Hurricane Gustav hit the Gulf Coast than it was when Hurricane Katrina hit in 2005, emergency officials said.
Speaking in Austin, Texas, today, President Bush praised the governors of Alabama, Louisiana, Mississippi and Texas, saying “there was clearly a spirit of sharing assets, of listening to somebody's problems and saying, how can we best address them?”
Bush said the federal government is very much involved in assisting the states. Gustav stormed ashore in Louisiana this morning. More than 2 million people evacuated their homes in advance of the storm that killed 84 people in the Caribbean.
http://www.defenselink.mil/news/newsarticle.aspx?id=50997
September 1, 2008
Cooperation among federal, state, local governments and non-governmental agencies has been much better as Hurricane Gustav hit the Gulf Coast than it was when Hurricane Katrina hit in 2005, emergency officials said.
Speaking in Austin, Texas, today, President Bush praised the governors of Alabama, Louisiana, Mississippi and Texas, saying “there was clearly a spirit of sharing assets, of listening to somebody's problems and saying, how can we best address them?”
Bush said the federal government is very much involved in assisting the states. Gustav stormed ashore in Louisiana this morning. More than 2 million people evacuated their homes in advance of the storm that killed 84 people in the Caribbean.
http://www.defenselink.mil/news/newsarticle.aspx?id=50997
OMB will require agencies to use Networx
By Gautham Nagesh
August 29, 2008
A memorandum released by the Office of Management and Budget on Thursday effectively requires agencies to make use of the General Services Administration's new Networx telecommunications contract. Agencies deciding not to use Networx must conduct extensive analysis to justify their decision.
Comment on this article in The Forum.The memo, signed by Karen Evans, administrator for e-government and information technology at OMB, stated: "Agencies shall use the General Service Administration Networx contract to satisfy requirements currently being met via the FTS2001 contract." According to the memo, the decision to require Networx was based on a cost-benefit analysis OMB and the Federal Chief Information Officers Council conducted.
http://www.nextgov.com/nextgov/ng_20080829_1382.php
August 29, 2008
A memorandum released by the Office of Management and Budget on Thursday effectively requires agencies to make use of the General Services Administration's new Networx telecommunications contract. Agencies deciding not to use Networx must conduct extensive analysis to justify their decision.
Comment on this article in The Forum.The memo, signed by Karen Evans, administrator for e-government and information technology at OMB, stated: "Agencies shall use the General Service Administration Networx contract to satisfy requirements currently being met via the FTS2001 contract." According to the memo, the decision to require Networx was based on a cost-benefit analysis OMB and the Federal Chief Information Officers Council conducted.
http://www.nextgov.com/nextgov/ng_20080829_1382.php
Program Ensures Reserve Component Medical Readiness
By Navy Lt. Jennifer Cragg
August 29, 2008
The Reserve Health Readiness Program ensures that reserve-component servicemembers have the ability and access to meet their deployment requirements, the program’s director said yesterday.
“The program was designed to supplement the reserve component readiness mission, and to add another resource that they could tap into to have these services done so they could satisfy their deployment requirements,” U.S. Public Health Service Cmdr. Diedre Presley, program manager of the RHRP, said during a “Dot Mil Docs” radio program on BlogTalkRadio.com.
http://www.defenselink.mil/news/newsarticle.aspx?id=50988
August 29, 2008
The Reserve Health Readiness Program ensures that reserve-component servicemembers have the ability and access to meet their deployment requirements, the program’s director said yesterday.
“The program was designed to supplement the reserve component readiness mission, and to add another resource that they could tap into to have these services done so they could satisfy their deployment requirements,” U.S. Public Health Service Cmdr. Diedre Presley, program manager of the RHRP, said during a “Dot Mil Docs” radio program on BlogTalkRadio.com.
http://www.defenselink.mil/news/newsarticle.aspx?id=50988
Agencies progress in identifying, consolidating IT infrastructure
By Gautham Nagesh
August 28, 2008
With a deadline looming for agencies to submit plans on how they could consolidate their computer networks and standardize the applications that support agency operations, officials hope the blueprints will lead to lower costs, improve agency collaboration and reduce the government's energy footprint.
Comment on this article in The Forum.The General Services Administration has asked agencies to submit by Sept. 30 five-year plans for how they will purchase information technology equipment and services. GSA plans to use the reports in the IT infrastructure line of business initiative to find common purchases and applications that can be consolidated, including mainframe computers, PCs, software and wireless communications.
http://www.nextgov.com/nextgov/ng_20080828_1071.php
August 28, 2008
With a deadline looming for agencies to submit plans on how they could consolidate their computer networks and standardize the applications that support agency operations, officials hope the blueprints will lead to lower costs, improve agency collaboration and reduce the government's energy footprint.
Comment on this article in The Forum.The General Services Administration has asked agencies to submit by Sept. 30 five-year plans for how they will purchase information technology equipment and services. GSA plans to use the reports in the IT infrastructure line of business initiative to find common purchases and applications that can be consolidated, including mainframe computers, PCs, software and wireless communications.
http://www.nextgov.com/nextgov/ng_20080828_1071.php
Contractors make up one fourth of intelligence workforce
By Pamela Hess
August 27, 2008
More than a quarter of the U.S. intelligence agencies' employees are outside contractors, hired to fill in gaps in the military and civilian work force, according to a survey of the 16 intelligence agencies.
That is roughly on par with last year's total, the first year the national intelligence director's office tried to count the outside help, Ronald Sanders, the intelligence director's human resource chief, told reporters Wednesday.
The number of government employees at U.S. intelligence agencies is classified, but Sanders confirmed it is more than 100,000. Contractors are not included in that total. Sanders said 27 percent of the total number of intelligence employees are contractors. With around 100,000 as a baseline, that translates to an estimated 35,000 to 40,000 private contractors working for agencies like the CIA and the National Security Agency.
http://www.govexec.com/dailyfed/0808/082708ap2.htm
August 27, 2008
More than a quarter of the U.S. intelligence agencies' employees are outside contractors, hired to fill in gaps in the military and civilian work force, according to a survey of the 16 intelligence agencies.
That is roughly on par with last year's total, the first year the national intelligence director's office tried to count the outside help, Ronald Sanders, the intelligence director's human resource chief, told reporters Wednesday.
The number of government employees at U.S. intelligence agencies is classified, but Sanders confirmed it is more than 100,000. Contractors are not included in that total. Sanders said 27 percent of the total number of intelligence employees are contractors. With around 100,000 as a baseline, that translates to an estimated 35,000 to 40,000 private contractors working for agencies like the CIA and the National Security Agency.
http://www.govexec.com/dailyfed/0808/082708ap2.htm
Wednesday, August 27, 2008
Skelton Calls On Next Administration to Address National Security Challenges
August 19, 2008
WASHINGTON, DC – House Armed Services Committee Chairman Ike Skelton (D-MO) called on the next administration to work with Congress to address the national security challenges that confront America today and in the years ahead.
“No matter which Presidential candidate American voters choose in November, we need to begin planning now for the issues our country must focus on when the new President begins to govern. All areas of American policy present challenges, but the challenges in the national security arena are particularly acute and critical to the nation,” said Skelton.
http://armedservices.house.gov/apps/list/press/armedsvc_dem/SkeltonDefenseChallenges081908.shtml
WASHINGTON, DC – House Armed Services Committee Chairman Ike Skelton (D-MO) called on the next administration to work with Congress to address the national security challenges that confront America today and in the years ahead.
“No matter which Presidential candidate American voters choose in November, we need to begin planning now for the issues our country must focus on when the new President begins to govern. All areas of American policy present challenges, but the challenges in the national security arena are particularly acute and critical to the nation,” said Skelton.
http://armedservices.house.gov/apps/list/press/armedsvc_dem/SkeltonDefenseChallenges081908.shtml
Skelton on the Principles for a National Strategy
August 1, 2008
Washington, DC – House Armed Services Committee Chairman Ike Skelton (D-MO) released the fifth in a series of speeches concerning the need for a comprehensive strategy to advance U.S. interests. Attached please find Skelton’s remarks as prepared for delivery:
“I rise to speak about how the United States can best advance its national interests by adopting a new strategy. In my prior speeches, I have asserted that we currently lack an effective strategy and that the next President should engage in a focused effort, in concert with Congress and the American people, to identify and adopt a new strategy early in his Administration. I have noted that we live in a time when the U.S. is the world’s preeminent power, but also in a time when transnational events are increasingly significant and in which several large nations, and some entire regions of the world, are returning to prominence. All of this stresses the international system.
http://armedservices.house.gov/apps/list/press/armedsvc_dem/skeltonpr080108.shtml
Washington, DC – House Armed Services Committee Chairman Ike Skelton (D-MO) released the fifth in a series of speeches concerning the need for a comprehensive strategy to advance U.S. interests. Attached please find Skelton’s remarks as prepared for delivery:
“I rise to speak about how the United States can best advance its national interests by adopting a new strategy. In my prior speeches, I have asserted that we currently lack an effective strategy and that the next President should engage in a focused effort, in concert with Congress and the American people, to identify and adopt a new strategy early in his Administration. I have noted that we live in a time when the U.S. is the world’s preeminent power, but also in a time when transnational events are increasingly significant and in which several large nations, and some entire regions of the world, are returning to prominence. All of this stresses the international system.
http://armedservices.house.gov/apps/list/press/armedsvc_dem/skeltonpr080108.shtml
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