Government Executive - Authors - Jim Garamone

Double-dip retirement measure may become law

Jim Garamone — Wed, 25 Sep 2002 00:00:00 -0400

A little-known pay measure, set to become law, could turn into a budget-busting problem for the Defense Department, officials said.

At issue is "concurrent receipt." If enacted, the legislation may cost DoD around $58 billion extra over the next decade.

Concurrent receipt is sometimes called "double dipping." Since the 1890s, Congress has prohibited the receipt of two pays for the same purpose. The specific instance of concurrent receipt at issue deals with Veterans Administration disability payments and military retirement.

Currently, military retirees who receive VA disability payments have their retired pay reduced dollar-for-dollar by the VA payment. So, for example, if retired pay is $1,000 a month and the VA disability payment is $500 a month, the member receives $1,000 per month-the entire VA payment and $500 in retired pay.

Retired pay is fully taxable; VA disability payments are not taxed.

Charles Abell, assistant defense secretary for force management policy, says the theory behind the current system is that if a service member completes military service and receives retired pay, and then also receives a VA payment for a condition related to that service, "it is two pays for the same event."

The government has always treated this as double dipping. According to a study commissioned by DoD, VA disability compensation is intended for veterans who separated from military service without retirement, but who suffered service-connected conditions that affect their earnings. Alternatively, service members "receiving military retired pay are considered to be fully compensated for their service, including any disability."

The concurrent receipt legislation, part of the fiscal 2003 National Defense Authorization Bill, would allow retirees receiving 60 percent disability or more to receive their full disability and their full retirement. Money spent on this, the Office of Management and Budget argues, would be better spent in developing warfighting capabilities.

The 10-year, $58 billion cost estimates floated by OMB and Congressional Budget Office are soft, Abell said. The amount is based on the idea that 700,000 to 800,000 veterans would qualify. The number could go as high as 1.2 million, he said.

"We don't know," Abell said. "Right now, some don't put in for this because there is no benefit to them. They might apply if there is a benefit." There are more than 25 million veterans in the United States.

DoD research shows that the small number of veterans who would benefit from such a repeal are already doing well financially, Abell said. He maintains that the money to pay the double-dip will have to come from accounts now going to readiness and quality of life programs.

"Active duty soldiers, sailors, airmen and Marines are going to live in substandard quarters and work in hangars where the roof leaks or try to perform the mission without all the spare parts they need because $58 billion will flow over to a group that, when measured against the American population at large, is certainly well-off," he said.

Abell said he could find nothing in the public or private sectors with a truly analogous pay situation.

DoD has made its position on concurrent receipt known to the House and Senate authorizers.

"In our view, this is not good government," Abell said. "We should know in the next 30 days what Congress will do. When the legislation gets to the White House, advisers will look at it and provide their recommendations to the president, and he'll decide what to do."

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Defense employees to move back into blasted area of the Pentagon

Jim Garamone — Tue, 30 Jul 2002 00:00:00 -0400

Less than a year after a hijacked airliner crashed into the Pentagon, the first tenants of the destroyed area will move back in, Defense officials said Monday.

As befitting their tradition, a Marine Corps office will move back into the E-ring office it occupied before Sept. 11, said Rachel Decker, a communications specialist with the Pentagon Renovation Plan. "It's the office they recovered the Marine flag from," she said.

The project is well ahead of schedule, Decker said. Other offices will move back in, although the schedule is not yet set, she said.

In rebuilding the area, Pentagon engineers incorporated many changes recommended by those who were in the area when American Airlines Flight 77 struck the building. One important change was placing lighting along the floor, so people crawling in thick smoke can find the exits. Another is placing walls around stairwells to contain fires and explosions.

Already in the plan was work to install sprinkler systems in the building. The plane struck at the junction of Wedge 1, which had sprinklers in place, and Wedge 2, which didn't. The sprinklers helped firefighters suppress the fire in Wedge 1, whereas fires in Wedge 2 took almost three days to put out.

Decker said work continues on other Pentagon renovation projects. The program has established a Universal Space Lab in a section of Wedge 2 to test new furniture, new ways of placing utilities and new safety measures.

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Pentagon seeking ideas for Sept. 11 memorial

Jim Garamone — Tue, 11 Jun 2002 00:00:00 -0400

Defense Department officials announced a competition Tuesday to choose a design for a memorial to honor those killed in the Pentagon terror attack nine months ago.

Shortly after the Sept. 11 attack, Congress authorized a memorial to those killed. The Army Corps of Engineers is in charge of the competition.

The memorial is set to be built on a two-acre plot near where the hijacked jet slammed into the building. The Corps team, working with family members of the victims and representatives of the services, looked at 10 sites before selecting this one.

"One of the family members said Sept. 11 chose the site," said Carol Anderson-Austra, the Corps project manager.

The competition is open to anyone. Anderson-Austra said the Corps is ready to receive any and all submissions "from schoolchildren, ... professional architects or truck drivers in Oklahoma or Kansas." The families of those killed are looking for "just the right idea," she said.

Rules for the competition will be on the Web at http://pentagonmemorial.nab.usace.army.mil. Entrants can also receive the rules by writing:

U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Baltimore District
Public Affairs Office
P.O. Box 1715
Baltimore, Md. 21203

Deadline for submission is Sept. 11, 2002, at 5 p.m. EDT. The Corps will appoint a jury to winnow down the entries. The jury will consist of six sculptors, architects and landscape architects; a representative from the victims' families; and two prominent citizens from the Washington, D.C. area.

Anderson-Austra said she expects thousands of entrants and is prepared for them. She said the Corps is not looking for final ideas and a blueprint, but rather an artistic idea. She expects that by mid-October the jury will select five or six designs for further work. By mid-December the jury will meet again and select its recommendation for a memorial.

Anderson-Austra could not say who will make the actual design selection.

The budget for the design and site work right now is $2 million. If all goes as planned, the memorial will be dedicated on the second anniversary of the attack-Sept. 11, 2003.

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Hundreds of thousands of service members sign up for TSP

Jim Garamone — Fri, 26 Apr 2002 00:00:00 -0400

The open season ran from Nov. 15 through Jan. 31, and more than 220,000 active and reserve component service members enrolled in the program. The next open season is May 15 through July 31.

"We thought maybe 10 percent of the active component would sign up in the first year--we had more than 10 percent sign up in just the first open season," said Army Lt. Col. Thomas Emswiler, executive director of the Armed Forces Tax Council.

Emswiler said officers and mid- to upper-level enlisted grades in particular signed up. "I'd like to see more junior members consider using the program," he said. "When you're young, start putting away $100 a month into the Thrift Savings Plan and it really can add up quite quickly."

He said he is particularly pleased with the response because TSP for military is a new program and the services are really just getting into their education programs on line.

Emswiler said all service members should have received a pamphlet entitled "Summary of the Thrift Savings Plan for the Uniformed Services." Those who did not receive it or lost it can go to the TSP Web site. The plan summary is on the site as well as frequently asked questions, forms, savings calculators and records of fund earnings.

He suggested service members speak to civilian employees about the program. "The civilian component has been participating in TSP for quite some time," he said. "(Service members) should talk to the civilian employees they work with and see what their experience has been with TSP. I think most people will conclude it's a very good option."

The TSP for military program works like this: Service members can contribute from 1 percent to 7 percent of basic pay and from 1 percent to 100 percent of any special, incentive or bonus pays. TSP has five funds with different investment goals and varying rates of return. Service members can place their money in any or all the funds they wish. There is an $11,000 limit for contributions this year.

Emswiler said the TSP is a way to save and invest money on a tax-deferred basis. That is, contributions and earnings are not reported as income until they're withdrawn from the plan. TSP is a government-run plan that has historically had good rates of return at a very low administrative cost.

"But every member has to decide for him or herself whether thrift savings or any other investment vehicle is the right option," he said.

The TSP funds are government securities G Fund; Standard and Poor's 500 common stock index C Fund; government and corporate bond index F Fund; international stock index I Fund; and Wilshire 4500 "small business" stock index S Fund. Only G Fund accounts are guaranteed by the government; all others are subject to market forces.

Military and civilian personnel who had traditional individual retirement accounts or employers' 401k accounts before they joined the federal service can maintain them if they want, "but you can transfer the accounts into the Thrift Savings Plan and then have just one account to manage," Emswiler said. This change took effect July 1, 2001. Visit the TSP Web site for full details and application forms.

He called TSP a "portable" savings program. "Even if you don't stay in the military for a career, your TSP account belongs to you," he said. "And if you do stay in the military for a career, then you'll have even more savings available for your retirement."

For more information on the TSP, see About the TSP on GovExec.com.

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Defense issues contract to fix financial systems

Jim Garamone — Thu, 11 Apr 2002 00:00:00 -0400

Pentagon officials chose an IBM-led team to develop a department-wide financial management enterprise architecture. The team will try to take more than 1,000 individual "feeder" systems and replace them with a more rational method of financial management, Defense comptroller Dov Zakheim said during a Pentagon briefing Wednesday.

Zakheim called the Pentagon's current financial system a disaster. "There is no way on God's Good Earth that (the present) system will lead to financial statements that pass any kind of muster with any auditors worth their salt," he said. "It is my fond hope that those financial systems will be reduced by 90 percent."

He said the activities that these 1,000 systems represent have to operate in a coherent, interrelated fashion. By reducing the number to 100, the systems could talk to each other to the extent that they have to.

The new system will give Defense decision makers reliable, accurate and timely financial management information. "That's how business decisions get made everywhere else," Zakheim said. "The Pentagon somehow got left behind some years ago."

The financial information needed runs the gamut. It is literally a product of every action the department takes from logistics and acquisition to personnel and health care. Having better, more timely information will allow defense leaders to be better stewards of taxpayers' money, Zakheim said.

He said the department would examine and define what measurements and information defense leaders need to do their jobs. Different metrics apply for different levels of activity -- the metrics for the secretary of defense, for instance, are not the same as those for a program manager, he said.

Choosing what's important to measure is key. "There are all kinds of metrics," he said. "In fact, we have already collected metrics that are used by the department at each level. We've even looked at metrics that industry uses that might compare to given parts of the department. … You want metrics? I'll give you metrics, but which ones are helpful? We expect the government/contractor team to come up with meaningful metrics."

The contract with IBM will cost the department between $50 million and $100 million. IBM, working with Defense comptroller officials, will develop the blueprint for the enterprise architecture through March 2003.

But transforming the system will take much longer. Zakheim said it is incredibly complicated to transform a system the size of the Defense Department. The schedule now calls for officials to validate the new system architecture blueprint by November 2003. They will then select and buy the software solutions and install them in prototype sites. Prototype testing will run through May 2005 and, if acceptable, that is when DoD would begin widespread software installations.

"In general, transformation has been viewed as new weapon systems or communications or even culture," Zakheim said. "Those are all important and accurate and key elements of transformation. But there's another one, too, and that's transforming the way we do business in this place."

He said he expects the department will save money in the effort. He pointed to late fees the department pays each year simply because a system was too complicated to pay a vendor on time. "That's money that could be spent on bullets," he said.

He said the services or defense agencies would be able to keep any money they save under the transformation.

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Rumsfeld says best way to thank troops is to fund budget

Jim Garamone — Thu, 14 Feb 2002 00:00:00 -0500

All Pentagon workers to receive training in responding to biochemical attacks

Jim Garamone — Fri, 08 Feb 2002 00:00:00 -0500

Pentagon attack victims' families get financial assistance

Jim Garamone — Thu, 03 Jan 2002 00:00:00 -0500

In one example, at a Dec. 27 Pentagon ceremony representatives of the United Association of Plumbers, Pipefitters and Sprinklerfitters donated a $250,000 check to the Pentagon Assistance Fund to help the families of victims.

Three organizations will disburse the money: Army Emergency Relief, the Navy-Marine Corps Relief Society and the Federal Employee Education and Assistance Fund. These groups do not solicit money, but following the Sept. 11 attacks, they were inundated by queries asking how people could help. All three set up funds.

Most of the money will go toward post-secondary education expenses for the children and spouses of those killed in the attacks. In some cases, funds will also go to those severely wounded in the attack and their children or spouses.

Army Emergency Relief has also received about $3.5 million from the Pentagon Victims' Fund. This will guarantee the college expenses of 31 children of those killed in the attack. "Two more children will be born shortly," said retired Col. Greg Mason, AER treasurer. "We will cover their post-secondary expenses, too."

Spouses of those killed in the attack will also have their expenses covered, Mason said, but that money will come from a different pot.

Army Emergency Relief also operates a similar family assistance system for the survivors of Army personnel killed during Operation Desert Storm.

The Navy-Marine Corps Relief Society also provides monetary help for Pentagon victims' families. The society has received more than $3.5 million. Most of this money will be used to fund education expenses.

"We've already paid the expenses for one widow's college expenses, and we are paying to put another widow through nursing school," said John Alexander, the society's communications director.

"This fall, one of the children will begin college and we will cover his expenses," he added.

There are 53 beneficiaries, Alexander said. This includes 21 widows and 32 soon-to-be-born children.

The Navy-Marine Corps Relief Society also administers the USS Cole Memorial Fund. That $1.2 million fund is earmarked for college expenses of 11 children.

The Federal Employee Education and Assistance Fund (FEEA) administers donations for the spouses and children of civilian employees killed in the Pentagon attack. To date, the fund has received more than $3 million. Officials estimate that about 65 people will receive money from the fund.

FEEA Executive Director Steve Bauer said civilian families' monetary needs are somewhat different than those of the families of military victims of the Pentagon attack.

"The civilian employees are older than the military personnel," Bauer explained, adding that the civilian employees' children "are older and the post-secondary funds need is more immediate."

Additionally, some federal employees died in the World Trade Center attack. Consequently, their families may draw from the FEEA fund.

FEEA also administers the fund for the children of federal civilians killed in the Oklahoma City bombing.

All three organizations helped the families of military and federal civilians killed at the Pentagon with immediate monies, such as family transportation and housing costs.

The Army and Navy groups also stand ready to help the families of sailors and Marines killed during Operation Enduring Freedom.

"If Navy and Marine personnel are killed in Afghanistan, for example, we will provide their survivors with the same benefits," Alexander said.

AER Treasurer Mason agreed with the idea. "We've been providing this service for 60 years," he said. "We are here to help any soldier in need."

If you wish to donate or just want more information, go to www.aerhq.org for Army Emergency Relief, www.nmcrs.org for the Navy-Marine Corps Relief Society and www.feea.org for the Federal Employee Education and Assistance Fund.

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Sixty years later, Pearl Harbor vet remembers day of infamy

Jim Garamone — Fri, 07 Dec 2001 00:00:00 -0500

George Phraner was a petty officer first class aboard the battleship USS Arizona. His battle station was a forward 5- inch gun. He had just gone topside to get some air after finishing breakfast when the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor started.

"Just as we left the mess area we heard this noise," he said in an oral history on a Web site for Pearl Harbor survivors. "We could hear and see there were airplanes. I looked across the bow of the ship and could see large plumes of smoke coming up from Ford Island."

He said he didn't comprehend at first that what he was seeing was an attack.

"It didn't mean anything to us until a large group of planes came near the ship and we could see for the first time the Rising Sun emblem on the plane wings," he said. "The bombing was becoming heavier all around us and we knew this was REALLY IT!" He headed for his gun when general quarters sounded.

"It was standard practice to keep only a limited amount of ammunition at the guns," Phraner said. "There we were, the Japanese dropping bombs over us and we had no ammo. All the training and practicing … and when the real thing came we had no ammunition where we needed it."

But this fact saved his life. His gun captain pointed to him and told him to go aft and bring up ammunition from the magazines.

"I remember getting these cases of ammo powder and shells weighing about 90 pounds each," he said. "I had begun lifting shells into the hoist when a deafening roar filled the room and the entire ship shuddered."

The explosion was the ship's forward magazines exploding after a hit by an armor-piercing Japanese bomb. "Only moments before, I stood with my gun crew just a few feet from the center of the explosion," Phraner said. "My whole gun crew was killed."

Phraner was in the dark, and smoke quickly filled the compartment. He was burned as he climbed up the ladders.

"Getting through that choking kind of smoke was a real ordeal--the kind of smoke that really hurt your lungs," he said. "After awhile, I began to get weak and lightheaded. I could feel myself losing the battle to save my own life. I hung to the ladder, feeling good. I felt that it was all right for me to let go."

But he looked up and saw a speck of light and he kept climbing.

"After what seemed to me like an eternity, I reached the deck gasping and choking. I lay down for a few moments," he said. "The warm Hawaiian air filled my lungs and cleared my head. I glanced over to the forward end of the ship to see nothing but a giant wall of flame and smoke. Behind me, a Marine lay dead on the deck, his body split in two. I began to realize there were dead men all around me."

The Arizona was doomed. Phraner abandoned ship, swam to Ford Island and would live to serve on other Navy ships throughout the Pacific War.

The Arizona remains where it sank and its stripped, sunken hull still seeps oil even after 60 years. It is the tomb of many of the 1,177 crewmembers known to have died the attack. The National Park Service operates a hall-like, 184-foot-long memorial building that sweeps over the ship's beam.

Contrary to popular legend, the USS Arizona is no longer in commission. As a special tribute to the ship and its lost crew, however, the Stars and Stripes fly from a flagpole attached to the ship's severed mainmast.

In 1998, another famous battleship docked near the Arizona Memorial, bringing a kind of closure to the Pearl Harbor experience. That fitting symbol was the USS Missouri. The Japanese boarded the Missouri in Tokyo Bay on Sept. 2, 1945, to sign the instruments of surrender.

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Pentagon expands danger and hardship pay zones

Jim Garamone — Mon, 05 Nov 2001 00:00:00 -0500

Charles Abell, assistant defense secretary for force management policy, sent two memos to the services that add a number of countries and adjacent seas to the imminent danger areas. Imminent danger pay is $150 per month. Service members need only spend one day in an imminent danger area during the month to receive this pay.

In one memo, dated Oct. 31, Abell added Kyrgyzstan, Oman, United Arab Emirates and Uzbekistan to the imminent danger areas. He also added the waters of the Red Sea, the Gulf of Aden and the Gulf of Oman. Service members serving on the Arabian Sea--north of 10 degrees north latitude and west of 68 degrees east longitude--will also receive the pay.

Since the memo is dated in October, service members in those areas will receive the pay if they spent any time in those countries during the month.

The memo designates Afghanistan, Pakistan and Tajikistan as hardship duty locations at the monthly rate of $100. It also lowers the hardship duty pay for Kyrgyzstan and Uzbekistan from $150 per month to $100 per month. Officials explained the rate was dropped because both imminent danger and hardship duty pay have personal security costs built in to them. Service members cannot be compensated twice for personal security reasons.

A separate memo--also dated Oct. 31--designates Indonesia, Malaysia and the Philippines as imminent danger areas for pay purposes.

Again, service members assigned to these areas will receive the $150 per month payment. The memo also reduces the current $150 per month hardship duty pay location allowance from $150 to $100 per month for service members in Jakarta, Surabaya and East Timor, Indonesia.

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Former Defense secretaries push for base closures

Jim Garamone — Tue, 16 Oct 2001 00:00:00 -0400

Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld has called for another round of closures beginning in 2003. The legislation, called the Efficient Facilities Initiative, is part of the DoD budget request for fiscal 2002.

The letter, signed by all the living former defense secretaries save Vice President Dick Cheney, underscores the need for further base closures. The signers are William S. Cohen, William J. Perry, Frank C. Carlucci, Caspar Weinberger, Harold Brown, James R. Schlesinger, Melvin Laird and Robert S. McNamara.

"While we understand the sensitivity of this effort, our support for another round is unequivocal in light of the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001," the former secretaries said in the letter. "The Defense Department must be allowed to review its existing infrastructure to ensure it is positioned to support our current and evolving force structure and our war fighting plans."

The Base Realignment and Closure Commission last announced closures in 1995. Since then, DoD has determined it has between 20 percent and 25 percent more infrastructure than it needs. Rumsfeld has said the money the department spends on this infrastructure could be more useful helping transform the U.S. military.

The former secretaries, many of who fought similar battles to close excess installations, agree. "We are concerned that the reluctance to close unneeded facilities is a drag on our military forces, particularly in an era when homeland security is being discussed as never before," the secretaries said in the letter. "The forces needed to defend bases that would otherwise be closed are forces unavailable for the campaign on terrorism."

They also said money spent on the unneeded installations takes away from equipment modernization.

The letter, dated Oct. 15, went to Sen. Carl Levin, chairman of the Senate Armed Forces Committee; Sen. John Warner, ranking member of the committee; Rep. Bob Stump, chairman of the House Armed Services Committee; and Rep. Ike Skelton, the ranking member of the committee. The former secretaries also made their letter available to committee conferees when they are chosen.

The Senate passed the Efficient Facilities Initiative in its version of the DoD budget. The House did not. Conferees from both houses will meet in conference starting tomorrow to reconcile the differences in the two bills.

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Joint Chiefs nominee calls for interagency cooperation

Jim Garamone — Thu, 27 Sep 2001 00:00:00 -0400

Pace, President Bush's nominee to be the next vice chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said the conventional capability of the United States is "untouchable" and must be maintained.

Pace currently heads U.S. Southern Command in Miami.

He said although U.S. officials knew that enemies would not likely attack the United States with conventional forces, "we obviously have not been able to understand the type of attack that would occur, like it did, nor to be properly positioned to defeat it."

He said now that the reality of the Sept. 11 attacks have sunk in, the U.S. military must work on how to prevent terrorist attacks in the future and how to disassemble the terrorist organizations. He said the United States must increase intelligence capability, whether for a combatant commander or in support of organizations like the FBI and other law enforcement agencies.

"We must have the eyes and ears, both forward-deployed and at home, to understand the environment in which we're working, and to understand the networks against which we are going to proceed," he said. The United States is also going to need "an interagency approach" when implementing presidential decisions.

"I think our system of deputies committee meetings, principals committees meetings, National Security Council meetings are very, very good at teeing up for the president the decisions that he makes," he said. But the execution side of the decisions, he continued, sometimes lack the necessary coordination between departments. He called these "stovepipe approaches."

"What comes to the State Department to do, they do; what comes to the Department of Defense, we do; without enough coordination at the top to ensure that all of our energies are being expended wisely and in synergy," he said. "And I believe that what we're going to need to do, and if confirmed, what I will strive to do as vice chairman, is to bring together the interagency here in Washington in a way that allows us to focus all the energy of this nation."

He said the military obviously would play a part in America's war against terrorist organizations. "There will be bombs dropped," he told the senators. Though purely military things will happen, the government will exert its enormous strength in ways that are outside the realm of DoD.

Nonetheless, DoD must understand how it plays and how it can support, Pace said. "A mechanism to make all that work smoothly and efficiently is going to be needed," he added.

The committee favorably reported on Pace's nomination. No date has been set yet for a confirmation vote in the full Senate.

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Air Force, Navy move to keep service members on the job

Jim Garamone — Tue, 25 Sep 2001 00:00:00 -0400

The Air Force has already implemented a stop-loss policy that will affect airmen for a one-month period beginning Oct. 2. Air Force officials will re-evaluate the situation at the end of that month.

The Navy will implement a limited program Oct. 10 affecting about 10,500 sailors in 11 specialties.

Stop-loss allows the Defense Department to involuntarily extend military members on active duty. Those subject to the order cannot retire or separate from the service. Exemptions include members being involuntarily discharged and those waived by their services because of specific circumstances.

Stop-loss also "freezes" reserve component personnel's status if they are currently on active duty or are called up in the future. For example, a reserve component member could not move to an inactive status.

The Army is not implementing stop-loss at this time. The Marine Corps is still working on its program and will announce it later. Coast Guard stop-loss plans are handled through the Transportation Department.

Stop-loss was invoked a decade ago for the Gulf War and in 1999 during Operation Allied Force over Yugoslavia. The authority to delegate stop-loss to the defense secretary was part of a 1990 presidential executive order still valid today.

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Rumsfeld names Defense operations that could be outsourced

Jim Garamone — Tue, 11 Sep 2001 00:00:00 -0400

Eliminating 31 of the 72 acquisition-related advisory boards.

Investing $400 million in public-private partnerships for military housing. Many utility services to military installations would also be privatized.

Tightening the requirements for other government agencies to reimburse the department for Defense detailees. The department is reviewing whether to suspend assignments where detailees are not fully reimbursed.

Committing $100 million for financial modernization.

Establishing a Defense Business Board to tap outside expertise to improve the department's business practices.

Rumsfeld said changing the bureaucracy to squeeze every cent out of new ideas and processes is a matter of national security. Defense needs the funds to modernize and transform the military, he said. "We must change for a simple reason: The world has, and we have not yet changed sufficiently," he said. "The clearest and most important transformation is from a bipolar Cold War world where threats were visible and predictable to one in which they arise from multiple sources -- most of which are difficult to anticipate and many of which are impossible even to know today." ]]>

Pentagon looks to reshape acquisition workforce

Jim Garamone — Mon, 20 Aug 2001 00:00:00 -0400

Pete Aldridge, undersecretary of defense for acquisition, technology and logistics, said this week that his office is developing a strategic plan to revitalize the quality and morale of the acquisition workforce.

"The purpose … is to start doing some human capital planning," said Rick Sylvester, deputy director of acquisition initiatives for systems acquisition. "In the military, they look at careers and missions and continuation rates, etc. We don't do that for civilians."

Aldridge's plan will look at areas where DoD may need more people--and fewer.

For instance, Aldridge said during an Aug. 15 meeting with reporters in the Pentagon, DoD will need more specialists in information technology and a workforce that understands the uses of information technology in the acquisition process. DoD will probably not need as many specialists in procuring traditional logistics items, he noted.

The strategic plan is a work in progress. "Part of it is tied to the Quadrennial Defense Review," Sylvester said. "We will continue to work with the services."

The average age of civilian acquisition workers today is 48. Many will become eligible to retire in the next five years, officials said. People generally have retired as soon as they are eligible, they said. The real problem is the lack of skilled, experienced staff to take their places, they said.

DoD will have to replace retirees by hiring across the breadth of age groups. During the 1990s drawdown, hiring freezes and attrition caused the workforce's average age to rise as younger, lower-graded employees were promoted but not replaced. A drove of retirements would ravage the workforce's middle and upper management, so the department cannot solve the workforce problem by simply hiring young people to fill lower positions, officials said.

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Defense poised to defend against 'Code Red' worm

Jim Garamone — Wed, 01 Aug 2001 00:00:00 -0400

Base closure legislation expected before August recess

Jim Garamone — Tue, 31 Jul 2001 00:00:00 -0400

Bush touts military innovation, entrepreneurship

Jim Garamone — Tue, 29 May 2001 00:00:00 -0400

"We must build forces based upon the revolutionary advances in the technology of war that will allow us to keep the peace by redefining war on our terms," Bush said in Annapolis, Md. Bush also told the new ensigns and Marine second lieutenants that he is committed to rewarding visionary thinking.

Bush pledged to build a future force that is defined less by size and more by mobility and swiftness. That force will be easier to deploy and sustain and relies heavily on U.S. advantages in stealth, precision weaponry and information technologies.

Bush forecast that the President in 2016 may call upon Aegis destroyers to defend continents from ballistic missile attacks or modified Trident submarines carrying hundreds of next generation smart cruise missiles or agile Marine task forces ready to deploy with far greater speed, operational reach and precision.

"Building tomorrow's force will not be easy," he said. "Changing the direction of our military is like changing the direction of a mighty ship. All the more reason for research and development and all the more reason to get started right away."

But new technologies need new ideas and, more importantly, a willingness to experiment, Bush said. "We cannot transform our military using old weapons and old plans. Nor can we do it with an old mindset that frustrates the creativity and entrepreneurship that a 21st Century military will need."

Bush said creativity and imaginative thinking are America's great competitive advantages. "Today, I call upon you to seize and to join this tradition of creativity and innovation," he said to the graduating midshipmen. "Our national and military leaders owe you a culture that supports innovation and a system that rewards it."

He said officers in a 21st Century U.S. military must think "big thoughts" and examine new approaches to problems. "If you pick up this mantle some of your ideas may fail, but we need to give you this freedom and we will," Bush said. "It is from your failures that we will learn and acquire the knowledge that will make successful innovation possible.

"As President I am committed to fostering a military culture where intelligent risk-taking and forward thinking are rewarded, not dreaded," he continued. "And I'm committed to ensuring that visionary leaders that take risks are recognized and promoted."

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Cooling economy doesn't help military recruiting much

Jim Garamone — Thu, 10 May 2001 00:00:00 -0400

Despite fierce competition, Defense still attracts more than 300,000 well-qualified young men and women each year. "The services all meet the quality standards of high school graduate status and upper mental groups," Tracey said.

She said the department expects to meet end-strength figures for all components except the Air Force, Air National Guard and Air Force Reserve. There is also some concern about end-strength for the Naval Reserve.

Tracey said three factors combine to make recruiting tough. Ironically, all three factors are good for the country "and we shouldn't wish it to be otherwise--but it certainly makes recruiting a little bit more difficult than it has been," she said.

First, unemployment is low, though increasing of late. Traditionally, the military has had a hard time getting recruits during boom times. "Youngsters of the caliber we are looking for have lots of other options," she said.

Second, the United States is at peace. "That's something the military should take great credit for. We won the Cold War, and as a consequence people don't feel threatened as they had in the past," she said. At the same time, the need for an armed force is less clear. "It's harder for people to understand why military service matters right now."

Finally, 80 percent of high school graduates indicate a desire to go to college and two-thirds do enroll.

"Youngsters know the lifetime earnings of college graduates are much higher than those of high school students," she said. "We see colleges as our biggest competition." The military knows how to recruit high-quality people from high schools, but recruiting from colleges is a learning experience, Tracey said.

Defense also is going to have to go after those young people who start college, but who don't finish for one reason or another, she said.

"The enrollment rate has climbed very rapidly over the last 10 years, but the graduation rate ... has not," she said. "A high percentage of youngsters start college and can't quite stay on track to finish it." There may be ways Defense can work with colleges and universities to get the word of Defense opportunities to those students.

"Recruiting a large percentage of our initial enlistment population from the college dropout market will also be a bit of a concern because we're talking about high-quality kids who disappointed themselves in their first adult choice," she said. "We need to have thought through how to deal with them. We need to be prepared in both initial entry training and the technical schools to restore a sense of self-confidence."

Tracey mentioned other resources Defense is using to good effect to attract quality recruits. Education programs and enlistment bonuses for certain specialties continue to be among the programs the services use to attract recruits. In addition, Defense and the services are spending more on advertising.

They are also changing how they advertise, such as targeting advertising to specific areas and increasing their use of the Internet as a vehicle for advertising. Perhaps most importantly, service and joint advertising has begun to emphasize the intrinsic value of military service rather than the benefits.

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White House: Defense budget increases must wait, but pay raise safe

Jim Garamone — Mon, 05 Feb 2001 00:00:00 -0500

The fiscal 2002 defense request "will be a lean budget," Fleischer said. Still, the pay raise for service members that President Bush promised when he was campaigning for the office seems safe.

The 2002 budget submission "will reflect the President's campaign promises to increase the pay for the military" and to improve their housing, Fleischer said.

"But, beyond that, the President thinks the wise approach to take is for the Pentagon to figure out long-term what its strategic needs are before we simply start to throw money in the direction of defense," he added.

Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld alluded to the review during his confirmation hearings in January. Pentagon spokesman Rear Adm. Craig Quigley said the Secretary fully agrees with the president's desire to conduct the review.

"The Secretary certainly shares the President's vision of a need to take a holistic look at our strategy, the capabilities to carry out that strategy as a nation and the defense department's piece in that overall strategy," Quigley said at a Feb. 1 news conference.

The review may be part of the congressionally mandated Quadrennial Defense Review, now underway, or it may be separate, Quigley said.

Rumsfeld does not have a specific plan to conduct the review, Quigley said, but expects to announce one soon. "It will be a near-term issue, but we're not there yet," he said.

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Pentagon leaders brush up on ‘Rumsfeld’s Rules’

Jim Garamone — Thu, 25 Jan 2001 00:00:00 -0500

Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld has distilled the lessons of almost 50 years of service in a 19-page handout. In the short introduction, Rumsfeld said he developed the rules from his service as White House chief of staff, Defense Secretary, naval aviator and ambassador. He also applied lessons he learned in business.

Here are some of Rumsfeld's Rules:

"Don't accept the post or stay unless you have an understanding with the President that you're free to tell him what you think 'with the bark off,' and you have the courage to do it.
"Be precise. A lack of precision is dangerous when the margin of error is small."
"Learn to say, "I don't know." If used when appropriate, it will be often."
"It is easier to get into something than to get out of it."
"If you are not criticized, you may not be doing much."
"Keep your sense of humor. As [World War II Army] Gen. Joseph Stilwell said, 'The higher a monkey climbs, the more you see of his behind.'"
"Don't 'overcontrol' like a novice pilot. Stay loose enough from the flow that you can observe, calibrate and refine."
"If in doubt, move decisions up to the President."
"Look for what's missing. Many advisers can tell a President how to improve what's proposed or what's gone amiss. Few are able to see what isn't there."
"Public servants are paid to serve the American people. Do it well."
"Beware when any idea is promoted primarily because it is 'bold, exciting, innovative and new.' There are many ideas that are 'bold, exciting, innovative and new,' but also foolish."
"Watch for the 'not invented here' syndrome."
"The Secretary of Defense is not a super general or admiral. His task is to exercise civilian control over the department for the commander-in-chief and the country."
"Reserve the right to get into anything and exercise it. Make your deputies and staff realize that, although many responsibilities are delegated, no one should be surprised when the Secretary engages an important issue."
"Avoid public spats. When a department argues with other government agencies in the press, it reduces the President's options."
"Establish good relations between the departments of Defense, State, the National Security Council, the CIA and the Office of Management and Budget."
"Develop a personal relationship with the chairman and each of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. They are almost always outstanding public servants. In time of crisis, those relationships can be vital."
"Treat each federal dollar as if you had earned it."
"If you develop rules, never have more than 10."

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New military housing allowance rates among largest in history

Jim Garamone — Fri, 29 Dec 2000 00:00:00 -0500

"The range of the rates will go up from 12 to 17 percent," said Bernard Rostker, undersecretary of defense for personnel and readiness. "The average increase will be 14.5 percent."

Officials said this is among the largest increase in history. The new BAH rates are online here.

While no one will see their rates decrease, some 25 percent of the BAH rates will not increase, Rostker said, but that involves only 11 percent of the BAH population. Around 748,000 service members receive the allowance. AFRTS Radio Report: "Pentagon announces new BHA rates for 2001"

"What this means is an E-5 will be taking an extra $100 per month home," said Alphonso Maldon Jr., assistant defense secretary for force management policy. "That's pretty significant in terms of putting discretionary money back in the pockets of service members."

The raise in the rates is partly due to DoD taking a hard look at how officials set the rates and "setting them in a more equitable and responsive fashion," Rostker said.

As part of the change, DoD has permanently provided for individual rate protection. "If you're in an area and the survey would show the rate has gone down you will still get the old rate," Rostker said. "We've also provided for geographic rate protection. This means if a new service member moves into the area they will get the same rate you get. We will not have two rates in an area at the same time."

The 2001 allowance hike is part of Defense Secretary William S. Cohen's effort to improve service members' quality of life. The Cohen Initiative aims to eliminate service members paying for housing and utilities out-of- pocket by fiscal 2005. In fiscal 2001, service members will pay out-of-pocket 15 percent. In fiscal 2000, it was 18 percent.

The increase in the allowance will also make military housing privatization more attractive. With a greater cash flow, more contractors will be drawn to the program, Rostker said. The privatization program, started in fiscal 1996, is designed to speed up the refurbishment of existing quarters and the construction of new housing.

DoD officials have estimated the old military construction system would take 30 years to deal with the 180,000 substandard housing units DoD has today. They've estimated the privatization program can work off the backlog in 10 years.

While the Basic Allowance for Housing program is only offered stateside, there is some spillover effect overseas. The housing privatization program uses private contractor money to operate. This frees up military construction funds and some of that money has gone to projects in Germany and Korea.

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DoD housing privatization program continued

Jim Garamone — Thu, 28 Dec 2000 00:00:00 -0500

The act extends housing privatization authority through Dec. 31, 2004. Without that extension, the effort -- just now hitting high gear -- would have ended Feb. 2001.

"It's a straight-up extension of the existing authorities," said Randall Yim, deputy undersecretary of defense for installations.

The program, started in fiscal 1996, is designed to speed up the refurbishment of existing quarters and the construction of new housing. DoD officials have estimated the old military construction system would take 30 years to deal with the 180,000 substandard housing units DoD has today. They've estimated the privatization program can work off the backlog in 10 years.

Under the basic program, private companies build or refurbish and then manage family housing units. DoD generally would invest up to 25 percent of the cost of a project, and contractors borrow the rest from financial institutions.

Yim said the privatization program's slow start can be attributed to its complexity and newness.

"It reflected how new of a construct this was," he said. "We had to get both the installation commanders as well as private industry comfortable and convinced that these new techniques would actually work."

He said DoD had to work with all parties to prove the services' long-term commitment to the housing privatization path. Congress has approved many privatization projects in the past year, and there also have been several groundbreakings, Yim said.

Work in Texas and Colorado is demonstrating the program works, he said. At Fort Hood, Texas, for instance, Army officials are scheduled by the end of the year to complete negotiations with private companies on a community development plan. Officials at Fort Carson, Colo., he noted, cut the ribbon on their first new houses under the program Oct. 31.

"It's a different contracting mechanism," Yim said. "We're not just building houses. We're entering into long-term deals to manage the houses. This includes not only the day- to-day maintenance, but recapitalization -- the building of a reserve for a new roof or other major capital repairs."

DoD is somewhat behind on housing revitalization but the idea, he said, "is to stay on track as close as possible to the 2010 goal of eliminating substandard family housing."

Yim said the 2001 increase in members' basic allowance for housing would help fund some construction projects. "Deals are going to 'pencil out' better for the private sector. It's going be easier to get quality companies to participate because the profit will be there," he said. The hope, he noted, is to get better quality homes that are built faster.

While the privatization program is limited to the United States, it has a spillover effect on overseas housing. Yim said privatization's leverage frees up military construction dollars that the services could use overseas. He said the Army, for example, has applied some of its dollars to housing in Europe and Korea, where the privatization authority isn't relevant.

Here are the latest privatization projects:

Projects awarded

Fort Carson, Colo. -- 2,663 units
Naval Air Station Corpus Christi, Texas -- 404
Naval Station Everett (Phase 1), Wash. -- 185
NAS Kingsville, Texas -- 150
Dyess AFB, Tex. -- 402
Lackland Air Force Base, Texas -- 420
Robins AFB, Ga. -- 670
Camp Pendleton, Calif. -- 712
Total units, 5,606

Projects in solicitation

Fort Hood, Texas -- 6,631
Fort Lewis, Wash. -- 3,589
Fort Meade, Md. 3,170
Elmendorf AFB, Alaska -- 780
Kirtland AFB, N.M. -- 1,890
Goodfellow AFB, Texas -- 258
NS Everett (Phase 2), Wash. -- 288
NS San Diego -- 3,248
South Texas Regional Housing -- 661
NAS New Orleans -- 935
Marine Corps Logistics Base Albany, Ga. -- 114
Stewart Army Subpost, New Windsor, N.Y. -- 200
Total -- 21,764

Planned projects

Fort Bragg, N.C. -- 6,066
Fort Campbell, Ky. -- 5,222
Fort Stewart/Hunter, Ga. -- 3,273
Presidio of Monterey, Calif. -- 1,713
Patrick AFB, Fla. -- 960
Wright-Patterson AFB, Ohio -- 1,536
McGuire AFB, N.J. -- 999
Tinker AFB, Okla. -- 730
Dover AFB, Del. -- 450
Little Rock AFB, Ark. -- 1,535
Vandenberg AFB, Calif. -- 506
Moody AFB, Ga. -- 696
Offutt AFB, Neb. -- 2,580
Charleston AFB, S.C. -- 488
Hill AFB, Utah -- 1,116
Hampton Roads Regional Housing, Va. -- 80
Marine Corps Air Station Beaufort/MCRD Parris Island, S.C. -- 684
Total -- 28,634

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Defense Department launches A-76 Web portal

Jim Garamone — Mon, 04 Dec 2000 00:00:00 -0500

The SHARE A-76! Web site is "one-stop shopping for A-76 information," said Annie L. Andrews, assistant director for competitive sourcing and privatization.

In A-76 competitions, in-house and the private sector compete to in order to be the selected service provider. The two factions have split competitions about 50-50 over the years, but the process continues to provide savings to DoD and the taxpayers regardless of who is selected as the service provider, Andrews said.

She called SHARE A-76! a 'Knowledge Management Site' that links to internal and external Web sites having anything to do with A-76. This is important for field technicians and employees involved in the cost comparison process, she said, because the process isn't easy to learn and most people go through it only once.

Andrews hopes the field will use the Web site as a means to share best practices. She said one force behind the Web site is to encourage technicians to submit good ideas about performing cost comparisons so technicians throughout DoD can learn from experience.

Prime contractor Arthur Andersen has been developing the site for the past year at a cost under $800,000.

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Cohen orders inquiry into military absentee balloting

Jim Garamone — Thu, 30 Nov 2000 00:00:00 -0500

news conference Nov. 28. He said Cohen asked the IG to examine the process and recommend any changes to make it "more efficient, more fair, more inclusive and to make it easier." In his instructions, Cohen asked the IG to examine current procedures for handling military ballots, standard cancellation and postmarking, and how those procedures are actually implemented. One problem that disqualified military absentee ballots in Florida, for instance, was that they arrived without a postmark. Postmarks indicate where and when a piece of mail was sent. DoD postal regulations require all mail be postmarked, including postage-free mail such as absentee ballots. Military Postal Service Agency officials said the IG will obviously look into why so many ballots arrived without postmarks. "Your review will serve as a basis for any changes that can and should be implemented by DoD in order to ensure that the voting rights of all U.S. military personnel are respected and that everything possible will be done to make sure that every vote counts," Cohen said in his written instructions to the IG. There is no timetable for the IG to deliver a report. ]]>