Farewell

After 11 years, at least 300 cover stories, and a few thousand articles, today marks my last as a reporter at Federal Times. This afternoon, I will move over to our sister paper, Air Force Times, where I will cover Air Force personnel issues. The pay and benefits beat is now in the exceptionally skilled hands of Sean Reilly, and if you’d like, you can follow my Air Force Times coverage at my Twitter feed.

I’m excited to have this opportunity to cover the military, and write about all new issues at a time of unprecedented change for our armed forces. But I’m also a little sad to leave a paper and community that’s been such a big part of my life for more than a decade. So before I go, I’d like to tell all our federal readers thank you. Thank you for reading my stories, and thank you for what you do. Especially during these tough times, the nation needs people to care for veterans, guard the borders, fight wildfires, ensure our food is safe, deliver mail, and perform countless other vital tasks.

I’d especially like to thank the hundreds of federal employees across the country who have shared their thoughts and opinions with me over the years. Federal Times strongly believes that agency directors and congressmen aren’t the only people whose voices deserve to be heard, and it’s been important to us to include your voices in our articles — even though we know you’re often told not to talk to the media. Again, thank you for allowing me to tell your stories.

Whether writing about problems with the Defense Department’s ill-fated pay-for-performance system, the government’s sluggish pension processing, or contracting misconduct by U.S. Postal Service executives, I hope I’ve been able to have a positive effect on the federal community. It’s been an honor to help keep you informed.