The Partnership for Public Service released a report this morning containing advice for the next president from chief human capital officers. The Partnership surveyed 54 CHCOs, and their deputies, and solicited opinions on several topics: pay scales, telework, and the effectiveness of their HR staffs, to name a few. (The complete report, in PDF form, is here.) Two of the most interesting conclusions: First, a clear majority of the respondents favored eliminating the General Schedule pay scale; just 14 percent thought it should be retained: Second, more than half of the respondents view their human resources staffers largely as “transaction…
We all know that the Capitol Visitor Center was three years behind schedule and nearly $400 million over budget. But for all that extra time and money, you would have thought someone would have made sure Congress got its facts straight. Engraved in the center’s walls is the saying “E Pluribus Unum,†Latin for “from many, one.†The carving is described as the national motto, but it’s not. A 1956 act of Congress made the nation’s official motto “In God We Trust.†Sen. Jim DeMint, R-S.C., has raised a ruckus over the failure to include the nation’s official motto and the Pledge…
Defense Secretary Robert Gates pledged to give more personal attention to procurement and acquisition challenges as he continues his work under the Obama administration. Here is what he had to say during a media briefing yesterday: I suppose it should go without saying, but I have no intention of being a caretaker secretary. Our challenges, from the budget to acquisition and procurement reform, war strategy, care of wounded warriors, meeting the needs of warfighters, decisions on important modernization and capitalization projects and more, all demand the personal attention of the secretary of Defense and they will get it. When asked…
Citizenship and Immigration Services has a new director for the third time this year. Jonathan Scharfen announced his resignation today; Scharfen has been the acting director since Emilio Gonzalez left the top job back in April. He’ll be replaced by Michael Aytes, a longtime career staffer who’s currently the acting deputy director. Aytes is also the staffer who was designated to lead the agency between Inauguration Day and the confirmation of a new director. In a memo to employees last week, Scharfen said he was leaving the agency for “new professional challenges in the private sector”; no word on where…
In a late-term executive order that has a major union crying foul, President Bush has excluded about 1,500 employees of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives from collective bargaining. In the Dec. 1 order, Bush listed 37 agencies or offices, including ATF, that “have as a primary function intelligence, counterintelligence, investigative or national security work.” National security requirements mean employees at those agencies cannot have collective bargaining rights, Bush said. The National Treasury Employees Union, which represents ATF employees, called the order outrageous and unjustified, and promised to work to overturn Bush’s move. NTEU President Colleen Kelley said there is no…
Homeland Security secretary Michael Chertoff sat down with reporters from Federal Times this morning to share his thoughts on the transition, the department’s big programs, and its progress over the last six years. Chertoff gave high marks to the Obama administration’s secretary-designate, Janet Napolitano; he’s known Napolitano for more than a decade, and praised her management style. He also outlined what he saw as the most immediate priorities for the department under the new administration: Finish implementing the Western Hemisphere Travel Initiative, which requires all travelers to show a passport when entering the United States, even citizens returning from countries…
With the kickoff of the holiday shopping season this weekend, I’ve been hearing a lot about how we all need to spend, spend, spend to keep the economy afloat. It appears the government has taken that message to heart. Some early procurement figures reported by the Project on Government Oversight today show the government spent more than $510 billion on procurements in fiscal 2008. That number is likely to grow as agencies are still reporting their 2008 spending. The final 2007 spending number was between $440 billion to $465 billion, depending on which government procurement information website you choose: the…
No surprises from the president-elect’s press conference this morning. You can read about Obama’s national security team, and watch the conference, on the transition Web site. But there was an interesting bit of language in Obama’s introduction of Arizona Gov. Janet Napolitano, his nomination for Homeland Security secretary: She understands the need for a homeland security department that can respond to terrorist attacks and respond to catastrophes. What’s interesting is the part about “respond[ing] to catastrophes.” That’s the responsibility of the Federal Emergency Management Agency. And there’s been a lot of talk about removing FEMA from DHS and restoring it…
Hope everyone had a happy Thanksgiving weekend! (Back to reality, now.) A quick heads-up: The president-elect will hold his fourth news conference in a week at 10:40 this morning. He’ll announce his national security team, which is expected to include Sen. Hillary Clinton at State and Arizona Gov. Janet Napolitano at the Homeland Security Department. Both have received strong praise from experts and colleagues — and their management styles are profiled in this week’s Federal Times. We’ll have a full rundown of Obama’s national security picks after the press conference.
An obscure provision in the U.S. Constitution poses a potential roadblock on Sen. Hillary Clinton’s path to becoming Secretary of State. It turns out that the Constitution (specifically Article I, Section 6) prohibits a lawmaker from taking any goverment job for which the salary was raised during the lawmaker’s elected term. As the Washington Post and numerous bloggers have noted, this would effectively preclude Clinton from taking the State Department gig. Salaries for Cabinet secretaries have been increased twice since Clinton started her second term as the junior New York senator in January 2007: to $191,300 in January 2008 and…