Federal Daily - February 22, 2008

VA Creates Advisory Panel to Improve Rural Health Care

The Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) is creating a special advisory panel aimed at improving rural health care for veterans, VA Secretary James Peake announced Feb 20.. Details of how the newly created Rural Health National Advisory Committee will work—including its membership—are still being formulated, Peake said, noting that panelists will be drawn from federal, state and local sectors, and from academia and veterans service organizations. The panel’s first meeting is tentatively scheduled for this summer. VA has 25 similar advisory committees, each with between 10 and 15 members. Members typically are appointed to one-, two- or three-year terms to ensure continuity of operations, VA said. To see more, go: http://www1.va.gov/opa/pressrel/pressrelease.cfm?id=1453.

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GSA Names New Southeast Regional Administrator

The General Services Administration (GSA) on Feb. 19 announced it was naming Craig G. Dawson as Regional Administrator for GSA’s Southeast Sunbelt Region, responsible for a regional agency workforce of about 1,000. A South Carolina native, Dawson will oversee operations in Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina and Tennessee. The Southeast Sunbelt Region has the largest construction and renovation program among all GSA regions—with a total workload valued at $1.7 billion in capital projects, $33 million in minor repair and alteration projects and $373 million in reimbursable projects, GSA said in a statement. Prior to joining GSA, Dawson served as president of Central Carolina Distributor Inc., a warehouse distributor of automotive parts in Columbia, S.C. “His experience as president of a private sector company and roots in the region will be especially valuable,” said GSA Administrator Lurita Doan. To see more, go: to: www.gsa.gov/Portal/gsa/ep/contentView.do?pageTypeId=8199&channelId=-13259&P=&contentId=24098&contentType=GSA_BASIC.

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TSA Employees Indicted in Airport Drug Smuggling Sting

Two Transportation Security Administration (TSA) workers and a Delta Airlines employee were indicted Feb. 20 on drug-trafficking charges in connection with a scheme to smuggle drugs to New York. Delta employee Leslie Adgar, 42, and TSA workers Andre Mays, 24, and Jon Patton, 44, were indicted by a federal grand jury in connection with a drug-smuggling operation at Atlanta’s Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport (HJIA), according to federal authorities. In December, a Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) confidential source brokered a deal with Patton and Mays for the transportation of cocaine and heroin through HJIA to New York. On three different occasions, the TSA workers secreted the drugs through airport security, delivering them to Adgar, who transported them aboard a Delta flight to New York. DEA agents noted that during the sting operation, DEA supplied only counterfeit drugs to the alleged smuggling ring. If convicted on all charges, each of the trio could face a maximum sentence of life in prison and a fine of up to $4 million, authorities said. To see more, go: www.dea.gov/pubs/states/newsrel/atlanta022008.html.

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