Federal Daily - May 5, 2008

GAO: Agencies Need Succession Strategies Before Retirement Wave

An anticipated wave of retirements could unleash the long-anticipated “brain drain” for federal agencies unless they begin succession planning strategies to hire younger workers and keep older ones, said a Government Accountability Office (GAO) report released April 30. GAO estimated that one-third of the federal work force will be eligible for retirement by 2012, up from 20 percent in 2002. Rates by agency range from a low of 20 percent at the Department of Homeland Security to a high of 46 percent at four agencies—the Agency for International Development, the Department of Housing and Urban Development, the Small Business Administration and the Department of Transportation. Retirement eligibility will be especially pronounced among the agencies’ executives and supervisors—64 percent are projected to be eligible by 2012, up from 41 percent in 2008, the report said. The retirement eligibility rates are going up as a consequence of the overall aging of the nation’s work force, presenting particular problems for the federal government, which will compete with the private sector for prospective employees. Some agencies are already doing a good job of competing, the report said, by emphasizing the benefits of working for the federal government. To see more, go to: www.gao.gov/new.items/d08630t.pdf.

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Combat Stress Treatment Exempted from Security Clearance Question

Veterans who seek treatment for combat-related mental health problems no longer have to disclose the fact they sought help when applying for government security clearances, Defense Secretary Robert Gates said May 1. Gates announced revisions to Question 21 on the Office of Personnel Management’s Standard Form 86—Questionnaire for National Security Positions. The question was changed to provide an exemption that allows those who sought post-combat mental health treatment to answer “No” to the question and keep the details to themselves. The exemption is also offered to those who sought counseling for marital or family grief. Previously, those applying for the clearance who had sought treatment for problems such as Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder or combat stress had to answer “Yes” and provide details of who conducted the treatment. Gates said steps were taken to change the question in an effort to remove the stigma of mental health care. An Army inspector general report found soldiers were hesitant to seek treatment because they worried about losing their security clearances. DoD wants to “be clear to soldiers filling out that form that any counseling that they had sought, associated with their combat stress, was not going to count against them in terms of getting their security clearance,” Gates said. To see more, go to: www.defenselink.mil/transcripts/transcript.aspx?transcriptid=4220 or www.opm.gov/news/statement-from-opm-director-linda-springer-regarding-the-revision-of-background-investigation-questionnaire,1384.aspx.

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FDA Launches Major Public Health Hiring Initiative

The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) on April 30 announced the launch of a major hiring initiative to fill more than 1,300 positions over the next several months as part of a multi-year hiring program. The agency will be seeking biologists, chemists, medical officers, mathematical statisticians and investigators, among others, to fill new or newly vacant positions throughout the agency. FDA is looking to fill more than 600 new positions and to backfill over 700 others authorized by Congress as part of the FDA Amendments Act of 2007, the agency said in a statement. That’s nearly triple the number of people hired by FDA from 2005-2007, the agency said. Many of these positions are located in the Washington metropolitan area, specifically in Rockville, Silver Spring and College Park, Md., as well as across the country in FDA’s five regions and the newly created FDA offices overseas. FDA also will be participating in and holding job fairs throughout the country, with listings available at www.fda.gov/jobs/jobfairs08.html. “It takes a large pool of talented people for the FDA to protect and promote the public health,” said John Dyer, FDA’s deputy commissioner for operations and chief operating officer. To see more, go to: www.fda.gov/bbs/topics/NEWS/2008/NEW01829.html.

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