FederalDaily - June 1, 2005
OSC Accuses Border Patrol of Ignoring Whistleblowers
The Office of Special Counsel (OSC) on May 27 issued reports to President
Bush and Congress that substantiated whistleblower allegations that Border
Patrol agents and employees engaged in “extensive kickback and fraudulent
reimbursement schemes” at the Douglas, Arizona, Border Patrol Station
from January 2000 through April 2002. OSC said Department of Homeland Security
(DHS) investigations and reports, which exonerated Border Patrol management,
are “inadequate and unreasonable.” The whistleblowers, Larry E.
Davenport and Willie A. Forester, former Border Patrol agents, alleged that
both supervisory agents and other agents were involved in kickback and fraudulent
reimbursement claims in relation to their lodging expenses. OSC said agency
leadership initially decided not to take disciplinary action against the agents
involved. After OSC referred the case to former DHS Secretary Tom Ridge, DHS
proposed 45 disciplinary actions.
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IRS Plans to Close 68 Service Centers
The IRS announced on May 27 that it plans to close a portion of its Taxpayer
Assistance Centers (TACs) to “create efficiencies, modernize operations
and reduce costs.” The IRS currently operates 400 TACs that provide walk-in
service for taxpayers. The agency will close 68 of those locations this fall.
The IRS said out of 2,300 employees who operate the TACs nationwide, 434 employees
are located in the affected centers. According to the IRS, the use of IRS.gov
and e-filing increased rapidly in recent years, while face-to-face interactions
with taxpayers declined. As the budget allows, the IRS said, qualifying employees
may be offered early-out retirements and buyouts; also, most employees should
be entitled to priority placement for other jobs within the IRS and other Treasury
bureaus.
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Surveying Troops for Health Information
An ongoing Department of Defense (DoD) health study will ultimately cover
health surveys submitted by servicemembers throughout 20 years. The joint-service
Millennium Cohort Study will evaluate the health risks of military deployments,
occupations and general military service, said Navy Cmdr. Margaret Ryan, director
of the DoD Center for Deployment Health Research in San Diego , Calif. Enrollment
for the study began in 2001, and close to 100,000 servicemembers enrolled,
including active duty and reserve components. Participants are selected and
asked to complete a survey every three years through 2022 either online or
using paper surveys. Although enrollment has been hampered by deployments supporting
operations Enduring Freedom and Iraqi Freedom, it is increasingly important
for servicemembers to respond to study invitations during these periods, DoD
health officials said.
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USPS Wins International Awards
The U.S. Postal Service (USPS) was given four awards at the sixth annual World
Mail Awards event held recently in Brussels, Belgium. USPS was acknowledged
for its customer service, innovation, e-Commerce and security. "It's a
great honor to be recognized for our industry practices," said Charles
Bravo, senior vice president of Intelligent Mail and Address Quality, who represented
USPS at the event. Two of the four awards were for USPS’ convenient ways
for customers to change their addresses and for development of advanced barcodes.
In the e-Commerce category, the USPS online Click-N-Ship was recognized. The
Postal Service's Inspection Service received the security award for its multi-media
awareness campaign that educated customers about mail-related crimes through
a series of DVDs and brochures.
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