FederalDaily - September 26, 2005

DoD Doesn’t Know Cost of War

Since the 9/11 attacks, the Department of Defense (DoD) has reported spending $191 billion through May 2005 to conduct the Global War on Terrorism (GWOT), a new Government Accountability Office (GAO) report said. On an ongoing basis, DoD compiles and reports information on the incremental costs of the war, and uses these data in preparing future funding requests. But GAO found numerous problems in DoD’s processes for recording and reporting costs for GWOT. As a result, neither DoD nor Congress can reliably know how much the war is costing and details on how appropriated funds are being spent, GAO said. On the basis of GAO’s work, DoD is taking steps to improve its cost reporting. For more on this story, see the upcoming Oct. 3, 2005 , issue of Federal Employees News Digest. To subscribe, click here.

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Confidentiality for Military Victims Proposed

Reps. Louise Slaughter, D-N.Y., and Carolyn Kilpatrick, D-Mich., introduced the Military Victims of Violence Confidentiality Act of 2005, H.R. 3837, on Sept. 20. The bill would ensure that the confidential communications of a member of the armed forces with a victim service organization or a health care professional are not disclosed. Slaughter said the bill “ will greatly increase protections for women in the military who are victims of violence.” She said it will require that communications made to obtain advice, counseling, treatment or assistance for a victim’s mental, physical or emotional state following an assault will remain confidential, even during a trial.

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2 Air Force Members Sentenced for Murder Charges

Staff Sgt. Ramona Greiner was sentenced to 12 years in prison after pleading guilty to conspiracy to commit premeditated murder, solicitation to commit murder and dereliction of duty for failing to maintain a professional relationship, according to the Air Force. Greiner, a paralegal working in a legal office at Lackland Air Force Base in Texas , pleaded guilty to all three charges before the sentencing phase began Sept. 20. She also received a demotion in rank to E-1 and a dishonorable discharge. Capt. Barry Brown, a lawyer also assigned to the same office, pleaded guilty to similar charges on Sept. 13 and was sentenced to 18 years in prison and dismissal from the Air Force. According to the charges, their relationship led to hiring someone to kill Brown's wife.

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Senate Committee Approves Hurricane Bills

The Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee on Sept. 22 approved a number of bills, including:

S. 1738, the Inspector General For Relief and Reconstruction Act, to help ensure that the billions of dollars appropriated for recovery efforts in the wake of Hurricane Katrina are spent without waste, fraud and abuse; S. 1736, a bill to allow employees of the judicial branch to establish an emergency leave transfer program in the event of a major disaster or emergency; S. 1700, to establish an Office of the Hurricane Katrina Recovery Chief Financial Officer; and S. 572, the Homeland Security Food and Agriculture Act of 2005, which amends the Homeland Security Act of 2002 to direct the secretary of Homeland Security to establish a program to protect the U.S. agriculture and food supply from agroterrorist acts.

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