FederalDaily - February 22, 2006

Pay-for-Performance at State Department

State Department Secretary Condoleezza Rice recently spoke about instituting pay-for-performance at her agency. Testifying before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee on Feb. 15, Rice said: “More and more, we are calling upon our diplomats to leave their families and serve at unaccompanied “hardship posts” that now make up 20 percent of our yearly overseas assignments…as part of our effort to modernize the Foreign Service, we will institute a new pay-for-performance system that fairly compensates our men and women working abroad.” Rice said the department would also increase efforts to train diplomats in languages such as Chinese, Urdu and Arabic. “New training will also make full use of dynamic new technologies,” Rice said.

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Senators Call for FBI Whistleblower Protection

Last week Sens. Arlen Specter, R-Pa., Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., and Chuck Grassley, R-Ia., requested an investigation into whether the FBI retaliated against a whistleblowing employee. The employee, Bassam Yousseff, met with his congressional representative, Rep. Frank Wolf, R-Va., and alleged that FBI management failed to assign him to cases involving the 9/11 attacks despite his being the highest ranking Arab-speaking agent in the bureau. On June 26, 2002, FBI leadership prepared a memorandum to transfer Yousseff to the International Terrorism Operations Section. Unaware of the pending transfer, Youseff met with Wolf two days later. Soon after his meeting with Wolf, the FBI halted or revoked the transfer, according to Specter, Leahy and Grassley. In a letter to the Department of Justice inspector general, the senators said, “If tolerated, retaliation for such disclosures sends a chilling message to all employees…”

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Katrina Assistance for SSA Employees

Social Security Administration (SSA) employees affected by Hurricane Katrina will receive financial assistance from their employer, the American Federation of Government Employees (AFGE) announced Tuesday. Witold Skwierczynski, president of AFGE’s National Social Security Council, said in a statement, “At last the hundreds of Social Security employees and their family members who were impacted by Hurricane Katrina will receive the financial support they need, but were never provided.” Impacted employees and members of their immediate families can receive a per diem for up to 30 days and a special subsistence allowance for up to six months, according to an SSA memorandum. But Skwierczynski said outstanding issues still include: financial assistance for employees who were impacted by Hurricanes Rita and Wilma; granting of administrative leave; payment of relocation and local commuting expenses; and health and safety concerns.

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Science Policies under Scrutiny

Alleging a growing concern about a lack of openness and communication in the federal science community, Sen. Barbara Mikulski, D-Md., last week asked the Government Accountability Office (GAO) to review policies and practices of federal science agencies. In a letter to Comptroller General David Walker, Mikulski wrote, “Government scientists must be able to research and report their findings to the public without fear of censorship or intimidation.” Mikulski’s request asked GAO to review the following agencies:

• NASA,
• the National Science Foundation,
• the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, and
• the National Institute of Standards and Technology.

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