FederalDaily - May 29, 2007

OMB Gives Agencies Small Window to Tighten Data Security

In a broad-ranging memo, the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) issued an ultimatum that all federal agencies must improve their data security, reduce the amount of sensitive data kept on hand and eliminate the storage of Social Security numbers. Clay Johnson, OMB deputy director for management, posted the memo May 22, coming just weeks after the Transportation Security Administration lost a computer hard drive containing the personal information of 100,000 current and former employees. Agencies must develop and put in place within four months a risk-based notification policy, Johnson said, which is to include plans to eliminate the unnecessary use of employee Social Security numbers within the next 18 months. Agencies are supposed to cooperate in finding alternative personal identifiers which are more secure, he said. Johnson emphasized how agency heads must set the tone for data security, and stressed that the federal government should not unnecessarily collect or maintain personally identifiable information. “Safeguarding personally identifiable information in the possession of the government and preventing its breach are essential to ensure the government retains the trust of the American public,” Johnson wrote.  To see more, go to: www.whitehouse.gov/omb/memoranda/fy2007/m07-16.pdf

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NATCA: Washington Traffic Control Center Short-Staffed

Staffing at the Washington Air Traffic Control Center in Leesburg, Va., is stretched so thin that supervisors can’t find enough controllers to fill all positions, and some controllers are being forced to work long after their shifts are supposed to end, said the National Air Traffic Controllers Association (NATCA). The group said on May 24 that working conditions at the control center have gotten so bad that NATCA projects that by next month about 36 veteran air traffic controllers will have left the facility so far this year. The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has tried to cope by bringing in 19 trainees, but those trainees are having trouble making ends meet under the new FAA reduced controller pay scale, NATCA said. Some have even taken to moonlighting at second jobs at area stores, bars and restaurants, said NATCA President Patrick Forrey. “These new hires need to be fully rested to survive the grueling training process, not forced to wait tables.” To see more, go to: www.natca.org/mediacenter/press-release-detail.aspx?id=4

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USPS Cancels Proposed Wisconsin-to-Minnesota Consolidation

The U.S. Postal Service (USPS) canceled plans to consolidate some Wisconsin mail-processing operations across the state line into a Minnesota facility. The news comes less than a month after USPS canceled plans to consolidate mail-processing operations for the Western Maryland facilities in Frederick and Cumberland. In the most recent announcement, USPS said the Area Mail Processing (AMP) study determined there was little cost-savings in shifting some mail sorting from La Crosse, Wis., to Rochester, Minn., about 70 miles away. The American Postal Workers Union (APWU), which had opposed the consolidation, was notified May 22. The La Crosse study was one of about 50 AMP studies announced as part of a USPS consolidation effort. Thirty-two AMP feasibility studies have been terminated or placed on hold in the past year, APWU said. To see more, go to: http://apwu.org

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