FederalDaily - June 11, 2007
NAS Panel Recommends Overhaul of VA Disabilities Rating System
A National Academies science advisory panel recommended the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) overhaul
its system for determining the disability level of veterans injured during active duty. The Institute
of Medicine (IOM) on June 7 issued a report suggesting the VA update its veterans Rating Schedule,
noting that some of its elements have not been changed since 1945. The IOM study was done at the behest
of the Veterans' Disability Benefits Commission, a body that will issue its own recommendations later
this year. The current system falls short of modern medical advances in diagnosing, understanding and
treating conditions such as traumatic brain injury, the study said. Veterans groups also have criticized
the VA rating system, complaining that bureaucratic delays are too long and that disability ratings
are too low—resulting in reduced compensation for disabled vets. "With troops being injured
nearly every day, the VA's system for evaluating and rating former service members' disabilities should
be as up to date as possible with current medical knowledge of impairment," said IOM committee
chair Lonnie Bristow, former president of the American Medical Association. To see more, go to: http://www8.nationalacademies.org/onpinews/newsitem.aspx?RecordID=11885
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APWU Sues USPS, Alleging Secret Advisory Meetings Are Illegal
The American Postal Workers Union, joined by a coalition of consumer mailing groups, has filed a
lawsuit against the U.S. Postal Service (USPS), aimed at forcing a USPS advisory committee to open
its meetings to the public. The APWU said on June 6 that the lawsuit targets the Mailers Technical
Advisory Committee (MTAC), made up of postal officials and trade associations that represent large
business mailers. Under the Federal Advisory Committee Act, government panels such as MTAC must hold
open meetings as well as make public their reports and the minutes. MTAC has refused to comply with
the law, despite the APWU’s repeated requests. The plaintiffs argue that MTAC is not legally
entitled to conduct its activities in secrecy. “It is unconscionable for the Postal Service to
develop its most important policies in secret in consultation with a select group of business mailers,
while excluding individual citizens and small businesses,” APWU President William Burrus said.
To see more, go to: www.apwu.org/news/webart/2007/webart-0748-mtaclawsuit-070606.htm
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GAO: Agencies Need to Tighten Information Security Programs
Independent auditors reported that the federal government needs to implement information security
programs to plug the holes that have caused a series of computer security breaches across multiple
agencies, the Government Accountability Office (GAO) reported. In an assessment released June 7, GAO
examined past data security breaches, and searched for underlying weaknesses that could be eliminated.
Echoing past reports, GAO found that all major federal agencies continued to exhibit weaknesses in
one or more areas of information security—and most had not sufficiently implemented controls
to prevent, limit or detect unauthorized access to computer networks, systems or information. An underlying
cause for these problems, GAO said, is that agencies have not fully or effectively implemented agency-wide
technology security programs. Also, although the inspectors general of various agencies prepare independent
annual evaluations, these assessments lack a common approach. To be effective, in future the reports
must share a common investigative framework, GAO said. GAO noted some recent improvements—for
instance, 90 percent of federal employees and contractors report some kind of security awareness training,
up from 81 percent reported in the last survey. To see more, go to: www.gao.gov/cgi-bin/getrpt?GAO-07-935T
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