FederalDaily.com > DHS: U.S. Airport Security Stepped Up After UK Attack

FederalDaily - July 5, 2007

DHS: U.S. Airport Security Stepped Up After UK Attack

Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Michael Chertoff reacted to two terrorist incidents in the UK last week—in London and at the international airport in Glasgow—by reassuring the American public and officials that DHS is stepping up security in the U.S. “We have been in close contact with our counterparts in the U.K.,” Chertoff said June 28, the day a man attacked the Glasgow airport with a Jeep Cherokee loaded with flammable gas, while two additional car bomb attacks were thwarted by authorities in London. Initially, Chertoff said he saw “no credible information suggesting that this latest incident is connected to a threat to the homeland,” and said the U.S. threat level would remain at orange. But by July 1, he told ABC News that “in an abundance of caution during this holiday period, DHS will be implementing plans to increase our security measures at U.S. airports, mass transit and other transportation facilities.” DHS and other officials have since “taken some pre-existing plans for heightened airport security and we've put those into effect and that's why people should expect to see some visible signs of increased security at airports all across the country,” he said. For more, go to www.dhs.gov.

NTEU Applauds Changes to OPM Probationary Employee Rules

The head of the National Treasury Employees Union (NTEU) applauded proposed Office of Personnel Management (OPM) improvements to rules governing probationary employees, but said the agency needs to further strengthen such workers’ due process rights. NTEU President Colleen M. Kelley offered her assessment July 2 after OPM published the proposed new rules in the Federal Register. The OPM modifications acknowledge the fact that all probationary employees in the competitive service with a year or more of continuous service are entitled to full due process if confronted with an adverse action under Chapter 75 of the Civil Service Reform Act (CSRA). Although the new regulations finally will conform to existing law, Kelley said, they don’t go far enough. For example, she pointed out that the changes do not ensure due process rights for employees who are threatened with performance-based removals under CSRA Chapter 43. "It is long past time that OPM modified its regulations to make clear that an employee serving a probationary period must be accorded full due process rights,” Kelley said, “if the individual has completed one year of current continuous service.” To see more, go to: www.nteu.org.

VA Sets Up Suicide Prevention Hotline

The Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) on July 2 announced the upcoming launch of a new 24-hour, national suicide prevention hotline to help ensure veterans with mental health crises have immediate access to trained coordinators. The hotline, which is scheduled to begin operations by Aug. 31, will be based at the Canandaigua VA Medical Center in Upstate New York, Secretary of Veterans Affairs Jim Nicholson said in a statement. The hotline will be staffed around the clock, seven days a week by mental health professionals, Nicholson said. In addition to staffing the hot line, the suicide prevention coordinators will take part in training VA clinicians and non-clinicians on watching for warning signs of suicide in veterans, Nicholson said. Last month, Nicholson announced an initiative to hire 100 new employees to provide readjustment counseling at each of the department’s 207 community-based Vet Centers. “This is another significant step to ensure that veterans, particularly the newest generation of combat vets returning from Iraq and Afghanistan, receive accessible and compassionate care,” said Nicholson. To see more, go to: http://www1.va.gov/opa/pressrel/pressrelease.cfm?id=1352.