FederalDaily.com > POGO: Nation Behind Schedule on Securing Nuclear Facilities

FederalDaily - October 31, 2007

POGO: Nation Behind Schedule on Securing Nuclear Facilities

The Project on Government Oversight (POGO) on Oct. 29 said that the government is running behind schedule in securing the nation’s nuclear facilities from a terrorist attack. POGO said that according to reports obtained by the group, the Department of Energy is failing to adequately secure bomb-grade nuclear materials located at U.S. facilities. POGO said that by the scheduled 2008 deadline for imposing additional security measures at the facilities, fewer than half of 11 nuclear weapons sites will have enough security to defend against what is considered a realistic threat of a terrorist attack. POGO based its assertion in part on an unreleased Government Accountability Office (GAO) report prepared for a subcommittee of the Senate Armed Services Committee. That GAO analysis concluded that the “sites will be at greater risk” until the new security is put in place, POGO said. The new GAO analysis supports earlier work done by POGO that indicated nuclear security site lapses, the group said. POGO last year published a report that said terrorist teams could likely penetrate security at Oak Ridge National Laboratory in Tennessee and gain access to strategic nuclear materials. To see more, go to: www.pogo.org/p/homeland/ha-071029-nuclear.html

Senate Seeks New VA Nominee

The Senate Democratic leadership sent a strongly worded letter Oct. 29 to President Bush seeking the nomination of someone to replace Veterans Affairs (VA) Secretary James Nicholson, who left the job at the end of last month. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., and the Senate leadership's three ranking Democrats asked the president to nominate a new secretary, noting that the VA has been stretched thin by overseas conflicts and is in the middle of upgrading its veterans disability systems, as well as improving the way health care is delivered. “Much has been said over the last six years about honoring the service and the sacrifice of our men and women in uniform,” the letter said. “But what matters to those who are fighting these wars is not the talk, but the actions we take.” Gordon Mansfield, a highly decorated disabled Vietnam combat veteran, is serving as acting secretary until a permanent replacement can be found. To see more, go to: http://murray.senate.gov/news.cfm?id=286247

AFGE Partners with Law Firm on Butterbaugh Claims

The American Federation of Government Employees (AFGE) has partnered with a New York law firm to collect compensation for thousands of government-employed military reservists who were improperly charged for taking military leave. Tully, Rinckey & Associates, of Albany, N.Y., will co-represent approximately 10,000 union members who have so-called Butterbaugh claims pending against the government, the law firm said Oct. 29. In a 2003 decision, Butterbaugh v. Department of Justice, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit held that agencies were not permitted to charge military leave accounts for days on which employees would not otherwise have been required to work. Agencies had previously been charging employees military leave for weekends and holidays. Since the decision, there have been more than 4,000 Butterbaugh claims filed by AFGE members, and the law firm—which already has processed more than 5,000 claims on its own—expects to double that number and collect up to $300 million in compensation and legal fees over the next four years. Average compensation per employee is about $3,000, the law firm said. “When this news first came out, people thought it was too good to be true—we had a lot of old-time skeptics,” Matthew B. Tully, the firm's founder and current partner, told FederalDaily.com. But now that the firm has processed so many cases, Tully said that the skepticism has lifted. To see more, go to: www.tullylegal.com.