Federal Daily - May 23, 2008
GAO: DOD Needs to Tighten Post-Service Employment Oversight
A new survey shows that DoD private contractors may have hired a substantial number of former DoD
officials on assignments related to their former jobs in violation of post-government-service rules,
a Government Accountability Office (GAO) report said. In response to congressional concerns over potential
DoD conflicts of interest, GAO looked at how well the department was monitoring former DoD officials’ compliance
with post-government employment restrictions. Of the contracts GAO reviewed for 2,435 former DoD officials,
auditors found that at least 422 (17.3 percent) had post-government employment on defense contracts
under the responsibility of their former agency, office or command, said the report, released May 21.
These officials had previously served as generals, admirals, senior executives, program managers, contracting
officers or in related acquisition positions. GAO said DoD oversight may be inadequate and needs to
be improved. For example, GAO’s analysis found a significant under-reporting of the contractors’ employment
of former DoD officials. Specifically, contractor-supplied data showed they employed 1,263 former DoD
officials in 2006, while IRS data showed the contractors employed 2,435. To see more, go to: www.gao.gov/new.items/d08485.pdf.
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VA Appoints Panel of National Suicide Experts
Secretary of Veterans Affairs (VA) James B. Peake on May 21 announced the names of members appointed
to two special panels tasked with helping VA improve its programs in suicide prevention, suicide research
and suicide education. The primary group, “Blue Ribbon Work Group on Suicide Prevention in the
Veterans Population,” is comprised of government experts—from agencies ranging from DoD
to the National Institutes of Health and the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration—and
will meet next month to develop recommendations. The second group, made up of suicide prevention experts,
will offer advice to the working group as it develops its report, Peake said. VA has been under fire
for allegations that it has been under-reporting the incidence of suicide among troops returning from
combat. “VA is committed to doing all we can to improve our understanding of a complicated issue
that is also a national concern,” Peake said. To see more, go to: http://www1.va.gov/opa/pressrel/pressrelease.cfm?id=1506.
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PEER Critical of EPA Plan to Re-Open Closed Libraries
Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility (PEER) criticized an Environmental Protection Agency
(EPA) plan to re-open a series of environmental libraries, alleging the agency is grudgingly allocating
only minimal space and resources to the effort. Ordered by Congress to re-open the libraries, EPA circulated
a memo earlier this month on a plan for re-opening four of the closed libraries effective September
1. However, the plan calls for the libraries to operate in a greatly reduced space, with less public
access, according to agency documents released May 21 by PEER. For example, the Chicago library will
occupy less than one-tenth the area of the closed library, and will be only slightly larger than the
typical men’s restroom in that same building, according to PEER. “A library requires more
space than a lavatory,” said PEER Associate Director Carol Goldberg. “These plans appear
to violate the congressional order that the agency ‘restore the network of EPA libraries recently
closed.’” To see more, go to: www.peer.org/news/news_id.php?row_id=1051.
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