Federal Daily - December 24, 2008

DoD Announces Afghanistan Troop Deployment

DoD on Dec. 22 announced that early next year about 2,800 troops from the Army’s 82nd Combat Aviation Brigade, 82nd Airborne Division at Ft. Bragg, N.C., will deploy to Afghanistan. The spring 2009 deployment is meant to increase the capabilities of the International Security Assistance Force. The brigade and its subordinate units have deployed on seven different occasions in support of Operations Iraqi Freedom and Enduring Freedom. The brigade headquarters and three battalions returned to Fort Bragg in February after a 12-month Operation Enduring Freedom deployment. The brigade provides rotary wing aviation capabilities; attack, assault, reconnaissance, medical evacuation, cargo, command and control, and airspace management, the Army said in a statement. To see more, go to: www.defenselink.mil/releases/release.aspx?releaseid=12406.

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OPM Suspends SES Review Board Cases

The Office of Personnel Management on Dec. 19 suspended the processing of all Senior Executive Service (SES) Qualifications Review Board (QRB) cases to allow the incoming administration to have a say in the placement of SES personnel. The review boards are independent panels of senior executives—which operate under the auspices of OPM—who assess the qualifications of candidates to enter the SES. OPM issued the moratorium after President Bush requested the resignations of all non-termed presidential appointees, according to the memo to federal chief human capital officers from acting OPM Director Michael Hager. Some exceptions could be made if an SES absence affected national security, homeland security or a critical agency mission, Hager said. “While a QRB moratorium is intended to preserve the prerogatives of an incoming agency head, this must be balanced against the need to ensure the continuity of agency operations during such transitions,” Hager said. “Accordingly, I will consider requests for exceptions to the QRB moratorium on a case-by-case basis. To see more, go to: www.chcoc.gov/Transmittals/TransmittalDetails.aspx?TransmittalId=1894.

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Remodeled White Oak Building Dedicated

A consortium of federal agencies last week dedicated the newly remodeled historic Building One at the White Oak Federal Research Center in Silver Spring, Md., which will serve as office space for the Food and Drug Administration (FDA). The old center is the seventh White Oak structure completed as part of FDA’s consolidation project on the campus. The General Services Administration (GSA) oversaw the renovation of the 102,000 square foot, four-story Building One, which had served as the Naval Surface Warfare Center for 52 years. The redone structure will now accommodate portions of FDA’s Office of the Commissioner and related executive functions, FDA said in a statement. The building integrates 148 offices, nine conference rooms and several workstation and shared business areas and connects to the campus’s Central Shared Use space, FDA said. Those on hand for the dedication included officials from FDA, GSA and the Department of Health and Human Services. To see more, go to: www.fda.gov/bbs/topics/NEWS/2008/NEW01930.html.

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