Congress has sided with labor unions against the Pentagon over the National Security Personnel System, prohibiting use of 2007 funds for NSPS labor relations actions. The House-Senate conference report for the 2007 defense spending bill would remove this limitation should the federal district court decision (American Federation of Government Employees vs. Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld) be reversed on appeal. The Pentagon is pursuing implementation of NSPS—without the union employees.
The U.K. and the U.S. will continue to enjoy access to the ports, airfield, and workshops at Diego Garcia in the Indian Ocean for at least another century, under a deal inked between the U.K. and Mauritius May 22.