Three Virginia lawmakers wrote to Defense Secretary Robert Gates, complaining about news that the employees now under the National Security Personnel System would not get an “across-the-board pay raise with other federal employees.” Government Executive reports that Rep. Tom Davis (R), Rep. James Moran (D), and Rep. Frank Wolf (R) are not anti-NSPS, but they said employees under Spiral 1 were told that, in the first year under the new system, they would receive the same basic pay boost as those still under the old civil service system. The Pentagon’s new civilian personnel system is still under legal attack from unions, with at least one threatening to pursue Supreme Court relief from the plan’s current labor relations rules.
Promotions to the Space Force’s second highest enlisted grade, senior master sergeant, have surged to the highest level in the young service’s history, bolstering the senior NCO corps as officials plan to aggressively expand the force and especially the enlisted corps.