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.
Members of Congress from both parties expressed frustration and dismay over the abrupt and still-unexplained firing last month of Air Force Gen. Timothy Haugh from his dual role as head of U.S. Cyber Command and director of the National Security Agency.