The Defense Department plans to induct some 60,000 civilian personnel in the next round of switchovers to the new National Security Personnel System, starting in October. The latest effort, called Spiral 1.2, follows Spiral 1.1, comprising 11,000 employees, which, officials say, achieved a 99.9 percent technical accuracy rate—that is all personnel and pay actions went smoothly. DOD expects all 60,000 personnel—all non-union employees—to be shifted to NSPS by the end of January 2007. The Pentagon still is embroiled in a legal dispute with union officials.
Lawmakers on both sides of Capitol Hill are pressing the Pentagon to get serious about the threat cheap, small drones pose to U.S. forces at home and abroad—and to put them in the hands of American troops as quickly as possible.