Lawmakers queried Robert Gates, now Defense Secretary designate, about his view of the National Security Personnel System, now in partial implementation due to ongoing litigation. In his set of advance policy questions, Gates replied: “Reforming civil service rules to make our civilian workforce more adaptable, flexible, and agile is critical to the future of the department.” He continued, saying NSPS is necessary to develop “the right mix of people and skills” and that he planned to review NSPS “to see if any further changes are required.”
Today’s armament maintainers are tasked with performing flightline (O-Level) maintenance with an assortment of legacy test sets that greatly limit the ability to quickly and efficiently verify armament system readiness, diagnose failures, and ultimately return the aircraft to full mission...