The Air Force has been granted the authority to use streamlined federal hiring practices in order to fill more than 680 cyber-security positions expeditiously, according to officials with the Air Force Personnel Center at Randolph AFB, Tex. This hiring authority, known as Schedule A, is granted in special cases where there is a critical need for speed. It allows hiring officials to bypass traditional competitive procedures. This method will be used to fill slots for specialists in the emerging cyber mission area for US Strategic Command, 24th Air Force (USAF’s new cyber operations arm), and the Air Force Office of Special Investigations. Among the positions that the Air Force seeks to fill are cyber-risk and strategic analysis; cyber-vulnerability detection and assessment; cyber-incident response; and incident handling and malware/vulnerability analysis. The Air Force may apply Schedule A rules through December 2012. (Randolph report by April Rowden)
The six-week government shutdown did not affect the hours flown by Air Force pilots, a service spokesperson told Air & Space Forces Magazine—avoiding what could have been a major blow at a time when flying hours are already lower than they have been in decades.
