Thursday Afternoon Newsstand

Government air traffic controllers and the Obama administration have reached a tentative contract agreement that both sides say they hope will end years of severely strained relations. Arbitrators have decided a handful of remaining issues involving pay and vacation time, clearing the way for a contract announcement by the Federal Aviation Administration and the National Air Traffic Controllers Association. Union members have 45 days to ratify the contract. The nation’s more than 15,000 controllers have been working without a contract since 2005.

The Obama administration’s on track to spend more on defense, in real dollars, than any other president has in one term of office since World War II. The President has requested $538 billion for the Defense Department in fiscal 2010 and has stated its intention to maintain a high level of funding in coming years. GovExec reports that the Center for Strategic and Budgetary Assessments released three reports that examine the Obama administration’s fiscal 2010 Defense budget request.

Defense Secretary Robert Gates says a report due soon from the U.S. commander in Afghanistan will not contain any specific recommendations for increases in troops. At a Pentagon news conference, Gates called the current situation in Afghanistan “a mixed picture,” and he acknowledged that the Taliban clearly has “established a presence.” He said the Obama administration expects the new ground assessment from Gen. Stanley McCrystal some time between Afghanistan’s Aug. 20 presidential election and a NATO meeting scheduled for September.

Leaders of federal agencies should consider projects that keep pace with governmentwide I.D. management initiatives as they put together their fiscal 2011 budget submissions. According to Federal Computer Week, Judith Spencer – an agency expert for ID management at the General Services Administration, is encouraging agency executives to stay current on the activities of the Federal CIO Council that’s handling such matters. The subcommittee’s mission is to leverage expertise in identity solutions across government, to reduce the burden on individual agencies and to improve alignments between agencies and with entities outside the federal government, Spencer said in an online Virtual FOSE presentation.

Other Stories We’re Following

Agencies ramp up student loan repayments (GovExec)

Defense audit agency shifts control of California field office to Central Region (GovExec)

Microsoft ordered to stop selling Word (FCW)

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