Fed Bashing on (Temporary?) Hold

Public Service Recognition Week (always in May) is a big deal to many people in the federal community. Outside it, not so much!

It includes nationwide celebrations, some big and some small. The big one, which has been cut back by lack of funding, is always in Washington, naturally. For the record it often rains.

Many, if not most, of the people attending events and displays on the National Mall here are themselves federal workers, or friends and families of the civilian and military people. This year some events had to be canceled for lack of funding.

For most Americans PSRW is not such a big deal.

But maybe it should be…

By now even the least-informed person must know what happened Sunday: WE GOT HIM!!!

Actually the “we” involved in the intelligence-gathering, pre-planning and the raid itself were a very large team of military and federal personnel mostly from the intelligence and law enforcement communities who, after 10 years of detours and cold trails, tracked down Osama bin Laden. That doesn’t mean those of us outside the loop can’t feel very good about ourselves too.

So this is a perfect time to give a shout-out to the much-maligned-of-late federal workforce for its part (large or small) in the recent, amazing and apparently flawless success.

Some of the people who hate the government don’t know very much about how it operates.

Some of the people who most appreciate what the government does know the most about how it operates.

So we got lucky this week because we’ve snagged Office of Personnel Management Director John Berry to be our guest today on our Your Turn with Mike Causey radio show. He had a long tour of duty on Capitol Hill (as a top aide to Rep. Steny Hoyer, D-Md), then worked in the Executive branch. He left what many people consider to be the best job in government, Director of the National Zoo, to come to OPM because he likes civil servants even more than he does pandas.

The show starts at 10 a.m. EDT. It is your chance for a one-on-one with the man who, in effect, runs the civil service. If you have questions email them to me at: mcausey@federalnewsradio.com

The show will be broadcast at www.federalnewsradio.com or, if you are in the DC area and have one of those old-fashioned radio machines, set the dial at 1500 AM. If the boss normally doesn’t let you listen while at work you can do two things: Listen later as all our shows or archived or, better yet, listen live. Tell your section chief this is John Berry Live! And that maybe he or she should listen too.

Nearly Useless Factoid

Koalas, reports LifesLittleMysteries “have fingerprints that are almost identical to human ones.”

MORE FROM FEDERAL NEWS RADIO

‘Fog’ lifting over federal employees, officials say
Fed may just be catching a break in the theater of public opinion. Feds were among the first responders to the tornado-damaged South and were involved in tracking down Osama bin Laden. Senior administration officials say this is helping to lift the fog that had settled over feds during debates over a federal pay freeze.

New regs to create hiring pathways in final review
OPM Director John Berry said agencies are commenting on the rules to implement President Obama’s executive order to bring college graduates more easily into the government. Berry also wants Congress to change the law so feds who want to retire can phase in their exit and act as mentors.

Which feds make the most money?
Check out the jobs that have salaries of $180,000 or above.

DoD watching Army on cloud email transition
The Army is moving its email to the Defense Information Systems Agency’s cloud. DISA’s vice chief told reporters Tuesday that getting the rest of the military services on board was a question of when, not if.

Cyber-safer after the death of bin Laden?
The killing of al-Qaida leader Osama bin Laden may prompt a cyber retaliation.

Copyright © 2024 Federal News Network. All rights reserved. This website is not intended for users located within the European Economic Area.