Agencies sending more civilians to Afghanistan

The Agriculture and State departments plan to send hundreds of employees to Afghanistan by early 2010 to bolster the military surge and help stabilize the troubled country.

The State Department now has at least 627 diplomats, lawyers, agronomists, development specialists and other experts in the country. Paul Jones, State's deputy special representative for Afghanistan and Pakistan, said at a Dec. 7 forum sponsored by the American Enterprise Institute that the department will have at least 1,000 employees on the ground by early 2010 and more will follow. State employees will work with the military in provincial reconstruction teams and will set up new consulates in Mazar-e-Sharif and Heart.

Agriculture will increase its presence from 27 agricultural experts to 64. Agriculture said 10 experts will be stationed in Kabul and 54 experts will be in the field teaching farmers new techniques and encouraging them to grow crops besides opium, which helps fund the insurgency.

The Defense, Commerce and Justice departments also plan to send more employees, but could not say how many by press time.

President Barack Obama on Dec. 1 said increasing the federal civilian presence in Afghanistan is one of the "core elements" of his surge policy.

Hackers' new target: Social networking sites

Social networking sites will be the biggest new source of vulnerabilities that cybercriminals and hackers will seek to exploit in 2010, according to a new report from Cisco.

The company found that social networking sites now account for nearly 2 percent of Web traffic that originates from federal agencies and private-sector companies. Facebook leads the pack, accounting for more than half the traffic; MySpace, LinkedIn and Twitter also draw significant clicks.

The sites' large and growing traffic makes them an attractive target for hackers, who use the sites to deliver worms, steal personal information, and carry out other attacks.

"New attacks often rely on social media users' willingness to respond to messages that supposedly originate from people they know and trust," the company wrote in its report.

IT purchases must comply with new protocol

Agencies must now ensure all information technology products they purchase comply with the new Internet address standards called Internet Protocol Version 6.

The new regulation was published in the Federal Register on Dec. 10.

It finalizes a proposed rule from 2006 mandating that new purchases comply with the new address standards, which are being rolled out globally. The new rule will help ease the transition to the new protocols by ensuring devices purchased today can still operate in the future.

The two councils that amend the Federal Acquisition Regulation also published six other new procurement rules on Dec. 10. Among them:

å A final rule that prohibits the use of government purchase cards to pay vendors that owe taxes, fines and other debts to the government.

å A rule that encourages food service contractors to donate "wholesome excess food" to nonprofit organizations that assist the nation's "food-insecure people." This rule finalizes an interim Federal Acquisition Regulation published in March. The regulation encourages, but does not require, such food donations for government food service contracts worth more than $25,000.

FAA: Human error caused communications outage

Federal Aviation Administration officials say human error caused the communications system failure that snarled traffic across the country last month.

Randy Babbitt, the agency's administrator, said last week that a technician installing an upgrade disabled a system that would have prevented the failure.

Babbitt also announced the creation of a review panel to study the incident.

The communications system, which transmits flight plans from airlines to air traffic controllers, crashed for nearly four hours on Nov. 19, delaying hundreds of flights.

OPM offers guidance on reservists' pay

The Office of Personnel Management last week began an outreach effort to help agencies pay their employees salary supplements when they are called up for National Guard and reserve duty.

OPM met with chief human capital officers and human resources officials throughout the government Dec. 11 to talk about how to pay employees the reservist differential. On Dec. 8, OPM unveiled a Web site — www.opm.gov/reservist — that offers guidance on how to determine the supplemental.

Reserve and National Guard pay is often far below federal salaries, meaning most employees have in the past suffered pay cuts when they were activated. But the 2009 omnibus appropriation bill ordered agencies to pay called-up employees the difference between their military pay and their federal pay.

OPM said agencies that have not been paying the reservist differential since March 15 should retroactively pay it to eligible employees.

GAO: Confusion over transportation stimulus

Recipients of transportation stimulus funds aren't sure how to count the number of jobs created or saved by their programs, according to a new Government Accountability Office report.

Recipients said in October that stimulus programs funded by the Transportation Department created or saved more than 46,000 jobs.

But GAO's report cited "confusion" about how to calculate those totals. In Pennsylvania, for example, four local transit agencies used four formulas for calculating the number of full-time jobs created; other states reported similar confusion.

John Porcari, the deputy Transportation secretary, said in a written response that he was confident the overall job creation figures are accurate.

EPA: Carbon dioxide a health hazard

The latest step by the government to regulate carbon dioxide emissions saddles industry with uncertainty and potentially higher costs, industry groups said last week after the Environmental Protection Agency declared carbon dioxide a health hazard.

EPA's decision paves the way for new regulations on carbon dioxide emissions from power plants and factories even if Congress doesn't pass legislation to do so.

If nothing changes, EPA could require big carbon emitters — such as power plants, steel mills and cement makers — to put the best available equipment on plants to curb emissions.

Industry groups say EPA regulation would eventually drive up energy costs, lead to lost jobs and delays in project permits and construction. More immediately, "This adds more uncertainty and could impact how companies make decisions," says Keith McCoy, vice president of the National Association of Manufacturers.

Instead of EPA regulation, industry wants Congress to pass legislation to limit carbon emissions — a stance also taken by EPA and the White House. Such efforts are underway in the House and Senate.

That way, emission cuts could be made more strategically and "soften the impact on consumers," says Dan Riedinger of the Edison Electric Institute, a power industry trade group.

EPA's decision is expected to face legal challenges. Shortly after the announcement, the Competitive Enterprise Institute, a public interest group, said it would file a lawsuit to overturn EPA's finding on the grounds that EPA ignored scientific issues around global climate modeling.

Defense Science Board to study contracting

Former Pentagon acquisition executive Jacques Gansler will lead a Defense Science Board assessment into how the Defense Department buys combat-support services.

The study, mandated by Congress, comes amid growing concerns in Washington about the department's ever-increasing reliance on private-sector workers to do an ever-increasing number of jobs, especially in combat zones, including base patrols, engineering, driving trucks, securing data and preparing meals in war zones.

Senate task force to study cyber threats

A new Senate task force will study cyber threats to government systems and issue recommendations to the intelligence community in June.

The Senate Select Committee on Intelligence announced the bipartisan task force on cybersecurity Dec. 8. Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse, D-R.I., will chair the task force. Sens. Barbara Mikulski, D-Md., and Olympia Snowe, R-Maine, will be members.

Guidance on transfer of TSP accounts to survivors

The Office of Personnel Management on Dec. 4 outlined interim procedures for the surviving spouses of deceased federal employees to keep those employees' Thrift Savings Plan accounts.

OPM said that a widow or widower must fill out form TSP-17, or an Information Relating to Deceased Participant form, and mail or fax it to TSP.

TSP will then keep the deceased employee's moneys invested in the G Fund's government securities, which never decline in value and are widely viewed as a safe, conservative investment.

TSP will then send the widow or widower information on setting up a new account or withdrawing the money right away.

The form to request immediate withdrawals must be notarized.

A surviving spouse can also transfer TSP money to an IRA or other eligible employer plan by filling out a TSP-13-S-D form, or a Spouse's Election of Payment Method for Death Benefit form.

This change was among several TSP changes Congress passed earlier this year. Previously, widows and widowers had to liquidate those accounts within 60 days of a spouse's death.

The Federal Retirement Thrift Investment Board, which governs TSP, won't be finished setting up a formal system for creating spousal accounts until 2010.

Nominations due Jan. 29 for Sammies

The Partnership for Public Service is accepting nominations of outstanding federal employees for its 2010 Service to America Medals.

The eight awards, known as Sammies, are given to top civil servants whose work shows on-the-job innovation, has a great impact on the nation, and demonstrates commitment to public service. The contest is open to all career civilian federal employees, and cash prizes range from $3,000 to $10,000.

Thirty finalists will be honored during the first week of May at a Capitol Hill awards lunch celebrating Public Service Recognition Week. The winners will be announced at a September gala in Washington.

To nominate an employee, visit www.servicetoamericamedals.org. The deadline is Jan. 29.