Air Force issues increase in flight pay for first time in 18 years

Federal Newscast

In today's Federal Newscast, the Air Force makes a series of adjustments with the goal of putting a dent in its pilot shortage.

Eric White@FEDERALNEWSCAST

August 28, 2017 7:57 am

3 min read

New initiatives from the Air Force aim to lessen its shortage of pilots. The branch announced an increase in flight pay, the first one since 1999. It’s also expanding the 2017 Aviation Bonus Program to include non-contracted and contract-expired pilots. Finally, the Air Force will be looking to bring back retired pilots to fill critical-rated staff positions. (Air Force)

The Defense Department’s comprehensive child care portal is now available worldwide. MilitaryChildCare.com lets members of the military find child care in their area. The last seven locations transitioned to the new child care portal on Aug. 10. Almost 150,000 families are signed up on the portal.

The Pentagon has determined the vast majority of the 17,000 National Guard soldiers who got improper bonus payments will not have to give the money back. The Defense Department determined that whether or not the soldiers were actually entitled to the recruiting bonuses of up to $80,000, the overwhelming majority of them served honorably and took the payments in good faith. All but 400 of the troops — most of whom served with the California National Guard — will have their debts forgiven. For the last several years, the guardsmen have been subject to an aggressive recoupment campaign after a California audit found thousands of the payments were connected to a fraudulent scheme to boost recruitment. (Federal News Radio)

The Transportation Security Administration has a new home. The General Services Administration announced TSA’s new headquarters will be in Springfield, Virginia. The lease for it is worth $316 million over 15 years. Full occupancy is expected for the facility by February 2018. (FedBizOpps)

A former Social Security administrative law judge gets four years in prison, and owes the government $93 million for taking part in a Social Security scheme. Justice officials said David Daughtery accepted money from an attorney in exchange for awarding disability benefits to the lawyer’s clients. In total, Daughtery collected about $600,000 for deciding over 3,000 cases. Social Security paid out more than $550 million from those cases. (Department of Justice)

A group of lawyers is questioning a recent series of senior executive reassignments at the Interior Department. One in particular, Joel Clement, has filed a whistleblower complaint about his reassignment. The group wants the Office of Special Counsel to carefully review his case. The lawyers said his case could have dangerous implications for the civil service and Senior Executive Service. (Federal News Radio)

Many former Energy Department employees are concerned with the agency’s staffing issues. E&E News reports only five of DoE’s 22 political positions have had people appointed to them, making it difficult for its 13,000 employees to fully commit to their work. Former Energy officials who served under the Obama administration said that a tightening budget is making many to question whether or not they want to stay. Some of the rules in the federal hiring process are also making it difficult, since many qualified applicants usually come from a highly lucrative private sector. (E&E News)

How your agency protects your email from hackers is coming under review. With phishing attacks continuing to be one of the biggest threats to agencies, the Homeland Security Department is assessing the state of email security and authentication technologies across the government. The National Cybersecurity and Communications Integration Center (NCCIC) will soon begin scanning agencies for their use of Domain Message Authentication Reporting and Conformance (DMARC) and other cyber standards. DHS told Sen. Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) in response to his July letter it will also establish a central collection point for DMARC reports.

In the world of media today, you’ve got to a have a social media presence. The National Archives wants to know the status of its online activities. Archives is asking for quotes for a social media analytics tool to provide information on audience size, the number of referrals, as well as the number of people who unfollow or unsubscribe from its channels. (FedBizOpps)