DoD to Seek Personnel Reforms

Defense Department officials have said the Pentagon will seek separate authority over many personnel practices, bidding to create what they call a “national security personnel system” that will give greater flexibility in how it handles and manages civilian personnel. Officials said that the agency now uses military personnel and contractors “since they can be more easily managed” than civilian federal employees and decried the “outside” control over their personnel. Said one official at a recent briefing, “We really need a civilian personnel system to shake up where we are these das. Our civilian personnel come under civil service rules; that creates all kinds of difficulties for us. We want to have what Homeland Security just got”-a reference to the new department’s special authorities in hiring, job classification, performance rating, discipline and numerous other areas.