Politics

(Courtesy of Peter Van Buren)

Peter Van Buren, a foreign service officer who wrote an unflattering book about his year leading reconstruction teams in Iraq, has received the support of the American Civil Liberties Union in his effort to keep his job.

In a letter last week, the ACLU urged the State Department not to fire Van Buren and said the agency is violating his constitutional rights by trying to terminate him.

President Obama on Wednesday nominated John F. Sopko, a partner at the Washington law firm Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld, to become Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction.

Sopko has more than 30 years experience in investigative and oversight work. He joined Akin Gump in January 2009 as an investigator after two years as chief counsel for oversight and investigations for the House Energy and Commerce committee. At the firm, he focuses on congressional and federal investigations.

From 2005 to 2007 he was deputy director of the Homeland Security Studies & Analysis Institute.

After receiving a law degree from Case Western Reserve University School of Law, Sopko became a prosecutor in Dayton, Ohio, where he battled organized crime. That work led him to the Justice Department’s Organized Crime and Racketeering Section, where he started in 1978. From 1982 to 1997, Sopko was deputy chief counsel at the Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations. After transferring to the Commerce Department he became minority general counsel and chief of investigations for the House Select Committee on Homeland Security, a position he held before his work at the Homeland Security institute.

The special inspector general investigates corruption allegations in the multibillion-dollar Afghanistan reconstruction effort.

The previous inspector, Arnold Fields, a retired Marine major general, resigned in January 2011 after a review by the Council of Inspectors General found that many of his office’s audits barely met minimum quality standards and that Fields had not laid out a clear strategic vision.

The position has been vacant for more than 470 days, according to an inspectors general vacancy tracker maintained by the nonpartisan, nonprofit Project on Government Oversight.

Steven Trent has been acting special inspector general since September 2011.

There are currently 10 inspector general vacancies across the government, which has drawn criticism from Congress.

Obama also appointed Jonathan Lippman, currently chief judge of the State of New York and chief judge of the New York Court of Appeals to the board of directors of the State Justice Institute, which awards grants to state courts.

“The extraordinary dedication these individuals bring to their new roles will greatly serve the American people,” Obama said in a statement. “I am grateful they have agreed to serve in this Administration and I look forward to working with them in the months and years to come.”

Sopko did not immediately return phone calls and e-mails seeking comment.

Allowing federal employees to phase into retirement by working part-time while collecting a partial annuity would reduce the government’s costs and increase its income, according to an analysis that could boost the plan’s prospects.

(Chip Somodevilla - Getty Images)

The Congressional Budget Office estimated that the plan would reduce spending by $427 million over 10 years because the government would be paying less than the full annuities that the employees have accumulated. Meanwhile, because phased retirees would continue to pay into the federal retirement fund from their salaries, revenues would rise by $24 million over that time, CBO said.

Under the proposal, an agency could offer phased retirement to employees once they hit retirement eligibility. Typically, employees would work half-time and receive both a pro-rated salary and a pro-rated annuity. Working time could range between one and four days per week on average, with both the salary and the retirement benefit adjusted accordingly.

Facebook this week is getting pounded for dropping the ball on mobile. Well, the White House doesn’t want the government to drop it, too.

President Obama issued a directive Wednesday that encourages federal agencies to make their Web sites and documents accessible on mobile platforms.

“For far too long, the American people have been forced to navigate a labyrinth of information across different Government programs in order to find the services they need,” Obama said in the directive.

Injured servicemembers wait on average over a year to receive an official government disability evaluation, and the wait time increased significantly in 2011 for the third consecutive year, according to testimony to be released Wednesday by the Government Accountability Office.

In 2007, the VA and the Defense Department combined previously separate disability evaluations into the Integrated Disability Evaluation System (IDES), a step meant to streamline the process, eliminate often conflicting assessments, and create a seamless transition for servicemembers returning to civilian life.

“Timeliness has steadily worsened since the inception of the program,” Daniel Bertoni, the GAO’s director for education, workforce and income security, said in testimony prepared for a hearing Wednesday before the Senate Committee on Veterans’ Affairs.

Active duty troops waited 394 days on average in fiscal year 2011, while members of the National Guard and Reserve faced waits of 420 days. In 2010, the wait times were 357 and 370 days, respectively, and in 2008, they were less than 300.

“Unfortunately, this new disability system is exhibiting some of the same failings of the broken system that it was designed to replace,” said the committee’s chairman, Sen. Patty Murray, (D-Wash.) “Our servicemembers should never be forced to wait nearly 400 days to get a decision that will have such an important impact on their future.”

Despite its problems, the integrated system “is considered by many to be an improvement over the legacy process it replaced,” Bertoni noted.

The evaluations determine medical disability ratings and compensation levels, a critical step for servicemembers leaving the military.

Only 19 percent of active duty servicemembers completed the process and received benefits within the departments’ goal of 295 days, according to the GAO.