Turnover Rate Stabilizes at Homeland Security

Troubled that such job tryouts are becoming the norm in government, the National Treasury Employees Union filed a lawsuit in January to stop the intern program, saying that it undermined civil-service rules aimed at open and fair competition for federal jobs.

At the top of Homeland Security, recruiting for political and career senior executive service positions does not seem to be a major problem, according to the data collected by the GAO. Only a few agencies, including the Federal Emergency Management Agency and the Domestic Nuclear Detection Office, reported trouble in filling senior executive service jobs.

Asked for a snapshot of the executive ranks, a Homeland Security spokesman said the department has been allocated 496 of the senior jobs, with 73 of those added in March. As of this week, 397 executives were on board.

Of the 99 vacant positions, 82 executives are being recruited or have been selected, the spokesman said.

The department's efforts to create a new pay and personnel system remain in flux, however. Congressional committees have proposed limiting the money available for creating a new system, which the department says would better reward the best workers.

Plans for the new system remain unclear in part because of litigation brought by unions. The department recently obtained a six-month extension from a federal judge who had requested a status report and now has until Jan. 17 to file the report.

House Panel Approves Military Pay Raise

The effort in Congress to provide a 3.5 percent pay raise to military personnel remains on track. The House Appropriations Committee yesterday approved $2.2 billion to cover the cost of the raise. The Senate voted to authorize the pay raise for the troops as part of a bill that would overhaul health care for military personnel and veterans.

Stephen Barr's e-mail address isbarrs@washpost.com.