Peace Corps Struggles With HIV Policy

In Burkina Faso, Coulborn spent much of her time in a village of 800 people, providing health education about waterborne parasites and the importance of immunizations, and promoting community awareness about various health issues. She said she thinks she was exposed to HIV when helping a person who had been injured in a bicycle accident.

She was surprised by her test result, but was more surprised when the local agency medical officer, following instructions from headquarters, Coulborn said, "told me to pack up my stuff and not expect to return."

The Peace Corps discharged her in October 2001. She said she has remained healthy, has not had to start drug therapy, and believes "I could have completely and totally served out my term as a Peace Corps volunteer."

Being forced to leave her village, she said, "was devastating to me." Because Peace Corps funding is linked to the volunteer, her departure ended projects underway or planned for the village, she said.

"Testing positive for HIV should not disqualify you from serving your country internationally," Coulborn said.

Military Pay Raise on Track

Congress appears settled on providing a higher raise to the military. Military personnel would receive a 3.9 percent pay raise next year under a defense bill approved by the House Armed Services Committee yesterday. Last month, the Senate Armed Services Committee also backed a 3.9 percent raise.

The Bush administration, in its February budget request, recommended a 3.4 percent raise for the military and a 2.9 percent raise, including locality adjustments, for the civil service next year.

The House committee also wants to suspend the outsourcing of federal work, known as A-76 competitions, for three years. The halt is needed "to ensure that the [military] services' operational obligations may be fully met." The committee would require the Office of Management and Budget to develop a definition of "inherently governmental" for use by all agencies. The definition would help determine which federal jobs should only be performed by government personnel.

The American Federation of Government Employees, which has urged House members to stop contracting-out efforts by the Pentagon, praised the committee's actions.

Talk Shows

Peter Graves, special assistant for public affairs at the Office of Personnel Management, will be the guest on "FedTalk" at 11 a.m. today on FederalNewsRadio ( http://www.federalnewsradio.com) and WFED radio (1050 AM). Jonathan Pettus, chief information officer at NASA, will be the guest on the IBM "Business of Government Hour" at 9 a.m. tomorrow on WJFK radio (106.7 FM).

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