Comment Number: OL-10511584
Received: 3/16/2005 4:13:17 PM
Subject: Notice of Proposed Rulemaking, Request for Comment
Title: National Security Personnel System
CFR Citation: 5 CFR Chapter XCIX and Part 9901
No Attachments

Comments:

I would like to make the following comments regarding the National Security Personnel System, otherwise known as the NSPS. 1. Section 9902 of Title 5, USC as enacted by section 1101 of the National Defense Authorization Act (Pub. L. 108-136, November 24, 2003) states that the NSPS was to be planned, developed, implemented and adjusted in collaboration with, and through the participation of, the employee representatives. According to the employee representatives, this collaboration never occured. Instead the NSPS was designed in secret working groups attended by representatives of the Department of Defense and the Office of Personnel Management. The employee representatives were excluded from these secret meetings. This is a violation of the law by DOD and OPM, and because of such violation, the employee representatives filed a lawsuit in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia to stop the implementation of the NSPS until DOD and OPM abide by the law. 2. Representatives of the Department of Defense state they held agency briefing, focus group sessions and town hall meetings in 2004 to brief the DOD employees and the public about the National Security Personnel System. Contrary to what has been said, I have never seen an NSPS briefing held at my agency, nor have I been aware of any focus groups and town hall meetings being announced and held in my city and home town. If DOD held these information sessions, the employees and the public weren't invited. 3. The Department of Defense is under scrutiny by the employee representatives because they designed the NSPS in secret without employee input. The employee representatives, and well as myself, were not made aware of the proposed design of this system until it was announced in the Federal Register for the 30 day comment period. By desiging this system without employee input, the Department of Defense has changed the terms of my employment without my knowledge nor consent. 3. Under the provisions of the NSPS, management will have the right to deploy civilians, involuntarily, on short notice to anywhere in the world. This provision for involuntarily deployment not only places undue hardship on myself and my family, but it is also a blatant violation of my Constitutional rights. By changing my terms of employment without my knowlege and consent, DOD has violated my First Amendment rights by denying me the opportunity to petition the government for a redress of grievances. By reserving for itself the power to deploy me involuntarily, even to hostile environments and combat zones, the DOD has violated my 4th Amendment right to be secure in my person, and my 5th Amendment right, "that no person shall be deprived of life, liberty, or property without due process of law." By reserving for itself the power to deploy me involuntarily, the DOD violates my 13th Amendment right, "Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, except as a punishment for crime whereof the party shall have been duly convicted, shall exist within the United States, or any place subject to their jurisdiction." Involuntary deployment is involuntary servitude! I am a civilian working for the military. I'm not in the military. Apparently the managers of DOD forgot that distinction. 3. The managers of DOD want to establish an internal National Labor Relations Board under subsection (h) of Section 9902 of Title 5, USC. This board is to review employee grievances and hear their appeals. The Secretary of Defense is to handpick the representatives to sit on this board. This is my concern with the board. Management will personally handpick the judges. Give me a break! This will be nothing more than a "kangaroo court" delivering verdicts in favor of management. With no oversight from the Federal Labor Relations Board, with no oversight by Congress, and with the MSPB being downsized and staff reassinged, DOD employees will not get a fair and impartial hearing. Anonymous