Government Employees — 4

The “Third Wave Initiative ” was yet another measure that was turned back by a concerted grassroots effort. The initiative was the product of a study performed by the Rand Corporation and presented to the DoD. Despite the fact that most all other branches of the military took a hands off approach to the study for a variety of reasons, Secretary Thomas White of the Department of the Army embraced the initiative.

The “Third Wave Initiative” sought to subject 155,000 civilian and more than 58,000 military positions to outsourcing at a time when the United States was involved in a war in Afghanistan and preparing to go to war in Iraq. Such a disruption could have been devastating to the war effort in Afghanistan and have had unconscionable affects on our armed services.

The plan intentionally violated the OMB Process A-76, and Title 10, USC 2701, and redefined the meaning of CORE and GIN. Government in Nature (GIN) are positions that are inherently governmental functions so intimately related to the public interest as to mandate performance by government personnel. CORE positions are defined as functions essential for national defense as to maintain “CORE” logistics capability that is ‘Government-Owned’ and ‘Government-Operated.’ The Department of the Army intended to proceed with the initiative without even petitioning Congress for waiver or relief on Title 10 or the A-76 process. In the end, Congress didn’t believe the initiative was about saving money and saw it more as a shell game where money was to moved into the hands of the “shadow government,” Corporate America. Because of pressure from Congress, the Army scrapped its plans late in 2003.

Base Realignment and Closure (BRAC)

Members who work for the Defense Department are gearing up for another round of base closures scheduled to be announced in 2005. Because of four other rounds of base closures, the IAM has lost a considerable number of members. The next round could also prove to be costly.