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Vetter

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“Morale has always been an issue at NSA, with roughly 20 percent of the workforce doing 80 percent of the actual work,” a former official told CyberScoop on the condition of anonymity. “NSA is a place where people retire in place. At some point watching this behavior even for motivated people becomes highly demotivating.”

Describes most government entities I've worked with......

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I worked at a federal department all three summers during college and the 80/20 rule of who does what was absolutely true, as is the concept of "retire in place."

Was working a project where I, as a GS-4 intern, was supposed to help a GS-14 senior guy with some presentation.  He literally asked me what we should be doing and I ended up doing all the work except signing the form at the end : /

Many truly worthless bumps-on-a-log people...and a few outstanding ones keeping the ship afloat.  One office mate literally watched daytime TV all day off a bunny-ears TV set. Oprah, Judge Judy, etc. etc.  YGTBSM.

Relevant to this discussion: https://www.washingtonpost.com/investigations/pentagon-buries-evidence-of-125-billion-in-bureaucratic-waste/2016/12/05/e0668c76-9af6-11e6-a0ed-ab0774c1eaa5_story.html?utm_term=.8488516f032d

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22 minutes ago, nsplayr said:

I worked at a federal department all three summers during college and the 80/20 rule of who does what was absolutely true, as is the concept of "retire in place."

Was working a project where I, as a GS-4 intern, was supposed to help a GS-14 senior guy with some presentation.  He literally asked me what we should be doing and I ended up doing all the work except signing the form at the end : /

Many truly worthless bumps-on-a-log people...and a few outstanding ones keeping the ship afloat.  One office mate literally watched daytime TV all day off a bunny-ears TV set. Oprah, Judge Judy, etc. etc.  YGTBSM.

Relevant to this discussion: https://www.washingtonpost.com/investigations/pentagon-buries-evidence-of-125-billion-in-bureaucratic-waste/2016/12/05/e0668c76-9af6-11e6-a0ed-ab0774c1eaa5_story.html?utm_term=.8488516f032d

You're a Republican. I feel it in my bones.

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27 minutes ago, nsplayr said:

I worked at a federal department all three summers during college and the 80/20 rule of who does what was absolutely true, as is the concept of "retire in place."

Was working a project where I, as a GS-4 intern, was supposed to help a GS-14 senior guy with some presentation.  He literally asked me what we should be doing and I ended up doing all the work except signing the form at the end : /

Many truly worthless bumps-on-a-log people...and a few outstanding ones keeping the ship afloat.  One office mate literally watched daytime TV all day off a bunny-ears TV set. Oprah, Judge Judy, etc. etc.  YGTBSM.

Relevant to this discussion: https://www.washingtonpost.com/investigations/pentagon-buries-evidence-of-125-billion-in-bureaucratic-waste/2016/12/05/e0668c76-9af6-11e6-a0ed-ab0774c1eaa5_story.html?utm_term=.8488516f032d

Sadly it is almost impossible to fire a federal worker.  As a senior commander I had a guy who was leaving work everyday around lunch and would go drink at the VFW.  He has a very distinctive car and the investigation documented over 40 occasions where he left work and went to drink at the VFW while logging hours on the government pay system.  We did everything possible to fire him including pulling his security clearance which was a requirement for his job.  He appealed the security clearance loss and we had to put him in a nonsensical job for 18 months while it was adjudicated.  Ultimately, he won the appeal and got his clearance and his original GS-13 position back.

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9 hours ago, Vetter said:

Right, an agency with anywhere between 30,000–40,000 employees and an annual estimated budget of $10.8 billion (2013) is a "sinking ship!"

And Keith Alexander had every chance to fix things at NSA during his tenure as director (which lasted nearly nine years).  It's only been two-and-a-half years since his departure, I assure you that this phenomenon didn't suddenly occur during that short duration.

I ain't buying it...

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On 12/7/2016 at 2:07 PM, nsplayr said:

Many truly worthless bumps-on-a-log people...and a few outstanding ones keeping the ship afloat.  One office mate literally watched daytime TV all day off a bunny-ears TV set. Oprah, Judge Judy, etc. etc.  YGTBSM.

For some government workers, the greatest contribution they can make to their organization is minimizing the damage they do.  There are a few people I know who should probably be watching a little more Judge Judy during the day.

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On 12/8/2016 at 7:35 AM, ClearedHot said:

Sadly it is almost impossible to fire a federal worker.  As a senior commander I had a guy who was leaving work everyday around lunch and would go drink at the VFW.  He has a very distinctive car and the investigation documented over 40 occasions where he left work and went to drink at the VFW while logging hours on the government pay system.  We did everything possible to fire him including pulling his security clearance which was a requirement for his job.  He appealed the security clearance loss and we had to put him in a nonsensical job for 18 months while it was adjudicated.  Ultimately, he won the appeal and got his clearance and his original GS-13 position back.

Please tell me he was an aberration and not the norm.

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From my perspective, it is not the norm. I've seen multiple folks led out the door for shenanigans of similar severity during tours at both HAF and NORTHCOM.

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