The Department of Defense announced new policy and procedures Thursday that will prioritize performance over other considerations for future reduction in force decisions determining which civilian employees should be retained. Previously, RIF decisions prioritized tenure, then veteran’s preference, length of service, and performance. The new policy, which was mandated by the Fiscal 2016 National Defense Authorization Act, establishes a retention register that will rank employees based on current performance review first, then tenure, followed by an average of all performance reviews, veteran’s preference, and finally DOD Service Computation Date, according to a DOD release.
U.S. Air Force F-35s and F-22s regularly deploy deep into the Pacific region from Alaska, Utah, and Hawaii. In the future, though, the head of U.S. Indo-Pacific Command would like to see the Air Force permanently station fifth-generation aircraft west of the international date line—closer to China.