by Tdarcos » Mon Oct 12, 2020 12:16 am
Well, your points do answer a number of questions, but when I say "securirty clearance," I'm thinking of the "secret" level or level needed for SCI (Sensitive Classified Information) or SBU (Sensitive But Unclassified) . First, cloning people is the kind of thing that I would expect to have at least 'secret" if not "top secret" or even "codeword" access. It's the sort of "rancid," kind of activity that unless it was a crime to discuss it elsewhere, once people found out about it there would be leaks. (As occurred in the case of Edward Snowden.)
I mean, as I said, I have worked in different Federal agencies as a contractor employee, and my basic qualification was I walked in off the street. If i had a Federal investigation of my background, it was neither disclosed to me nor was i aware of it, as in no case did any of my job applications state this. (I just remembered that in the case of the SF71 it does state they may investigate one's background). Nor was there ever any delay to show up, I was hired and the next day I'm working at a Federal agency same as if I were a Federal employee. If Federal employees of any sort have to have a security clearance of some kind even for lower-level jobs, but contractor employees don't, either this leaves a big hole in security (which may have been the case of Snowden, who was, i believe, a contractor for Booz, Allen, & Hamilton, but I also believe he did have a security clearance) or it explains why contractor employees are so much cheaper, since the government isn't spending $30-$50,000 to do a security clearance for a contractor mailroom clerk that they would have to on a Federal employee.
Also, yes, I understand putting him as a mailroom clerk was a demotion (and a punishment), why send him to another agency? And again, it still makes no sense: either he was given a 2/3 cut in salary - without advance notice, a thing that would cause the union to go berserk - to the pay of a mail clerk (at GS 2-3, about $25,000 a year), or they're paying a mail clerk $86,000 a year at the GS 15 rate.
First, no agency is that overfunded that they can waste that kind of money. Second, again, regardless of this so-called demotion, when most places are screaming for qualified technical people why would they waste one on something a person with very little skills could do? Third, notwithstanding the intent of "punishment" this sort of obvious waste is something the Office of Inspector General would salivate over. This would be the sort of obvious waste they'd investigate, to see why a GS 15 employee has been assigned to a GS 2 or GS 3 position, at the GS 15 salary rate.
I just looked up GS schedules for 1995 when I worked at one agency and according to pay grades then in effect, my salary as a tech support contractor made me the equivalent of a GS 9.
Based on an actual, current VA posting on USAJobs.gov, Marvin's status as an IT support person with a technical degree and five years experience should qualify him at at least GS 15, which is about $86,000 a year. Even if they can afford to waste that kind of money to punish someone else's employee - if the Tombstone is "The Hlibrary of Congress," then it is a legislative branch agency (as the real Library of Congress is), whereas the VA is an Executive branch agency - they have nothing to do with each other and security clearances are not transferable (a person with an existing security clearance from a different agency will get a less intensive abbreviated investigation but there is still an investigation.) How does the mere director of IT for the Denver Veterans Administration hospital get another agency to accept a known problem employee and then agree to pay him at about 3 times what a normal GS 2 or GS 3 employee doing that job would make? (Nowhere in the story does it say this "punishment" came with a reduction in GS rating or pay level.)
I know you told me about the guy who ended up being a manager at a department that had no employees, but (not stated) he couldn't be RIFed (probably due to seniority). But in that case, he's still assigned to a manager position. He's being paid as a manager, even though he has nothing to do, not paid as a manager but assigned to work as a clerk in the mail room, that would raise flags in the OIG. It would look like favoritism.
Now, let's say Marvin normally has a job doing things like fixing servers, installing and tuning databases, and other highly technical work. In that case, he could have been downgraded to a technical support person who had to go around fixing people's computers or other work at their desks. That would make more sense, would still have him roaming all over the building, and isn't enough of a red flag that the IG's office would question it.
Also, if this work does require a security clearance, how does it get approved overnight? Marvin is working at an Executive Branch agency one day (the VA) and the next morning he is working for a Legislative Branch agency (the Hlibrary of Congress) doing something as sensitive as cloning would have to have very high security clearances, compartmentalization, and "need to know," separation. The mail would not be processed in the server room or where clones were being constructed, chances are nobody but the scientists dealing with them would know about it.
Yes, I understand that fiction sometimes requires you do things differently from reality. (Nobody ever comes out and admits on the witness stand they're guilty the way they did every week on Perry Mason.) But I'm not even a Federal employee and I know these things, it's likely others would too.
Well, your points do answer a number of questions, but when I say "securirty clearance," I'm thinking of the "secret" level or level needed for SCI (Sensitive Classified Information) or SBU (Sensitive But Unclassified) . First, cloning people is the kind of thing that I would expect to have at least 'secret" if not "top secret" or even "codeword" access. It's the sort of "rancid," kind of activity that unless it was a crime to discuss it elsewhere, once people found out about it there would be leaks. (As occurred in the case of Edward Snowden.)
I mean, as I said, I have worked in different Federal agencies as a contractor employee, and my basic qualification was I walked in off the street. If i had a Federal investigation of my background, it was neither disclosed to me nor was i aware of it, as in no case did any of my job applications state this. (I just remembered that in the case of the SF71 it does state they may investigate one's background). Nor was there ever any delay to show up, I was hired and the next day I'm working at a Federal agency same as if I were a Federal employee. If Federal employees of any sort have to have a security clearance of some kind even for lower-level jobs, but contractor employees don't, either this leaves a big hole in security (which may have been the case of Snowden, who was, i believe, a contractor for Booz, Allen, & Hamilton, but I also believe he did have a security clearance) or it explains why contractor employees are so much cheaper, since the government isn't spending $30-$50,000 to do a security clearance for a contractor mailroom clerk that they would have to on a Federal employee.
Also, yes, I understand putting him as a mailroom clerk was a demotion (and a punishment), why send him to another agency? And again, it still makes no sense: either he was given a 2/3 cut in salary - without advance notice, a thing that would cause the union to go berserk - to the pay of a mail clerk (at GS 2-3, about $25,000 a year), or they're paying a mail clerk $86,000 a year at the GS 15 rate.
First, no agency is that overfunded that they can waste that kind of money. Second, again, regardless of this so-called demotion, when most places are [i]screaming[/i] for qualified technical people why would they waste one on something a person with very little skills could do? Third, notwithstanding the intent of "punishment" this sort of obvious waste is something the Office of Inspector General would salivate over. This would be the sort of obvious waste they'd investigate, to see why a GS 15 employee has been assigned to a GS 2 or GS 3 position, at the GS 15 salary rate.
I just looked up GS schedules for 1995 when I worked at one agency and according to pay grades then in effect, my salary as a tech support contractor made me the equivalent of a GS 9.
Based on an actual, current VA posting on USAJobs.gov, Marvin's status as an IT support person with a technical degree and five years experience should qualify him at at least GS 15, which is about $86,000 a year. Even if they can afford to waste that kind of money to punish someone else's employee - if the Tombstone is "The Hlibrary of Congress," then it is a legislative branch agency (as the real Library of Congress is), whereas the VA is an Executive branch agency - they have nothing to do with each other and security clearances are not transferable (a person with an existing security clearance from a different agency will get a less intensive abbreviated investigation but there is still an investigation.) How does the mere director of IT for the Denver Veterans Administration hospital get another agency to accept a known problem employee and then agree to pay him at about 3 times what a normal GS 2 or GS 3 employee doing that job would make? (Nowhere in the story does it say this "punishment" came with a reduction in GS rating or pay level.)
I know you told me about the guy who ended up being a manager at a department that had no employees, but (not stated) he couldn't be RIFed (probably due to seniority). But in that case, he's still assigned to a manager position. He's being paid as a manager, even though he has nothing to do, not paid as a manager but assigned to work as a clerk in the mail room, [i]that[/i] would raise flags in the OIG. It would look like favoritism.
Now, let's say Marvin normally has a job doing things like fixing servers, installing and tuning databases, and other highly technical work. In that case, he could have been downgraded to a technical support person who had to go around fixing people's computers or other work at their desks. That would make more sense, would still have him roaming all over the building, and isn't enough of a red flag that the IG's office would question it.
Also, if this work does require a security clearance, how does it get approved overnight? Marvin is working at an Executive Branch agency one day (the VA) and the next morning he is working for a Legislative Branch agency (the Hlibrary of Congress) doing something as sensitive as cloning would have to have very high security clearances, compartmentalization, and "need to know," separation. The mail would not be processed in the server room or where clones were being constructed, chances are nobody but the scientists dealing with them would know about it.
Yes, I understand that fiction sometimes requires you do things differently from reality. (Nobody ever comes out and admits on the witness stand they're guilty the way they did every week on [i]Perry Mason[/i].) But I'm not even a Federal employee and I know these things, it's likely others would too.