Those of you who are on the BRAC hit list.

    In the last BRAC round, all of the offices performing the same type of function in DoD were approved for a move to a new building site at Fort Meade where they are supposed to be "co-located" but remain separate organizations.  Most of the offices to be moved were located in the DC/Baltimore metro area.  The two offices where I was employed are located in OH.  The actual moves are scheduled to be in 2011, after construction of the new building at Fort Meade is supposed to be finished.  While I would expect most of the co-locating offices' employees to move with the function next year (since they already live in the DC/Baltimore area), I expect only about 15-25 % of the staff at my old offices in OH to make the move.  Most of them have family ties to OH (& WV to some extent).  They are more likely to use priority placement to try to obtain positions at locations in OH, KY (I understand Fort Knox will be doing a lot of hiring since an entire Army command is moving there) or WV, rather than move to the DC area.  (NOTE: The DC area's reputation here is that it is a very expensive area to live in (with long/horrible commutes), poor schools in many areas and very expensive housing costs.)

     I disagree that the South will be protected from future BRAC actions by being a Republican stronghold.  If the GOP continues to be dominated by its southern members,  congress people from other areas  will put pressure to close bases in the South and keep as many of the remaining ones in other areas as they can.

       (NOTE: My understanding is that the lawyers who now work from field offices of DOHA in OH and CA are going to be allowed to continue their careers by working from "home offices" after the field offices in OH and CA are closed as part of the consolidation/co-locating of CAF offices at Fort Meade due to BRAC.  (DOHA will continue to exist and will continue to perform some CAF-related functions, as well as some functions that are not CAF-related).)

      Of course, most also speculate that eventually the separate CAFs that will all be co-located at the new building at Fort Meade will be consolidated into one "big" CAF to handle all of the security clearance and related types of actions (public trust determinations, etc.) for military, civilian and government contractor employees/consultants of DoD.  If your office is a CAF, do its employees also feel that one big CAF will be the eventual result of the upcoming BRAC-related co-location at Fort Meade?

 

       By the way, any DC/Baltimore area CAF employees who would like to try something new in the field of adjudication, I recommend applying for some of the open positions at DISCO and DOHA that I am almost sure will be available after their move from OH to Fort Meade due to existing employees in OH deciding not to move to the DC/Baltimore area in order keep their positions by moving to that area with those offices' functions.  Believe me, adjudication of clearances for industrial subjects is a diifferent world from adjudication of government employees (military or civilian).  You would have some unique transferrable skills since you will still be involved with JPAS and would still be involved in reviewing/requesting OPM investigations (incl. additional investigative actions).