Letter to Secretary of Defense James Mattis - Call to exempt DFAS Facility from Federal Hiring Freeze

Letter

Dear Secretary Mattis,

As strong supporters of the Defense Finance and Accounting Service (DFAS) and its Rome, New York facility, we write today to request that employees of the agency who serve the Department of Defense (DoD) and our service members be exempt from the recent government-wide hiring freeze.

The DFAS workforce is responsible for supporting a range of functions critical to our military's readiness, including the processing of pay and benefits for two million service members and the management of more than $18 billion in accounts receivables. In particular, DFAS Rome primarily serves and supports financial processes that are critical to the day-to-day operations of the Army. To maintain our military's readiness, it is vital that DFAS positions that support DoD financial functions not be impacted by the hiring freeze.

On January 23, 2017, President Donald J. Trump signed an Executive Order implementing a government-wide hiring freeze. Per this order, "no vacant positions existing at noon on January 22, 2017, may be filled and no new positions may be created, except in limited circumstances." The order goes on to state that "the head of any executive department or agency may exempt from the hiring freeze any positions that it deems necessary to meet national security or public safety responsibilities." Since the order was announced, DoD has issued guidance clarifying that lateral movements of staff within DFAS as well as Pathways intern appointments are exempt from the order. However, DFAS is currently unable to fill positions that have been or are set to be lost due to attrition, of which there are several in the agency's Rome, New York branch.

Each day, DFAS Rome's impeccable record of financial management and strong history of effective leadership sustain our military's readiness. The critical role DFAS plays in ensuring transparency and efficiency by standardizing, consolidating, and improving accounting and financial functions throughout DoD make the agency an indispensable partner. In light of this, we respectfully request that you work closely with DFAS leadership to ensure that the agency's workforce is maintained and that positions lost due to attrition are not impacted by the freeze.

We thank you in advance for your consideration of this request and look forward to working with you in the years ahead to reaffirm the importance of DFAS's exemplary workforce.

Sincerely,

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