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News | Feb. 23, 2011

NORAD, USNORTHCOM announce military and civilian reductions

By NORAD and USNORTHCOM Public Affairs

PETERSON AIR FORCE BASE, Colo. - North American Aerospace Defense Command and U.S. Northern Command announce today that the commands will be reducing overall U.S. manning by 40 military and 39 civilian positions. This re-shaping, the first since the stand-up of USNORTHCOM in 2002, is intended to better align personnel resources against mission priorities and requirements by realigning and, in some cases, reducing manpower from less-critical functions. This effort will ultimately enable the commands to function more efficiently and effectively, as well as provide U.S. taxpayers with a better return on their investment.

The offices most directly affected by the position reductions will be the Command Chaplain’s Office, the Command History Office, the Command Surgeon General’s Office, and the Command and Control Systems Directorate.

For the military, most of the eliminated positions will be vacated through normal attrition such as permanent change of station moves. The reconfiguration of civilian positions will require a detailed reduction-in-force process that will likely begin in April and be finalized in October.

The civilian RIF procedures are conducted through a very detailed, systematic process that protects the rights of federal employees. Many benefits and programs are available to assist those employees whose positions are being eliminated. There may be opportunities for early retirements or incentive “buy-outs” for those employees interested, but there will also be aggressive efforts to place every employee who wants to continue working. If no placements are available during the RIF process, which includes all of Peterson AFB and Cheyenne Mountain Air Station, the Department of Defense has a placement program that attempts to place affected employees at other DOD installations.

All affected employees will receive at least 60-days notice of the final specific RIF action.