Aviation TSA seeks to reduce workforce to cut costs

In an effort to reduce the size of its workforce the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) is seeking to offer early retirements to its employees.

Over the next two years, TSA hopes to offer an unspecified number of its employees the option to retire early, joining the ranks of the Government Accountability Office and the departments of Commerce and Education who have similar policies in place.

The move is designed to be save money and reduce costs in light of budget cuts for 2012 and 2013. The Office of Management and Budget (OMB) has instructed federal agencies to plan their 2013 budgets to be at least 10 percent below discretionary spending levels for 2011.

“I know this will be a difficult year,” wrote Jack Lew, the director of OMB, in a memo. “But it will also offer an opportunity to make the hard decisions to invest where we can get the most done and pare back in other areas.”

Larry Olruskie, a spokesman for DHS, said that the agency has requested permission from the Office of Personnel Management to offer early retirement.

Under the proposal, early retirements would be offered between 1 October 2011 and 30 September 2013.