The cold, hard facts are that if they didn't offer premium pay for working in those cities (in mostly VERY DANGEROUS downtown locations) they'd not have any employees willing to go there year after miserable year (and most government jobs involve working on projects stretching over decades, so you can't just replace them at the drop of a hat).
Rather than raise everyone's wage everywhere just so they can get a few specialists in some places, they raise just those specialists' pay.
Oh, yeah, and screw everybody else who works in a less dangerous, less costly place.
Just the way it is.
Screw the high risk. Others work in those same downtown ares for state and local governments as well as private companies.
Sounds to me like one way to reduce the federal government workforce and close and sell off what in reality is unneeded building from the federal inventory.
Sorry, if I seem harsh. Spent upwards of 30 years in the military, didn’t get Hazardous Duty pay for working in Washington DC or any where else state-side.
Plus we can get rid of the gov’t unions too. Excessive overhead demands radical excisions.