If you look at his posts, it looks very much like he was/is here in an official capacity.
No. If he was here in an official capacity, he would have identified himself and his position up front. Government officials don't introduce themselves using nicknames when they are working. They provide official ID.
Personally, I don't know what to think of Govman. I have no reason to believe that he isn't who he says he is. An faa.gov email address isn't proof, though. I have a friend that consults for the FAA that has an email account with the FAA. And I am not in the military, but I have a mail.mil email address.
I am certain, though, that he was not working when he posted here. The FAA wouldn't have someone post to a forum like this anonymously. Generally, everything published publicly by someone in the government has to be peer reviewed and approved for release. Having someone post extemporaneously in an online forum is not how things are done in government.
I don't know if his intent was to troll or not. But, like a troll, he said things that he would have or should have known to be contentious. I try to ignore trolls, but I gave him the benefit of the doubt and replied to something he said.
Since 90% of my post that started this digression has been ignored, I will try to summarize what were the more important things that I said.
1) The FAA has historically done a good job of balancing recreation and commercial interests while keeping the airways safe.
2) I think that education is a critical and effective tool in helping us to fly safely and avoid trouble. But, what is taught needs to be accurate. Even if your overall message is good, inaccuracies and obvious exaggerations are more likely to get you ignored than listened to.
3) The FAA guidelines are a good thing that we should follow.
-- Roger