Partnership for Public Service

Posts by Partnership for Public Service

Feds@Work: Transportation Program Thwarts Terrorism

By


In February 2011, a college student from Saudi Arabia was arrested in Texas for plotting to bomb U.S. targets after trucking company officials alerted authorities about a suspicious chemical they were hired to carry. A few weeks earlier, a Greyhound bus driver in Virginia persuaded a hijacker to let the passengers offload. They notified the police, who were able to defuse the situation and arrest the individual.

These separate incidents had one common thread-the transportation employees had been trained through a federal terrorism and security awareness program known as “First Observer.”
The nationwide program, led by William (Bill) Arrington of the Transportation Security Administration (TSA), recruits and trains volunteers from the trucking, school bus and motor coach industries, law enforcement as well as sports stadium personnel, parking lot attendants and other highway transportation professionals to observe, assess and report suspicious activities that might pose a serious public threat. Keep reading →

 /  Published October 14, 2011 at 1:30 PM

Feds@Work: Protecting the Chesapeake Bay

By


The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) unveiled a long-awaited plan in December 2010 to restore the water quality of the troubled Chesapeake Bay and its tributaries, a complex blueprint calling for six states and the District of Columbia to substantially reduce pollution in the nation’s largest estuary during the next 15 years.

Among those working behind-the-scenes at the EPA was Katherine Antos, a 31-year-old water quality team leader. Antos is credited by colleagues with being instrumental in helping the states develop and evaluate their individual environmental plans, and in assembling the comprehensive package to cut pollution that has been killing fish and wildlife, destroying wetlands and contaminating drinking water supplies. Keep reading →

 /  Published October 13, 2011 at 3:01 PM

Feds@Work: Financial Watchdog Benefits Soldiers

By


Serving as a management and financial watchdog for the Department of Defense (DOD) is an enormous task, one made all the more daunting in recent years by the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, and the huge growth in military spending.

As the managing director for defense capabilities and management at the Government Accountability Office (GAO), Janet St. Laurent has been more than up to the job. Keep reading →

 /  Published October 7, 2011 at 1:42 PM

Dr. William Gahl: Medical Sleuth

By


This is the last of a series of profiles on the nine standout public servants who received Samuel J. Heyman Service to America Medals (Sammies) honoring their high-impact contributions to the health, safety and well-being of Americans at a Washington, D.C. gala September 15. The awards, presented by the nonprofit Partnership for Public Service, are among the most prestigious honors given to America’s civil servants. This profile features the winner of the national science and environmental medal, Dr. William Gahl.

As the founding director of the Undiagnosed Diseases Program at the National Institutes of Health (NIH), Dr. William Gahl has brought together a unique combination of elite medical specialists, researchers and federal resources to solve baffling illnesses and provide desperate patients with information and possible solutions for their often life-threatening ailments. Keep reading →

 /  Published September 29, 2011 at 11:00 AM

James Michael Duncan: Gave Chilean Miners Light At End Of Tunnel

By

This is the eighth of a series of profiles on the nine standout public servants who received Samuel J. Heyman Service to America Medals (Sammies) honoring their high-impact contributions to the health, safety and well-being of Americans at a Washington, D.C. gala September 15. The awards, presented by the nonprofit Partnership for Public Service, are among the most prestigious honors given to America’s civil servants. This profile features the winner of the national security and international affairs medal, James Michael Duncan, deputy chief medical officer at NASA’s Johnson Space Center. Keep reading →

 /  Published September 27, 2011 at 11:00 AM

Todd Grams: Streamlining Veterans Services

By


This is the seventh of a series of profiles on the nine standout public servants who received Samuel J. Heyman Service to America Medals (Sammies) honoring their high-impact contributions to the health, safety and well-being of Americans at a Washington, D.C. gala September 15. The awards, presented by the nonprofit Partnership for Public Service, are among the most prestigious honors given to America’s civil servants. This profile features the winner of the management excellence medal, W. Todd Grams, acting assistant secretary for management and chief financial officer for the Department of Veterans Affairs.

The Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) has long functioned as if it were three distinct business entities-health care, benefits and cemeteries-and never fully integrated its financial management, acquisition, human resources, capital investment and technology functions across the organization. Keep reading →

 /  Published September 26, 2011 at 1:00 PM

Charles Heurich: Finding Closure for Loved Ones

By


This is the sixth of a series of profiles on the nine standout public servants who received Samuel J. Heyman Service to America Medals (Sammies) honoring their high-impact contributions to the health, safety and well-being of Americans at a Washington, D.C. gala September 15. The awards, presented by the nonprofit Partnership for Public Service, are among the most prestigious honors given to America’s civil servants. This profile features the winner of the justice and law enforcement medal, Charles Heurich, Program Manager for the National Missing and Unidentified Persons System at the Department of Justice, Office of Justice Programs, National Institute of Justice.

More than 20 years after her sister Paula Davis disappeared, Stephanie Clack went to a newly created federal website which matches missing-person cases with unidentified human remains, and quickly unraveled the disturbing mystery that for so long had haunted her family. Keep reading →

 /  Published September 23, 2011 at 4:00 PM

Dr. C. Norman Coleman: Preparing For The Unthinkable

By

This is the fifth of a series of profiles on the nine standout public servants who received Samuel J. Heyman Service to America Medals (Sammies) honoring their high-impact contributions to the health, safety and well-being of Americans at a Washington, D.C. gala September 15. The awards, presented by the nonprofit Partnership for Public Service, are among the most prestigious honors given to America’s civil servants. This profile features the winner of the homeland security medal, Norman Coleman, associate director of the Radiation Research Program at the National Institutes of Health, National Cancer Institute.

Dr. C. Norman Coleman, a renowned radiation oncologist, developed a comprehensive roadmap to help the U.S. government and emergency responders prepare for a dreadful scenario-a terrorist attack involving radiological or nuclear materials. Keep reading →

 /  Published September 22, 2011 at 2:30 PM

Diane Braunstein: Bringing Compassion to Process

By


This is the fourth of a series of profiles on the nine standout public servants who received Samuel J. Heyman Service to America Medals (Sammies) honoring their high-impact contributions to the health, safety and well-being of Americans at a Washington, D.C. gala September 15. The awards, presented by the nonprofit Partnership for Public Service, are among the most prestigious honors given to America’s civil servants. This profile features the winner of the citizen services medal, Diane Braunstein, associate commissioner for the Office of International Programs at the Social Security Administration.

Imagine that you were diagnosed with a terminal form of cancer or a rare and debilitating chronic disease, have applied for Social Security disability benefits to help make ends meet, and are placed on a long waiting list where the claim lingers without resolution. Keep reading →

 /  Published September 21, 2011 at 1:30 PM

Ann Martin: Disrupting the Flow of Dirty Money

By

This is the third of a series of profiles on the nine standout public servants who received Samuel J. Heyman Service to America Medals (Sammies) honoring their high-impact contributions to the health, safety and well-being of Americans at a Washington, D.C. gala September 15. The awards, presented by the nonprofit Partnership for Public Service, are among the most prestigious honors given to America’s civil servants. This profile features the winner of the call to service medal, Ann Martin, senior intelligence research specialist for the Office of Trend and Issue Analysis, Department of the Treasury, Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (photo withheld upon request).

Federal law enforcement authorities have suspected for years that violent Mexican drug cartels routinely smuggle cash from their American narcotics sales into their own country, deposit the funds in local banks and then funnel huge sums of the illicitly gained money back into the United States. Keep reading →

 /  Published September 20, 2011 at 1:01 PM
Page 6 of 71...234567