Technology holds massive cost-saving potential, but the bleak budget outlook means engaging stakeholders and building solid relationships along with high-level leadership will be the most important factors in achieving innovation in government.
Technology innovation discussions at this week’s Executive Leadership Conference touched on the usual suspects — data center consolidation and the cloud – and the anticipated cost savings. Keep reading →
When Neal Brown began his federal career as an intern with the National Institute of Mental Health nearly 40 years ago, life was very different for Americans with mental illness. Beyond carrying a significant social stigma, they often were removed from their communities and placed in institutions, with no say in their treatment and sometimes living under abusive conditions.
In those intervening years, Brown has become a leading federal advocate for shifting care and government resources from the large psychiatric institutions toward a less expensive community-based rehabilitative model. In the process, he has helped bring mental health consumers into policy development, program design and services implementation at the federal, state and local government levels. Keep reading →
When Dr. Matthew Friedman began his career working with veterans nearly 40 years ago, not a single person had been diagnosed with Post-traumatic Stress Disorder, or PTSD. In fact, the term had yet to be invented.
Today, as the executive director for the National Center for PTSD at the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA), Friedman is widely known as a pioneer in the field of traumatic studies. His career has been devoted to identifying the causes of and treatments for PTSD and advocating for those whose psychological well-being has been harmed by stresses of war and other jarring experiences. Keep reading →
Oliver Fischer, a young Census Bureau demographer, landed two unusual assignments that contributed to U.S. policy aimed at bringing about a fair and peaceful vote for Southern Sudan to declare its independence from the northern part of the country.
Starting in 2006 and continuing through the early part of 2011, Fischer had two roles-that of a census expert helping to set the stage for an accurate vote count, and later as a member of the State Department’s Civilian Response Corps working in extremely dangerous parts of Southern Sudan to provide American diplomats with information in the run up to the referendum. Keep reading →
As a person who works with both the federal government and private industry, I’m lucky to be able to see the recent focus on federal cybersecurity not only from the perspective of lawmakers and agencies, but also from the outside looking in. Unfortunately, the view from both perspectives isn’t very pretty. Throughout the lifecycle of federally-mandated cybersecurity, there is inconsistency, overlap, and contradiction across the spectrum, from legislation, to implementation, to awareness and communication.
The federal government clearly wants to lead by example in cybersecurity; but a leader without direction, focus or communication skills is no leader at all.” Keep reading →
At the height of our nation’s economic crisis, 34-year-old Interior Department employee Mary Pletcher became the lead career executive for awarding and tracking $2.9 billion in economic stimulus funds used to preserve and restore iconic national treasures, provide vital infrastructure in impoverished Indian communities and create jobs.
Leading the largest single investment in public lands since the Civilian Conservation Corps of the New Deal, Pletcher managed funds for some 4,000 projects ranging from major improvements to Ellis Island to the nation’s largest dam removal and natural habitat restoration project on the Elwha River in Washington State. Under her leadership, Interior met all of the requirements under the stimulus law on time, and with no significant instances of waste or fraud. Keep reading →
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 →
A survey report released today of the CIOs of 48 states, the District of Columbia and two territories shows this to be a year of evolving roles, changing capabilities and trying workloads for IT executives. The result: a new, dynamic environment for CIOs consisting of four Cs – clout, change, collaboration and consolidation. Keep reading →
I’ve watched a lot of football games over the years, but it wasn’t until this weekend that I fully realized just how obsessed we are with the highlight reels of acrobatic catches, elusive runs and bone-jarring tackles.
Too bad the same recognition can’t be bestowed on federal workers and the big plays they make every day. Keep reading →
The U.S. Marine Corps is best known for looking for a few good men.
But they are also looking to ensure those men adhere to a few good principles when it comes to using social media. Keep reading →