For nine years in a row, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) has been rated the best place to work in government. It is sending people back to the moon and eventually to Mars. Col. Pam Melroy (USAF, ret.), deputy administrator of NASA, said the Apollo program proved going to the moon was possible […]
The fallout from the Covid-19 pandemic provided a dress rehearsal for confronting the catastrophic risk of climate change. Unlike the disease, however, there is no vaccine to solve climate change. Alice Hill, former special assistant to President Obama and senior director for resilience policy on the National Security Council staff, currently David M. Rubenstein senior […]
In 2020 and 2021, Congress allocated Covid relief packages totaling $4 trillion, the largest economic stimulus in United States history. Dealing with the unprecedented health and economic crisis of the pandemic required coordination among multiple federal agencies and with state, local and tribal governments. The National Academy of Public Administration (NAPA) has established a new […]
Hundreds of presidentially nominated, Senate-confirmed positions remain vacant to date. The vacancies in the Pentagon can adversely affect the execution of long-term national defense strategy, according to Col. Wesley Hallman (USAF ret.), senior vice president of strategy and policy at the National Defense Industrial Association. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) had put a hold, which she has […]
The Biden administration is hiring senior agency executives at the fastest rate in decades, with at least 319 during the president’s first three months in office. Daniel Lippman, reporter for Politico, said at least 30% of the Senior Executive Service (leaders in top government positions) are racial minorities and about half are women, both increases […]
When disaster strikes in the United States, like the destruction of Hurricane Ida, the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) funds and coordinates a response. But when disaster strikes overseas, the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) coordinates and delivers American aid. On Aug. 14, a 7.2-magnitude earthquake and a tropical storm in Haiti left […]
Agencies have been working for years to institute strong IT governance strategies that lead to savings and better performing IT systems. The Department of Veterans Affairs has been continually tweaking its plan. Merissa Larson, executive director for quality and risk in the VA Office of Information and Technology (OIT), said her team has embraced IT […]
