Government Matters

Firsthand account from the Pentagon building on 9/11

Roberta Crissy, chief of the Military Personnel Divison in the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, recounts her experience of being in the Pentagon during the 9/11 attacks

Remembering the events of 9/11 on 20th anniversary

Gregg Dvorak, chief commercialization officer at Airio, and Terry Biggio, senior director of business development and strategic growth at SAIC, recall their experiences as leaders in the Federal Aviation Administration during the 9/11 attacks

The impact of presidential nominee vacancies on defense

Col. Wesley Hallman (USAF ret.), senior vice president of strategy and policy at the National Defense Industrial Association, discusses the status of Senate-confirmed positions and the flow of leadership between government and industry

The relationship between classification and deterrence for DoD

Chris Stone, senior fellow for space studies at the Mitchell Institute’s Spacepower Advantage Research Center, explains why overclassification, particularly in the Space Force, can be disadvantageous for national security

Raising federal funding with competitive spectrum auctions

Evan Kwerel, senior economic advisor in the Office of Economics and Analytics at the FCC, discusses the FCC’s auctions for allocating space on the electromagnetic spectrum and his role in establishing them

The implications of a senior role deficit at agencies

Daniel Lippman, reporter for Politico, discusses President Biden’s hiring of 319 senior leaders in his first three months and the implications for implementing his agenda

Reviewing the Air Force’s new Office of the Future

Col. Kevin Mantovani (USAF), vice commander of the Air Force Installation & Mission Support Center at Joint Base San Antonio-Lackland in Texas, discusses the Air Force’s Office of the Future initiative that will incorporate telework and a redesigned office environment

Responding to Haitian earthquake at USAID

Tim Callaghan, disaster assistance response team leader for USAID for the 2021 Haiti earthquake, details the current situation in Haiti and shelter, food and health assistance efforts

The role of governance in OIT at the VA

Martha Orr, deputy CIO for quality, performance and risk in the Office of Information and Technology (OIT) at the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA), and Merissa Larson, executive director for quality and risk in the VA OIT, discuss challenges and successes in IT governance in their organization

Goals of the new Oversight and Compliance Office for DIA

Brent Evitt, director of the Office of Oversight and Compliance at the Defense Intelligence Agency, discusses the creation of a new office for oversight, transparency and compliance in the Defense Intelligence Agency

The importance of agency funding increases for workforce

Tony Reardon, president of the National Treasury Employees Union, discusses the federal employee pay raise and the importance of competitive compensation in the government

Reviewing delays for the CIO-SP4 contract

Alan Thomas, chief operating officer at IntelliBridge, discusses last minute amendments in a major acquisition vehicle for the National Institutes of Health

Reviewing the acquisition merger at the Air Force

Deborah Lee James, former secretary of the United States Air Force, discusses the merging of two offices in the Air Force to help accelerate acquisition in the Space Force

The security implications of collecting biometric data

Margaret Hu, professor of law and international affairs at Penn State, explains the implications of reports that the Taliban may have seized biometric data from the Pentagon during the Afghanistan withdrawal

Recent challenges for the National Guard Bureau

Nathalie Grogan, research assistant for the Military, Veterans, and Society Program at the Center for a New American Security, discusses the strain placed on the National Guard in recent years and actions the government can take to address the problem

Reviewing vulnerabilities and risks of using GPS

Diana Furchtgott-Roth, adjunct professor at the George Washington University, discusses action the United States government must take to address major vulnerabilities in the GPS network

Streamlining the benefit approvals process at the VA

Mary Frances Matthews, assistant decision review operations center manager at the Department of Veterans Affairs, explains how she reduced the backlog in appeals in the VA’s disability benefits program

The latest on creating the ARPA-I for transportation

Lisa Rein, federal government reporter at the Washington Post, discusses the creation of a new research agency in the Department of Transportation

The latest on FRTIB’s budget for FY22

Kim Weaver, director of external affairs at the Federal Retirement Thrift Investment Board, provides an update on fiscal 2022 budget, operations and priorities for the Thrift Savings Plan board

The future of workforce at USPS

Danny Werfel, managing director and partner at Boston Consulting Group, discusses turnover rate and the ambitious hiring initiative at the United States Postal Service

Managing security amid risks in Afghanistan

Anthony Cordesman, Arleigh A. Burke Chair in Strategy at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, discusses lessons learned from Afghanistan and the Pentagon’s counterterrorism strategy going forward

Bolstering cybersecurity with a whole-of-nation approach

Ari Schwartz, managing director of cybersecurity services at Venable, discusses what is different about the Biden administration’s new plan for addressing cybersecurity threats

The latest on the withdrawal from Afghanistan

Lt. Col. Douglas Ollivant (U.S. Army ret.), ASU Future of War senior fellow at New America, discusses the complexities and contingency plans for evacuating all Americans from Afghanistan

The importance of data science literacy at CDC

Linda Degutis, lecturer at the Yale School of Public Health, explains how the CDC is using data to identify risk factors and prevention strategies for injury in the broader context of disease control

The benefits of telework opportunities in the Army

Cpt. Matt Fitzgerald (U.S. Army), author for “War on the Rocks,” explains his argument for having a small number of limited and targeted remote work billets to improve Army workflows