Government Matters

Recommendations for changes to the budget process

Doug Criscitello, former chief financial officer at the Department of Housing and Urban Development and the Small Business Administration, explains the root cause of problems with the modern budget process and solutions that could help

Assessing the White House defense budget request

Mark Cancian, former chief of the Force Structure and Investment Division at the Office of Management and Budget, details five major surprises in the Pentagon’s fiscal year 2022 budget request

Best practices for protecting agencies from ransomware attacks

Daniel O’Donohue, former director of Joint Force development and design in the Office of the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, explains how the federal government has managed to escape ransomware attacks that have hit other areas of government and industry

Reviewing the landscape of current FEMA responses

Deanne Criswell, FEMA administrator, discusses efforts FEMA is working on to prepare and respond to increases in disaster seasons

Reviewing feedback from the latest Veterans Affairs survey

John Boerstler, chief veterans experience officer at the Department of Veterans Affairs, discusses how his department is using data from the VSignals Survey to improve care for veterans, families, caregivers and survivors

Accommodating pandemic-related changes to federal office spaces

Norman Dong and Daniel Mathews, former commissioners of the Public Buildings Service at GSA, talk about how federal agencies can navigate changes to needs for office space in the next few years

Understanding IT security policies at the VA

Gary Stevens, executive director for information security policy and strategy at the Department of Veterans Affairs, discusses the cybersecurity executive order and tools and methods his department uses to get in front of cyber threats

The impacts of the climate crisis on national security

Jim Mitre, former principal director at the Office of the Secretary of Defense and now chief strategy officer at Govini, discusses his team’s analysis of the effects of climate change on national security and recent defense investments in this space

Investigating ransomware attacks across federal agencies

Brig. Gen. Gregory Touhill, former federal chief information security officer and now director of the CERT Division at the Software Engineering Institute, discusses the federal government’s strong protections against ransomware and the concept of banning ransomware payments

Artificial intelligence and synthetic biology in the Defense Department

Robert Work, former deputy secretary of defense, discusses critical emerging technologies and the prioritization of biosecurity issues at the Pentagon

Recommendations for personnel and readiness in DoD

Katherine Kuzminski, senior fellow and program director of the Military, Veterans and Society Program at the Center for a New American Security, discusses the importance of strategic investment in personnel management and efforts to improve it in the Defense Department

The latest on the defense budget request

Todd Harrison, director of defense budget analysis at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, analyzes interesting and unexpected points from the defense budget request from the White House

Recommendations for agency leaders to plan RTO policies

Mika Cross, Federal Workplace Expert, talks about how agencies can successfully create return-to-office plans and which factors are important to consider

Refining business pipelines for government contractors

Larry Allen, President of Allen Federal Business Partners, discusses his top three recommendations for government contractors ahead of the next fiscal year

21st Century Integrated Digital Experience Act

Jonathan Alboum, Federal Chief Technology Officer at ServiceNow, discusses guidance needed from the Office of Management and Budget on newly digitized processes

Department of Homeland Security nominees and cybersecurity

Chris Cummiskey, Chief Executive Officer of Cummiskey Strategic Solutions, discusses the importance of cybersecurity in the jobs of three top Department of Homeland Security nominees

Creating detailed return-to-office plans

Jeff Neal, former Chief Human Capital Officer at the Department of Homeland Security, discusses things agencies should consider when developing their final return-to-office plans

Using the Technology Modernization Fund for cybersecurity

Dave Wennergren, Chief Executive Officer of ACT-IAC, discusses the need for resilience and the prioritization of Technology Modernization Fund projects that focus on cybersecurity

Responding to the changing cyber threat landscape

Rep. Gerry Connolly (D-VA) discusses a bill that would help strengthen cybersecurity in the federal government by improving IT modernization with FedRAMP

Updates on cyber events and ransomware attacks

Brandon Wales, Acting Director of the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency, discusses the need for dramatic transformation of government cybersecurity posture in light of increasingly aggressive cyberattacks

Reviewing the hiring process across agencies

Jeri Buchholz, former Chief Human Capital Officer at NASA, and Michael Rigas, former Acting Director of the Office of Personnel Management, discuss the Biden administration’s goal of increasing hiring across government

Updates on JEDI cloud contract and litigation

Joe Jordan, Chief Executive Officer of Actuparo, discusses the latest on the Joint Enterprise Defense Infrastructure cloud computing contract

Implementing cybersecurity executive order across agencies

Ari Schwartz, Managing Director of Cybersecurity Services at Venable, provides updates on actions agencies are taking as deadlines from the cyber executive order approach

Reviewing fund cancellations across government agencies

Jeff Arkin, Acting Director of Strategic Issues at the Government Accountability Office, goes over the work his team did on examining cancelled appropriations on a government-wide basis

Reviewing the budget request in the Defense Department

Elaine McCusker, Resident Fellow at the American Enterprise Institute, goes over the Biden administration’s budget request for the Defense Department for fiscal 2022

The latest on the Arctic and Antarctic fleets

Vice Adm. Sandra Stosz (USCG, Ret.), former Deputy Commandant for Mission Support, discusses the state of the Coast Guard fleet in the Arctic and Antarctic regions

Best practices after CMO elimination

Beth McGrath, Managing Director at Deloitte Consulting, LLP, discusses components of successfully breaking up and redistributing the duties of the Chief Management Office at the Defense Department

The latest on the government-wide IT modernization strategy

Dan Chenok, Executive Director for the IBM Center for the Business of Government, and Margie Graves, Executive Vice Chair at ACT-IAC, discuss how agencies can develop successful technology modernization strategies

Updates on investments proposals for the Thrift Savings Plan

Kim Weaver, Director of External Affairs at the Federal Retirement Thrift Investment Board, explains the problems with a Senate plan that could negatively impact Thrift Savings Plan participants

Updates on diversity, equity and inclusion in government

Stan Soloway, President and CEO of Celero Strategies, LLC, discusses economic disparities and the Biden administration’s goals for small and disadvantaged business contracting