Government Matters

Deploying hypersonic capabilities in the Army

Frank Kendall, Senior Fellow at the Center for American Progress, discusses the Army’s first hypersonic missile flight test expected to happen toward the end of the fiscal year

Acquisition challenges and the Great Power Competition

Caroline Baxter, Research Fellow at the Eurasia Group Foundation, discusses procurement problems underlying the Army’s slow response in deploying face masks for troops

Rethinking the process of attaining ATOs

Mary Lazzeri, Director of Federal Strategy at CivicActions, goes over steps she proposes in her piece on rethinking the system for obtaining an Authority to Operate

Department of Defense could start from scratch on JEDI cloud contract

Tony Scott, CEO of The TonyScottGroup, LLC, discusses the possibility of the DoD starting over on the Joint Enterprise Defense Infrastructure cloud computing contract

Improving DoD data on sexual harassment and assault cases

Brenda Farrell, Director of Defense Capabilities and Management Issues at GAO, discusses GAO recommendations for tracking and addressing sexual harassment and assault at the Department of Defense

Focusing on readiness in the short term and long term

Seamus Daniels, Associate Director and Associate Fellow for Defense Budget Analysis at CSIS, discusses implementation of a balanced approach to readiness and preparation for Great Power Competition

The vaccine rollout at the Department of Veterans Affairs

Dr. Jane Kim, Chief Consultant for Preventative Medicine at the Department of Veterans Affairs, discusses the logistics and timeline of administering COVID-19 vaccines at the VA

Securing the digital workforce across government

Alex Cohen, Director of Emerging Technologies at the Office of Government Wide Policy at GSA, defines digital workers and goes over new guidance from GSA on using these tools safely

Prioritizing IT modernization in government

Karen Evans and Mark Forman, former E-gov administrators at the Office of Management and Budget, discuss optimizing investment in IT modernization and digital transformation at agencies

Coordinating the response to the SolarWinds breach

Brig. Gen. Gregory Touhill, President of AppGate Federal Group, provides updates on the federal government’s response to the SolarWinds hack

Anticipating the next National Defense Strategy

Clementine Starling, Deputy Director of Forward Defense and Resident Fellow at the Atlantic Council, discusses her piece on regaining an advantage over competitors in the next NDS

Defining and identifying cyber attacks

James Van de Velde, Adjunct Faculty Member at Georgetown University, discusses the SolarWinds breach and the differentiation between cyber attacks and cyber espionage

Tracking the Third Offset strategy

Robert Work, Former Deputy Secretary of Defense, discusses progress on the Third Offset strategy, the role of JADC2 and competition with China

GAO recommends DoD monitor clinical guidelines across military treatment facilities

Debra Draper, Director of Health Care Issues at GAO, goes over what GAO found when looking into clinical practice guidelines developed by the Department of Defense and the VA

Defense spending bill reconciliation

Todd Harrison, Director of Defense Budget Analysis at the Center for Strategic & International Studies, discusses the option of using reconciliation for the FY2022 defense spending bill and potential implications

Changing employee morale at the Department of Homeland Security

Chris Currie, Director of Emergency Management, Disaster Recovery & DHS Management Issues at GAO, explains what it will take to generate significant improvement in employee morale and engagement at DHS

Updates on the latest Federal Employee Viewpoint Survey

Mika Cross, Federal Workplace Expert, provides her analysis of data from the latest FEVS related to management at agencies during the coronavirus response

President Biden’s executive order on evidence-based decisions and use of data in government

Nick Hart, President of the Data Foundation, discusses the potential impacts of President Biden’s executive order aiming to elevate the importance of science and data in government

Budget reform efforts at the Pentagon

Mackenzie Eaglen, Resident Fellow at the American Enterprise Institute, discusses what it will take to make major budget reforms at the Department of Defense

Understanding the Best In Class ratings

Larry Allen, President of Allen Federal Business Partners, explains Best In Class contracts, issues surrounding them and possible solutions

Return to work at government agencies

Ricardo Pitts-Wiley, Partner at Federal Practice Group, discusses what to expect as agencies develop returning to the office plans and how federal employees can start a dialogue on work arrangements

SIGPR works to ensure pandemic relief money gets to its intended recipients

Brian Miller, Special Inspector General for Pandemic Recovery, talks about how his office is using data to ensure money from the CARES Act is going to its intended recipients

Top management challenges across government agencies

Allison Lerner, Chair of the Council of the Inspectors General on Integrity and Efficiency, and Michael Horowitz, Inspector General for the Department of Justice, discuss how the pandemic has complicated existing management challenges across government

Ensuring the success of the sixth branch of the military

Kaitlyn Johnson, Deputy Director of the Aerospace Security Project at CSIS, and Eric Gomez, Director of Defense Policy Studies at the Cato Institute, comment on the announcement of the Biden administration’s support for the Space Force and discuss ensuring the branch’s success

Prioritizing Enterprise Risk Management at government agencies

Cynthia Vitters, Managing Director of Leader Enterprise Risk Management Practice for Government Public Services at Deloitte, discusses ERM and evolution of the risk landscape during the presidential transition

Updates on the Technology Modernization Fund

Mike Hettinger, President of Hettinger Strategy Group, and Rich Beutel, Principal at Cyrrus Analytics, discuss the prospects of a possible $9 billion boost to the Technology Modernization Fund

Cyber challenges at the Department of Veterans Affairs

Joe Stenaka, Deputy Chief Information Security Officer at the Department of Veterans Affairs, discusses agile adversaries, SolarWinds, remote work and veteran data privacy

Pentagon could cancel JEDI contract

Larry Korb, Senior Fellow at the Center for American Progress, discusses complications surrounding the Joint Enterprise Defense Infrastructure contract and possibility of cancellation

Addressing the national security implications of climate change

Sharon Burke, Senior Advisor at New America, discusses climate change as a national security issue and its impact on the military

Challenges ahead for the new Secretary of Defense

Harlan Ullman, Chair at the Killowen Group, discusses unprecedented obstacles Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin will have to overcome and strategies for success