GovExec Daily

Earlier this year, the Thrift Savings Plan transitioned to a new recordkeeping service and, with it, launched a series of new services for participants. But, that transition proved to be rocky, with technical issues and long phone wait times for users trying to resolve problems with their accounts. This month, the Government Accountability Office confirmed it will investigate what went wrong with the TSP's tough transition.

GovExec Senior Correspondent Erich Wagner covers the federal workforce. As part of our #moneyMonday series, he joined the podcast to talk about the controversial TSP transition.

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Concerns about precise wording. Insisting on doing everything through proper "channels." Referring to matters decided upon at the last meeting during a new meeting. Huge committees. These are probably familiar issues to modern public sector managers, but these problems were identified by the CIA's precursor, the Office of Strategic Services, in its Simple Sabotage Field Manual, published in 1944.

In a new report titled "Mission Not Meetings: How government leaders could avoid self-sabotage," McKinsey experts examine the management problems that can undermine the efficacy of government managers and hamstring mission delivery.

J.R. Maxwell is a McKinsey partner and a leader in the firm's practices focused on the public, social, and healthcare sectors. And Sarah Kleinman is a Partner in McKinsey's Public Sector practice, where she manages large-scale, end-to-end organizational transformations. They joined the podcast to talk about the report and how organizations can overcome these issues.

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Everyone wants better performance out of the federal government, but few pay enough attention to metrics like those found on Performance.gov. In fact, the federal government released quarterly performance updates for agency priority goals just this past July, but it was largely ignored. Why don't more people pay attention to government performance metrics?

Shelley Metzenbaum was the founding president of the Volcker Alliance. Before that, she served as former associate director for performance and personnel management at the Office of Management and Budget, where she was responsible for setting and implementing the Obama administration's approach to improving the performance of federal programs. She joined the podcast to discuss her GovExec post headlined "A Missed Opportunity: The Problem With Ignoring Government Performance Information."

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Homeland Security Department Inspector General Joseph Cuffari has been accused recently of mishandling investigations into missing text messages from Secret Service agents in the lead up to the Jan. 6 Capitol violence in 2021. He is also currently under the cloud of a separate investigation by the Council of the Inspectors General on Integrity and Efficiency. So far, the Biden administration has only said it is following the investigation around Cuffari.

GovExec correspondent Courtney Bublé covers oversight. She joined the podcast to discuss the situation at DHS.

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Technology is increasingly a part of every American's life, from our smartphones to our artificial intelligence-aided news and advertising experiences online via social networks. Commerce and industry uses artificial intelligence and Congress could, perhaps, use AI to modernize policymaking.

Joe Mariani is a research manager with Deloitte's Center for Government Insights. His research focuses on innovation and technology adoption. He testified recently in front of the House Select Committee on the Modernization of Congress about how artificial intelligence can improve the legislative process. He joined the podcast to talk about AI's potential place in policymaking.

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The Defense Department is the largest and most funded agency in the federal government. Its budget is measured in the hundreds of billions of dollars and some of the publicly-traded firms with which the Pentagon contracts have market caps over 100 billion dollars. The ethics around this come into play when members of congress who control the Defense budget legislation also own stocks in the very publicly-traded companies that may benefit from that Pentagon budget.

Dylan Hedtler-Gaudette is a Government Affairs Manager at the Project on Government Oversight and Nathan Siegel is an intern at POGO. They are also co-authors on a piece on the POGO site right now headlined "Representatives are Too Invested in Defense Contractors." As part of our #MoneyMonday series, they joined the podcast to discuss their post and conflicts of interest in Congress.

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A federal judge on Friday unsealed the warrant that let the FBI search Donald Trump's Florida home earlier this week, revealing that the former president is under investigation for a series of violations of the law, including running afoul of the Espionage Act and obstruction of justice.

On Friday, GovExec Daily went live on Twitter Spaces with GovExec reporter Courtney Bublé and Clearancejobs.com editor and Govexec contributor Lindy Kyzer to discuss The Mar-a-Lago search, classification and federal employees. In this episode, you will hear the unedited recording of that conversation.

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On Sunday, the Senate passed the multi-billion dollar Inflation Reduction Act. The plan would provide funding boosts for agencies operations and staffing levels as part of the bill's $369 billion investment in energy security. bill includes $80 billion over 10 years for the Internal Revenue Service, funding that could be used to hire as many as 87,000 employees over the next 10 years.

GovExec reporter Eric Katz is covering the bill. He joined the podcast to talk about what's in it and what it will mean for agencies.

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Earlier this week, the FBI searched the Florida home of former President Donald J. Trump. According to reports, the search may be related to an investigation into whether Trump had unlawfully taken files when he left the White House. The news brings into focus the treatment of official government files and what kind of consequences can be brought against those mishandling official documents… from rank-and-file feds all the way up to the former president.

Dan Meyer is an attorney and Managing Partner of Tully Rinckey's D.C office. Before the Merit Systems Protection Board, he has successfully represented special agents and law enforcement personnel. He joined the podcast now to discuss the raid and what rules exist around federal and classified information.

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According to the Department of Justice, the percentage of women in law enforcement jobs has remained stagnant for decades, hovering around 10-15% of total officers. For federal law enforcement positions, the number is approximately the same, with 13% of the total being women.

Recently, GovExec correspondent and frequent GovExec Daily guest Courtney Bublé interviewed Cathy Sanz, president of the group Women in Federal Law Enforcement, about gender issues in federal policing. In this episode, you'll hear Courtney's interview with Sanz on how she sees the problem framed and how it can be ameliorated.