GovExec Daily

Government is not known for its stellar or responsive customer service, but the White House is hoping to change that. Last month, the Biden administration issued an executive order designed to improve the customer experience with government agencies. The order looks to tackle the administrative costs that citizens have to deal with when interfacing with government agencies, making for easier interactions.

Stan Soloway is president and CEO of Celero Strategies, LLC and a GovExec contributor. He formerly served as deputy undersecretary of Defense for acquisition reform and director of the Defense Reform Initiative during Bill Clinton's administration. He has a post on our site right now headlined "Making the Customer Service Executive Order Really Work." He joined the show now to discuss the Biden administration's CX priorities.

The Omicron variant has changed the calculus of pandemic guidance at the CDC and state health departments. As the more transmissible virus infects more people, federal agencies are now getting guidance from the White House Safer Federal Workforce Task Force on how to deal with the pandemic during this latest surge.

GovExec senior reporter Erich Wagner covers the federal workforce. He joined the show to discuss the Safer Federal Workforce Task Force's new guidance.

As state and local governments enter 2022, the priority is to seek nontraditional strategies to be a preferred employer of choice moving forward. A recent study by Missionsquare Research Institute spotlights some of the the strategies that could help them achieve that goal.

Andre Claudio is an assistant editor for our sibling publication Route Fifty, he joins us to discuss his post headlined "6 Public Sector Workforce Trends to Watch in 2022" about the study.

The span of government programs sound great in theory, but the execution is such that it's difficult for regular people to get their benefits. Economic, technological and access are all factors in the difficulty of program benefits to people. While the internet has changed the way people interact with government, perhaps less technological solutions can be part of the ways the public interacts with bureaucracy.

Dr. Katerina Linos is Professor of Law at UC Berkeley and Co-Director of the Miller Institute for Global Challenges and the Law. Her research focuses on international law, comparative law, European Union law, employment law and migration law. She's a co-author of a piece headlined "To Get People the Help They Need from the Government, Postcards May Be the Answer ." She joined the show to discuss administrative burdens and customer service in government.

The Biden administration spent much of last year responding to a surge in cyberattacks. Plenty of changes were made to the way we view cybersecurity, including an executive order and other legislation. But, is it enough to insure safety online?

Bill Wright is the Senior Director of Federal Affairs at Splunk. He joined the show to discuss what federal agencies can do to modernize and increase their cybersecurity hygiene.

Thursday marked the one-year anniversary of the deadly attack on the U.S. Capitol. Washington held events all week commemorating the event and agencies prepared for any potential security issues. And, as the insurrection fades, one Smithsonian museum is sharing with the public how it's been documenting the event for history.

Courtney Bublé is a reporter at GovExec. She joined the podcast to talk about how agencies prepared for the anniversary of the Jan. 6 attack and how the Smithsonian is documenting the legacy of the event.

The COVID-19 crisis continues to ravage the world more than two years after the disease was first identified. New variants have prolonged the pandemic and public health officials have had to adjust constantly to the changing nature of the situation.

Dr. Matt Craven is a leader of McKinsey & Company's work in infectious diseases and public health within the firm's Social, Healthcare and Public Sector Practice. He has more than 18 years of experience in public health. Dr. Craven is currently a leader of McKinsey's public health response to COVID-19 and is also one of the authors of a December McKinsey report titled "When will the COVID-19 pandemic end?" He joined the podcast to talk about this stage of the pandemic and the report.

Modernization takes technology, it takes people and it takes programs. At the Defense Department, the agile process is set to bring a new wind to the agency. DevSecOpps will bake security in from the start for national security programs.

As part of GovExec Media's Roadmap to Modernization event recently, Nextgov Staff Correspondent Brandi Vincent spoke to Dr. George Duchak, Chief Information Officer at Defense Logistics Agency and Maj. Christopher Olsen, Military Deputy at Office of the Department of the Air Force Chief Software Officer. In this episode, they talk about how Agile and DevSecOpps are being deployed at the Pentagon.

The Omicron variant has ravaged the United States, bringing increased cases of COVID-19 and hospitalizations nationwide. In response to the surge, the Biden administration announced a series of actions to stem the spread, including deploying thousands of feds and National Guard members to assist in fighting COVID-19.

GovExec Senior Correspondent Eric Katz is covering the feds deployed to fight the Omicron surge and the federal COVID-19 response. He joined the show to discuss the pandemic response.

The Biden-Harris Presidential Management Agenda Vision and a recent Executive Order focus on customer service. Such a focus on better government for citizens is not new across administrations' agendas. How is the Biden administration different?

John M. Kamensky is Emeritus Fellow at the IBM Center for the Business of Government and is a fellow of the National Academy of Public Administration. He previously served as deputy director of Vice President Gore's National Partnership for Reinventing Government, a special assistant at the Office of Management and Budget, and as an assistant director at the Government Accountability Office. He currently has a post on our site headlined "Can Biden Deliver Better 'Customer Experience' for Americans Than His Predecessors?" He joined the show to discuss the post and the Biden administration's customer service agenda.