The federal government depends on its workforce to serve the public. The civil service system relies on its merit-based foundation to bring in hire, retain and engage its highly-skilled workforce. But, the last major changes to this system came decades ago in 1978. Since then, the world has changed a lot, and modernization of the civil service system is overdue. Over the coming months, the National Academy of Public Administration will release a series of white papers that address the challenges that face government modernization.

Jeffrey Neal is former chief human capital officer for the U.S. Department of Homeland Security and is a Fellow of the National Academy of Public Administration. He also is the author of "The Challenge of Modernizing the Civil Service." In the first part of a two-part interview, he joined the podcast to discuss the challenges inherent in trying to update the civil service rules for the 21st century.

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