Friday, December 6, 2024
Articles & insights of interest in public management & leadership for the week ending December 6, 2024

Artificial Intelligence and Innovation

Senators Look to Create AI, Cloud Service Competition at DoD. A bipartisan pair of senators is looking to promote a more competitive playing field for vendors of cloud computing and artificial intelligence technologies looking to sell those services to the Pentagon.  

Pentagon Unveils Strategy to Counter Drones. The Department of Defense (DoD) announced a classified strategy aimed at creating a unified and comprehensive approach to counter the growing threat of drones. The strategy builds on key DoD initiatives to counter drones, including the establishment of the Joint Counter-Small Unmanned Aircraft Systems Office and the creation of a Warfighter Senior Integration Group to address urgent needs.

Designing a Responsible AI Program? Start with this Checklist. To assess how ready an organization is to implement an RAI program, leaders should ask eight questions: 1) Have you determined what its objectives are? 2) Are your RAI’s values clearly connected to procedures? 3) Have you designed RAI metrics, such as KPIs and OKRs? 4) Have you trained the people responsible for overseeing its implementation? 5) Do you have personnel to ensure the program is rolled out, scaled, and maintained properly? 6) How will the program harmonize with other enterprise priorities? 7) Do you have a strategic roadmap for the RAI? 8) Have you designed an implementation playbook?

How to Create Value Systematically with Gen AI. The difference between incremental and transformative gen AI lies not in technical sophistication or strategic vision, but in a shared understanding of what drives performance for your organization. This article describes a simple strategic tool that your organization can use as a framework to assess gen AI maturity and build the capabilities needed to create and capture value from AI.

IT Modernization

Modernizing Fed IT Key to Success of DOGE. Vivek Ramaswamy, who is co-lead of President-elect Donald Trump’s proposed Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) advisory group, said that DOGE’s success hinges on the need to modernize technology across the federal government. “Technology improvements across the federal government are not only going to be important, [but also] necessary in order to actually get the job done,” Ramaswamy said during the Aspen Security Forum in D.C.

CISA Official Urges Greater Focus on OT Systems Security. Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) Deputy Director Nitin Natarajan is urging critical infrastructure sectors to “elevate the discussion” of the growing risks of legacy operational technology (OT) systems. At GDIT Emerge in Washington, D.C. today, Natarajan explained that unlike legacy IT systems, legacy OT systems present a unique challenge because they cannot as easily be replaced with newer generations of technology.

TMF Sets $18M Funding with OPM for Retirement Systems Overhaul. The Technology Modernization Fund (TMF) awarded $18.3 million to the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) to help fund the agency’s ongoing push to modernize the technology underlying the Federal retirement systems that OPM administers.

Semiconductors

GAO Details Progress, Challenges in Semiconductor Export Controls. The Department of Commerce’s Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS) is taking the necessary measures to address export controls and safeguard national security in semiconductor exports amid compliance challenges, a new government audit has found. A Dec. 2 report released by the Government Accountability Office (GAO) following an 11-month performance audit found that the Department of Commerce’s bureau charged with regulating dual-use exports has tackled compliance challenges faced by domestic industries under its three semiconductor export rules, particularly those targeting China. 

Real Estate

GSA begins process to reduce government’s footprint by 1.5 million square feet. GSA, which handles much of the federal government’s space utilization and building maintenance functions, has been working to reduce agencies’ physical footprint in recent years, following the spike in telework usage across government amid the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020. The offloading of the eight facilities, which could be transferred, exchanged or sold to a federal, state or local government organization or the private sector as part of the disposition process, would amount to an estimated $475 million in cost savings over the next decade.

Management

White House Hails PMA Successes on Workforce, CX Issues. The White House’s Office of Management and Budget (OMB) celebrated the conclusion of the Biden-Harris President’s Management Agenda (PMA) on Wednesday, bringing together the individuals and teams who have made significant contributions to the PMA to recap its successes.

O'Malley: SSA’s 2024 progress refutes government doubters. Under the commissioner’s tenure, Social Security has seen marked improvements in its customer service metrics despite continually mounting workloads and dwindling funding.

Leadership

To Become a Better Presenter, Look Inward. Three reflective exercises to help you become a more confident, effective public speaker.

Presidential Transition

Who has Trump picked to serve in his Cabinet?  President-elect Donald Trump in recent days has made numerous announcements about who he would like to serve in his Cabinet and in other senior roles. Enclosed is list of his selections thus far.

Trump’s New ‘AI & Crypto Czar’ Reinforces Likely AI Policy Changes. President-elect Trump’s decision to appoint a prominent Silicon Valley investor to oversee federal artificial intelligence (AI) policy points to changes that may be coming in how the government approaches its use of the technology – including what is expected to be a looser regulatory style and a possible repeal or modification of President Biden’s AI executive order (EO).

Trump names financial tech CEO to lead Social Security. The appointment would mark Frank Bisignano's first foray into government following a career at banks and financial technology companies.

Trump’s agenda will face hurdles in Congress, despite the Republican ‘trifecta’ of winning the House, Senate and White House. Six straight presidents have begun their terms with party control of the White House and Congress, but that hasn't always made it an easy path for governing.

Trump opts for conventional DOJ screenings of nominees and transition team members.The president-elect delayed the process but now says it is a key step for deploying his team into federal agencies.

Trump signals new direction for IRS as he announces atypical plan to replace its leadership. President-elect Trump announced his intention to nominate a former Republican congressman Billy Long to lead the Internal Revenue Service.  IRS commissioners are nominated to five year terms so that they do not directly correspond to presidential turnover, though federal statute dictates the agency head “may be removed at the will of the president.”

THIS WEEK @ THE CENTER 

NEW MAGAZINE - Happy to announce the release of The Business of Government Magazine 2024. This edition profiles the leadership stories of a select group of government executives and highlights the latest trends and best practices for improving the business of government from leading academics and practitioners.

RECENT BLOGS 

ICYMI Disrupt with Impact: Achieving Success in an Unpredictable World. This week Michael Keegan welcomed author and noted futurist, Roger Spitz for a very timely and insight conversation exploring core themes from your latest book, "Disrupt With Impact: Achieve Business Success in an Unpredictable World" (https://bit.ly/47qyVO0).