John Kamensky

John Kamensky

New Volcker Alliance Report: What Americans Want from Government.  The Volcker Alliance report, by Dr. Paul Light, says: “Americans are equally divided between dismantling and priority setting, suggesting that the choice between the two philosophical groups is linked to life circumstances, disillusionment, and partisanship.” Light lays out five reform proposals that reflect public sentiment after the election.

Initially, these comparisons were only among the 24 major departments and agencies.  Today, Federal Employee Viewpoint Survey data are available to line managers across 28,000 work units.  The survey results are used to gauge employee engagement, and to fine tune management priorities.  Most career senior executives are held accountable for trends in employee survey results in their organizations. 

68 percent. Government Executive reports: “Sixty-eight percent of the federal government’s top career corps will experience their first presidential transition in January as senior executives, according to data from the Office of Personnel Management.” 

Background.  Reform legislation adopted in 2004 in the wake of the 9/11 terrorist attacks that restructured the intelligence community included requirements to standardize and better align the background security clearance process across agencies.  But in the years that followed, the consolidation efforts took time, culminating in a 2008 presidential directive to improve the process.

John Kamensky

The data breach at the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) in the spring of 2015 was breathtaking in scope – nearly 22 million sensitive personnel records stolen.  But this wasn’t a new issue.  There had been breaches at the FBI, Department of Homeland Security, the IRS, even the National Security Agency.

Ethical Hacking.  Federal News Radio reports: “The federal market for “white hat” hackers continues to grow. Not only are ethical security burglars popular in the Defense Department, but now the General Services Administration’s Technology Transformation Service (TTS) is setting up a bug bounty program.”

John Kamensky

But little seems to happen.  There have been dozens of studies and reports over the past three decades.  However, there has not been a major overhaul since 1978, and many piecemeal legislative efforts, such as performance pay and streamlining the classification system, have been derailed.  So pragmatically, what can be done in the near-term, without a major legislative effort? 

Regulation Elimination SWAT Teams.  Government Executive reports: “President Trump signed an executive order on Friday creating new task forces at every federal agency that will identify regulations for elimination or modification.”