The Forum

Making government work better 

Part of the problem is inherent in government itself. Government never has to be efficient because it doesn’t have to make a profit or compete in the marketplace. This alone places a tremendous obstacle to efficiency and performance. Then there’s the issue of leadership. Those who rise to the top in government agencies are rarely the best and the brightest. Most don’t want any feedback from below because they already know it all. Between those attitudes and some employees who are essentially retired in place, is it any wonder that performance and efficiency aren’t soaring? I do remember one member of supervision (second level) that inspired extra effort on the part of the workforce. He believed in us when the workload soared and his quiet confidence under fire inspired us all. Unfortunately, I have only seen that kind of leadership once in 31 years. 

Red Baron

Achieving breakthroughs

Federal employees who rise to the top should not be placed due to a popularity contest or undeserved accolades. Not all employees should move into management or into a leadership role or be a mentor. There should be more federal civilian shuffles at lower grades to prevent the “that’s how it’s always been done” and “why fix what’s not broken” mentality. The years in service can cause complacency and seniority’s “better than you” mentality.

Find Silver Lining

Project innovation and federal entrepreneurs

Evidently, feds cannot apply for these interesting and influential jobs. Evidently, feds are an underclass whose members are occasionally called upon to “work with” the superior beings whom this administration brings in, but who are otherwise treated as neither “entrepreneurial” nor sufficiently “creative.” Look at the soft disparagement of feds in this article. Is it any wonder that the Federal Viewpoint Survey shows that feds believe they’re not encouraged to be creative? The problem starts with the president and his top officials!

mna41

The pivot to Asia hitting rough waters

Ridiculous: See the Defense Strategic Guidance of January 2012—worked out alongside a new Future Years Defense Program (2013-2017) with the participation of the service chiefs and presumably inputs from the regional commanders, who know nothing about defense budgets—all to fit the Budget Control Act (though before the actual sequestration). The simple facts in January 2012 were that the U.S. was phasing down in Afghanistan, didn’t need much in Europe, would continue the Navy in the Persian Gulf, and leave what we already had stationed in East Asia while continuing the Navy’s 60-40 shift to the Pacific. There were simply no promises of “more” than that. But the regional commanders are not constrained by budget considerations. And if they think the Congress would add “more” than what’s in the president’s budget submission, Congress simply never does.

H. H. GAFFNEY

Predicting the weather months in advance

When did weather stop being a chaotic system? When I was in engineering school 30 years ago, weather was the prime example of chaos at work. One tiny, insignificant tweak of the initial conditions yielded massive changes to predicted results even one month out. Now I see lots of scientists claiming to be able to solve the problem, given enough funding, better data, etc. “Tell me, if this scheme turns out to be as fruitless as the previous thousands of tries, can the American taxpayers get their money back? Who will be accountable?

Gfleng

So much taxpayer monies have been used toward our U.S. weather computer models, yet their performance continues to prove that money wasted. A 90-day forecast is and has been already applied using only the satellite data observations. Now that is money well spent.

Jason

NEXT STORY: Mapping Better Decisions At EPA

X
This website uses cookies to enhance user experience and to analyze performance and traffic on our website. We also share information about your use of our site with our social media, advertising and analytics partners. Learn More / Do Not Sell My Personal Information
Accept Cookies
X
Cookie Preferences Cookie List

Do Not Sell My Personal Information

When you visit our website, we store cookies on your browser to collect information. The information collected might relate to you, your preferences or your device, and is mostly used to make the site work as you expect it to and to provide a more personalized web experience. However, you can choose not to allow certain types of cookies, which may impact your experience of the site and the services we are able to offer. Click on the different category headings to find out more and change our default settings according to your preference. You cannot opt-out of our First Party Strictly Necessary Cookies as they are deployed in order to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting the cookie banner and remembering your settings, to log into your account, to redirect you when you log out, etc.). For more information about the First and Third Party Cookies used please follow this link.

Allow All Cookies

Manage Consent Preferences

Strictly Necessary Cookies - Always Active

We do not allow you to opt-out of our certain cookies, as they are necessary to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting our cookie banner and remembering your privacy choices) and/or to monitor site performance. These cookies are not used in a way that constitutes a “sale” of your data under the CCPA. You can set your browser to block or alert you about these cookies, but some parts of the site will not work as intended if you do so. You can usually find these settings in the Options or Preferences menu of your browser. Visit www.allaboutcookies.org to learn more.

Sale of Personal Data, Targeting & Social Media Cookies

Under the California Consumer Privacy Act, you have the right to opt-out of the sale of your personal information to third parties. These cookies collect information for analytics and to personalize your experience with targeted ads. You may exercise your right to opt out of the sale of personal information by using this toggle switch. If you opt out we will not be able to offer you personalised ads and will not hand over your personal information to any third parties. Additionally, you may contact our legal department for further clarification about your rights as a California consumer by using this Exercise My Rights link

If you have enabled privacy controls on your browser (such as a plugin), we have to take that as a valid request to opt-out. Therefore we would not be able to track your activity through the web. This may affect our ability to personalize ads according to your preferences.

Targeting cookies may be set through our site by our advertising partners. They may be used by those companies to build a profile of your interests and show you relevant adverts on other sites. They do not store directly personal information, but are based on uniquely identifying your browser and internet device. If you do not allow these cookies, you will experience less targeted advertising.

Social media cookies are set by a range of social media services that we have added to the site to enable you to share our content with your friends and networks. They are capable of tracking your browser across other sites and building up a profile of your interests. This may impact the content and messages you see on other websites you visit. If you do not allow these cookies you may not be able to use or see these sharing tools.

If you want to opt out of all of our lead reports and lists, please submit a privacy request at our Do Not Sell page.

Save Settings
Cookie Preferences Cookie List

Cookie List

A cookie is a small piece of data (text file) that a website – when visited by a user – asks your browser to store on your device in order to remember information about you, such as your language preference or login information. Those cookies are set by us and called first-party cookies. We also use third-party cookies – which are cookies from a domain different than the domain of the website you are visiting – for our advertising and marketing efforts. More specifically, we use cookies and other tracking technologies for the following purposes:

Strictly Necessary Cookies

We do not allow you to opt-out of our certain cookies, as they are necessary to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting our cookie banner and remembering your privacy choices) and/or to monitor site performance. These cookies are not used in a way that constitutes a “sale” of your data under the CCPA. You can set your browser to block or alert you about these cookies, but some parts of the site will not work as intended if you do so. You can usually find these settings in the Options or Preferences menu of your browser. Visit www.allaboutcookies.org to learn more.

Functional Cookies

We do not allow you to opt-out of our certain cookies, as they are necessary to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting our cookie banner and remembering your privacy choices) and/or to monitor site performance. These cookies are not used in a way that constitutes a “sale” of your data under the CCPA. You can set your browser to block or alert you about these cookies, but some parts of the site will not work as intended if you do so. You can usually find these settings in the Options or Preferences menu of your browser. Visit www.allaboutcookies.org to learn more.

Performance Cookies

We do not allow you to opt-out of our certain cookies, as they are necessary to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting our cookie banner and remembering your privacy choices) and/or to monitor site performance. These cookies are not used in a way that constitutes a “sale” of your data under the CCPA. You can set your browser to block or alert you about these cookies, but some parts of the site will not work as intended if you do so. You can usually find these settings in the Options or Preferences menu of your browser. Visit www.allaboutcookies.org to learn more.

Sale of Personal Data

We also use cookies to personalize your experience on our websites, including by determining the most relevant content and advertisements to show you, and to monitor site traffic and performance, so that we may improve our websites and your experience. You may opt out of our use of such cookies (and the associated “sale” of your Personal Information) by using this toggle switch. You will still see some advertising, regardless of your selection. Because we do not track you across different devices, browsers and GEMG properties, your selection will take effect only on this browser, this device and this website.

Social Media Cookies

We also use cookies to personalize your experience on our websites, including by determining the most relevant content and advertisements to show you, and to monitor site traffic and performance, so that we may improve our websites and your experience. You may opt out of our use of such cookies (and the associated “sale” of your Personal Information) by using this toggle switch. You will still see some advertising, regardless of your selection. Because we do not track you across different devices, browsers and GEMG properties, your selection will take effect only on this browser, this device and this website.

Targeting Cookies

We also use cookies to personalize your experience on our websites, including by determining the most relevant content and advertisements to show you, and to monitor site traffic and performance, so that we may improve our websites and your experience. You may opt out of our use of such cookies (and the associated “sale” of your Personal Information) by using this toggle switch. You will still see some advertising, regardless of your selection. Because we do not track you across different devices, browsers and GEMG properties, your selection will take effect only on this browser, this device and this website.