Public discussion on official secrets starts today
June 29th, 2009 | Agency Management Government reform White House | Posted by Elise Castelli
To follow up on Gregg’s earlier post…
The White House is also hosting an online discussion about how it should revise the policy governing classified national security information.
Until Wednesday, the Public Interest Declassification Board will host a “Declassification Policy Forum” through the White House Open Government Blog to take comments on President Barack Obama’s May 27 memo ordering a review of the executive order outlining classification policy.
Through the discussion, the White House hopes to answer the following:
- “Are you satisfied with the current executive order? What has worked? What hasn’t worked? What should a new executive order include that is not in the current order?”
- “How can the government make the declassification process more transparent?”
- “Should the government prioritize what it declassifies? If so, based on historical significance or other criteria?”
To view or participate in the discussion click here.
If online discussions aren’t your thing, but you want to let your voice be heard, the declassification board is hosting a traditional public hearing at the National Archives and Records Administration’s Washington, D.C. headquarters on July 8. The Federal Register has details on how to participate. You can also email comments to the board directly at pidb@nara.gov.
OMB welcomes Zients
June 22nd, 2009 | Agency Management Congress Government reform OMB Transition | Posted by Elise Castelli
The nation has its first chief performance officer.
The Senate confirmed Jeffrey Zients‘ nomination Friday. Office of Management and Budget Director Peter Orszag welcomed his new deputy for management with this blog post.
Now we wait to see what changes Zients will bring to federal performance management. He’s had a successful track record imbuing positive performance into private sector companies through his work at the Corporate Executive Board Company and the Advisory Board Company.
Tags: chief performance officer, confirmation, Jeffrey Zients
Will you take the Obama challenge?
April 27th, 2009 | Agency Management Government reform | Posted by Steve Watkins
Want a chance to meet President Barack Obama? Come up with a way to save a lot of money at your agency.
The president laid out a challenge to federal employees this weekend in his weekly blog/radio address, calling for new thinking and creativity among the federal workforce:
“That’s why we’ll establish a process through which every government worker can submit their ideas for how their agency can save money and perform better. We’ll put the suggestions that work into practice. And later this year, I will meet with those who come up with the best ideas to hear firsthand about how they would make your government more efficient and effective.”
There is far to go in modernizing federal agencies to better apply technology, but there also is far to go in modernizing the mindset of how government operates and views itself, he said:
“So much of our government was built to deal with different challenges from a different era. Too often, the result is wasteful spending, bloated programs, and inefficient results. It’s time to fundamentally change the way that we do business in Washington. To help build a new foundation for the 21st century, we need to reform our government so that it is more efficient, more transparent, and more creative. That will demand new thinking and a new sense of responsibility for every dollar that is spent.”
In that spirit, President Obama said he plans to motivate agencies to find savings within their current budgets by allowing them to keep a portion of money they don’t spend and reinvest it elsewhere toward programs that are more effective. The end goal, he said: a smaller budget and more effective government programs.
In addition, Obama said he’s also looking for ideas from businesses and reform experts on how to make government operate leaner and more smartly. Later this year, he said he will host a forum on reforming government for the 21st century as a way to bring outside voices into the government reform discussion.
So, will you take the Obama challenge? Tell us what great ideas you have for saving money.
Tags: Barack Obama