Tag Archives: DC

How the Federal Government is Implementing Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Practices

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Diversity, equity, and inclusion are key focus areas of the Biden administration's President's Management Agenda (PMA). Additionally, the administration issued an executive order in June 2021 directing agencies across government to implement more diversity training, rethink the use of salary history as a basis for pay determinations, and supply gender non-conforming and nonbinary and transgender employees with credentials that reflect their current names, pictures and pronouns. Finally, in November 2021 the administration offered a strategic plan to help guide agencies in diversity efforts, asking for the submission of agency-specific Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Accessibility (DEIA) plans by March 2023.

Diversity Today

This focus is starting to show results. The Office of Personnel Management (OPM) released a first-ever report on the diversity of the federal workforce. It looked at hiring and retention across agencies and gave a snapshot of the administration's efforts to remove barriers for applicants from underrepresented communities. The report finds small but encouraging gains in racial diversity between 2017 and 2021 with Black employees rising from 18.15 percent to 18.19 percent of the federal workforce. Latinx made a much larger jump rising from 8.75 percent to 9.95 percent. Women's representation grew from 43.38 percent of the workforce in 2017 to 44.44 percent in 2021. Future reporting will look at nonbinary workers. Continue reading →

Understanding Barriers to Zero Trust

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Two years following the "Cyber EO" naming zero trust as the security architecture of the future and after one year of implementing the Federal Zero Trust Strategy, federal agencies have made important progress predicting and identifying roadblocks. With the first major deadlines coming at the end of 2023, this year is critical for figuring out how to overcome identified barriers.

Resource Issues

A survey found that 35% of federal CIOs say they have "intermediate or advanced" zero trust capabilities in place, but there are concerns about having the right resources and funding to fully meet administration mandates. Nine in 10 respondents agreed a key step is having a zero trust assessment performed by an outside resource to identify gaps and key focus areas, but contracting and finding funding for this effort is difficult. With this assessment, existing resources can be assigned to the most critical and impactful areas, and the need for additional funding and resources can be prioritized. Funding specifically earmarked for zero trust will be in FY24 budgets. This funding is determined by aligning the work and tools needed across each capability area. Continue reading →

Balancing AI’s Power with Privacy

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Artificial Intelligence (AI) has incredible potential to speed decision-making and unearth connections between data to inform government services and programs. AI is being implemented across government and private industry with very little policy or regulation as to its development or use. In many ways, this lack of oversight is driving exciting innovation, but as this innovation leads to new uses, the risks of infringing on citizen rights and privacy increase.

Peter Parker (Spiderman) was warned, "with great power comes great responsibility." Similarly, AI developers need a voice providing gentle guidance as they figure out how best to use AI's power for good. In the fall of 2022, the White House released the AI Bill of Rights, designed to address concerns about how, without some oversight, AI could lead to discrimination against minority groups and further systemic inequality. Continue reading →

Beyond Facial Recognition: Growing Applications of Biometrics in Government

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Biometrics are more than facial recognition. Biometrics include all types of biological markers that can be used for identification. Fingerprints pre-date the use of facial recognition and today the practice continues to evolve to use other biological data for a wide variety of use cases.

Tapping into wearable data for first responder safety

The Department of Homeland Security recently funded several startups that have developed innovative monitoring technologies that can be used to protect the health, safety and mental well being of police officers, firefighters, and other emergency responders. These solutions include: Continue reading →

Citizen Service for the Most Vulnerable

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Citizen experience is a key priority across government. Agencies are taking a new look at citizens as customers and simplifying how they deliver services. At no time is that simplification more important than at times of crisis. The government provides critical support to citizens impacted by natural disasters, public health emergencies, terrorism, and economic insecurity. There are some incredible examples of how government is applying technology to meet the needs of vulnerable populations.

Supporting Homeless Populations

Austin, TX is using the Homeless Emergency Management (HEM) Tracking and Prioritization Tool as part of its larger efforts to understand and support the city's homeless population. Field staff use the tool to capture information about homeless encampments that includes factors related to health, safety, and impacts on infrastructure, property, and environmental health. This data is collated into a score that helps prioritize areas for intervention.

Before this tool, departments across the city were collecting different information and had no uniform way to evaluate it. The HEM Tool applies a citywide lens to encampment response, enabling prioritization and resource deployment to those that present the biggest risks, supports consistent encampment data capture, and improves citywide understanding of needs, risk and trends. Continue reading →