Charting the Future of Defense

The National Defense Strategy (NDS) sets the strategic direction for our military to meet the security threats of tomorrow. Overall, the Defense Strategy focuses on China and Russia as the primary adversaries, but it also emphasizes the importance of global cooperation among allies as well as adversaries to meet threats that are bigger than any one country including climate change, food insecurity, and pandemics. The defense strategy lays out three primary tactics for advancing U.S. and global security.

Integrated Deterrence

The practice of integrated deterrence involves working closely across all branches of the military, warfighting domains, and even across other federal entities to ensure national security. It expands responsibility for deterring adversaries beyond the Department of Defense (DoD), involving the intelligence community, health agencies, environmental agencies, and more. Continue reading

IoT in Government: How Government is Using Digital Twins

Digital twins are virtual, 3D representations of buildings, neighborhoods, or products built with real-world data collected from internet-of-things (IoT) devices like sensors, video cameras, and other enterprise data applications. These twins allow researchers, planners, and policymakers to experiment with changes to the object or environment to see if the desired results of that change are achieved. Applications include infrastructure improvement, sustainability planning, emergency response preparedness, and research and development. IoT in government is being driven by the results digital twins can achieve. One report showed that cities can expect to save $280 billion by 2030 with the deployment and use of digital twins. Continue reading

The Expanding Use of Virtual Reality in the Military

Virtual Reality (VR) has strong roots in the military. Long used for training and simulations, the military has helped develop VR technology and continues to innovate in how it can be used. VR continues to be invaluable to tactical, mission training but is also being used in other training areas. For example, the Virtual Welder Trainer program simulates multiple welding processes, blending real world and computer-generated images into a VR environment to allow welders to train without having to use real world resources. Just as flight simulators save money in terms of aircraft use, other virtual reality in military training applications provide similar cost savings in terms of equipment and travel.

Designing and Maintaining Military Equipment

VR is being utilized in all aspects of equipment management. In the design phase, VR can help engineers test designs in combat environments. It can also help determine if a piece of equipment designed for one scenario might work in another and what changes would have to be made to ensure products can operate in a desert environment as well as in cold and rainy climates. Continue reading

Ensuring Equity in Disaster Response

Equity is highlighted in priority two of the President's Management Agenda (PMA), Delivering Excellent, Equitable, and Secure Federal Services and Customer Experience, and is a theme throughout all PMA priorities. Disaster response is possibly the most critical place to ensure equity. While a disaster does level the playing field in some ways-no matter how much money you have it won't stop a tornado from hitting your house-the recovery from disasters is not as fairly distributed.

A 2021 report from the Government Accountability Office (GAO) found that disaster response is "uneven" across the country. The research found that small towns, rural and tribal areas, and underserved and disadvantaged communities have a hard time accessing federal disaster recovery assistance programs. Those that did access funds had difficulty achieving a full recovery with structures still damaged years later. A key to solving this gap? Data. Continue reading

Navigating the Hybrid Government Career Fair Environment for Post Military Careers

As with other networking and professional development events, job fairs are also transitioning back to their in-person form, but not without changes. The beauty of a job fair is the convenience and efficiency for recruiters and job seekers alike - a place to meet possible matches all in one location. When pandemic restrictions moved events online, the convenience grew as people did not need to leave their house, but efficiency gains were not always realized. Just as the workforce is now hybrid, so too is the job seeking environment.

Virtual Job Fairs Mirror Virtual Work

Virtual job fairs are here to stay because of the convenience, time savings, and their ability to facilitate geographically inconvenient meetings. With more companies hiring a hybrid workforce, location is not as important-you could be in Washington, DC interviewing for a job in Austin, TX or vice versa. Many people have found they prefer remote work to in-office positions and those people will also look for virtual opportunities for networking. Continue reading