An interesting bit of information from the Transportation Department: Americans drove 100 billion fewer miles in 2008 than in 2007. That’s the biggest decline in American history. (The news may come as a surprise to Washington-area residents — traffic hasn’t gotten any better around here!) It’s good news for the environment, but bad for the department, which depends largely on revenue from gas taxes to pay for highways and bridges. The Highway Trust Fund collected $3 billion less in 2008 than it did in 2007. And it underscores a key problem facing our transportation policy. Washington wants more fuel-efficient vehicles,…
Did anyone catch NPR’s news quiz Wait, Wait…Don’t Tell Me this weekend? Because it was [bleeping] awesome. And not just because Carl Kasell did the best reading of the Rod Blagojevich tapes I’ve heard to date. But because CIA Director Michael Hayden was the guest for “Not My Job,” the portion of the show where they ask famous people obscure questions to win a listener the privilege of having Carl Kasell’s smooth voice on the listener’s answering machine. After telling some funny spy stories, Hayden was tested on his knowledge of obscure breakfast cereal. So how did the director of central intelligence…
Anyone with a human resources background — or even a lick of common sense — will cringe as often as laugh at the boneheaded management tactics depicted on NBC’s The Office. But if you want to find out what HR people really think of Michael Scott’s … um … unique leadership style, check out the blog That’s What She Said. Every Friday, a former HR professional analyzes the management sins from the previous night’s episode and tabulates how much the fictional Dunder Mifflin paper company might have to pay if a fed-up employee filed a lawsuit. For example, the entry for the episode “Did…
Citizenship and Immigration Services wants to replace the current immigration system — most forms are paper-based, and CIS frequently mails documents around the country — with an electronic system. But not as quickly as it hoped. The agency awarded a five-year, $500 million contract to IBM last month; this week, Accenture decided to protest the bid. A final decision on the protest is expected by March, according to the Government Accountability Office. “The protest is still very basic.. they haven’t really fleshed it out to any degree,” said Michael Aytes, acting deputy director at CIS. “While it’s in protest… we’re…
A fixture in the federal community stepped down last night — in grand style. After more than 14 years at the helm of the nonprofit Council for Excellence in Government, Patricia McGinnis yesterday passed the baton to interim successor Lynn Jennings, the Council’s executive vice president, at a gala dinner at the Mandarin Oriental Hotel in Washington. As president and CEO of the Council, McGinnis led the council in many initiatives, including: serving as an early advocate for the expansion of electronic government; expanding the Excellence in Government Fellowship program, a leadership development program for senior government managers; promoting Public…
When the transition to the new administration kicked off on Nov. 5, President Bush pledged his administration will fully cooperate with President-elect Obama’s transition team to ensure things go smoothly. But it appears not every Bush administration official has received that message if this article in the Orlando Sentinel is correct: NASA administrator Mike Griffin is not cooperating with President-elect Barack Obama’s transition team, is obstructing its efforts to get information and has told its leader that she is “not qualified†to judge his rocket program. The piece goes on to say that Griffin also telling federal employees and contractors…
We’re hearing this morning that President-elect Barack Obama has settled on a handful of appointments for key positions handling energy and environmental issues. Among the likely picks: Steven Chu, director of the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, to serve as secretary of the Energy Department. Lisa Jackson, commissioner of the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection, to head the Environmental Protection Agency. Carol Browner, former EPA administrator during the Clinton administration, to serve in a new White House position coordinating energy and climate control initiatives across goverment. Nancy Sutley, deputy mayor for energy and environment in Los Angeles, to head the White…
Samuel Heyman, the founder of the Partnership for Public Service, received the Presidential Citizens Medal in a White House ceremony today. Heyman founded the nonprofit in 2001 to try to improve the federal government and promote it as a good place to work as the Baby Boomer generation prepares to retire. The citation Bush awarded Heyman reads: As a lawyer, public servant and philanthropist, Samuel Heyman has acted on his steadfast devotion to our nation. By encouraging young leaders to answer the call of public service, he has helped promote a vibrant federal work force. The United States honors Samuel…
The Center for Public Integrity thinks so. It published a new report today citing what it says are more than 125 systemic federal government failures during the Bush administration. The stories highlighted in the report have been well publicized. Among them: The failure of the government to regulate Wall Street. FEMA’s failure to assist state and local governments following Hurricanes Katrina and Rita in 2005. Several aspects of the execution of the Iraq War and Global War on Terror, such as intelligence gathering, detainee torture, caring for vets and managing contracts. Cronyism at the Minerals Management Service, Justice Department, HUD and…
The Homeland Security Department’s inspector general, Richard Skinner, is worried that the stalled economy and ballooning budget deficit will prompt the next Congress to shift money away from the department’s management functions. So many of these programs are just starting to get traction. But they’re still woefully underfunded… we still need to invest in these management support functions. The biggest “traction,” Skinner said, is in financial management: The Transportation Security Administration and the Federal Emergency Management Agency should be able to offer clean audits by the end of fiscal 2009 (Skinner acknowledged that “it should have been done a year…