Promoting gratitude in the workplace enhances employee morale, collegiality, and efficiency, which together combine to enhance productivity and satisfaction. So, how can an entity foster a culture of authentic gratitude?
Technology has revolutionized the way people seek, organize, and store information. The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) uses critical information to achieve its mission, whether that is securing the border, processing travelers, or mitigating flood risk. Collecting and researching huge amounts of information is now faster and easier than ever. Despite these technological advances, analysts can still miss the underlying issues hidden behind reams of data.
Emergency response training for both professional first responders and the public is critical. Average citizens are often the first to confront emergency situations. While emergency response is a daunting task, training can help prepare anyone for any event. Increased public awareness of free and online Government training courses, such as the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) Emergency Management Institute (EMI) courses, improves public preparation and response to crisis and strengthens the capabilities and effectiveness of professional emergency responders.
The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Unity of Effort is implementing solutions to better integrate the DHS components’ efforts to address the diversity of security challenges facing the nation. For example, the DHS Southern Border and Approaches Campaign created a joint task force across DHS components involved in enforcement solutions.
From election night to inauguration day, the President Elect’s transition team has only 74 days to deliver new strategies for action. Being prepared on Day One means having a strategy that translates campaign policies into a plan for governing. The next president will inherit many challenges; lingering border security issues and cybersecurity threats are just two that stand out. How the next president meets those challenges relies heavily on managing his or her transition into office.
My clock radio goes off at 6 AM and I’m out of bed and excited for a new day. By 6:45 AM, I’m out the door on my way to the office. The commute is a time for me to gather my thoughts, read the morning paper, and prepare for the tasks I have to address first.
In the past, advancements in information technology (IT) typically were a topic of discussion among high-level developers, project managers, and analysts. Analysts documented large complex requirements documents that sometimes took years to produce. It was difficult for systems development projects to adjust these documents to evolving needs and new priorities. This process is changing the Government’s broad adoption of Agile to deliver mission-critical software quickly to users.
Mission results on major programs directly result from effective acquisitions. So how does the Government continue to innovate to drive acquisition success?
Acquisitions are the key to success in major programs of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS). The procurement process deploys the materials, services, and knowledge necessary to operate the DHS’ protective and preventative missions. Without timely and effective procurements, DHS could face new and avoidable challenges in their mission to prevent terrorism, manage our borders, enforce immigration laws, secure cyberspace, and act with resilience in the face of disasters.
Mission users. More and more, we hear that the mission users are not getting what they need when new technology is designed and implemented. The Federal Government needs new approaches to create cross-enterprise, people-centric solutions.
During administration changes, agencies face the challenge of onboarding new personnel while maintaining core functions to serve the mission. Fortunately, transition cycles are usually predictable, and preparation can begin well in advance. By adopting past best practices and the latest innovative thinking, Government agencies can become more operationally resilient in the face of both scheduled transitions and unexpected leadership changes.
In June 2015, the U.S. Office of Personnel Management (OPM) announced that hackers compromised millions of Americans personally identifiable information in one of the most severe data breaches in recent history. The successful intrusion into OPM servers, perpetrated by the Chinese, highlighted major issues in the Government’s information technology (IT) infrastructure, including continued use of legacy systems and lack of oversight of private contractors. As a result, the Government convened an interagency panel to perform a 90-day review of OPM’s background investigation infrastructure.
According to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), floods are the most common and costly natural disaster in the nation. Floods are a year-round disaster and affect every state and territory in the United States.
