The Buzz with ACT-IAC

Latest Episodes:

Small Business, Big Security with Kimberly Mentzell Nov 16, 2022

Show notes

Everyone loves a nice local business. In a world increasingly dominated by enormous, faceless corporations, it's always nice to walk into a brick-and-mortar establishment and know that the business's owner is one of your neighbors.
As the Biden administration has recognized, small businesses drive innovation, generate economic mobility, and strengthen community bonds. The sign of a healthy town is a thriving Main Street. It is the duty of our government to support these enterprises and create the environment necessary for them to flourish.
We live in the age of an information technology, in which very few businesses can choose to remain analog. The opportunities of a digital society also create new risks - everything connected to the internet is a vector of attack. Small businesses, with their limited resources and lack of technical experience, make easy targets for cybercriminals. Without proper preparation and training, a business owner could very easily see their livelihood destroyed in a matter of moments.
That's where this week's guest comes in. Kimberly Mentzell is the Director of Cybersecurity and Aerospace for the Maryland Department of Commerce. With grant funding from the Small Business Administration, she runs Maryland's Small Business Cybersecurity Resilience Program, helping entrepreneurs protect their enterprises from cyberattack.
Learn more about Maryland's program
Cyber Guidance for Small Business by CISA
NIST's Small Business Cybersecurity Corner

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Intro/Outro Music: See a Brighter Day/Gloria Tells
Courtesy of Epidemic Sound
(Episodes 1-159: Intro/Outro Music: Focal Point/Young Community
Courtesy of Epidemic Sound)

Scaling Technology and the ARPA Model with William Bonvillian Nov 08, 2022

Show notes

After the Soviet Union shocked the United States by successfully launching the first artificial satellite in 1957, President Eisenhower recognized the need to accelerate our nation's research and development capacity, in order to meet the future challenges that the Cold War would bring.
Thus, in 1958, the Advanced Research Projects Agency, or ARPA, was born. The agency was later rolled into the Defense Department and re-designated DARPA. Early on, DARPA distinguished itself with a unique, high-risk, high-reward approach - directing funding towards diverse sets of long-shot projects with the understanding that the return on investment would be worth it even if only one or two projects succeeded.
Though DARPA's budget was only a fraction of total DoD spending during the Cold War, the tiny agency has had an outsized impact on creating the technologies that shape our modern world. From GPS to drones to even the internet - the fruits of DARPA's labors surround us.
In the 21st century, a few efforts have been made to adapt DARPA's innovation model outside the defense sector. This saw the created of ARPA-Energy in 2009 and now ARPA-Health in March of this year. What can we learn from the ARPA model, and can it help prepare us for a future where technology will be sorely needed to address the rising global threat of resilient infrastructure?
To discuss, The Buzz is joined by William Bonvillian, MIT lecturer, author and former senior senate advisor on science and technology policy.

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How Government Built This: Encouraging Change by Putting People First at the Department of the Treasury Nov 01, 2022

Show notes

Welcome to the final episode of “How Government Built This,” a six-part podcast and blog post series developed by the Department of the Treasury’s Bureau of the Fiscal Service Office of Financial Innovation and Transformation (FIT) in collaboration with The Buzz with ACT-IAC.
This week, host Jesrael Lopez interviews Joe Gioeli III, Chief Information Officer at the Bureau of the Fiscal Service, and Nick Totten, Associate Chief Information Officer at the Department of the Treasury.

They discuss Treasury's human-centered approach to digital transformation - that change is more about the people, interactions and processes that make up an organization, rather than the technology itself. Joe and Nick also discuss how to engage the workforce in the process and how to keep them invested.
References:

Bureau of Fiscal Service Future of Financial Management Vision
Emerging Technology Community of Interest (COI) November 15th monthly meeting taking place from 10 AM to 11:30 AM covering the COI’s Emerging Technology Accelerator.
Emerging Technology COI working groups. To join a working group, please reach out to Nancy Delanoche (ndelanoche@actiac.org)
National Use Case and Solutions Library open to government, academia, and industry for capturing emerging technology use cases:
Department of Transportation blog and podcast

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How Government Built This: How the Department of Transportation is Driving Digital Transformation with a Focus on Safety, and Resilient Infrastructure Oct 12, 2022

Show notes

They discuss how the DOT is looking toward future to predict and develop ,connected transportation networks driven by technology. They also emphasize the opportunities for R&D presented by emerging technologies and how these initiatives can better build a reliable transportation system that meets the needs of all Americans.
References:

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Easy, Breezy, Beautiful, Tax Code with Beverly Moran Oct 04, 2022

Show notes

Ah, tax season. Though certainly not everyone’s favorite time of year, filing a tax return is perhaps the most notable interaction with the Federal Government that nearly every working American experiences. As those in public service design know, sometimes one interaction is all you get – and whether that interaction is positive or negative can greatly shape the public’s perception of and trust in government.

So, it stands to reason that building a simpler, more straightforward tax system (and making filing easier) for individuals makes sense. And yet, the US tax code has only become more complex in the past few decades. In response to this, a sizable industry of tax preparation software has arisen to, ostensibly, simplify the filing process. In 2021, 90% of US filers did so electronically, which means that the vast majority of Americans are navigating a commercial marketplace in order to facilitate a government interaction that is legally required.

Is there a better way? To discuss this question, The Buzz is joined by Beverly Moran, Professor Emerita at Vanderbilt Law School, who has written extensively about the US tax code.

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How Government Built This: Balancing the Bottom-Up, Top-Down Approach at Canada’s Office of the Auditor General Sep 27, 2022

Show notes

From Transformation to Evolution – How DHS Focuses on Strategic Partnerships to Jumpstart Digital Transformation
Cyber's Elite Forces – How Air National Guard Puts People First with Artificial Intelligence to Drive Digital Transformation
ACT-IAC Use Case Summit, September 20, 2022
ACT-IAC 2021 Shark Tank – Use of Emerging Technology to Streamline Acquisition
For more information on ACT-IAC’s Emerging Technology Accelerator i) Technology Literacy and ii) Robotic Process Automation projects, please reach out to act-iac@actiac.org.
ACT-IAC Emerging Technology COI Artificial Intelligence playbook, Intelligent Automation playbook, and Blockchain playbook which assess organizational readiness for emerging technologies.

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Health Inequities and the COVID-19 Response with LaRon Nelson Sep 20, 2022

Show notes

Because of the peculiar perception of time that we have collectively experienced throughout the pandemic, it may feel odd that the US only began rolling out COVID vaccines in the beginning of last year. So much has occurred in the intervening months that the early days of the pandemic seem much further removed than they are.
Increasingly, the United States appears to have moved on. Roughly 80% of Americans have received at least one dose of the vaccine and virtually no lockdown restrictions remain in place anywhere in the country. At ACT-IAC, most of our conversations are focusing on the future and the changes that COVID has brought to Federal service delivery and the workforce.
While these are important conversations, it is equally important to recognize the profound loss that the world has experienced in these past two years. COVID-19 has claimed the lives of more than 1 million Americans and more than 6 million people globally. Millions more have suffered from a startling decline in physical and financial security and quality of life.
Unfortunately, this loss has not been borne equally within this nation or across the globe. COVID has instead magnified the inequalities already present in our social and economic systems, placing a greater burden on some communities over others.
This week, The Buzz is joined by LaRon Nelson, Associate Dean for Global Affairs and Planetary Health at the Yale School of Nursing to discuss the causes and consequences of these inequities. He urges us not to forget the hard-learned lessons of this pandemic and to endeavor to prevent them from re-occurring.

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How Government Built This: How DHS Focuses on Strategic Partnerships to Jumpstart Digital Transformation Sep 13, 2022

Show notes

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Civil Service in American Government with Donald Moynihan Sep 06, 2022

Show notes

Rather than being explicitly created by the US Constitution, the administrative agencies that make up the Federal bureaucracy have emerged through subsequent acts of Congress. As the United States grew in size and complexity, it became apparent that some governing powers must be delegated to professional agencies with narrower focuses than the traditional branches of government.
Now, the federal civil service numbers more than 2 million civilian employees from all walks of life, serving all over the country, and has become an indispensable part of the American government and society.
This week on The Buzz, we're taking a look at the US civil service system - how it interacts with other branches of government, the role it plays in public and political life, and how it has evolved over time. Our guest is Donald Moynihan, chair of the McCourt School of Public Policy at Georgetown University.
More from Donald on his Substack: https://donmoynihan.substack.com/

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How Government Built This: Cyber’s Elite Forces – How Air National Guard Puts People First with Artificial Intelligence to Drive Digital Transformation Aug 30, 2022

Show notes

Welcome to “How Government Built This,” a six-part podcast and blog post series developed by the Department of the Treasury’s Bureau of the Fiscal Service Office of Financial Innovation and Transformation (FIT) in collaboration with The Buzz with ACT-IAC.
This week, host Jacqueline French interviews Lt. Col Andrew Wonpat, member of the Air National Guard's 175th Network Warfare Squadron. In his current assignment, he serves as a Cyber Capabilities Development Strategist with U.S. Air Force (USAF) Futures, with the mission of exploring non-traditional force structure and future cyber capability development.
In this episode, Lt. Col Wonpat discusses the CYDE-CARS initiative, and AI-driven project to find new ways of identifying ideal candidates to built high-performing teams. He also discusses a people-first approach to digital transformation and encourages outside-the-box thinking when it comes to organizational initiatives
CYDE-CARS is open to agencies across government. For more information on CYDE-CARS, please reach out to Lt Col Andrew Wonpat at andrew.r.wonpat.mil@mail.mil.

References

1. For more information on ACT-IAC’s Emerging Technology Accelerator, please reach out act-iac@actiac.org.

2. ACT-IAC Emerging Technology Community of Interest (COI) “People as the Strongest Link: Emerging Trends in Human Centered Design and Customer Experience Approaches for Cybersecurity” June Monthly Meeting.

3. ACT-IAC Use Case Summit taking place on September 20, 2022, from 9 AM to 12 PM at the General Services Administration’s headquarters and online.

4. ACT-IAC Cybersecurity Forum 2022 taking place on October 12, 2022, from 8:30 AM to 2:30 PM at the Renaissance Washington, DC, Downtown Hotel.

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