b'Conversations with Leadersnetwork was under capacity. It was fractured among sixperformance. In other words, in order to accomplish different regions. They couldnt even operate training andthe first two priorities, we need to focus on administrative functions through their office bandwidth to getorganizational and culture change.data in and products out at the same time. Advances in science technology are transforming the nature To build a weather-ready nation, we had to deal with theof work across our economy. Its happening in meteorology core issues of budget acquisition and program management.as well. High resolution observations, new computer When I arrived, we had 25 budget categories that no onemodels, statistical techniques like machine learning, are knew how they came into existence or how they interactedhelping to generate accurate and highly-resolved forecasts with each other. We needed to simplify the budget structurea week or more in advance. We need to ensure these new that mapped to our functions. Today, NWS has six budgetadvances are built into the forecast process. Another trend categories. I can tell you the priorities in each one. I canis the growing weather, water, and climate enterprise. A tell you how we plan for the three-year budget cycle. Wefew decades ago, the private sector primarily tailored NWS can show the value proposition and how the money isforecasts and warnings for public consumption. Now, being spent. We also have six offices. We have the Office ofthe private sector is involved in observations, modeling, Observations, the Office of Central Processing, the Analyze,forecasting, and decision support. We need to expand Forecast, and Support Office, Office of Dissemination, theour partnerships with the enterprise to ensure we are all Office of Science and Technology Integration (STI) andproviding the very best products and services to the nation. Office of Facilities. These offices have responsibilities forFor instance, that may include buying more observations budget planning and execution mapped to agency goals. Wefrom industry rather than building those systems in house.have buy-in, and one of the reasons we have buy-in from all the senior executive service leaders is we hold peopleOn Connecting Forecasts to Decision Makingaccountable. This budget challenge led to a better managedFor a long time, NWS forecasters were told that their job budget, with high execution rates and better investmentended with issuing the forecast or warning. Over time, decisions within the portfolios. Now we are establishingmeteorologists have come to realize that connecting those a vision of what the National Weather Service would lookforecasts to decisions is critical to fully achieve our mission like in the futurehow it will remain relevant in a rapidlyof protecting lives and property. Now, we are working changing and expanding weather enterprise. towards evolving the organization to make this a key component of what we do.On Building a Weather-Ready Nation The strategic vision for the NWS is to build a Weather- IDSS can take many forms. It could be a virtual briefing to Ready Nationwhich means that every person in Americaan emergency manager or public safety official. It could is ready, responsive, and resilient to extreme weather, water,be a heads-up phone call. Or, it could take the form of and climate events. The initiative has three main goals goinga meteorologist embedding in an activated emergency forward: operations center during an extreme event. In 2017, Congress explicitly authorized this activity for the NWS 1.Reduce the impact of weather, water, and climate eventswith the Weather Research and Forecasting Innovation Act. by transforming the way people receive, understand,This law directs us to provide IDSS to public safety officials and act on information. Through scientific studies and anecdotal evidence, we are realizing that we need to better connect our forecasts and warnings to decisions at all levels in order to accomplish our mission of saving lives and property.2.We need to harness cutting-edge science, technology, and engineering to provide the best observations, forecasts, and warnings. Weve made great strides in improving the accuracy and precision of our forecasts and warnings, but there is still room for improvement.3.Finally, we need to evolve the NWS through investment in our people, partnerships, and organizational 22 www.businessofgovernment.org The Business of Government'