Weekly Roundup: February 24-28, 2025

Leadership

The 4 Types of Thinking Leaders Need to Practice—and Teach. What does it mean to add value? Adding value arises not just from solving a problem, but from solving the right problem, in ways that no one expected, to arrive at an even better outcome. These kinds of solutions don’t come from our everyday ways of thinking. They come from expert thinking, critical thinking, strategic thinking, and systems thinking—skills that consistently make it on those ubiquitous lists of things leaders at every level have to be really good at to meet the challenges of the future. The authors explore these four distinct types of thinking skills in depth, including what they mean and when they should be used, along with some tips for using AI tools as a thinking partner.

Technology

AI’s Growing Waste Problem—and How to Solve It. While AI has come under scrutiny for energy use, a less discussed but equally concerning trend is the growth in resource use and electronic waste from computing and data center infrastructure. Circular economy principles can help mitigate negative environmental and social impact from the AI boom. Companies need to think about how they can use equipment and materials longer, differently, again, and less.

Pentagon Moves to ‘Execution Phase’ of CJADC2 Effort. The Department of Defense (DoD) has officially transitioned from the concept phase and into the execution stage of developing its meta-network of connected sensors to coordinate all the armed forces – the Combined Joint All-Domain Command and Control (CJADC2) system – with technology leaders now addressing the challenges of bringing it to fruition.

Workforce

OPM Tells Agencies to Weigh Revising SES Positions by March 24. The Office of Personnel Management (OPM) is instructing Federal agencies to consider reclassifying “career reserved” Senior Executive Service (SES) positions as “general,” giving them until March 24 to review and revise a list of SES positions. In a Feb. 24 memo, OPM said that there can only be 3,571 career reserved positions under law, but that number over the past four years “has grown rapidly and is now roughly double the minimum.”

Former IRS Data Chief Krause Named Acting Commissioner. Melanie Krause, who currently serves as chief operating officer at the Internal Revenue Service (IRS), has been named the tax agency’s commissioner – the title that heads the agency – on an acting basis.  

Efficiency

Trump Orders Agencies to Build ‘Cost Efficiency’ Tech, Review Contracts. President Donald Trump is ordering federal agencies to undertake a sweeping review aimed at cutting or modifying some existing contracts, and to build new technology into their systems to record all agency payments under certain contracts, display written justifications for payments, and give agency officials ways to actively monitor payment flows.

Pennsylvania Red Tape Reduction: A Case Study. This report examines Pennsylvania’s recent success in responding to concerns from citizens that it took too long for a business, nonprofit or individual to receive a permit, license or certificate they had applied for.

Funding Freeze

GAO May Take White House to Court Over Funding Freeze. Gene Dodaro, comptroller general of the United States and head of the Government Accountability Office (GAO), told lawmakers this week that his agency is preparing to potentially take the Trump administration to court over his efforts to freeze federal funding for programs that Congress has already approved. Dodaro said GAO is also looking into the legality of pausing these payments, which he said may be a violation of the Impoundment Control Act of 1974. That law restricts a president from cutting funding without the approval of Congress.

Space

Witnesses Urge Next NASA Chief to Focus on Restructuring Artemis Program. Witnesses at a House Science, Space, and Technology subcommittee hearing today urged the next NASA administrator to prioritize restructuring the Artemis program to ensure its success and long-term sustainability. The future of the Artemis program, launched during President Donald Trump’s first term to return humans to the moon and eventually send missions to Mars, is uncertain.

As space becomes more crowded, Space Force turns to AI. The newest service wants to understand where automation can augment—or even replace—humans in monitoring space for threats. The Space Force will need to use AI in new ways to identify and track objects in space—also called “space domain awareness”—as space becomes increasingly congested, the service’s acting deputy chief of space operations for cyber and data, Seth Whitworth admits.

Veterans

EHRM Program ‘Impossible’ to Complete on Current Deadline. Officials from the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA), Government Accountability Office (GAO), and VA Office of Inspector General (OIG) told lawmakers this week that it will be “impossible” to complete the VA’s Electronic Health Records Modernization (EHRM) program on its current timeline. The VA’s current contract for the EHRM program is set to expire in May 2028. However, the agency has only deployed the new EHR system to six out of the 164 VA medical centers. The EHRM program is currently in the middle of a “reset” while the VA and its contractor Oracle Cerner focus on improvements at the six sites where the EHR system is currently deployed.

Homeland Security

DHS Nominee Says Cyber Safety Review Board Will Be ‘Reconstituted’. Troy Edgar, President Donald Trump’s nominee to be deputy secretary at the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), told lawmakers today that he backs the administration’s decision to disband the Cyber Safety Review Board (CSRB), adding that the board will be reinstated.  “I didn’t make the decision to do it, but I think it was a great idea,” Edgar noted. “I think that CISA has overstepped its boundaries and authorities. I think it needs to be reeled in, and it starts with that steering committee. I think they need to be reconstituted.”

Presidential Transition – Updates

Which of Trump's nominees have been confirmed?  The Senate is currently vetting and voting on President Donald Trump's nominees for his Cabinet and other senior roles. There’s list of his nominations thus far and will update when they are confirmed by the Senate. There also are links to our coverage regarding how these individuals plan to lead their agencies and what workforce changes they could make.  

THIS WEEK @ THE CENTER 

RECENT BLOGS

• Enhancing Government Payment Integrity: Leveraging AI and Other Emerging Technologies by Dan Chenok.  This blog introduces the release of a new IBM Center report Enhancing Government Payment Integrity: Leveraging AI and Other Emerging Technologies, by Richard Hoehne of Georgia State University and Karen Kunz of West Virginia University. The report highlights specific issues and proposes next steps for enhancing government payment integrity using AI and related emerging technologies.
• Strategic Fit in Government: Leveraging Private Sector Leadership Insights by Michael J. Keegan. By applying the core leadership insights from the Harvard Business Review article “The Power of Strategic Fit” to government, public sector leaders can enhance efficiency, foster innovation, and deliver better services to citizens.
• Designing Effective Engagement Processes by Julia Carboni. This blog series is designed to equip public leaders and managers with practical tools and strategies for engaging the public in ways that can help restore trust in government. Today, we will discuss the fourth aspect, “Designing Effective Engagement Processes.”

ICYMI – Transforming the Business of Government: Insights on Resilience, Innovation, and Performance.  This week Michael Keegan brings together contributors to the most recent IBM Center book to explore finding value in the unexpected, how we can be more resilient, and how we can leverage innovation to improve government performance.