While the festive efficiency of Santa’s reindeer-powered delivery promises excitement for children, real-world agencies like USPS grapple with the challenge of ensuring millions of packages find their way home reliably during the holiday rush.

The USPS itself can unwrap a technological gift to help improve efficiency — the gift of artificial intelligence. As AI continues to take the world by storm through its rapid advancements, finding ways to harness its power becomes equally important.

One of the ways AI can help enhance the USPS’ shipping operations is through predictive analytics. The future of AI integration into the USPS’ logistical and operational processes by way of predictive analytics looks like a more agile and responsive shipping network, better equipped to uphold its commitment to timely and accurate deliveries. AI fuels predictive analytics to evaluate historical data for informed staffing decisions ahead of the holiday season. It further derives insights for route optimization and fleet management, ensuring trucks are fully loaded to facilitate optimal package movement and timely deliveries.

Predictive analytics also enables USPS operations to proactively assess the health and performance of their delivery trucks. This forward-thinking approach allows for preventive measures, addressing potential issues before they escalate into breakdowns. By keeping a pulse on the fleet’s condition, the USPS can minimize unexpected disruptions, promoting routine maintenance and ensuring that every truck is in prime condition for the holiday rush.

This comprehensive approach, combined with real-time monitoring, not only prevents potential issues but also contributes to overall cost reduction for USPS. Additionally, it affords operations managers lead time to formulate contingency plans for potential weather delays, aligning with the overall goal for optimal package movement and on-time deliveries. Most importantly, this proactive approach, streamlining processes and ensuring the reliability of the delivery network, allows the USPS to better manage staffing schedules. This, in turn, provides employees with more predictable and balanced work hours, allowing them valuable time to be with their loved ones during the holiday season.

In Santa’s bustling workshop, his elves seem to possess an innate knowledge of the whereabouts of every gift. However, in the realm of USPS, the same level of precise information isn’t always readily available to customer service representatives. AI can also assist with transparent tracking to enhance the customer experience. As it stands, there exists a discernible gap between the creation of shipping labels and the real-time tracking information available to consumers.

This discrepancy is particularly pronounced in the business-to-consumer sphere, where consumers often find themselves in the dark about the precise whereabouts of their eagerly anticipated packages.

AI could bridge this gap by seamlessly integrating every stage of the shipping journey, ensuring that everyone, from customers to dedicated USPS customer service representatives, has access to real-time updates from label creation to final delivery. This capability could also be augmented by cost-effective RFID sensors, adding an extra layer of precision to the tracking experience and further enhancing efficiencies.

This integrated approach not only provides real-time tracking updates but also holds the promise of significantly reducing accidental missed deliveries. The incorporation of cost-effective RFID sensors, coupled with AI, enables precise monitoring, allowing for immediate identification of when a package was damaged. Additionally, it fosters accountability within the delivery process, especially if drivers can capture images of the actual delivery location. This added layer of transparency not only enhances customer trust but also ensures that packages are handled with the utmost care throughout their journey.

Furthermore, envision a scenario where the USPS, leveraging AI agents, goes beyond the visual and enhances customer support by describing precisely where a package was delivered while conversing with a customer over the phone.

This innovative approach utilizes the images captured during delivery, transforming them into valuable insights that customer service representatives can articulate. In a sense, this capability can be likened to a form of reverse engineering. Just as one might provide AI with a description to generate an image as an output, here, AI deciphers the image first and then provides a detailed description as an output.

As the USPS navigates the challenges of holiday season deliveries, AI can revolutionize the way the USPS addresses these challenges.

By seamlessly integrating predictive analytics, route optimization, and real-time tracking, AI stands as a transformative force in ensuring efficient and accountable operations and customer support – and most importantly, a seamless holiday delivery experience for all.

An executive with forty years of experience in the public sector technology market, CRO Phil Fuster leads Hitachi Vantara Federal’s revenue strategy.

With 25 years in the IT industry, CTO Gary Hix leads architecting, implementing and maintaining custom technology solutions for Hitachi Vantara Federal.

Pragyansmita Nayak, as chief data scientist of Hitachi Vantara Federal, has more than 24 years of experience in software development and data science and has led projects for several federal government agencies.

For seven decades, the U.S. Small Business Administration has been a driving force behind the success of countless enterprises, from America’s Main Streets to manufacturing centers and innovation hubs, helping entrepreneurs turn good ideas into thriving businesses – including some of our country’s most iconic brands. And we’ve helped communities recover from some of the deadliest natural disasters, terrorist acts, pandemics, and disruptions.

As we mark the SBA’s 70th anniversary, we must ensure the transformative impact this agency has can be continuously improved and adapted to meet today’s and tomorrow’s entrepreneurs everywhere and anywhere they are.

Since President Dwight D. Eisenhower signed the Small Business Act into law in 1953, the SBA has continuously evolved and developed into a catalyst for economic growth by providing capital, revenue growth opportunities and know-how to help empower Americans to start and grow their businesses from an idea in a home office, garage, pop-up or farmers market into a brick-and-mortar, global digital marketplace or an advanced industrial innovation hub.

Although it may not be on the label, written in the code or listed on the building sign, the SBA is part of so many facets of American commerce, from the businesses you patronize to the products you consume. Some of these even grow to become giants in their industries like Apple, Qualcomm, Jeni’s Splendid Ice Creams and Chobani, which all started out small, and received SBA assistance along their paths to greatness. These companies’ successes highlight the transformative impact of the SBA’s core programs — for the founders, the employees and the communities they serve.

Just as President Eisenhower knew the importance of investing in American small business, 70 years later, President Biden is building on that vision and legacy by investing in America. Bidenomics is delivering for small businesses by prioritizing equity, leveling the playing field and getting more entrepreneurs into the marketplace than ever before. Thanks to President Biden’s leadership, America is now experiencing a small business boom – 13.1 million Americans have filed applications to start new businesses since 2021. The hope and inspiration to turn an idea into a business is alive and well.

To fulfill the President’s vision, the SBA must be as entrepreneurial as the small businesses it serves. It must continue to evolve to meet its customers’ needs in the economy.

The 70th anniversary coincides with a remarkable period in SBA’s history – as during the COVID-19 pandemic, SBA played a pivotal role in supporting businesses through the Paycheck Protection Program, COVID Economic Injury Disaster Loan, Restaurant Revitalization Fund, Shuttered Venue Operators Grant and debt relief to provide financial relief to save millions of businesses from their darkest days. This crisis further reinforced the agency’s entrepreneurial capacity to pivot, scale, and continuously improve to deliver whatever is needed.

We may have begun as a government agency with a single offering — our flagship 7(a) general business loan — but we have developed into a significant capital allocator in the American economy offering 504 loans for asset building, a microloan program, and investment funds for growth firms. And we have grown our small business networks with accelerators, advisors and mentors to help small businesses succeed – especially with government contracting, international trade, and digital commerce strategies.

And now we are leaning into changes to our capital programs to get more dollars to more credit-worthy small businesses who have historically not received the funding they needed to succeed. It’s about creating simpler products aligned to fill market gaps and serving entrepreneurs through a larger and more diversified network of lenders and investors.

We have streamlined underwriting while instituting stronger eligibility and fraud controls to ensure more loans can get into the right hands, including for underserved entrepreneurs. And we have expanded our investment program to align with cash flows of longer duration and equity-oriented funds to better support early-stage technologies and capital-intensive industries. We want all our entrepreneurs with great ideas to grow and create jobs for their communities.

As the SBA enters its eighth decade, we’re continuing to evolve and modernize our operations so that small businesses can build our economy from the bottom up and the middle out as we Invest in America.

When American entrepreneurs succeed, our economy and our nation succeed. And, as we look to the future, the SBA will be there helping them to spark innovation and prosperity for years to come.

Isabella Casillas Guzman was sworn in as the 27th Administrator of the U.S. Small Business Administration on March 17, 2021. She serves as the voice for America’s 33 million small businesses and startups in President Joe Biden’s cabinet.

The U.S. government created the A-10 in the 1970s to provide close-air support to American ground troops. At the time it was an effective counterweight to the threat of Soviet tanks, and in the decades since it has served the military faithfully.

The A-10 proved especially useful in the Gulf War, when it flew 8,100 sorties and destroyed thousands of Soviet-era combat vehicles and equipment. Later, it helped the U.S. destroy hardened enemy positions in the war on terrorism.

But major military operations in the Middle East have ceased. Today, our greatest adversary is communist China, whose tanks and emplacements are much more advanced than those used by the Soviets or Islamic terrorists.

To prepare to counter Beijing in a future conflict, we must make the best possible use of our limited hangar space and procurement dollars. To do that, we must retire the A-10, as senior military leaders have called for. This will make room for aircraft like the F-35 Lightning II, and free funds for the development and construction of next-generation missiles and missile defense systems, which will be invaluable in any future Indo-Pacific conflict, whether that’s in Taiwan, the South China Sea or the Korean Peninsula.

However, the A-10 can still do a lot of good if transferred to allies and partners in need of it. The most obvious example is Ukraine, which is preparing to mount a counteroffensive against Soviet-era tanks and entrenched Russian positions.

At the recent G7 summit, President Joe Biden stated he supports training Ukrainian forces to operate F-16 Fighting Falcons, a first step to allies providing the planes to Ukraine. But even if we accept the president’s position, there is good reason to wonder if an air-to-air fighter makes the most sense. Ukraine’s defense intelligence chief, for one, believes Ukraine would fare better with A-10s. Moreover, F-16s require 6,000 feet of tarmac — increasingly rare in bombed-out Ukraine — to take off and land, while A-10s only require 4,000 feet of dirt runway.

Beyond Ukraine, potential beneficiaries of an A-10 transfer program include African countries in the Sahel fighting ISIS and Boko Haram, or even Latin American nations combating paramilitary rebels and drug cartels in the jungle.

Such a program would be neither unprecedented nor unusual. The U.S. manufactures and sells vehicles and platforms the U.S. military no longer uses on a semi-regular basis. For instance, production of the A-29 Super Tucano employs hundreds of Floridians in Jacksonville and supports counterterrorism operations in Africa and Colombia.

Simply put, phasing out the A-10 by transferring it to allies and partners is the smart thing to do. Not only would it help America adapt to the challenges of the 21st century, it would also help our friends confront their own challenges without deep U.S. intervention. That’s killing two birds with one stone — the best kind of public policy.

Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., is vice chairman of the Select Committee on Intelligence, and serves on the Foreign Relations Committee.

Interoperability — the ability of products or systems to readily connect and exchange information — enables government organizations to quickly and effectively serve citizens. However, competing needs and priorities often make it difficult for agencies to identify solutions that factor in the required capabilities for every use case.

As federal agencies strive to modernize their IT systems, workflows, and policies, strategic upgrades must be made to ensure relevant data can be shared seamlessly between disparate organizations. Private sector organizations can help government improve interoperability by developing IT solutions that easily integrate into existing systems and workflows to enable frictionless experiences, increasing constituent engagement and decreasing administrative burden.

Challenges to cooperation

Too often, interoperability is perceived as an issue that impedes interactions between legacy and modern systems. However, many current technologies also encounter challenges with cooperation and data sharing. As such, both the private and public sectors must account for the ability to collaborate when developing and procuring new technology or updating outdated systems.

Additionally, the rapid shift to remote tools and work environments has prompted government agencies to provisionally digitize their systems. While this reality is understandable and was in many ways necessary, it’s time to take a more intentional and coordinated approach to modernization to accelerate citizen service and reduce administrative strain on employees.

There is plenty of work to be done within the private sector as well. As described by the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), “…many of the vendor solutions used in the [enhanced identity governance] crawl phase do not integrate with each other out-of-the-box in ways that are needed to enable the [identity, credential and access management] ICAM solutions to function.”

Private sector organizations can alleviate the burden associated with IT modernization by ensuring their solutions integrate easily with others. Objectives such as zero trust, emergency response, and public health are critical matters of national security, and technology vendors must support government institutions on the path to achieving these paramount goals.

Customer Experience

Admittedly, interoperability poses a much greater obstacle in some use cases. As such, it’s best to start ensuring universally used features are interoperable before moving on to niche applications. For example, every organization can benefit from digital documents, forms and signatures.

For citizen-facing agencies, websites, digital services and chatbots are other pervasive tools that should be interoperable. It’s crucial that such ubiquitous processes function seamlessly throughout government organizations to effectively serve citizens.

As explained in the May 2021 Customer Experience (CX) Executive Order, “Customers often navigate services across multiple agencies in specific moments of need.” Examples include seeking financing for a business, identifying ways to address food insecurity, or recovering from a natural disaster. In these situations, relevant agencies must be able to coordinate service delivery “to achieve an integrated experience that meets customer needs through the exchange of data with appropriate privacy protections.”

When digital tools are incapable of directly sharing data, service delivery is likely to be delayed which negatively affects citizen experiences. CX is one of the primary drivers behind the 21st Century Integrated Digital Experience Act (IDEA), which became law in 2018.

As stated in the IDEA, “Each executive agency shall, to the extent practicable, seek to maintain as much standardization and commonality with other executive agencies as practicable in implementing the requirements of this Act to best enable future transitions to centralized shared services.” Some of the many centralized services to achieve this mandate include, API.Data.gov, the Federal Risk and Authorization Management Program (FedRAMP), and Login.gov.

The public and private sectors alike should continue to expand the number of available standardized services to improve federal interoperability and enhance citizen service. Persistent interoperability issues are not only detrimental to CX but cause significant strain on federal employees and never-ending lifecycle costs.

A holistic approach

With federal employee satisfaction declining, agency leaders must work to improve conditions for their workforce, and one way to do so is to equip employees with tools that enable them to collaborate seamlessly. As agencies digitize their operations, impediments to interoperability will only become more pronounced.

Therefore, the ability to easily share information and resources — within and across organizations — must be accounted for proactively during the planning phase for both the private and public sectors.

To advance interoperability from a federal perspective, agency leadership must encourage the use of compatible technology from the top down. Whenever possible, leaders from different agencies should ensure the IT used within their organizations will function well together. Agencies should also seek industry partners that offer digital solutions which integrate easily with their existing tools.

Interoperability should also be mandated at the policy level, funded, incentivized and measured to guarantee federal IT modernization is effective. The long-term results of proactively ensuring interoperability will be well worth the upfront investment, as time and costs will be saved with each interaction thereafter.

If incompatible tools are implemented, the time and resources spent on upgrades may end up hindering citizen service or employee satisfaction instead of improving mission delivery. By working together using easily integrated tools, agencies and the private sector can improve outcomes for stakeholders, enhance security and prevent further roadblocks in the form of digital friction.

Heather Whitlock is Director of Industry Strategy and Business Development at Adobe, a supplier of software products and services to companies and governments.

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According to the FBI, Americans lost $10.3 billion to fraud in 2022, a nearly 50% increase since 2021. Unfortunately, active duty service members, veterans and their families are disproportionately affected by these crimes, which cost them $414 million in 2022. With cyber crime being the fastest growing crime in America, there are no signs of a slowdown.

For service members, the consequences of fraud extend beyond financial ruin or damage to mental health. They can put a military career in jeopardy, compromising security clearances that often depend on strong credit histories.

Military families’ higher-than-average vulnerability to digital crime can be attributed to the nature of military life. Frequent changes of station risk important records being sent to old addresses. Deployment and boot camps limit account and credit monitoring abilities. Communal WiFi used on bases can mean less secure transfers of information. The Office of Personnel Management, or OPM, 2015 data breach leaked the sensitive personal information of 20 million former, current and prospective federal employees — including many military personnel.

As military quality of life declines and enlistment rates slow, a hero’s choice to dedicate his or her life to protecting our country should not come with the burden of digital danger. While some effort has been made to address this community’s vulnerability to cyber threats, recent years’ rate of increase indicates that more must be done.

So how can we — the private sector, military advocacy groups and the federal government — work together to better protect all service members and their families from cyber crime?

1. Expand protection mandates.

In March, Representatives Elise Stefanik, R-N.Y., and Andy Kim, D-N.J., reintroduced the bipartisan Servicemember Credit Monitoring Enhancement Act, which would expand the Fair Credit Reporting Act-mandated active duty credit monitoring services to National Guard and Reserves, as well.

In April, Senators Amy Klobuchar, D-Minn., and Kevin Kramer, R-N.D., introduced a Senate version of the bill, which further expands credit monitoring for military spouses and dependents. While credit monitoring is just one piece of this issue, we believe this bill is a strong step in the right direction, and together, we urge Congress to pass it. The disproportionate impact of digital crime and financial fraud on the military community is broad and does not discriminate between active duty, retired or reserve service members.

We also applaud Rep. Stephen Lynch, D-Mass., for his action around this issue, especially his introduction of the Military Consumer Protection Task Force Act of 2023, which would combat fraud targeting military families through a joint task force led by secretaries of defense and Veterans Affairs in collaboration with public and private stakeholders. This is exactly the type of collaborative effort that could start to reverse cybercrime’s impact on military families.

Private sector leaders should take action to support those making military family online safety a priority, whether through funding, lobbying efforts, statements of support or by fostering open dialogues around practical solutions.

We also must ensure that existing solutions are working as intended — a recent CFPB investigation found many service members are being charged for the free credit monitoring services to which they are legally entitled.

2. Invest in family online safety education for national security.

Understandably, Department of Defense cybersecurity efforts have largely focused on the enterprise. After all, it blocks billions of attacks every day. Few understand the importance of employee-level digital security in favor of the larger enterprise better than the private sector. Stanford University and IBM estimate that 88-95% of breaches are caused by individual employee actions.

The private sector — through funding, expertise and resource allocation — and nonprofits — by advocating within their networks — can collaboratively support an educational experience that empowers every level of the military with knowledge of risk factors, prevention methods and modern technology to protect both national security and families’ digital and financial wellbeing.

3. Empower with modern, innovative tools.

Online safety solutions have modernized since the passing of the Fair Credit Reporting Act and military-focused amendments. Today’s tools give families greater control. Some allow delegation to a veteran’s caregiver or a spouse when a service member is deployed. They go beyond credit monitoring to enable safe browsing, manage passwords, offer instant credit locking, prevent spam (and scam) calling and protect children’s online safety.

This Military Appreciation Month and beyond, we’re asking the private sector, nonprofit advocates and the federal government to work together on enhanced digital protections for those who safeguard our freedoms everyday — to offer American heroes and their families the same peace of mind they afford all of us, here at home.

Hari Ravichandran is the founder & CEO of Aura. Kathy Roth-Douquet is co-Founder & CEO of Blue Star Families.

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Ukraine’s layered air defense system makes its airspace a highly lethal environment for 4th-generation aircraft like the Su-25 and Su-34.

When I was NATO Supreme Allied Commander in Europe, NATO air power comprised primarily Western 4th-generation aircraft, such as F-15s, Typhoons, and Rafales, albeit with some 5th-generation F-22s. The F-35, by and large, came onto the scene in 2016.

The technological edge, or “overmatch,” which NATO had always relied upon to establish air superiority had eroded over the years because of advances in Russian anti-air defenses. The S-400, for example, could track and kill 4th-generation fighters with large radar signatures at ranges in the hundreds of miles.

I’m both relieved and heartened that today we are watching NATO airpower undergo a transformation that is restoring allied overmatch, thanks to the F-35.

The 5th-generation F-35 is a true game changer in the European theater – a phenomenon that has been remarkable to witness, particularly in the last 18 months.

In January of 2022, the first American F-35s arrived at Royal Air Force Lakenheath in the United Kingdom. In the following months, we saw American, British, Dutch and Italian F-35s participate in NATO exercises in the Baltic and Mediterranean seas.

The Baltic states, Poland and Romania – all front-line NATO members – have been greatly reassured by the NATO F-35s conducting operations in and around their airspace. American, British, and Norwegian F-35s have also been training in the Arctic.

When F-35s arrived at Germany’s Spangdahlem Air Base in February 2022, their mission was to collect data on surface-to-air missiles and aircraft across Eastern Europe and deter Russia.

The F-35 excelled in that role because of the aircraft’s unmatched combination of stealth, advanced sensors, and weapons systems.

Its stealth makes it difficult for Russian radar to detect, while its advanced sensors and weapons systems enable it to engage targets at long ranges. The F-35 is also a highly survivable aircraft, due to its advanced avionics and self-defense systems.

In addition to its deterrent value, the F-35 improves interoperability among U.S. allies and partners. The F-35 is compatible with a wide range of allied systems and its use in joint operations helps to bring allied militaries closer together. This interoperability is essential for NATO as it allows the alliance to operate more effectively and efficiently.

And that interoperability is growing as more and more F-35s join NATO countries’ air forces. For example, Poland’s Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki recently toured an assembly line in Georgia, where the components of Poland’s first F-35s are being assembled.

Belgium and Denmark will receive their first F-35s later this year, joining Italy, the Netherlands, Norway, and the United Kingdom. In the past 18 months, several other NATO countries have selected the F-35, including Canada, Finland and Germany. Many others, including the Czech Republic, Greece and Romania, have expressed a strong interest in the F-35, making it the true “freedom fighter” for NATO.

Despite all these votes of confidence by our NATO allies, we aren’t throttling up F-35 orders the way we should here at home. America needs as many F-35s as we can field, as fast as we can.

The F-35 is one of the few platforms America can produce at scale today to provide significant deterrent effects today, and well into the future with continuous modernization.

Congress and the administration must maximize F-35 production to ensure NATO has the capabilities it needs to defend its members and deter aggression. We must ensure that America and its allies overmatch our adversaries in the sky today, tomorrow, and for decades to come. The choice is ours.

Retired U.S. Air Force Gen. Philip Breedlove served as NATO’s 17th supreme allied commander Europe (2013-2016), commanded U.S. European Command, and served as the 32nd vice chief of staff of the Air Force.

Paper is perhaps the most legacy system of all and yet is still used regularly to create voluminous playbooks for everything from cybersecurity plans to natural disaster responses. People’s roles and responsibilities are meticulously detailed and mapped out across hundreds of pages that might be outdated the moment they are printed, assuming they are even read or followed.

Traditional playbooks are the antithesis of modernization and agencies would do well to move on. Instead, they should consider building automated digital playbooks for better incident response.

What is a digital playbook?

A digital playbook isn’t just a digital representation of a several hundred-page emergency response guide. Digital playbooks combine strategic and tactical documentation, automated checklists, real-time collaboration, clear instructions, and more. They ensure that everyone on a predetermined incident response team understands who’s doing what, who needs to do what, and when all of it needs to happen.

Let’s say an agency experiences a highly sophisticated cyber-attack. Mitigating the damage requires a coordinated response from a number of different teams, including IT, cybersecurity, and other units, and even members from other agencies. Everyone must get together quickly to initiate a rapid response, and they need to be able to coordinate and communicate with one another in real time. There’s no time to flip through a printed playbook to find roles and next steps; they need to act immediately.

Digital playbooks include repeatable checklists that automate the steps necessary to respond to and remediate such an issue. Teams and individuals are assigned their own roles in the process. When they complete their responsibilities, they check off their tasks and the playbook automatically notifies the next group of people that they’re up next.

The rapid response process can be initiated by a simple set of preset keywords typed in by an incident response manager–”remote code execution vulnerability,” for example. This triggers a run of commands and alerts telling teams to get mobilized. From there, team members can communicate and collaborate with each other through specified, invitation-only, highly secure channels. The need to spend time picking up a phone or typing an email is greatly reduced.

All the while, incident response managers can see where things stand at any time in the process. That process is automatically documented so that teams can view after-action reports on what worked, what did not, and what can be improved. With this information in hand, they can optimize their playbooks for better decision quality and decision advantage when managing future incidents.

Use cases for digital playbooks

While digital playbooks themselves are a modern IT solution, they can also be instrumental in helping agencies manage their other modernization projects. Large-scale initiatives that require hundreds of personnel hours and input from multiple teams can be made more efficient and manageable through better collaboration and task automation.

Playbooks can help agencies manage access rights, which is vital to Zero Trust cybersecurity. Government employees are continuously moving on to different roles or agencies, and it can be hard to know when to change or turn off their privileges. A playbook can be set up to alert security managers when to remove or add an employee to an authorized user list, ensuring that only authorized users have access to information.

Digital playbooks can also help government agencies react more quickly to other challenges, from the mundane to the life-threatening.

For example, natural disaster response times and processes can be significantly improved. Hurricanes, tornados, and other large-scale weather events necessitate precise coordination between the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) and state and local authorities. Digital playbooks provide a platform through which all team members, regardless of where they are located or the device they are using, can rapidly coordinate response and rescue efforts to more effectively help people in need.

The roles of open source and AI

These use cases exemplify the power of a digital playbook built on open standards. The type of collaboration, automation, transparency, and orchestration contained within a playbook is only made possible by technology that allows for secure yet open integration between different teams and platforms.

Open source is also where some of the most advanced and exciting work in artificial intelligence (AI) is happening–and AI is a critical component of any digital playbook. A digital playbook should not only be a platform for collaboration, but a way to build evolving contingency plans based on situational context and intelligence gathering.

For example, task owners might be assigned to find out information about a particular incident and report their findings back into the system. The system should be able to collect all of that data, analyze it, and translate it into actionable intelligence that informs the next set of tasks and responsibilities. The playbook changes as the situation changes so all team members receive the most accurate and up-to-date information for a more effective response.

Updating federal incident response policy is a key tenet of the National Cybersecurity Strategy, and there’s no better way to meet requirements than by implementing digital playbooks. They can help agencies develop and execute their response efforts more effectively, productively, intelligently, and quickly, resulting in faster time to resolution for incidents both small and large.

Barry Duplantis is vice president and general manager, North America Public Sector at Mattermost, an open-source, self-hostable online chat service with file sharing, search, and integrations

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With federal employee satisfaction at a historic low, 30% of the federal workforce poised to retire in the next five years, and just 7% of federal workers under 30 years old, it’s evident that there is an employee experience crisis in the federal government. Compounding this issue is the fact that the average time to hire for government agencies is 98 days.

The American people rely upon the dedicated efforts of government employees for critical services such as healthcare, housing, transportation and national security. The reciprocal relationship between positive EX and improved citizen experience (CX) is apparent, and therefore we must equip federal workers with the best possible tools to deliver on the government mission. Each citizen’s engagement with a federal institution is an opportunity to build trust in government — which has steadily declined for the past two decades — and ultimately bolster faith in the foundational principles of American democracy.

Tangible improvements to EX should be founded in a holistic approach that supports public servants throughout their entire career. From recruitment to retirement, the federal government should be using 21st-century resources to foster the best possible employee experiences.

Recruitment, hiring and onboarding

The initial phase of end-to-end EX begins well before the employee’s first day. As explained by the PMA, a core aspect of strengthening and empowering the federal workforce is to “attract and hire the most qualified employees, who reflect the diversity of our country, in the right roles across the federal government.”

To recruit and onboard a diverse pool of talented candidates, federal agencies must modernize their hiring practices. Agencies should seek to expand their digital reach, build brand awareness, and develop inclusive site experiences to maximize their pool of potential applicants. In particular, many young folks report that they are unaware of available government job opportunities.

To fill open positions that have specific requirements, agencies can attract relevant applicants by targeting talent across various digital channels. With modern IT solutions, personalized experiences can be delivered across all devices, which keeps candidates engaged and informed. Time-to-hire should also be a critical priority for agencies to reduce the risk of losing applicants to other, faster opportunities.

Agencies can accelerate the hiring process by utilizing advanced digital tools and automation for administrative tasks like scheduled communications, document generation and digital signatures. Beyond the value of time savings, effective onboarding processes can improve new hire retention by up to 82%. Once the right candidate is welcomed into their new role, it’s imperative to support their professional development and success.

Retention and empowerment

Retention and empowerment are key strategic objectives of the PMA and are echoed in the FY24 budget proposal. The administration recognizes the importance of ensuring federal employees are engaged and heard, with opportunities to learn and thrive throughout their careers.

Government organizations can capitalize on available technology to better support their workforce. Agencies can boost employee engagement by implementing an intranet to keep employees informed and ensure the information they need is easily accessible. The intranet can also be customized based on the employee’s geographic location, role and job function to ensure it’s as relevant and useful as possible for each individual.

Agencies can also leverage modern digital tools to enable collaboration among employees and enhance performance. Automation solutions that reduce the administrative burden on federal workers not only increase productivity and enhance citizen service, but also improve employee satisfaction and retention rates.

Another efficient way to elevate EX is to provide ample professional development opportunities and avenues for advancement. Employees can receive personalized career planning, training content and role recommendations based on their goals. And after a prosperous career, it inevitably comes time for off-boarding.

Retirement and life-long relationships

To ensure employees who have dedicated years to public service are well supported as they transition out of their government career, it’s critical to make retirement resources easily accessible and the off-boarding process as efficient as possible. Digitizing and automating necessary paperwork can save time for employees and retirees alike while keeping all parties informed.

Seamless off-boarding experiences promote positive life-long relationships. This last impression for employees may influence their likelihood to recommend federal jobs to their network and can affect the overall public perception of government careers. In this way, the employee experience is cyclical rather than linear.

Modern IT solutions have boundless potential to revolutionize the federal employee experience. However, each agency and its personnel have unique needs and requirements. To optimize the value of digital transformation, agencies should consult trusted government partners to identify the ideal implementation plan.

While EX is undoubtedly an urgent issue, any upgrades must be made strategically and intentionally to maximize value. As noted by Veronica Hinton, OPM’s principal deputy associate director for Employee Services, federal agencies often struggle with “really taking time to do the needed strategic workforce planning.” She also stresses that investments in IT should also be as agile as possible to ensure resilience in the future.

With intentional and informed decision making, IT modernization initiatives among federal agencies can drastically improve EX, which will translate to a marked improvement in CX. Public servants deserve comprehensive support, and the American public deserves exceptional service — luckily, the two objectives can both be achieved by harnessing the power of 21st-century technology.

Tanya Chowdhury is Public Sector Engagement Manager, Digital Strategy Group, at Adobe. James Hanson is Head of Industry Strategy, Public Sector Digital Experience, at Adobe

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On April 11, the Biden Administration met with Balkan leaders to pledge support for their efforts to shut down Russian news sites disseminating disinformation. U.S. support could go a long way toward helping Balkan countries in their attempts to remain autonomous from Russia, which uses disinformation to try to undermine democratic governments in the post-Soviet space.

For the past three years, intelligence analysts and disinformation researchers at my company have been closely following the tactics and strategies of Russian disinformation operations. Here are some suggestions that the U.S. could take that would make even more of an impact in countering the anti-Ukraine disinformation being disseminated by Russia.

The State Department’s suggestions to block websites are a start, but will likely only impact the low-hanging fruit and activities of unsophisticated actors. Countries should not only be targeting the IP addresses and domain names of sites spreading falsehoods, but also the companies that host and support those web addresses. Other State Department-recommended efforts – such as labeling foreign government accounts, and enacting regulations that require transparency around foreign ownership of media properties – will take time to implement. There are some other steps that the U.S. could take in order to help counter the effects of Russian disinformation in the Balkans.

We know that Russia routinely uses bots – computers that pose as humans for disinformation campaigns – to exaggerate the “impact” of its messaging. A lot of Russian disinformation is actually remarkably crude and unconvincing for increasingly skeptical internet audiences, so they want to create the illusion of impact. In today’s hyper-networked media environment, having a “successful” comms strategy is an important component of great power status.

Therefore, it would be worthwhile to increase our capacity to detect bots and trolls by investing in the development of resources, personnel and software that can find the bots. Fact-checkers can use AI-based tools and large language models to recognize disinformation, however the lack of automation and the increasing sophistication of Generative AI-created disinformation makes it challenging to keep up.

Current U.S. resources are insufficient to be competitive in the fight against disinformation. Meanwhile, Russia has invested heavily in state-aligned international broadcasters, RT (Russia Today), RT Balkan and Sputnik News, purveyors of disinformation, as well as social media manipulation and hacking. Although the U.S. created the Global Engagement Center dedicated to fighting disinformation in 2016, countering disinformation has not been a budgetary priority.

Paid ‘influencers’

For the past few years, the Kremlin has paid “influencers” and popular bloggers to spread propaganda and disinformation. Although major social media platforms restricted many official Russian government accounts, these so-called “influencers” are still operational. Social media accounts owned by the Russian government, lawmakers, affiliated media, and influencers should be deleted to block this propaganda channel.

Another important policy the U.S. should consider pursuing, is to sanction fake news outlets and pro-Russian disinformation actors who are spreading propaganda under the guise of journalism. The EU has sanctioned RT and Sputnik News, but U.S. sanctions would hold even more sway. Sanctions are one of the most powerful tools the U.S. has in fighting disinformation.

The U.S. and European governments should urge all Western allies and partners, especially eastern European countries like Georgia and Moldova, to take similar steps as those listed above.

It’s important to understand that many of the disinformation narratives pertaining to Ukraine that are circulating in the U.S. don’t originate from Russia, but come from far-right actors living in the U.S. who are anti-Biden and anti-Ukraine. Thus, U.S. officials need to recognize that pro-Russian disinformation is not purely a foreign policy issue, but also a domestic one for them.

With its global influence and resources, the U.S. has the capability to make a significant difference in the battle against Russian disinformation and establish a model for other world leaders to follow. These recommendations would go a long way toward leveling the disinformation playing field.

Noam Schwartz is CEO and co-founder of ActiveFence, a global trust and safety company.

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This article is an Op-Ed and the opinions expressed are those of the author. If you would like to respond, or have an editorial of your own you would like to submit, please email C4ISRNET and Federal Times Senior Managing Editor Cary O’Reilly.

Under the Biden administration, the U.S. has taken a stricter stance on the CCP’s economic and political activities. From executive orders limiting trade on semiconductors to sanctions on foreign companies with military ties to the CCP’s Military-Civil Fusion initiatives to strengthening regional alliances within the Association of Southeast Asian Nations.

One of the propellants for this hawkish security approach is the development of artificial intelligence. Unsurprisingly, many critics believe the world is in a tech cold war with the Chinese leading. Although this competition is, by all accounts, only getting started, the U.S. should work to develop safety practices for AI regardless of the pace of the race.

In 2017, the CCP announced the A New Generation Artificial Intelligence Development Plan. The elaborate program sought to expand the Party’s investment in AI research and development, train talent, and construct a world-leading AI ecosystem within China. This strategic effort intends to place China as a major technological superpower and overtake the US in certain sectors. Washington rightfully sees this as a realignment in the global order and a national security threat that minimizes competition and increases potential conflict.

The Chinese state-directed economic model repositioned the country as an economic juggernaut and global influencer in emerging technology development. China has become the world’s second-largest economy while maintaining a large state sector, accounting for forty percent of its economy. Furthermore, it has changed the global balance between the public and private sectors. The Chinese financial industry is central to the operations of state capitalism, and the channels of state influence over the private sector are multiplying.

AI ecosystem

China has managed to create an ecosystem conducive to developing cutting-edge AI capabilities faster than what may have otherwise been possible under purely free market conditions. Whether these same tactics will pay off long term remains unclear; however, if current trends continue, there is no doubt that this type of economic example will be considered a model to emulate among other non-democratic nations seeking rapid technological advancement.

The competition over access markets is a larger area of worry for the U.S., which is increasingly concerned about Chinese companies gaining market share in critical sectors like semiconductors through unfair trade practices. China exploits state subsidies and manipulates currency exchange rates to gain leverage over American firms competing abroad. Similarly, Beijing worries that Washington will continue to use its economic power by blocking Chinese investments into sensitive industries like telecommunications or defense-related tech development within the US. President Biden has signed multiple executive orders limiting foreign investment in US companies, banned the sale of sensitive semiconductors to China by NVIDIA and AMD, and forged stronger alliances with Taiwan, Japan, and South Korea.

Conflicting geopolitical interests embroil the relationship between the U.S. and China. With China vying for power and influence on the global stage, competition has also extended beyond economics into geopolitics. The U.S. is wary of Chinese expansion in the Asia-Pacific region, its potential blockade of the South China Sea, and the possibility of a Taiwan invasion. At the same time, Beijing feels encircled by America with a permanent military presence in South Korea and Japan and bilateral training agreements like those with Mongolia, Japan, and Taiwan. Air and sea collisions have historically ensnared the two countries in tension. These escalating issues lead to tense standoffs with freedom of navigation through the South China Sea—potentially leading to armed conflict only adds to the list of issues.

Prelude to war?

As AI technology develops, its potential implications on U.S.-China tensions are immense. China’s growing presence within global technology innovation will threaten American dominance in certain areas, particularly when developing new AI technology applications that are being used militarily. The CCP’s control of data structures plays a major role in the AI race. Training models on large datasets is easier when the state can leverage its citizens and private industry to develop dual-use tech and share its data.

The U.S. government, however, is legally and morally restricted from unjustly imposing its will on its citizens or forcing companies to surrender data to a competitor. This makes it more difficult to acquire large datasets, thus making the training of AI more challenging. The U.S. will need to do more with private industry to find creative ways to compete in this field with China.

As both countries continue to invest heavily in the R&D of emerging technologies, there is an increased risk that one country might gain control of crucial IP-related assets before the other, creating even more significant economic disparities that could lead to heightened geopolitical issues down the line. Additionally, if either nation could leverage their respective technological advantages against each other through espionage activities (e.g., stealing trade secrets), we would likely see an escalation in current U.S.-China tensions due solely to developments surrounding AI technology alone.

The Chinese government has recognized AI as a critical priority in its national development plan. It invests heavily in AI research, development, and deployment to achieve economic and technological advancement, with social stability and control remaining a vital aspect of its development. The rush to adopt AI by companies worldwide and the absence of standard AI safety regulations will result in unintended consequences that developers should have anticipated had the pressure of competition not created a proverbial ‘Black Box’ of issues.

Cross-pollination

We have already seen the consequence of the lack of regulation regarding cybersecurity which led to globally impacting security breaches and malicious attacks. Most neural networks for machine learning are opaque and difficult to understand, making identifying and addressing potential safety concerns challenging. This belief parallels the idea that many people use their cars without understanding how they function. So long as it gets them where they need to go, the condition under the hood is left to the experts.

This lack of transparency can erode public trust in AI and limit its adoption. If an AI system is compromised, it could be used to spread misinformation or launch cyberattacks. Therefore, it is crucial to develop standard AI safety regulations and policies to mitigate the risks associated with AI use.

On the other hand, policymakers should only impart restrictions with an understanding of the consequences. Too many governmental barriers can hinder innovation in emerging technologies and AI. By breaking down these barriers, it may become possible to combine different perspectives and areas of expertise, leading to new insights and solutions to complex problems. In some cases, collaboration with Chinese developers could build better understanding of AI challenges.

Instead of conflict, cross-pollination of ideas between the two nations could result in novel approaches and applications that have the potential to benefit a more significant number of people than either group could achieve individually. By fostering collaboration and sharing knowledge, both countries could better equip themselves to meet the challenges posed by emerging technologies and AI.

Maj. Nicholas Dockery is a Downing Scholar at Yale University’s Jackson School of Global Affairs and an active-duty Special Forces Officer.

Have an opinion?

This article is an Op-Ed and the opinions expressed are those of the author. If you would like to respond, or have an editorial of your own you would like to submit, please email C4ISRNET and Federal Times Senior Managing Editor Cary O’Reilly.