Creative government workforce approaches come in many forms. Some time ago, the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) offered employees an interesting choice to incentivize them to stay. Employees could either telework from home one day per week or receive $1,000. As Jon Lemon, principal industry consultant at SAS told the
One would expect analytics in government to be a hot topic at a SAS government event. What the crowd didn't see coming was Margaret Weichert, Acting Director of the US Office of Personnel Management and Deputy Director for Management at the Office of Management and Budget, touting her ability to
As a former intelligence analyst, I can't help but breathe a huge sigh of frustration. The special AI "task forces" and their massive budgets are great, but it's time to get honest about the rest of the military. Ask any every day soldier, sailor, airman or Marine their opinion of
From national parks and healthcare to taxes and nutrition, federal civilian agencies feature an incredibly large and diverse set of missions. These agencies oversee almost every aspect of American life with an endless sea of projects, programs and general oversight. But, as Deloitte Consulting’s Mark Urbanczyk said during a recent
Did you pay your taxes? From stiff penalties to even jail time, the federal government provides plenty of incentive for citizens to pay, but each year nearly one in five Americans do not pay on time. This leads to a more than $450 billion gap in unpaid taxes, creating a
Too much to do and not enough time to do it. That's a common refrain in government, but an important one because of the critical role government plays in the lives of so many. In a new book from SAS, A Practical Guide to Analytics for Governments: Using Big Data
Procurement fraud, often a form of internal fraud, is common fraud’s black sheep of the family...whispered about at gatherings or ignored in hopes that it will simply go away. No one wants to shine a questioning light onto trusted employees or imply wrongdoing within our purchasing departments, but the fact
The role of analytics in combating terrorism Earlier this spring, I found myself walking through a quiet and peaceful grove of spruce trees south of the small hamlet of Foy outside of Bastogne, Belgium. On travel in Europe, I happened to have some extra time before heading to London. I
It has been almost a year since then-U.S. CIO Tony Scott introduced the federal open source policy that called for agencies to share federally-developed software source code. The policy, more than anything, aimed to make agencies more agile. Instead of redeveloping the same programs the open source policy would allow
The Obama administration made great strides in improving the government’s use of information technology over the past eight years, and now it's up to the Trump administration to expand upon it. Let’s look at five possible Trump administration initiatives that can take government’s use of information technology to the next
In 2014, the federal government lost more than $125 billion to fraud, waste and abuse. And that’s just what we know about. While that number may sound incredible, those on the front lines of the government fraud fight know that it's all too real. The US government needs to change
It was just a few years ago that the idea of an Internet of Things (IoT) seemed far off, something out of a science-fiction movie. After all, why would a vehicle need to talk to the road? Why would our utility meters need to talk to the central office? The
The cybersecurity challenge exemplifies how global threats have evolved and how governments must combat them. For all the complexity of the Cold War, the United States defense officials knew the nations that posed the biggest threat. The world is much different today. As General Michael Hayden (ret.), former Director of the National Security
In my previous post I talked to John Cassara about the growing threat of mobile payments and how mobile phones can be used to launder illicit funds globally. I spoke with him again recently on the topic of financial intelligence. Here are the highlights from our discussion. So what is
During a lighthearted moment in a serious conversation, Howard Schmidt, cyber security advisor to multiple presidents, told a Wall Street Journal interviewer that relying on a government agency as your primary backstop during a major cyber security breach is akin to calling Ghostbusters: you might not get the help you
I recently spoke with John Cassara, a former U.S. Intelligence Officer and Treasury Special Agent, about the growing concern over trade-based money laundering (TBML) and how we can combat it. John retired after a 26-year career in the federal government intelligence and law enforcement communities. He's an expert in anti-money
Despite an increase in the availability of data in the federal government over the past few years, data and analytics could be doing even more for federal agencies. A strategic approach to managing and analyzing the data is needed. And, like many technology challenges – that’s a people problem. A
Before that headline really scares you, let me clarify - there hasn't been a single fraud scheme that managed to pull off a $2 trillion haul (yet). However, the fact remains that as rising scams, schemes, the gray market, work under the table and good old tax evasion escalate, as
A few weeks ago I found myself in a room full of fellow transportation geeks (a term I use with great respect) at the annual American Association of State and Highway Transportation Officials (AASHTO) Washington Briefing. One panel in particular really got the room buzzing with talk about the transportation
Watching our nation approach the "fiscal cliff", and the dire predictions if we truly drive off it like the last scene in Thelma and Louise, has sharpened my view of the potential risks that huge gaps of fraud and abuse present to all of us. One of the key lessons
Recently, top executives from SAS gathered in Washington, DC with customers and other interested parties to discuss the potential impact of "big data" and high-performance analytics on the U.S. government. Topics included cyber-attack strategies, health care, bio-surveillance, border security and of course, fraud and improper payments. On the heels of
Hurricane Irene impacted 20% of the US population and will cost billions in recovery dollars. Now that the water has begun to subside, the real long term work begins. And it is this work that can be another disaster, or, a real economic benefit to a state. How so? FEMA
SAS is the underwriter of a MeriTalk study released today that focuses on “The Federal Efficiency Opportunity”. The study uncovered meaningful insights into how federal managers and professionals are trying to meet their goals while facing enormous budget cuts. The study was done after President Obama’s Deficit Commission suggested in
The federal government is more aggressively pursuing health care fraud, and helping the states do the same, by proposing funding changes and investing in new technologies. A newly proposed rule would allow 90 percent Federal Financial Participation (FFP) for data mining initiatives in state Medicaid Fraud Control Units (MFCU’s). Another
