As part of the weeklong multimedia special report "Obama's Impact: Evaluating the Last 4 Years," Federal Drive talks to experts on sustainability and regulation...
Kari Craun — Director, National Geospatial Technical Operations Center, U.S. Geological Survey
The U.S. Geological Survey is constantly updating its maps. It figures locals know the in’s and out’s of their neighborhoods. So it is trying to harness that data through a new citizen cartographer project. Craun discusses what the agency is doing and how other agencies might learn from them.
Owen Barwell — Managing Director, Global Public Sector, Grant Thornton
It may have come a week late, but the White House has delivered its much-anticipated sequestration report. And the results are about as grim as expected. It says the automatic spending cuts would be “deeply destructive” to national security and civilian agencies. It predicts an 8.2 percent budget cut for civilian agencies. Defense discretionary spending would take an even steeper hit. Barwell is the former acting chief financial officer of the Energy Department.
Jerry Ellig — Senior Research Fellow, Mercatus Center, George Mason University
The Obama White House says it has cut red tape, reduced paperwork for businesses and citizens and required agencies to simplify or get rid of old regulations. But how effective has this been? Part of our special week-long multimedia series “The Obama Impact: Evaluating the Last Four Years.” The Federal Drive turns to Jerry Ellig, who was acting director of the Federal Trade Commission’s Office of Policy Planning under George W Bush.
Jon Powers — Federal Environmental Executive, White House Council on Environmental Quality
The administration’s push to create a more energy efficient government has made the term “green government” almost a household word. Federal agencies are adopting energy sustainability practices not seen in previous administrations. Part of our special week-long multimedia series “The Obama Impact: Evaluating the Last Four Years,” we look at how the administration implemented its culture-changing sustainability measures.
Terry Weaver — President, Weaver Consulting, LLC & Accessibility & Government Policy and Procurement Strategist for SSB BART Group
Electronic and Information Technology within every federal agency needs to be accessible to people with disabilities in order to comply with Section 508 of the Americans with Disabilities Act. A recent Justice Department report found only half of the various offices within agencies are making technology accessible in the appropriate way.