Google Glass Causing Congressional Privacy Concerns

Eight Congress members are questioning how Google Glass would impact the privacy of the “average American.”

Future of Public Television

This week on the Communicators, Patrick Butler, Association of Public Television Stations President and CEO talks about how public television officials view federal spending cutbacks and the future of public television.

Evaluating the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief 

The U.S. government supports programs to combat global HIV/AIDS through an initiative that is known as the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR). This initiative was originally authorized in the U.S. Leadership Against HIV/AIDS, Tuberculosis, and Malaria Act of 2003 and focused on an emergency response to the HIV/AIDS pandemic to deliver lifesaving care and treatment in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) with the highest burdens of disease. It was subsequently reauthorized in the Tom Lantos and Henry J. Hyde U.S. Global Leadership Against HIV/AIDS, Tuberculosis, and Malaria Reauthorization Act of 2008 (the Lantos-Hyde Act).

Evaluation of PEPFAR makes recommendations for improving the U.S. government’s bilateral programs as part of the U.S. response to global HIV/AIDS. The overall aim of this evaluation is a forward-looking approach to track and anticipate the evolution of the U.S. response to global HIV to be positioned to inform the ability of the U.S. government to address key issues under consideration at the time of the report release.

How to Take the Town Square Digital and Reinvent Government

By integrating democratic government with cutting-edge American innovation, the lieutenant governor of California charts a bright future for open-source America.

Citizenville is the story of how ordinary citizens can use new digital tools to dissolve political gridlock and transform American democracy. As social networking and smart phones have changed the way we communicate with one another, these technologies are also changing our relationship with government.

Drawing on wide-ranging interviews with thinkers and politicians, Citizenville is the first book by Lieutenant Governor Newsom. He broke new ground as the mayor of San Francisco, one of the most high-tech, experimental, and progressive municipalities in the nation. But when Newsom’s tenure as mayor began, he found that San Francisco was behind the likes of Estonia and South Korea in terms of digital governance. Newsom’s quest to modernize one of America’s most modern cities—and the amazing results he achieves—form the backbone of this far-reaching book.

Inventing the American presidency

When the founders of the United States gathered to create the foundations of the country, they decided on three branches of government, with a president central to the executive branch. Kenneth C. Davis explains why this decision was not necessarily inevitable and what variables were up for debate.

Palantir’s Joe Lonsdale has a new solution to fix global finance

Joe Lonsdale’s software company Palantir revolutionized government intelligence in 2004. His latest startup, Addepar, is fixing what they see as a broken and corrupt global financial system.

Counting the Cost - China: Money, power and politics

As the changing of the guard in the People’s Republic of China draws closer, we look at just how financially-rewarding being in politics can be. Plus, Iran’s currency crisis, and Vietnam’s missed opportunities.

50 Years Later: NASA Discusses Using Innovation and Ingenuity to do Big Things

Fifty years ago, President John Kennedy challenged us to go to the moon within the decade and do the other things, not because they are easy, but because they are hard.

As we remember Neil Armstrong this week — the man who, with a single step realized the hopes of a president, this nation and the world — we are recognizing the extraordinary achievements of the past five decades achieved by our nation’s space agency and where the passion to explore will lead us in the future.

President Barack Obama has set NASA on course toward an asteroid and to send humans to Mars within the next two decades. This goal is not without notable challenges, but using the knowledge, expertise and American ingenuity that has been the trademark of NASA scientists and engineers for the last half-century, NASA continues to make possible that which is seemingly impossible.

Re-Thinking Government Productivity through Open Innovation and Crowdsourcing

Thomas Baden, Chief Information Officer, State of Minnesota, Department of Human Services discusses the ongoing challenges facing government and how Open Innovation and Crowdsourcing are providing opportunities for agencies and States to bring exceptional solutions to the taxpayer, faster, and on magnitudes less spend. 

Launch of the Presidential Innovation Fellows Program

The White House recently launched an exciting new initiative called the Presidential Innovation Fellows Program, partnering top innovators from the private sector, non-profits, and academia with top innovators in government to collaborate on five projects that will fuel job creation, save taxpayers money, and improve the lives of millions of Americans.