OPINION
The Pentagon is where I mostly hung out between overseas assignments (22 years, Regular Army, most of it overseas). I fondly remember the hot dog stand that was located in the center of the courtyard.
While sitting in the courtyard eating a hot dog, we all generally remembered that the Soviets had at least two missiles aimed at this simple eatery. Legend has it that they believed it was a secret entrance to some sort of underground bunker based on satellite imagery of senior officers constantly entering and leaving the stand.
Those of us who worked at the Pentagon all knew that those senior officers just liked hot dogs.
We also knew that if the crap ever hit the fan, those of us who worked in the Pentagon would be “toast” (literally, and figuratively). The Soviet strategy was simple: one bomb would get all of us.
They finally tore down the hot dog stand in 2006.
The Defense Base Closure and Realignment Commission (BRAC) was really about achieving economies (cost savings) by intelligently closing and consolidating military facilities following some methodology and architecture. It also acknowledged a resulting strategic advantage. There would be no “hot dog stands” to target.
Simply put, one bomb won’t get all of us if we are spread out.
BRAC operated within the industrial age model of simply moving the people around to new cubes where they could be watched. Considering the date the BRAC was formed in 1988, this should be no surprise. That was the thinking at the time.
We think differently now thanks to congressmen like Gerry Connolly and Frank Wolf. These two gentlemen envision a world where people who work with information don’t have to drive somewhere to do their work. They are the creators of the Telework Enhancement act of 2010. This Act directs all federal agencies to implement strategies for employees to get out of the office.
Connolly is currently working on Telework 2.0 to make it easier for those who contract to the Federal Government to telework.
So, BRAC basically gives our enemies who think asymmetrically a new set of nice, neat targets that are easier commutes. A few well thought out asymmetrical attacks will get all of us.
I suggest that its time to leverage technology and telework to make America’s governance, defense, and intelligence infrastructure more robust, survivable, redundant, and distributed. If we allow people to work wherever they wish, even if for just one or two days a week, we make our enemies jobs more difficult. Government could hide in plain site… everywhere!
The U.S. would actually be safer if the SES, SIS, generals, senators, congressman, and even the president and his staff who serve all of the above spent their days teleworking and teleconferencing from home or a local Starbucks.
OK, as much as I’d love to run into Obama at a Starbucks videoconferencing with the Secretary of Defense, perhaps a target of 5 to 10% of the workforce who don’t actually handle classified information working at random locations (which includes their back deck or a Panara’s) is a reasonable target (no pun intended). While I make that concession, the original idea (SES. SIS, Generals et.al.) actually has merit considering today’s cloud, encryption, security technology.
Remote Secure Compartmented Information facilities (SCIFs) distributed around the U.S. (even around the world) could house those who really need a secure environment in which to work. For the record, I believe that reducing the amount of material that the government over-classifies and advances in technology will significantly reduce the requirement for SCIFs in the future.
I actually believe that for those with the most critical skills, it might just be cost effective to build a modest SCIF into their homes. Basements would probably work best.
The article that generated this blog appeared in the July 4, 2012 Washington Post, On the way to BRAC savings, a legion of cost overruns, all I could do was slap my fore head. It brought home that no matter how good government’s intentions might be, once those who we elect or those they hire get their hands on our money, most of them lose any sense of obligation to use it wisely.
Base commanders and senior civilians used this as an opportunity to embellish the offices and cubes they expect their minions to drive to and work in every day under the watchful eye of a middle manager.
They demonstrated little regard for the original budget estimates or stewardship of taxpayer dollars. I’m from Iowa… nothing tastes quite as good as American Pork!
Imagine if the number of those offices and cubes and the related infrastructure (parking, roads, electricity, water, gas, etc) were reduced by 10% because BRAC considered using Telework in the Government’s next generation architecture.
Imagine a world where a manager perhaps never actually sees his employee in person and doesn’t care where he or she performa work as long as it meets the requirement.
That’s the world of the future. The question is how long do we have to wait for it.
So, I’m suggesting its time to consider Telework as part of “what’s next” for the future architecture of Government, whether it be DoD, Intel, Civil Agencies, or whatever.
– It significantly reduces cost.
– It enhances our security posture by distributing Government.
– It makes working for the Government much more attractive since the commute is no longer a consideration.
– It gives the Government access to the best minds in the world since those perhaps not disposed to work in Washington or on some government facility may now log in from anywhere.
I could go on.
Those who plan for Government facilities tend to think in terms of square feet, electrical outlets, fiber-optics, and wifi. I suggest they start thinking “out of the cube” and envision a world where people don’t have to waste two hours to drive someplace to work for another eight under someone’s watchful eye.
I believe that these days of applying industrial age models to information age tasks will not be remembered fondly be history. They will be referred to as the dark ages of information management.
Let’s let a little light in.
