The Office of the Secretary of Defense (OSD) generates some of the most sensitive and most consequential records in the U.S. Government, along with an enormous volume of ephemeral material. Managing this endless flow of records efficiently and effectively is a challenge.
Close students of OSD records management policy will find useful reference data in two new Pentagon volumes.
General records maintenance policies are spelled out in “Office of the Secretary of Defense (OSD) Records Management Program — Administrative Procedures,” (pdf) Administrative Instruction 15, change 1, April 18, 2008.
Records schedules approved by the National Archives for the disposition of all OSD component records are compiled in “Office of the Secretary of Defense (OSD) Records Management Program — Records Disposition Schedules,” Administrative Instruction 15, volume 2, April 18, 2008.
No one will be surprised if we end up with a continuing resolution to push our shutdown deadline out past the midterms, so the real question is what else will they get done this summer?
Rebuilding public participation starts with something simple — treating the public not as a problem to manage, but as a source of ingenuity government cannot function without.
If the government wants a system of learning and adaptation that improves results in real time, it has to treat translation, utilization, and adaptation as core functions of governance rather than as afterthoughts.
Coordination among federal science agencies is essential to ensure government-wide alignment on R&D investment priorities. However, the federal R&D enterprise suffers from egregious siloization.