9/19/23: Replicating success in the Pentagon’s new autonomy initiative; a CX employee infusion coming for the whole federal government; shrinking the federal footprint in DC and across the country

A new initiative from the Defense Department will try to counter China with large quantities of autonomous systems. Breaking Defense reports Deputy Secretary of Defense Kath Hicks says the Replicator project will “leverage platforms that are small, smart, cheap, and many.” Dov Zakheim, senior adviser at the Center for Strategic and International Studies and former Under Secretary of Defense (Comptroller), writes about Replicator at themessenger.com. He tells you what would make Replicator work, and what could hold it back.

Federal agencies are getting some help in hiring customer experience personnel. It’s part of the latest update to the President’s Management Agenda from the Office of Management and Budget. Lauren DeJonge Schulman, Associate Director for Performance and Personnel Management at OMB, details the new options, and new milestones, in the PMA.

The Homeland Security Department is 450,000 square feet smaller now in the National Capital Region than it was at the beginning of the fiscal year. That number came from Randolph Alles, Deputy Under Secretary for Management and Senior Official Performing the Duties of the Under Secretary for Management at the Department of Homeland Security, at a House Oversight & Accountability subcommittee hearing last week. Dan Mathews, President of Mathews Associates and former commissioner of the Public Buildings Service at the General Services Administration, explains what agencies can do about their footprints, and how to think strategically - and long-term - about the federal real estate portfolio.