Statecraft How to Run a $5 Trillion Payment System
19 snips
Apr 23, 2025 
David Lebryk, former top civil servant in the Treasury Department, reveals insights from overseeing the Bureau of the Fiscal Service, which manages over $5 trillion in federal payments. He discusses the critical role of cash forecasting for government stability and the challenges of innovating within a massive payment system. Lebryk addresses security concerns, fraud prevention strategies, and the push for real-time digital payments. He also highlights the issue of improper payments, advocating for better accuracy and effective fraud detection in federal programs.
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Core Role of Fiscal Service
- The Bureau of the Fiscal Service manages over 90% of federal payments, more than a billion transactions annually.
- It ensures government financing, payments, collections, and accounting, serving a critical role since 1789.
Security in Federal Payment Systems
- The Bureau constantly faces external threats targeting system vulnerabilities and sensitive data.
- Protecting continuity of operations and citizen privacy is critical in managing federal payment systems.
Fraud Prevention Tiger Team Success
- A tiger team at the Fiscal Service innovated fraud prevention, raising prevented fraud from $650 million to $7.2 billion.
- They used cross-agency data sharing and private sector tools to identify suspected fraud across programs.