President Obama Addresses the Nation on Hurricane Response Efforts

Just now, the President addressed the nation to discuss the preparations underway for Hurricane Sandy. The emphasis on coordination between federal, state, and local government in his address highlighted the progress that has been made in emergency response. The President also noted that he has been in communication with Governors of all affected states, andRead… Read more »

Measuring the Unobserved

Law enforcement has it tough when it comes time to measure their performance. Their effectiveness can’t be just measured on what is reported. After all, the goal of most law violators is to not be caught! So how can we measure what we can’t observe? Cracking the challenge of measuring unobserved behaviors – drug smuggling,Read… Read more »

Hurricane Sandy Preparation & Donation

This Halloween is shaping up to be a lot spookier for those on the East Coast. If you’re following the latest NOAA hurricane trackers, Hurricane Sandy is indeed turning inland and will affect several states along the Eastern seaboard, including Delaware, Maryland, Virginia, West Virginia, Rhode Island, Pennsylvania, New York, New Jersey, Connecticut and Massachusetts.Read… Read more »

The Power of Weakness and the World’s Relationship with America

This past week, I had the enormous privilege of being invited to Washington, DC to attend the Academy of Achievement summit. This event – of which I knew nothing before receiving my invite – is an annual gathering of roughly 80 delegates (whose careers have shown some promise) from around the world, along with aboutRead… Read more »

OFF SPIN: Why Malcolm Tucker must die

As beautiful illicit guilty pleasures go watching BBC2′s The Thick Of It is not exactly an out-of-control gambling habit. A satirical fly-on-the-wall Yes Minister for the 21st Century Civil Servants and politicians scheme, plot and manipulate obsessed by the whims of public opinion. Chief amongst them is the figure of Malcolm Tucker. Like ‘Iago withRead… Read more »

Why do agencies struggle with FOI and open data so much?

The linked email conversation (in a blog post), Freedom of Information Request for Classification Data, provides an interesting insight into the struggles government agencies are having with FOI and open data and with the difficulties applicants are having accessing data which should be available in reusable formats. In this case information which is publicly availableRead… Read more »