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Fix ITAR. Small companies are being handicapped by having to devote extraordinary amounts of time and money to comply with ITAR policies. Talk to commercial space companies (and other impacted industries) about their experiences, determine what's broken and how to better the situation, and then actually fix it.
Find the middle ground where certain information is kept from those that do not need to acquire it but small companies are not handicapped with blanket regulations.
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Disruptive Technologies: A Holistic, Pragmatic Approach
New technologies are emerging at a faster pace than Agencies can swallow. The rate of obsolescence outpaces the pace of change.
Despite the new technology flood, Agencies lack a strategy to on-board these disruptions. As a result, they often react, flounder, or simply ignore them.
We can solve these problems in four major areas of practice:
Leadership and Management: How must leaders change with new technologies? How will this transform Agencies from the inside out?
Customer Strategy: How is the public behaving differently online? How can I reach them where they are?
Enterprise Strategy: Internal systems are connecting with external - How will I keep up with the dizzying pace? Employees are adopting collaboration and social tools without my control - How should I manage?
Innovation and Design: Experimenting on the general public is a bad idea, so how can I learn in a safe place? What vendors and providers should I lean on?
Here is a great slideshare webinar to get you started:
http://www.slideshare.net/charleneli/developing-a-social-strategy-webinar
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While reiterating on transparency, improvement of social relations and government-to-people reciprocity, big shots tend to deviate from the mainstream of our everyday vital commodities – rights, duties, and responsibilities. It is a paradox but a fact; my case that turned into a nightmare from the very beginning could vividly picture how “paper”, not a common sense, determines destiny. This is about an abandoned US citizen teenager who has been ignored and unintentionally involved into a clash between the heartless government bureaucratic machine and blatant reality.
I would not write of details that can be found at http://helptheyoung.wordpress.com/ but would have a one-million-dollar question to pose: How could FOIA and USCIS have possibly lost ALL records of a mother who gave a birth to a US citizen on the American soil? Actions speak louder. Does not it sound dubious when it comes to responsibilities and duties paid to own citizens? Is not it callous disregard and watertight negligence towards the young, yet unestablished life?
Still struggling I left no stone unturned, but what? It was a wild goose chase until I decided to share my opinion on these pages. I hope that there still is decency out there and this lousy error would make bygones sooner or later.
Maia
maiage@ymail.com
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I suggest that all illegal aid to Israel from the United States be stopped. Moreover, I suggest that all military aid to Israel be paid for by Israel.
Next, that We the people of The United States of America oblige the State of Israel to acknowledge the State of Palestine. Whether they like it or not, Palestinians - of all religions and Atheists - have been there longer than any Jewish State, and therefore must be recognized as victims of Zionist ideology.
I have been a remote witness to the horrors perpetrated by the Zionist/Israeli governments over the 40 years of my political consciousness, and have been appalled at my country's reluctance to abide by international laws and treaties to uphold Human Rights.
Palestinian, Lebanese, Jordanian, Egyptian. All have been bullied into half lives, stirring all sorts of fuming frustrations and hatred.
It has nothing to do with "antisemitism", contrary to Israeli official debate.
It has to do with Human Rights in the Holy Land (big thing for me, the Atheist to say, but I Mean It!) ridiculed by the richest.
You asked me a few months ago to "Call them Out" - speaking of those Senators and Congressmen and Women acting silly on Health Care Reform. Now, I am asking you for some spine to win real prospects for peace - at least for the time it might take to lower greenhouse gas emissions - by denouncing the outrageously illegal and anti-human rights governing and military of Israel.
Strong politics against the siege on Gaza, and today's siege on the West Bank, would send strong messages throughout the world that you are serious.
We, informed Americans, are very serious about this issue.
We may not have the money, but we certainly have the will!
Remember Rachel Corie.
Jane Hauser
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It currently takes foreign visitors weeks to schedule the US mandated visa interview due to a GAO confirmed shortage of US foreign service officers. Once you get an interview appointment you need to travel up to 1000 miles for a two minute interview in a US Embassy. The consequence of these availability and access barriers is a multi billion loss of export revenue that could be produced by foreign visitor spending in the US. As a result of these barriers the % of the population from countries in the US Visa Waiver Program visiting the US is 27X greater than the % of the population visiting the US from non-visa waiver countries. This loss of visitors from non-visa waiver countries is significant because, according to the Department of Commerce, every $100k of foreign visitor spending creates 1 new job in the US. Thus, using USTA foreign visitors spending average of $4500 per person, every 22 new visitors creates one new job. We need to hire more foreign service officers to interview visa applicants and we need to use videoconferencing so that the applicant can be interviewed from their home town. Hring 1 new interview officer approving 20,000 visas per year X $4500 visitor spending produces $90mm in foreign visitor spending. This in turn produces over 900 new jobs ($90mm/$100k foreign spending/job). Given the current jobs crisis we need the Rice-Chertoff Initiative to be implemented. The security tools and technology are available. However, since it is not the State Department's job to figure out how to grow the economy and create new jobs in the private sector there is no motivation to act. Since growing the economy is not State's mission the critical roll State plays in approving vistors to the US, who create new export revenues and create new jobs, gets overlooked.
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We send armed forces recruiters around to the schools, why not send out diplomatic recruiters too? Why not do some interviews on the tv channels to education people.
Most kids and US citizens, for that matter, have no idea about foreign service officer careers unless they grew up in a family of diplomats. I constantly come across kids in university that have no clue about the possibility of a diplomatic career or what people do for the department of state.
Most of the kids I've spoke to about this possibility listen quite intently.
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Aloha All, Pertaining to Family Based Visa Interviews. Having read the topic on this site and several others,and being a victim of the rubber stamp era. Why can't the US Embassies/Consulates utilize the technolgies available ,in stead of using couriers ,ups,or the us post office.Time is the enemy to the visa process ,the system processes enable lazy consular officers to pass it back to square one because they fell behind in there quota for the day or maybe its monday morning and it was a rough weekend,Whatever! Accountability,Transparency,Responsibility. The American Government can do it better ,the people deserve the best this country can offer,thats why they come here is'nt it ?
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Background: Registration can be done in person at an embassy, on-line or in some cases both.
In my particular case I registered in person as the on-line system was not yet in service. Shortly thereafter the system did go on-line. I then registered on-line and logged all trips abroad. In most of the cases once I marked my trip as complete I also stopped receiving the email messages specific to that country.
However, in the case of Timor-Leste I continued and in fact still am receiving these email messages despite the fact that I updated the on-line system almost two years ago.
Issues: This would indicate that there is at least one embassy, that is not reconciling their local travel registration databases with the on-line database. If this is true then it has wide security implications and certainly potential egg on the face of the department of state should the embassy ever need to gather the Americans in such country abroad.
Are they not reconciling because they do not understand this?
Is it because they have no tools to do such reconciliation such as web service or report entry and extraction from the on-line system?
Is their a local hire maintaining the local database and thus have no clearance to access the on-line database for the reconciliation?
Suggested Resolution: Embassies MUST understand where the database of record is located and reconcile local databases with the database of record and be given the tools to do so.
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Problem: The registration process for this site, prompts the user for a zip code.
US Citizens live in places with out a zip code, Timor-Leste is one such place. Why does this site prompt for one?
Some live in countries where the code format is not the same as in the US too.
And yes, as we are taxed based upon citizenship we still expect to have a say.
US Citizens are global not just businesses.
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Problem: Embassy jobs (not foreign service officer type) should be mandated to publicly advertised either by a local newspaper, telephone recording, paper posted at the embassy guard post, or by the web.
Background: Spouses of embassy employees and veterans are supposed to have an opportunity to apply for vacancies at the embassies. However, as I discovered while living in Timor-Leste such opportunities are not made public. The Australian embassy publicly advertises such vacancies via the local paper so there is a low tech method for this.
As a veteran with a security clearance and master’s degree, I would have loved to have even a low paying job. I had nothing to do in this country but waiting for my spouse to get home. Unlike the people at the guard shack, I do speak English, can read and was not associated with any of the local gangs.
But where was the opportunity to apply?????? Kept secret and for the friends and created for the spouses only??
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I've noticed that several embassies have social media presences but that their info is not aggregated into one place on State's web site. Why not sort and list it in an easy-to-view place based upon region/bureau to make it easier for the public to interact with DoS? Also, there should be a standard naming scheme in saying Twitter feeds such as usembassy_paraguay, instead of the embassy in Paraguay currently being called laembajada (the embassy), precluding its use elsewhere in the region.
I'm a social media whiz and have a Masters from Georgetown School of Foreign Service; let me know if there is an opening to work on this for DoS.
Sincerely,
Michael Coe
E: mdc53@georgetown.edu
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I would like for the State department to enforce U.S. Constitutional laws concerning military engagement and assistance when assisting Israel. Israel has proven again and again, almost as much as we have, to have inored International law concerning Human Rights. In Lebanon, and Palestine.
How can we do this? By accepting the truth and educating the American people of the truth about the ousting of Palestinians from their land, cultures and freedom.
Three years of Israeli blockade in Gaza. Brutal attacks, with use of depleted uranium and phosphorous bombs, dropped from the air (a place Palestinians have been denied for many years) onto one of the most populated areas of the world.
2006, Israel bombs Lebanon, after some of its soldiers were captured by Lebanese troops in Lebanon.
What were those Israeli soldiers doing in Lebanon?
The whole "terrorist group theory" NEEDS to be debunked.
As a reminder, the French Resistance movement was considered "terrorist" first by the Vichy government, then much later by the Nazi occupiers.
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The 1,600 members of Open Source for America are dedicated to supporting and guiding federal efforts to make the US government more open through the use of open source software. We have established recommendations for all agencies to consider in their Open Government Plans, with these recommendations especially highlighting the need to remove barriers to the successful leveraging of open source software and open IT more generally. Open source software would seem to us to be the most concrete form of participation available to the government's constituents and its employees. These recommendations -- and the ability to comment further on them -- are at http://opensourceforamerica.org/guidelines.
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Make information associated with geographic areas available as a data downloads.
In the data sets, links to pages on state.gov could be included in the row for unformatted information on a subject (e.g. general country information).
Examples:
Trafficking in persons:
http://www.state.gov/g/tip/rls/tiprpt/2009/124799.htm
Travel Warnings:
http://travel.state.gov/travel/cis_pa_tw/tw/tw_1764.html
Travel Alerts:
http://travel.state.gov/travel/cis_pa_tw/pa/pa_1766.html
Free software such as StatPlanet can then be used to create visualizations of the data:
http://www.sacmeq.org/statplanet/
http://opensourcegis.org/
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Put visitor logs online, for any person who meets any State Department employee. Citizens have the right to know who their State Dept. employees of every type of pay grade get to meet and make deals with. For example, which oil company executives were meeting with State Dept. agents, employees, appointees, and contractors over the last fifty years? That would make some enlightening reading. It would make FOIA requests so much more specific.
Log entries should include at least: 1.) name, title, and company, 2.) date and time, 3.) persons(s) being called upon, 4.) reason for visit.
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The State Department needs an Office of Ombudsman for Consular Affairs. An Office of Ombudsman will provide a venue for citizens to express ideas for improvement, and to complain when the Office of Consular Affairs is failing in its mission. Changes, recommendations, and complaints could be made about the many areas of responsibility for Consular Affairs such as visa issuance, passports, U. S. Citizens services, etc. Based upon its analysis of the citizens input the Ombudsman will make recommendations for changes, and follow up on those recommendations.
The Citizenship and Immigration Services Ombudsman has helped to improve many aspects of the USCIS. The State Department Ombudsman can do the same at the Department Of State. http://www.dhs.gov/xabout/structure/editorial_0482.shtm
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I see that with each idea comes the option to enter tags. Most sites that allow tagging also allow visitors to visualize the data clusters with a tag cloud. Is this utility available?
The second feature I'd like to see is how ideas, specifically memes as indicated by tags, develop over a period of time. Is it possible to have a search utility, sorted by date, that shows the rise or decline of a meme over a period of time?
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The rating feature is good but it can be improved. Allow us to see what the total vote is and also what the votes are by 'agree' and 'disagree'. This way we can understand how well visitors appreciate the idea.
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The Department of State should develop a Young Diplomats contest program for American students. The program would provide students with the opportunity to advance their understanding of the core topics and issues relevant to the foreign service (similar to the National Geographic Bee for geography). The program would run for the entire academic school year and rely on long-term engagement with students. The program would commence with a registration process which would provide students with access to an online community of practice. The community would provide age-appropriate resources for the students. The students then would prepare for the contest using a series of online practice modules and mobile phone based applications that would test the students on sample questions. The students then would complete an online competition that would serve as qualification for a local competition. The local competition would enable qualified students to compete with their peers in the classroom and be administered by a local school district. The competition then would progress through in-person competitions to the national competition. Advancing students would be provided a paid summer internship at the Department of State once they matriculate to college - thereby ensuring that the reward is linked to both their educational and professional development.
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The Department of State has a strong record of experimentation with Web 2.0 technologies. This includes creating a number of social networking sites (ex. Exchanges Connect and State Alumni Network), participating in virtual communities (ex. Second Life), and launching mobile applications (ex. Haiti widget). Of these various examples, the ones with the most impact are those that leverage public - private partnerships (ex. Google's contribution on the development of the Haiti widget). The Department should institutionalize these partnerships to a larger degree and better leverage private and academic partners to innovate new ways to connect with foreign citizens on issues such as culture and science. The Department also should take account of projects that have failed (ex. X-Life Games) and pool the funding of disparate efforts so that the Department can launch two to three big projects a year. Finally, the Department should use social media and crowdsourcing technology to solicit public feedback and new ideas from the target audience (ex. foreigners) for all big projects prior to their implementation to better determine the probability of success. This should be baked into a new agile procurement and development process which would enable the more rapid development of solutions.
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Since we all agree that OpenState refers to the open communication of Government with its people: why not the creation of a standardized government web template, combining the best aspects of, for example, Facebook and Twitter?
Then marketing this template globally, to other governments?
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The U.S. Government should invest significant resources to advance the concept of open diplomacy. This new construct would rely heavily upon the U.S. Government’s existing e-diplomacy and public diplomacy tradition. However, it would not be limited to these disciplines.
Open diplomacy would serve as the overall diplomatic strategy for the country - placing new emphasis on: 1) increasing transparency, promoting openness, and valuing foreign citizen feedback in American foreign policy; 2) promoting the use of new and emerging technology and processes to bridge the cultural, political, scientific, and economic gap between the U.S. Government and the global community; 3) leveraging American citizens to increasingly engage foreigners as "ambassadors" of American values and ideas.
Open diplomacy would not supplant the importance of elite engagement between professional diplomats. Instead, it would serve to rebalance relative importance of soft power and hard power objectives; recognizing the long-term strategic importance of confronting the rapid decline of American influence over global ideas and values.
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whenever i see too many steps to a simple process--- i see dollar signs. and i usually cannot track the outcome. more words, more difinitions, more steps only equal that.... MORE
it aint better.... it's just more
try asking simple questions. make a decision and stick with it.
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Echoing bby_horne and Stephen's comments, there are currently too many discrepancies between individual embassies and consulates and how they go about issuing Family-Based Visas (K-1, K-3, CR-1, etc). More training and stricter control by the DoS would go a long way in making sure that individual consulates and individual consular officers are not overstepping bounds, conducting visa interviews with fairness, and behaving in a professional manner becoming of a United States government official.
A cable in February of 2004 was sent from the Department of State to all embassies and consulates issuing visas concerning denials and returns of visa petitions. Part of the cable contained this information: "In adjudicating visa cases involving petitions, posts should bear in mind three important factors: A. the consular officer's role in the petition process is to determine if there is substantial evidence relevant to petition validity not previously considered by DHS, and not to merely readjudicate the petition; B. the memo supporting the petition return must clearly show the factual and concrete reasons for recommending revocation (observations made by the consular officer cannot be conclusive, speculative, equivocal or irrelevant) and; C. consular officers must provide to the applicant in writing as full an explanation as possible of the legal and factual basis for the visa denial and petition return. Post must maintain a copy of the returned petition, other evidence relevant to the case, and a copy of the written notification of the denial."
"In general, an approved petition will be considered by consular officers as prima facie evidence that the requirements for classification - which are examined in the petition process - have been met. Where Congress has placed responsibility and authority with DHS to determine whether the requirements for status which are examined in the petition process have been met, consular officers do not have the authority to question the approval of petitions without specific evidence, generally unavailable to DHS at the time of petition approval, that the beneficiary may not be entitled to status due to fraud, changes in circumstances or clear error on the part of DHS in approving the petition. Conoffs should not assume that a petition should be revoked simply because they would have reached a different decision if adjudicating the petition."
...Yet in 2010, consular officers across the globe have felt free to ignore this information and regularly deny family-based visa petitions for subjective reasons, and then refuse to give any clear reasons for denial. A clear framework and set of rules should be distributed AND ENFORCED at all US Embassies and Consulates.
As an American citizen concerned about our domestic security, I can understand the need for scrutiny on visa applicants, even in the family-based category, to weed out fraud and prevent terrorism. However, I think there needs to be more uniformity, transparency, and fairness as to how consular officers deal with foreign visa applicants in ALL embassies. For example, the US Consulates in Casablanca, Morocco and Guayaquil, Ecuador often deny family-based visas for "lack of bona fide relationship", yet the consular officers REFUSE to accept any proof of relationship from the beneficiary at the interview. Is that not the point of the visa interview: for the visa applicant to demonstrate to the CO that he/she HAS a bona fide relationship and comes with evidence? Compare this stance to that of the US Embassy in Kiev, Ukraine or London, England, where proof of relationship is rarely asked for and family-based visas are rarely denied. All visa applicants MUST have the opportunity to present evidence to the consular officer at their interview, regardless of WHERE the interview takes place.
I also know of a few visa applicants and US citizen petitioners who were asked completely inappropriate questions during their interviews, including details on their private sexual relations. This is completely UNACCEPTABLE and UNPROFESSIONAL. Consular officers are determining whether the relationship is bona fide, and that can certainly done without invasive questions infringing on the privacy of the applicant.
In short, I would advocate better transparency and training, more uniform regulations, and better oversight of consular officials. If all consulates across the globe had uniform standards to issue visas and conduct the interview process, I can see two benefits:
A) Families are less likely to be split up, as proper evidence can be presented, denials will be minimized, and the family-based reunification visas will work as they are meant to.
B) Consular officers and embassies and consulates will be forced to be more rigorous applying uniform standards to all applicants regardless of where they are located in the world, which might help further keep terrorists from entering US soil. The attempted terrorist attack on December 25, 2009 was certainly showing loopholes in our airport security, but even more importantly, the holes in the visa application and interview process as well as information and responsibility sharing by DoS, DHS, and other relevant bodies involved in granting US visas.
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The Department of State should develop a vibrant cultural exchange community that enables Americans to introduce their culture to foreigners on a personal level. The site should prioritize visceral multimedia content and encourage deep interaction between users. This can be accomplished by enabling users to upload their own stories, pictures, and videos related to American culture alongside polished historical content produced by government web managers. The user experience can be further enhanced by compelling visual design, functionality for user content rating, sharing, and commenting, and integration with third party social media sites (ex. YouTube; Flickr). (See: http://www.forloveofliberty.net/) Finally, the site could be fully integrated with a revised Exchanges Connect social networking site to realize the full potential of citizen-led cultural diplomacy.
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