Leader: Myra Howze Shiplett
Deputy Leader: Limor Ben-Har
The goal of the Working Group on Human Capital is to investigate
the critical function human capital plays in the interagency system and
to examine the importance of leadership, at multiple levels, in guiding
national security organizations. The working group is devising a set of
recommendations aimed at increasing the efficiency, effectiveness,
responsiveness, interoperability and cross-organizational understanding
of personnel operating at the interagency level. These recommendations
will specifically address key issues affecting personnel management in
the current national security structure, the role that leaders play in
overcoming or exacerbating interagency coordination problems, and the
existence of known impediments to a national security personnel system
that would reward rather than punish interagency collaboration.
This Human Capital Working Group looks at the U.S. Government’s
staff – from civil/foreign servants through administrative staff to
military personnel – to see what skills are currently being required,
what on-going learning is being offered or required and how this
supports interagency policy and operations at all levels. The working
group also looks at the training that government staff is given both
before operations and through the course of their careers. It
specifically examines the government’s use of exercises to prepare for
national security operations.
The Human Capital Working Group examines how the role of leadership
– presidential, departmental and mid-level – facilitates or obstructs
interagency work. It also looks at management in departments to
understand how this contributes to, or undermines, interagency work.
Closely related to the above is the issue of institutional culture
and how it is created and sustained and contributes to an interagency
approach. Every organization has a distinct culture just as each
individual has a different personality. The Human Capital Working Group
describes the culture of the National Security Council, Homeland
Security Council, and the departments and agencies that contribute to
national security. It also identifies how these different cultures
affect interagency performance. In addition, the working group examines
whether departments and agencies that contribute to national security
have the core competencies (organization skills) to be effective
participants in interagency preparations and operations.
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