Federal Strategy and Management

Iran’s growing cyber capabilities, combined with recent geopolitical tensions, pose a serious threat to U.S. critical infrastructure, requiring urgent federal action to strengthen digital defenses and build long-term resilience.

Congress’ decision to reject a federal moratorium on state-level AI regulation is a missed opportunity. Without a pause, the United States continues to face a patchwork of state laws that confuses consumers, burdens businesses, and slows innovation.

Canada needs a new federal institution that makes its innovation system more than the sum of its parts: a Canadian Innovation and Industrial Transformation Agency. This institution wouldn’t replace programs. It would govern them coherently, strategically, and at speed.

Tariffs and tax breaks won’t fix America’s quality crisis. But perhaps an overhaul of the Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award will.

It’s time to think big and bold. The United States should pursue a super-automation moonshot by establishing 50 to 100 demonstration factories that deploy state-of-the-art automation technologies.

Assuming the Trump administration is serious about shrinking government, why not eliminate an agency whose sole purpose is to distort market outcomes by privileging firm size over performance and productivity? When it comes to government waste, the Small Business Administration is low-hanging fruit that has been over-ripe for a long time.

Canada stands at a pivotal moment to leverage its natural resource boom into long-term industrial strength by tying faster permitting and land access to reinvestment in innovation. A modest levy on resource extraction could fund a new federal agency focused on turning Canadian R&D into real production and globally competitive advanced industries.

President Trump’s proposal to move USPS under the Department of Commerce would politicize an independent institution, risking service disruptions and unfair pricing. Instead, USPS needs innovation-focused reforms that boost efficiency, strengthen public-private collaboration, and maintain its universal service mission without political interference.

With the right infrastructure and vision, the United States can become a global leader in AI-enabled diplomacy. The State Department should seize this moment—not just to experiment with AI and increase organizational efficiency, but to embed AI at the core of how it conducts diplomacy in the 21st century.

The Trump administration’s Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) has aggressively downsized the federal workforce. To maintain essential services with fewer staff, the administration must embrace digital transformation, leveraging AI, automation, and self-service portals to improve efficiency and modernize government operations.