GAO Identifies Societal Trends Impacting Domestic Vitality, Security
Leslie Garvey | POGO
The Government Accountability Office (GAO) recently published its Strategic Plan 2022-2027, identifying 12 trends affecting the future of the country, and provides priorities for Congress to consider.
The agency publishes an updated a strategic plan every four years, to guide agency efforts in government oversight and aid Congress in policymaking.
“Nobody can predict the future, but we can analyze trends and identify emerging issues that will likely affect the federal government and society in the next five to 15 years,” Stephen Sanford, Managing Director of GAO's Strategic Planning and External Liaison team, explained, “The dozen trends we identified will inform our more forward-looking work, such as our fiscal sustainability models and our assessments of science and technology innovations.”
According to Sanford, GAO consulted experts from industry, government, and academia, to identify and research trends so that the federal government can make informed decisions. Recently, Sanford explored the strategic plan with the National Academy of Public Administration’s (NAPA) Standing Panel on Executive Organization and Management (EOM), and outlined key trends as biological incidents, global supply chains, racial and ethnic disparities, and global and domestic security threats.
The trends affecting government and society outlined in the report include:
Growing threats to national security, including the spread of violent extremism linked to conspiracy theories and misinformation;
Increasing federal debt makes a fiscal crisis more likely, making it imperative to act sooner rather than later in order to avoid more drastic measures in the future;
Enhancing the nation's ability to prepare for catastrophic biological incidents, including a more resilient medical supply chain as evidenced by the COVID-19 pandemic;
The persistence of racial and ethnic disparities in every area of society, including housing, education, wealth, health care, criminal justice, and voting;
Our innovation-based global economy has seen a decline in public investment in science and technology, and research and development;
Cybercrime and other types of media designed to deceive people is a security concern for society as it becomes more dependent on digital technology;
Workforce changes associated with new technologies and the new skills they require, automation, and remote work;
Potential impacts on the global supply chain caused by COVID-19 uncertainty and despondent U.S. and China trade relations;
Students, educators, and policymakers face both opportunities and challenges as a result of online learning;
Technological developments in health, such as artificial intelligence, which can help make more effective drugs available faster and at lower costs, while posing privacy issues;
Maintaining a balance between the use of natural resources, which are vital to the U.S. economy, and an increasingly stressed environment and the need for environmental sustainability; and.
The nature of space is expanding to include national security, conduct commercial business, and civilian exploration.
Moving forward, the agency aims to reduce the government's operating costs and highlighting the large fiscal and financial exposures that threaten the federal government's sustainability over time, according to the Comptroller General (CG) Gene Dodaro.
“This plan describes our goals and strategies in this evolving environment to support the Congress. It is designed to identify cost savings and other financial opportunities; to make government more accountable, efficient, and effective; and ultimately to improve the safety, security, and well-being of the American people,” stated Dodaro.
In exploring these trends, key uncertainties, and their implications, GAO expects to become a more effective tool for the federal government to address national problems in the years to come.
