The Tech Side of Trump’s Plan to Reorganize Government

Under a new reorganization plan from the Trump administration, federal agencies would have less than four years to digitize all their paper processes. The White House released its overarching plan to reorganize the federal government, and, as with most of the administration’s management plans, it emphasizes technology’s role in the future of government. The plan calls for digitizing all of the federal government’s recordkeeping by Dec. 31, 2022, at which time the National Archives and Records Administration would stop accepting paper records from agencies.

Additionally, the White House reorganization plan would force agencies to assess the strength of their cyber workforce and quickly fill the gaps they find. The Trump administration tasked the Homeland Security Department and Office of Management and Budget with creating a governmentwide approach for recruiting and retaining skilled cybersecurity personnel. The order, which came as part of the White House reorganization plan, aims to address the growing shortage of top cyber talent at federal agencies. “The workforce shortage compounds the government’s challenges in responding to a constantly evolving threat environment and achieving its many IT-dependent missions,” the report said. “The government lacks a comprehensive, risk-derived understanding of which cybersecurity skillsets the federal enterprise needs to develop and which positions are most critical to fill.”