IMCOM's CFIS Guest Blogger

Hi, I’m a strategic analyst supporting the IMCOM Center for Future Installation Strategies and it is my privilege to be the first guest blogger for The Army’s Home, the IMCOM blog.

One of our major goals at CFIS is to identify long range trends that will impact the Army and IMCOM. While CFIS is usually looking from 20-25 years out, there are times things pop up a lot closer that will have an immediate impact and need to be addressed. What I am referring to is the current Administration’s commitment to open government and transparency.

This issue brings several questions to my mind: How will those initiatives impact the Army and IMCOM? How do we utilize new tools and social media better and still be cognizant of operational security? What other new technologies are coming down the pipe that will help us accomplish these goals?

My goal over the next few days is to look for insight and guidance on such questions while I attend the Open Government and Innovations Conference that will be taking place in Washington, DC, from July 21-22. The conference will explore “an opportunity to collaboratively explore how government can use - and is already using - social media tools and social software to achieve President Obama’s call for government transparency, participation, collaboration and innovation.”

Of interest for tomorrow, July 21, will be the keynote addresses by Aneesh Chopra, federal CTO, and Tim O’Reilly, Web 2.0 visionary, along with the following presentations: Use of New Media by DoD, Innovations in the Science and Tech Communities and the Town Hall Meeting with Vivek Kundra, federal CIO. I will bring back the highlights thoughts, and summarize the day’s events at The Army’s Home blog.

I encourage all comments, questions and suggestions. Get them in early and I will try to get answers for you. This is a great opportunity to get a dialogue going about a topic that will affect all of us.

For more information on the Open Government and Innovations Conference head over to : http://opengovinnovations.com/

For more information on CFIS check us out at: https://www.us.army.mil/suite/page/608884