The Afghan Government Is Missing From Afghanistan's Peace Process

Government Executive | February 12, 2019

Can a peace process work if it excludes the government of the country in conflict? We may be finding out. At present, there are two distinct efforts underway to bring peace in Afghanistan: In one, Zalmay Khalilzad, the State Department’s special representative for Afghanistan reconciliation, has held several discussions with Taliban leaders. In the other, a meeting in Moscow this month brought together influential Afghans, including former President Hamid Karzai, and Taliban leaders. Conspicuously missing from both? The Afghan government. The absence of President Ashraf Ghani’s democratically elected, internationally recognized administration in a process that could decide the future of his country raises questions about who is deciding what about Afghanistan’s fate; whether the United States’ policy of maintaining troops in Afghanistan until the conditions are right for withdrawal can outlive the wishes of President Donald Trump, who wants to pull out; and whether the Taliban can be trusted to keep any promises it makes.

Spotlight

Spotlight

Related News

EMERGING TECHNOLOGY, GOVERNMENT BUSINESS

Maximus wins major UK government contract

Businesswire | May 29, 2023

Maximus, a leading provider of health, employment, and digital customer services globally, has been selected as the largest provider of the new Functional Assessment Services (FAS) contract, due to launch in 2024. The award maintains Maximus’ position as a leading provider of health assessments to the UK government. Since 2015 Maximus has been the only national provider of the Health Assessment Advisory Service on behalf of the Department for Work and Pensions. Maximus transformed the assessment service, with waiting times significantly reduced and record customer satisfaction. From 2024, assessments will be delivered on a regional basis. Maximus will deliver across Scotland and Northern England, and as a delivery partner to Capita across the Midlands and Wales. The combined estimated value of the contracts, including subcontracting, is £800m/$1bn over five years, with the option to extend for a further two years. Dr Paul Williams, Division President of Maximus UK, said: “We are delighted to continue our partnership with DWP to deliver the next generation of health and disability assessments. We remain committed to working with stakeholders, including disabled people and their representative groups, to improve customer experience in the assessment process, delivering a sensitive, respectful and expert service to the millions of people who rely on these services to access financial support”. Bruce Caswell, President and Chief Executive Officer of Maximus, said: “This award continues our expansion in the UK market. With our strong track record of transforming services on behalf of government, and our strategic focus on the future of health services globally, we are proud to be working with DWP on the delivery of this important new service”. About Maximus in the UK Maximus delivers services that help more than 2 million people each year in the UK move forward with their lives. Operating from more than 285 locations, Maximus is one of the largest providers of employment, health, and digital customer services in the country. Maximus employs over 5,000 specialists, including more than 1,000 employment advisors and 1,400 doctors, nurses, occupational therapists and other Healthcare Professionals. We are proud to be a Disability Confident Leader and Living Wage Employer.

Read More

GOVERNMENT BUSINESS

Alteryx Announces Partnership with the Department of Defense to Address Data and Analytics Skill Gap in the Private Sector

prnewswire | March 27, 2023

Alteryx, Inc. the Analytics Cloud Platform company, announced it is now an authorized partner for the Department of Defense (DoD) SkillBridge program. Alteryx will help active-duty service members transition to civilian careers by providing them with real-world industry training and certifications in data analytics, as part of the Alteryx SparkED no-cost education program. "We launched the SparkED program in 2021 to expand data literacy and analytics skills among all learners so that they can use this skill set to solve real-world problems," said Libby Duane Adams, co-founder and chief advocacy officer at Alteryx. "We couldn't be happier to partner with the Department of Defense SkillBridge program and support our transitioning service members and their spouses who sacrifice so much in service to our nation." By 2025, the top three job roles that will see increasing demand across industries are data analysts and scientists, AI and machine learning specialists, and big data specialists1. With these roles growing in importance, the Alteryx SparkED and SkillBridge partnership will help service members jumpstart their civilian careers with relevant in-demand data and analytics skills. The curriculum provides a vendor-agnostic approach to data science education, as well as hands-on training with Alteryx's industry leading analytics automation solution to enable service members to transform data into business insights. Through the program, participants receive a free Alteryx Designer license, interactive learning paths, and access to the Alteryx Community to guide their training. "This partnership is a testament to our commitments to the public sector and supporting our service members," said David Colberg, Navy veteran and vice president, Global Government Affairs and Public Policy at Alteryx. "The DoD SkillBridge Program and partnership with Alteryx SparkED will build an incredible talent pipeline equipped with in-demand analytics skills while assisting our transitioning warriors and their families with the next chapter of their careers." The DoD SkillBridge program enables service members to gain valuable civilian work experience through specific industry training, apprenticeships, or internships during the last 180 days of service. Each year, SkillBridge connects 200,000 service members2 with industry partners in real-world job experiences. About Alteryx Alteryx powers analytics for all by providing our leading Analytics Automation Platform. Alteryx delivers easy end-to-end automation of data engineering, analytics, reporting, machine learning, and data science processes, enabling enterprises everywhere to democratize data analytics across their organizations for a broad range of use cases. More than 8,000 customers globally rely on Alteryx to deliver high-impact business outcomes.

Read More

EMERGING TECHNOLOGY, CYBERSECURITY

Armis Achieves U.S. Department of Defense Impact Level 4 Authorization

Prnewswire | April 03, 2023

Armis, the leading asset visibility and security company, today announced that it has achieved U.S. DoD Defense Information Systems Agency (DISA) authorization to operate (ATO) at Impact Level 4 (IL4). This authorization signifies that Armis has met the DoD's strict requirements for the government's sensitive Controlled Unclassified Information (CUI). DoD customers can now take advantage of Armis's secure, agentless, Unified Asset Management for IT, OT and IoT devices. The IL4 ATO is part of continued public sector momentum for Armis, following the achievement of a FedRAMP Moderate Authority to Operate (ATO) in January of this year. These dual votes of confidence mean that any civilian and DoD agency can now take advantage of the most comprehensive AVM platform available. "There is no more important group of organizations that needs complete situational awareness of their network environment than those who defend our nation," said Brian Gumbel, President of Armis. "Our platform discovers, aggregates and correlates all asset information into a single source of truth and identifies vulnerabilities to mitigate risks. Armis will now be able to help DoD meet the challenges of a perimeter-less world and an ever-evolving cyber threat landscape." Many public sector organizations experience a "visibility gap" where IT and security leaders can't see all the vulnerable assets within their environment. You can't protect what you can't see, and the DoD can no longer depend on conventional perimeter-based or identity-based defenses alone to protect critical systems and government data. Accelerating migration to the cloud, the convergence of IT/OT/IoT and increases in near-peer adversary capabilities have changed how the DoD must approach cybersecurity. Armis automatically generates a complete inventory of devices in your enterprise environment - on or off the network. The breadth, depth, and accuracy of the Armis asset inventory and device discovery exceeds that of other products available today. Agencies say they see 50% to 70% more connected devices using Armis technology, giving them the situational awareness they need to protect their networks. Many security frameworks, such as the NIST SP 1800-35A on implementing a Zero Trust Framework, start with inventory. Being aware that assets exist is a prerequisite for cybersecurity but isn't enough. DoD IT leaders need to know whether devices are risky. After discovering and classifying each asset, Armis calculates its risk score. This risk score helps security teams take proactive steps to reduce their attack surface and meet compliance and regulatory frameworks that require agencies to identify and prioritize vulnerabilities. The score is based on multiple risk factors including software vulnerabilities, known attack patterns, connection security, and the observed behavior of each device. "This new IL4 authorization is testament to Armis's commitment to supporting the U.S. Federal government. We are honored to be a trusted partner in helping agencies adjust to an increasingly dangerous cyber environment," continued Gumbel. Armis helps to see and secure some of the largest U.S states and government departments in the world protecting federal, state and local entities from cyber criminals, rogue nations and other bad actors. It also secures critical infrastructure at some of the largest airports, ports and healthcare delivery organizations around the world.Companies trust Armis' real-time and continuous protection to see with full context all managed, unmanaged assets across IT, cloud, IoT devices, medical devices (IoMT), operational technology (OT), industrial control systems (ICS) and 5G. About Armis Armis, the leading asset visibility and security company, provides the industry's first unified asset intelligence platform designed to address the new extended attack surface that connected assets create. Fortune 100 companies trust our real-time and continuous protection to see with full context all managed, unmanaged assets across IT, cloud, IoT devices, medical devices (IoMT), operational technology (OT), industrial control systems (ICS), and 5G. Armis provides passive cyber asset management, risk management, and automated enforcement. Armis is a privately held company and headquartered in California.

Read More