Federation of American Scientists urges learning
- The Federation of American Scientists published an April 27 memo urging federal agencies to treat learning-and-adaptation work as a core management function. - Amanda Girard wrote that evidence systems already exist, but agencies still miss “so what” decisions when research and performance data fail. - The memo targets Evidence Act tools already on the books, not new bureaucracy. (fas.org)
The Federation of American Scientists published a memo on April 27 arguing that federal agencies should treat learning and adaptation as part of day-to-day governance. (fas.org) Amanda Girard, the memo’s author, wrote that the federal government already collects evidence, performance data, and implementation feedback, but those inputs “too often fail to shape decisions.” (fas.org) Her argument is not that Washington lacks reports, dashboards, or evaluation plans. It is that agencies often lack the “connective tissue” that turns those materials into a working cycle of adjustment. (fas.org) The memo says the breakdown happens between producing information and using it. Research can arrive too slowly or too abstractly, while performance data can show outputs or costs without telling managers what to change. (fas.org) Girard says the federal government already has much of the formal machinery in place through the Foundations for Evidence-Based Policymaking Act, learning agendas, evaluation plans, performance frameworks, and customer-experience authorities. (fas.org 1) (fas.org 2) The memo says those tools do not yet add up to a functioning learning system inside agencies. Instead of calling for new infrastructure, it calls for agencies to make translation and use explicit parts of decision-making from the start. (fas.org) That “translation” means turning policy goals, evidence, and implementation feedback into operational choices that program leaders can act on. The intended audience includes federal program leaders, policy officials, evidence staff, performance officers, and strategic planning teams. (fas.org) The paper sits inside the Federation of American Scientists’ Day One Project, which says it has helped advance more than $2.6 billion in federal investment, eight cross-cutting initiatives, and four executive actions. (fas.org) The immediate claim is narrow but practical: agencies do not need another layer of reporting before they can learn. They need existing evidence systems to produce decisions, course corrections, and a clearer record of what worked. (fas.org)
