This edition of Fed Gov Today with Francis Rose examines how federal agencies are restarting operations after a 44-day government shutdown—and how leaders are leveraging collaboration, cloud modernization, and AI to accelerate recovery. Former FCC CIO Allen Hill explains that the shutdown exposed longstanding gaps rather than creating new ones, revealing which systems stopped, slowed, or continued functioning without human intervention. Hill says those insights create a roadmap for the next 18 months: prioritize modernization, eliminate technical debt, and redesign processes that rely on manual action. He emphasizes the importance of CIOs partnering closely with Chief Acquisition Officers and CFOs to align budgets, acquisition strategies, and mission delivery plans, especially as agencies rebaseline projects paused during the shutdown.
Hill warns of lingering impacts—including staff turnover, vendor disruptions, and aging data center systems at risk of failure—but frames cloud migration, serverless environments, and recapitalizing cost savings as opportunities for rapid improvement. The episode then shifts to AI innovation with Ted Kaouk, former Federal CDO and founder of generativework.ai, who argues that the post-shutdown environment is ideal for rapid AI prototyping. Kaouk highlights the value of safe sandboxes, synthetic data, and low-cost experimentation, urging agencies to cultivate an innovation mindset and multidisciplinary skills across the workforce. He predicts that AI will transform federal work roles and require significant cultural and training investments. Both guests underscore that recovery is not
Former FCC Chief Information Officer Allen Hill explains how the 44-day shutdown created a unique opportunity for federal agencies to reassess and modernize their operations. He outlines three key questions CIOs should ask during reopening—what stopped, what slowed, and what kept working—to identify where human-dependent processes failed and where technology can eliminate those gaps. Hill emphasizes that the shutdown didn’t reveal new weaknesses, but highlighted long-standing issues such
He stresses the critical role of CIOs partnering closely with Chief Acquisition Officers and CFOs to realign budgets, rebaseline delayed projects, and recapitalize savings from eliminated licenses and outdated infrastructure. Hill describes the FCC’s success in collapsing redundant systems, moving to the cloud, and reducing infrastructure by a third. He notes the risks of rebooting aging systems, the need for continual modernization, and the importance of using the next 18 months to build resilience and reduce reliance on data centers.
Ted Kaouk, former Federal CDO and founder of generativework.ai, discusses how agencies can use AI to regain momentum after the shutdown and accelerate innovation. He emphasizes that one of the biggest opportunities is rapid prototyping, noting that AI has dramatically lowered the cost and time required to test new ideas safely—especially using synthetic data in controlled sandboxes. Kaouk highlights a recent “30 apps in 30 days” challenge as an example of how quickly agencies can build and evaluate tools
He stresses the importance of leaders and employees “getting their feet wet” to understand how to guide AI systems effectively, predicting that managing AI agents will become a core skill across the workforce. Kaouk also explains that AI success will require multidisciplinary thinking, cultural change, and updated workforce strategies led by Chief Human Capital Officers. Agencies, he says, must pair enterprise-wide planning with room for experimentation to drive meaningful, responsible AI adoption.