UNITED STATES
The 2019 US Public Service Recognition Week comes shortly after a poll by the Pew Research Centre found that only 17 per cent of Americans believe they can trust the Federal Government to do what is right.
Commenting on the findings, President of the non-profit Partnership for Public Service, Max Stier said it marked a historic low and a troubling sign that citizens did not believe the Government was meeting their needs and concerns.
“Unfortunately, confidence in our Government has been eroding for decades, fuelled by controversial wars, scandals, economic problems, the inability to deal with serious national issues and the extreme partisanship and political gridlock as we are experiencing today,” Mr Stier said.
“While the discontent is real, the public either does not know about or overlooks significant work going on behind the scenes every day by our nation’s Civil Servants.”
He said these were individuals who cared for veterans and assisted Americans in need, kept the country safe, engaged in cutting-edge scientific and medical research, and advanced the national interest.
Mr Stier said Public Service Recognition Week was a good time to reflect on some of the outstanding accomplishments of the Federal Public Service.
He cited Arthur A. Allen, an oceanographer with the Coast Guard who pioneered and perfected a modelling program that predicted where people lost at sea could be found, “cutting search and rescue times and saving thousands of lives”.
“At the Veterans Affairs Department, Ann McKee [pictured] has revolutionised our understanding of the long-term effects of concussions, including chronic traumatic encephalopathy, or CTE, in veterans and athletes,” Mr Stier said.
“Robert Cabana, a former astronaut, and his team at the National Aeronautics and Space Administration have transformed the historic Kennedy Space Centre during the past decade into a globally distinguished, multi-user launch site for Government and commercial space exploration, helping preserve our country’s leadership in this important field.”
He said these were just a handful of the hundreds of thousands of outstanding Federal employees who had dedicated themselves to the public good.
Washington, DC, 7 May 2019
