America faces a looming crisis in public service leadership. National disasters such as 9/11 and Hurricane Katrina, along with our struggle against international terrorism and our economic woes, have highlighted the importance of public service and exposed our civic vulnerability. There has never been a more auspicious time to pursue George Washington’s dream of a national university.

The U.S. Public Service Academy will address three critical problems:

1) Our nation’s top young people by and large avoid public service careers.
To have a strong, healthy democracy, the United States must continually engage its best and brightest young people in civilian public service. In the past generation, however, top young people have grown increasingly less likely to pursue public sector careers, despite the upsurge in patriotism since 9/11. Even at public-service-oriented programs, there has been a fifty percent drop in the past twenty-five years in the percentage of graduates pursuing public service. This decrease is due in part to economics, as many students feel priced out of public service due to mounting college debts. Many young people, particularly from top colleges, also share a popular cultural attitude that belittles public sector work and devalues civic obligation and duty to country. The Academy will inspire a new generation of young people to see public service as a noble calling.

2) Our nation faces a looming crisis in public service.
With the coming retirement of the Baby Boomer generation – a generation that went into public service in far greater numbers and at far greater rates than subsequent generations – America faces growing shortages in the public sector. More than ninety percent of the federal civil service leadership is eligible to retire in the next decade, and there already are shortages in critical public service jobs at all levels of society. The Academy will produce a steady flow of top-quality leaders committed to serve in the public sector.

3) Our nation does not offer a national public college devoted to developing civilian leaders.
America offers outstanding and well-subsidized opportunities for young people to become part of our nation’s military leadership, but we do not provide a civilian counterpart. The Academy would provide a publicly-funded, national institution for young people to serve our country in a civilian capacity. The establishment of this institution would send a powerful message about the value our nation places on public service and would thereby raise the prestige and visibility of public service.