Today, the Washington Post looked more deeply into the security breach of passport records last week of Presidential candidates and U.S. Senators Hillary Clinton, Barack Obama, and John McCain by non-government employees.  The article describes how the number of contract employees to government employees “exploded” in the last year when the U.S. Passport requirements for travel to Canada and Mexico changed thereby increasing the number of applications to the State Department.  

The companies contracted out by the State Department provide administrative employees to handle the processing of the passport applications on the clerical side.  However, “the people who review the documentation and approve or deny the application are federal employees” as well as those handling the printing and scanning of the information.  It seems to me that the breaches happened because the contractors are not held to the same standard as the Federal employees, yet they handle the exact same sensitive, private and personal information about all citizens, whether high profile or not.  In addition, the companies that provide the contract employees are making a big profit.  Is our personal and private information for sale?  In this case yes.  And it is your tax dollars paying for a company to profit rather than a well-trained government employee to manage your private information.

So how does this relate to the Public Service Academy?   Well, the Academy will not only train civil servants, but hold them to the highest standard of discretion when interacting with citizens or their information because there is no profit involved.  In fact, the Academy will serve as a symbol for excellence in federal, state, and local government service jobs and return some dignity and respect to the the public sector!  What do you think?

My local NPR station plays a simulcast of The News Hour with Jim Lehrer on PBS each day.  I was driving home early from work (thank you Good Friday!) and caught the tail end of Mr. Lehrer discussing the news of the week with New York Times columnist David Brooks and syndicated columnist Mark Shields.  They analyzed the several of the big news stories of the week including Senator Barack Obama’s speech on race, the faltering economy and of course, the fifth anniversary of the start of the Iraq War.  The segment ended with their reflections on the war and how it has affected them personally and how they think it has affected the psyche of our country.  My ears really perked up when Mr. Brooks mentioned national service:

MARK SHIELDS: We know, Jim, we went to war against a country that had never attacked us, that never threatened us, on the bogus claim that that country had weapons of mass destruction which were a threat to us. And it was not a moral war, and it was not a just war. It was a war in which the United States sullied, stained and repealed one of the great American values, that is that, in wartime, war demands equality of sacrifice.

 All the sacrifice in this war has been borne by the 1 percent of Americans who are in uniform and their families. The rest of us have been quietly by, especially those of us who opposed the war, and been moral defectors.

We haven’t protested the fact that this is a war that our children and grandchildren will pay for. We haven’t even — we’ve blithely accepted tax cuts, and no draft, and no burden, paid no price, bore no burden, and accepted leadership that demanded nothing of us, and we’ve demanded nothing of them.

JIM LEHRER: David? 

DAVID BROOKS: Well, I do think that desire to sacrifice is hanging out there. It’s still an unmet need in the body politic. There are still thousands of young people, people of all ages, who want to do some sort of service.

And for the next president, that will be something to pick up, not to draft them. We’re not going to have a draft. But to increase national service is something McCain has talked about, Obama, Clinton. They’ve all talked about it. And I think it will emotionally help heal some of the unwanted desire to actually rally together after 9/11.

I was glad to hear both Mark Shields and David Brooks articulate that “desire to sacrifice” exists throughout the country as a result of the war (and many of the other issues we face).  Mark Shields’ comment that “war demands equality of sacrifice” was particularly poignant to me as I drove home overlooking the ocean, waiting for the sunset to come, not too many cares beyond my own personal needs to deal with.  In the face of the Iraq war, I do not feel as though I have participated equally with the soldiers.  Citizens desperately want to participate in the process of solving problems that we face collectively.  I remember the feeling of unity in the face of the tragedy of 9/11, an ethereal sense of hope that many put to action by joining the military, becoming police officers or firemen, or simply looking to their communities to serve in different ways.  People just wanted to help each other. The Academy movement is the beacon of that desire.  The Academy will not only turn out the much needed civilian service leadership corps, it will inspire each community to use the “desire to sacrifice” to move our country towards strength and unity no matter the circumstances we face.

While driving to work today, running through the endless to-do lists knocking around my brain, one of which was writing a post for today, I settled in on an email conversation I recently had with a colleague.  I mentioned to her that I am a graduate of San Diego State University since her office is in San Diego, and I wanted to compliment her on my love of my college town.  Turns out she was an Aztec too, and we bantered back and forth about women going to college.  She is my mom’s age and said her parents looked at her as if she had three heads when she announced she wanted to go to college.  They assumed her only reason to go was to land a husband!  Yikes!  Today, her two daughters have since gone on to college, at UC San Diego and Univeristy of Southern California respectively.

Sensing an opportunity, I brought up public service and told her I was a teacher for several years, and I considered it my effort to give back to the public school system that had given me so much, from Kindergarten through college.  She told me that she is a Rotarian and her club matches seniors with kids who need an adult buddy whether the kids are underpriviledged, have only one parent, or have one parent serving in the military.  I love the idea of the cross-generational relationship and she said it is a huge success kids and seniors.  Naturally, I told her about the Academy, and naturally she flipped!  I steered her to our petition (and will be sending another email reminding her to sign) and have been invited to come to her Rotary meeting next time I am in San Diego.

Everyone can serve.  Everyone can make a difference.  And everyone can talk to strangers and find common ground about the need for the Academy.  So today and everyday, TALK IT UP!!