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If agencies and companies implement measures that do not align with new federal guidance defining essential workforce amid the COVID-19 pandemic, they will end up hurting the very professionals and businesses that help protect national security, writes EverWatch CEO John Hillen.
“Government officials at all levels, not just at the top, should be cognizant of their responsibility to keep both their workforces intact and motivated during crisis moments,” Hillen wrote in an opinion piece published Monday on Washington Technology.
A Department of Defense memorandum says the Department of Homeland Security has identified the defense industrial base a part of the critical infrastructure sector and urged personnel who provide “essential” services to maintain their normal work schedules during the coronavirus crisis.
Hillen, a 2015 Wash100 inductee, previously served as assistant secretary of state for political-military affairs and chairman of the Professional Services Council.