Garrett Berntsen

1/13 For the last 5 years I’ve been at @statedept delivering data analytics solutions for dozens of different bureaus, here are the lessons I’ve learned from doing data work in government (3.5 years as a consultant and 1.5 as a fed)

Highly recommend people apply to these great roles!

Temporary I-95 lanes are reopening to traffic: ‘We did it,’ Shapiro tells Biden inquirer.com/news/philadelp…

@dominiccampbell I like your point though, plenty written of huge mistakes and huge successes but the remaining 99% of projects muddling along with limited budget &staff aren’t widely covered. If people knew more of why those projects remain mediocre u could come up with more practical reforms

@dominiccampbell True. The boring middle ground is the norm, but just tougher to get anyone to read or write about for obvious reasons.

@TheArgenisPaul @bpoppenheimer Credit to Albert Camus, ofc.

@BerntsenG @bpoppenheimer This is as good as the post.

On the 27th straight day of filming “Forrest Gump,” Tom Hanks was tired & worried. During a scene on the famous park bench, Hanks stopped & said to director Bob Zemeckis, “Hey, Bob…is anybody going to care about this movie? I don’t think anybody’s going to care.” Bob replied, “It’s a minefield, Tom. You never know what’s good…It’s a minefield! It’s a goddam minefield! We may be sowing the seeds of our own destruction.” Tom Hanks told this story after he was asked, “When I ask for a memory from your career, what’s the first thing that comes to mind?” He said that what Zemeckis said was true of every movie he’s worked on: “There’s never any guarantee...You do not know if it is going to work out.” Takeaway 1: Hanks is the 5th-most highest-grossing actor of all time. And yet, the stickiest memory of his career is the feeling of uncertainty. Rarer than talent or work ethic, the poet John Keats wrote, is the ability to step into and push through doubts and uncertainties. In 1817, Keats wrote a letter to his brothers to share this exciting realization. “At once it struck me,” Keats wrote, “what quality went to form a Man of Achievement … Negative Capability.” Keats explains that “Negative Capability” is “when a man is capable of being in uncertainties, mysteries, doubts, without any irritable reaching after fact and reason.” Takeaway 2: Those who possess Negative Capability, who can sit with uncertainty, who can spend months or years in the minefield that is working on something while knowing that there is a real possibility no one will care about it—they often possess another quality. They do what they do, not as a means to some end (money, fame, awards, etc.), but for the sake of doing it. When asked about one of his movies that commercially failed, Hanks said, "I loved making that movie. I loved writing it, I loved being with it. I love all the people in it." As Ryan Holiday once told me, "The work has to be the win." You control the effort, he says, not the results. "So ultimately, you have to love doing it. You have to get to a place where doing the work is the win and everything else is extra.” - - - “Life is like a box of chocolates: you never know what you're going to get.” — Forrest Gump Follow @bpoppenheimer for more content like this!

@RobbieGramer A daily occurrence!

BREAKING: STATE DEPARTMENT IN CRISIS (the Dunkin in the basement cafeteria is out of donuts)

@tea4tamara @dieworkwear Helpful TY

NEW – Last year, I compiled a comprehensive review of the Afghan SIV program to ensure we uphold our commitment to those who stood beside U.S. troops and diplomats for over 20 years in Afghanistan. Today, I’m releasing new legislation to address the systemic problems I uncovered. We need more visas. And we need a strategy to address the backlog that’s preventing our allies from safely coming to the U.S. That’s what my bill directly addresses. I’m proud to work with Senator Wicker on this bipartisan effort to keep our promise to our Afghan allies. It is a promise that has long united Democrats and Republicans - we must stand by our allies. I urge lawmakers to remember that and to join our bipartisan proposal.

Spent the evening with @SenatorHagerty and @SenatorCardin talking about the future of the @StateDept. (With @MeridianIntl & @AcadofDiplomacy and maybe two dozen luminary retired ambassadors). Interesting because they’re leading the Commission to Reform State. A few notes:

@JimLaPorta I didn’t know SFC Whetten well, but he was traveling with my A CO 782nd BSB 4BCT 82AD convoy when we struck the IED that killed him. He died immediately and without pain. His family in Arizona are wonderful Americans who love him dearly and still cherish his memory.

Glen Jacob Whetten SFC Whetten was from Mesa, AZ. He was 31 when he died in Afghanistan on March 12, 2010 while serving in the U.S. Army with 1st Brigade, 1st Infantry Division, Afghanistan Team, Fort Riley, KS.

Ian Timothy Dagdagan Gelig SGT Gelig was from Stevenson Ranch, CA. He was 25 when he died in Afghanistan on March 1, 2010 while serving in the U.S. Army with Company A, 782nd Brigade Support Battalion, 4th Brigade Combat Team, Fort Bragg, NC.

@JimLaPorta Ian was a model paratrooper, who was loved by his entire platoon - including by me, his Platoon leader. He was always quick with a joke, dependable, and a super hard worker. America is lucky to have citizens like Ian, and his wonderful family who continue to honor his memory.

@dominiccampbell @dan_munz You too! Lotta good getting done from CDO offices across gov at the moment.

Awesome to see my colleagues recognized for their great work using data for diplomacy!

@kareem_carr As someone who works in the public sector data field… this thread should be taught in public policy graduate statistics programs. Thank you for this.

I know a lot of you wanted a technical breakdown of this meme so here it is! I don't think you will find this level of detail anywhere else so keep reading if you don't want to miss out.

@PLMattis There is an inevitable cat and mouse with OSINT - but aren't there inherent negatives for any serious global power in having to 1) expend energy obfuscating their efforts; 2) the signaling that comes with this obfuscation deters future econ partnerships

At some point, Beijing was going to respond beyond narrow one-off actions to US/other open source. To me it is clear: (1) the incentives we have undermine long-term productivity; (2) we do not have the organizational infrastructure, public or private, to do more, better.

The article is mostly about @CSETGeorgetown but the issues are much bigger. We have companies marketing themselves on data that hurts Beijing. PRC has been cracking down on XUAR-related due diligence since 2018. Open sources clearly underpinned some USG actions, like Entity List.

Which questions about international politics can you actually answer using large-N data? The big ones. That's what Bear Braumoeller taught us. [THREAD]