FCW digital edition now available

As 2012 draws to a close, feds could be forgiven for breathing a sigh of relief and thinking, 'Good riddance!'

It was another year of frozen salaries and no budgets, making recruitment difficult and planning impossible. Until Nov. 6, there was a near-daily stream of stump speeches from politicians promising to slash spending further and often accusing agencies of waste, sloth or worse. And even now, with just days remaining in the year, there is no deal in sight to avert the across-the-board cuts that are universally seen as bad policy and that Congress and the president gave themselves 17 months to avoid.

In the December issue of FCW -- available here as a digital edition -- we cast a quick glance backward but focus mainly on what to expect in the months to come. Camille Tuutti explains what lessons insiders are taking away from the year's most memorable cybersecurity developments. Brian Robinson finds that the BYOD trend, while potentially transformative for agencies, is not quite as inevitable as many suggest. H.B. Hatter explores the opportunities that commercial 4G is beginning to make possible. In an excerpt from their new e-book, former FCC officials Reed Hundt and Blair Levin make a case for federal technology as a catalyst for economic growth and better government.

And in this issue's cover story, Richard E. Cohen, FCW's newest contributing writer and a longtime chronicler of Capitol Hill, profiles House Oversight and Government Reform Committee Chairman Darrell Issa. The California congressman has often brought an adversarial tone to his oversight of agency operations, but he is also a technophile who has big ideas -- and possibly bipartisan support -- for federal IT reform.

The year was not all bad, of course. Headway was made on some initiatives, and countless agency executives continued to innovate despite budget questions and other obstacles. (Reminder: Make sure those individuals get the recognition they deserve. Nominate them for the Federal 100 by Dec. 31.)

On balance, we are looking forward to 2013. Even budget crises can be turned into opportunities, and at least there won't be any campaign ads.