Many Americans wish their online experience with the federal government would reflect the information technology excellence of Amazon: reliable, intelligent and seamless. Yet taxpayers don’t want to pay more for government services — they want increasingly better service for the same or lower cost. Nations like Singapore, Switzerland and Denmark consistently deliver high-quality digital experiences with accountability, integrity and trust.
While these nations benefit from small populations, cohesive cultures and high incomes, what truly distinguishes them is intelligent delivery of government services — ensuring administration is the means to an end, not the end in itself. Their experience offers lessons worth considering, like success stories at the Department of Veterans Affairs and the Air Force.
Historically, federal agencies were the feature, not the bug, of democracy. As Dwight Waldo explained in The Administrative State (1948), bureaucracy was imbued with a post-war faith in government. But over decades, that principled vision of democratic administration has eroded.
Today, many view the federal bureaucracy as rigid, inefficient and untrustworthy. This didn’t happen overnight; it reflects a gradual loss of legitimacy, capacity and responsiveness.
The rise of New Public Management in the late 20th century brought corporate-style focus on technocracy and compliance, often at the expense of citizen empowerment and mission fulfillment. Others point to political polarization and judicial activism, making agencies defensive and inflexible.
In contrast, the public sectors of leading digital nations have avoided such stagnation by developing adaptive administrative capacity. Denmark, Singapore and Switzerland exemplify scalable governance.
Agencies regularly scale up or down depending on policy needs, and public professionals shift roles like LEGO bricks to meet changing priorities. Critically, these nations foster a social consensus around trusted digital tools as vehicles for public service — not surveillance or waste. Organizational agility, workforce flexibility and public digital trust are not accidental features — they are essential design principles.
The United States has its own emerging models. A notable example is the transformation of VA.gov, the public-facing centerpiece of VA since 2018. With approximately 18 million living veterans— 6% of American adults — the VA serves a population larger than that of 160 individual countries. The redesign of VA.gov was more than a cosmetic update; it consolidated dozens of outdated portals into a unified, user-centered site that offers veterans seamless access to benefits and services.
Even more critically, this transformation has driven the consolidation of over 1,500 versions of the electronic health record into a single, consistent experience that supports veterans from enlistment through end-of-life care. It’s a testament to leadership across three administrations and to the Department’s commitment to mission-driven innovation under Secretary Doug Collins.
A similarly important modernization is underway at the U.S. Air Force. In 2022, confronted with legacy systems ill-suited to today’s strategic environment, the Air Force Life Cycle Management Center (AFLCMC/XA) awarded a 10-year contract to MetroStar, a Virginia-based government technology contractor, and launched a digital transformation focused on integrating AI/ML, synthetic test environments and secure DevSecOps pipelines.
The initiative emphasized open architecture and cloud infrastructure to enable rapid, scalable innovation. As a result, software delivery timelines shrank from months to weeks, testing became real-time and cyber resilience improved. These changes laid the foundation for a more agile, data-driven force aligned with Joint All-Domain Command and Control (JADC2) objectives.
It’s not a question of whether we need public administration. We cannot deliver defense or care for veterans without modern, mission-aligned IT systems. Defense is the most important constitutional function, and it cannot be allowed to atrophy due to outdated administrative structures.
When conflict erupts, there’s no time to open a bidding process. The armed forces must have their systems, strategies and technologies in place before they deploy. The Iran–Israel conflict underscores how quickly global tensions can escalate. To meet the demands of modern warfare, the U.S. must invest in military readiness now — and leverage agile, innovative partnerships with the private sector. Collaborations like the Air Force’s work with MetroStar show how defense capabilities can be advanced at the speed required to protect Americans in an increasingly unpredictable world.
Our federal agencies serve populations larger than most countries — VA alone reaches more people than the Netherlands. In that context, it’s not unrealistic for Americans to expect their digital interactions with government to match the intelligence and reliability of the private sector. They want a smarter, not bigger, government.
Denmark, Singapore and Switzerland prove that small nations can deliver big results with effective administration responsive service. The U.S. can do the same. Projects like VA.gov and the Air Force’s digital overhaul demonstrate that excellence is not only possible — it’s already underway. We just need the will to scale success. Digital excellence in government is within reach, if we design with clarity of mission, institutional flexibility and public trust.
Roslyn Layton is a visiting researcher at Aalborg University’s Faculty of IT and Design, where she studies the political economy of broadband networks for digital industries and e-government. Her research helps leaders at the federal, state and local levels make informed decisions about digital services, infrastructure and efficiency.
