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Unveiled Tales: Secret Contributions of Daily Government Workers that Change History and Save Lives

Unveiling Secret Tales of Government Employees That Could Revolutionize Your Perspective on Public...
Unveiling Secret Tales of Government Employees That Could Revolutionize Your Perspective on Public Servants Permanently

Below is a rephrased version of the given text:

In the realm of government agencies, there are countless untold stories of innovation, preservation, and exploration. Let's delve into some of these captivating narratives.

The National Cemetery Administration, a crucial part of the United States Department of Veterans Affairs, recently conducted the burial of an unknown soldier, Staff Sergeant Robert Ferris Jr., who was repatriated and identified 81 years after his death. The Administration, which maintains the graves of veterans from the Revolutionary War to recent casualties from Iraq and Afghanistan, employs 2,300 people across 155 national cemeteries and conducts over 140,000 burials of military veterans annually.

The National Cemetery Administration also offers an apprenticeship program for homeless veterans, providing training in cemetery maintenance and guaranteeing a job at a national cemetery upon completion. This initiative, spearheaded by Ron Walters, the acting undersecretary for Memorial Affairs, who oversees the Administration, is a testament to the Agency's commitment to supporting those who have served our country.

Meanwhile, the National Archives, established in 1934 by Franklin Roosevelt to preserve and protect government records, has since expanded its mission to driving transparency and strengthening democracy through equitable access to government records. The Archives, under the leadership of Pamela Wright, the inaugural chief innovation officer, has made significant strides in making archives accessible and searchable on mobile devices and recruiting volunteers to digitize and organize government records.

One such initiative is the Citizen Archivist program, which has enlisted volunteers to transcribe over three million catalog pages, deciphering faded handwriting in painstaking detail. Another is History Hub, launched by Wright in 2016, a free digital reference service that allows citizens worldwide to submit queries about government records and receive answers from archivists, federal staff, and volunteers.

Elsewhere in the government sector, the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, a facility of NASA, has been pushing boundaries in space exploration since 1936. Building and launching satellites, probes, and telescopes, and conducting research on Mars, the moon, and other planets, the Laboratory continues to inspire awe and advance our understanding of the universe.

One of the exciting projects underway at NASA is the Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope, scheduled to launch in 2027. This telescope, which will have a panoramic view 100 times wider than the Hubble Space Telescope and be capable of discovering unknown planets, will use advanced coronagraph technology for starlight suppression to identify exoplanets with atmospheres, water reserves, and essential elements like carbon, methane, and oxygen.

In other areas of government service, the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) agent Jarod Koopman heads up a cybercrime investigation unit that provides breakthrough evidence in major investigations involving ransomware, human trafficking, terrorist funding, and child exploitation, all through tracing cryptocurrency transactions.

Lastly, it's worth mentioning the remarkable stories of civil servants like Chris Mark, a former coal miner who joined the Bureau of Mines in 1987 and worked to prevent deaths from roof falls in mines. By 2016, he had achieved his goal of no recorded deaths from roof falls in US mines. Similarly, Vanessa Bailey, a NASA scientist, directly photographed an exoplanet called HD 106906 b while studying astronomy at the University of Arizona.

Michael Lewis's book "Who Is Government?" tells these and many other untold stories of civil servants who work in various departments and agencies, including cybersleuths, archivists, and space researchers. These stories serve as a reminder of the vital role government agencies play in our lives, from preserving our history to exploring the cosmos and ensuring the safety and well-being of our citizens.

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