30 May 2025

Challenging the status quo: Security specialist develops app for Army Protection Program

Challenging the status quo isn’t easy for everyone. For some, being able to identify areas for improvement and finding solutions comes naturally. For Jason Smith, finding solutions to problems and inefficiencies in the workplace is something he learned early in his career and is now part of his work philosophy. “I started as a civil servant 20 years ago and even when I was in the [National Guard], you have people with a mission,” said Smith, security specialist at the Kansas City District, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. “If you make it easier for people to do their job by helping them out with their processes, it makes the mission easier and that makes people happier.”

1 May 2025

‘We represent the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers’: Office of Counsel an essential element to engineering excellence

Attorneys, paralegals and other legal support staff are probably not the first jobs that come to mind when thinking of a large engineering organization. At the Kansas City District, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, the Office of Counsel plays a vital role in the district’s ability to execute its many missions — albeit sometimes in the background. Practicing what is known as preventative law, the Office of Counsel is typically not the face of the Kansas City District. However, they play a critical role representing the legal position and rights of USACE as an organization and are engaged in the planning and design phase of many of the district’s projects to ensure smooth and effective execution from project conception to completion.