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Honoring the Best in a Workforce 'Under Siege'

A Treasury Department investigator and two groundbreaking engineers will receive annual awards for government service, which come at a time of peak anxiety for federal employees.
Source: Aaron Clamage / Partnership for Public Service / Flickr

One Treasury Department sleuth led a team that traced an IRS impersonation scam all the way to India, leading to dozens of federal indictments.

A 28-year-old Marine Corps engineer designed the next generation of body armor, literally taking weight off the shoulders of U.S. combat troops.

And a researcher who found himself wheelchair-bound as a young man has spent his career inventing new technologies that have transformed the lives of millions of disabled veterans and civilians alike—including his own.

Those are a few of the winners of the 2017 civil-service awards known as the Sammies, given out annually by the nonprofit Partnership for Public Service. The idea behind the honors is to recognize a federal workforce that is more often criticized than lauded. And this year’s awards come at a precarious moment for federal employees, who must contend with a Republican Congress bent on slashing the size of government and a new president who won after ridiculing the men and women who make it run.

Max Stier, the Partnership’s president and CEO, told

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