{"id":3811,"date":"2026-10-13T13:59:39","date_gmt":"2026-10-13T13:59:39","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/horizonpublicservice.org\/?p=3811"},"modified":"2026-10-13T14:09:24","modified_gmt":"2026-10-13T14:09:24","slug":"fellow-qa-ashley-nagel","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/horizonpublicservice.org\/fellow-qa-ashley-nagel\/","title":{"rendered":"Fellow Q&A: Ashley Nagel"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

This is part of our fellow Q&A series to give prospective applicants and other interested audiences a glimpse at what it\u2019s like to be a Horizon Fellow.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n

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What path brought you to the<\/strong> Horizon Fellowship, and what made you want to apply?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

I used to work at Apple as a software engineer. My background is in engineering; I studied electrical engineering and worked as a software engineer for close to eight years. I have always enjoyed problem-solving, but, especially during COVID, I started to feel dissatisfied with the kinds of problems I was solving. I wanted to do something more oriented toward public service.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

My default plan was to go back to school for a second master’s degree. I already had one in electrical engineering, but I was going to get another in policy, with some kind of concentration in technology policy. Fortunately, I ran into one of your former colleagues at a conference. He told me about this brand-new fellowship program that was placing technologists on the Hill, in the executive branch, or at think tanks to do direct policy work.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

That sounded pretty cool, but I did not expect to get in. I applied on a whim, and here I am. I think it ultimately came from a desire to pivot from building technology to understanding how society can adopt and use it responsibly. The fast-paced development of AI, plus having too much time during COVID to sit around and read, pushed me further in that direction.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What did you work on during your fellowship placement, and what did the role involve in practice?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

I was very fortunate to place with Sen. Brian Schatz<\/a>, representing the beautiful state of Hawaii. I worked alongside Will Poff-Webster<\/a>, who is now at the Institute for Progress<\/a>. He was an excellent mentor during my first six months in the office.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I worked on AI policy throughout my placement. In the final six months or so, I began focusing more exclusively on congressional modernization.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In practice, the role involved writing memos, conducting research, drafting and combining legislation, preparing questions for hearings, drafting letters, taking stakeholder meetings, and meeting with other offices. I helped combine two related AI literacy proposals into the Artificial Intelligence Public Awareness and Education Campaign Act<\/a>, a bipartisan bill backed by Sens. Schatz, Todd Young, Mark Kelly, and Mike Rounds. I also worked on the AI Labeling Act<\/a> with Will.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Every day was pretty different. That’s the fun thing about working on the Hill: you’re never bored. In my case, I was probably constantly overstimulated. There is so much information to absorb. When you’re not researching, drafting, or meeting with people, you’re trying to keep up with the news cycle, developments in AI, changes in the administration, international relations, and everything else. There is never a dull moment on the Hill.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

You spent the final six months of your fellowship working extensively on congressional modernization. What inspired you to focus on congressional capacity during your placement?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

It was a combination of things. Because I worked in software engineering, I have always been interested in DevOps, optimizing and operationalizing processes so that engineers don’t have to spend their time on mundane tasks that add little value and aren’t intellectually stimulating. I find eliminating those tasks interesting. Doing the manual labor itself is not fun for anyone. I think this is partly just my personality; I am fundamentally impatient in some ways.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

That combined with the fact that many people are frustrated with Congress. You hear people talk about it all the time, both on and off the Hill, yet not many people seem focused on improving Congress as a workplace and institution. How can Congress improve its ability to take in information from many sources, channel that information through a deliberative process, build consensus, and move policy forward? Many things get in the way or add noise, taking members’ and staffers’ attention away from the highest-value work: thinking critically about the issues at hand and what is best for their constituents.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Being in the minority also played a role. You don’t have as much ability to move things across the finish line, so I began thinking more about how we could improve the institution itself.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We use the term \u201cmodernization\u201d a lot. Because my background is in technology, I tend to approach it through that lens, but congressional modernization is much broader than technology. It includes procedural reform, greater resources and funding for members and staff, investments in support agencies, and even, to some extent, campaign-finance reform. The more time members spend campaigning, the less time they can spend legislating and thinking about policy. Technology is only one component of the field, although it is the one I am best suited to work on.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

There is a core problem with how Congress functions today. The country faces dozens of high-priority issues, all of which need attention, but Congress has the capacity to address only a small number at a time. Imagine that ten fires need to be put out. Congress may be able to focus on only the three most urgent ones.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The traditional advocacy strategy is to make your issue one of those top three. In AI policy, that means doing whatever it takes to get into the media, meet with members, and amplify debate around your issue. That can be a sensible, lower-risk strategy, especially if you are worried about risks looming in the short term.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But I would love to see more people pursue another strategy: How can we build a Congress capable of addressing issues seven through ten, the problems that aren’t on fire right now but are causing slow, cumulative damage? Historically, we have done a bad job of addressing those issues. Data privacy may be the clearest example. For roughly twenty years, Congress has struggled to act because it is not ultimately the top issue for anyone, even though it is probably among the top ten issues for almost everyone. Social Security reform is another example.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

AI concentration of power will be a major version of this problem. It will happen gradually. I agree completely with Dean Ball’s recent discussion of concentration-of-power risks<\/a> in AI Futures<\/em>. Congress’s current weakness is already exacerbating the concentration-of-power problem. If we could build its capacity to address long-term, slow-burning problems, AI concentration of power could be one of the problems it is better equipped to confront.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What are you working on now, and how did your Horizon experience shape the path you took after the fellowship?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

I certainly would not be doing what I’m doing now without the Horizon Fellowship. I work for POPVOX Foundation<\/a> as Senior Manager for Government Innovation. I have the privilege and good fortune to continue thinking about a problem I care deeply about and would probably be thinking about anyway.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

POPVOX does its best to help Congress address what we call the pacing problem<\/a>. You can think of technological development as following an exponential curve: new technology enables people to develop still better technology. Legislatures’ ability to understand and govern technology, by contrast, improves much more slowly. That widening gap is the pacing problem.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We do whatever we can to help close that gap. That includes training staff to use AI, conducting research, and demonstrating new tools that could help congressional staff do their work.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It can be difficult for staffers to get their hands on new technology, and vendors cannot simply approach them and try to sell them products. There may be good reasons for that, but it means that the average staffer may not have much exposure to how technology could make their work easier or more streamlined.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We try to bridge that gap by showing staffers open-source tools and other solutions that we are not trying to sell them. We can say, \u201cHere is a tool. See how useful it could be for you.\u201d If they want something like it, they can advocate for it and identify an appropriate commercial or open-source solution.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What was it like transitioning from technology to policy?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

It was hard, actually, and harder than I expected. It wasn’t because I needed to learn new things. I can learn new things. The challenge was adjusting to the social norms and management style of a congressional office after working in technology: what you are and aren’t allowed to say, political sensitivities, and accidentally saying things without realizing that someone else has a strong negative opinion about them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I felt like a fish out of water for a long time. I like to think I have some sense of it now and am generally doing better.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Horizon was absolutely great at providing a support network and resources for strangers in a strange land like me. Fellows could meet one another and collectively feel that we had each other’s backs. Before we fully immersed ourselves in the political culture of D.C., we could support each other in a nonpolitical and nonpartisan way.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

That is a great and unusual thing. If I hadn’t had it when I first came to the Hill, I think I might have run away screaming. I am very appreciative of the community Horizon has built for fellows like me.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The transition is really about learning the language and customs of D.C., then the more specific customs of the Hill, and then the customs of your particular office, which may be more specific still. You have to learn to adapt and, in some ways, not stick out like a sore thumb.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What advice would you give someone considering<\/strong> applying for the Horizon Fellowship?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

First, you should definitely apply, even if you don’t think you’re a strong candidate. I did not expect to be here. I applied anyway, and here I am.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In your application, highlight what you are uniquely passionate about. Even if your experience doesn’t seem directly related to AI, biosecurity, or another emerging-technology policy field, Horizon values people who show that they can take initiative, learn things on their own, and be agentic.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Especially if you want to work on the Hill, demonstrate that you are a good communicator, don’t use a ton of jargon, and are easygoing and personable. Show that you have self-motivated, self-directed interests.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What do people commonly misunderstand about Congress?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

So many things. Congress operates with a tiny fraction of the resources available to the executive branch, but it is responsible for overseeing the entire executive branch in addition to everything else it does.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Staffers are paid very little. Members also earn less than they could in the private sector. I am not here to be a major champion for increasing member pay, but I am a major champion for increasing staff pay. Junior staffers earn very little even though they work extremely hard and know a great deal. That can honestly feel a little exploitative.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

People sometimes assume that anyone who works in Congress is a bloodsucker who can’t be trusted, some nefarious or manipulative person. That isn’t true at all. For the most part, congressional staffers are hardworking people doing their best in a highly resource-constrained environment with outdated technology and low pay.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

People also misunderstand recess. Members aren’t necessarily on vacation. They are usually back in their states or districts, speaking with constituents and meeting local stakeholders, or they may be campaigning. Members spend a huge amount of time campaigning as elections approach, which takes away from their ability to focus on policymaking.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For the most part, I don’t think members are lazy or dumb, certainly not across the board. They are held to sometimes impossible standards. People forget that they are human beings with families and lives outside work. On top of that, they must attend committee hearings and markups, vote, meet with stakeholders, and perform a million other duties.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Are there misconceptions about the kinds of people who can thrive in Congress or do a good job there? <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Being extremely partisan is not useful. It will drive away potential collaborators. Even when your party is in the majority, there are many reasons to want the minority on your side. Legislation usually needs bipartisan support to pass through committee. If you don’t have bipartisan support and the other party takes control of a chamber, your bill may simply be dead on arrival.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

If you want your work to be durable and survive across Congresses, you need to be capable of working across the aisle with people with whom you may not agree on everything. There are probably at least a handful of things you can agree on, and those are the issues on which you can work together and pass legislation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Is there anything else you would like readers to know about?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

I want to make a shameless plug for a project I’m working on at POPVOX Foundation called H3: A Three Horizons Vision for Congress<\/a>. We are trying to map the ideas that shape the congressional-capacity and congressional-modernization landscape.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

If you have ideas about how Congress could be improved, modernized, optimized, or made more capable, I would love for you to explore the project and submit your ideas<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Ashley was an AI Fellow, Congressional Track, in the office of Sen. Brian Schatz (D-HI). 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