FedScoop

Hot Scoop: Telework in the News

There’s been a ton of news on FedScoop this week over federal telework programs and the progress of telework legislation currently stalled in congress.  Check out some of the stories below following the telework trend, as well as FedScoop’s own telework study, published last month.

Telework is vital to government operations, chiefs say

(Government Executive)

Despite indications that telework is losing momentum in government, top executives at five agencies promoted the practice and said managers should make it possible for more employees to work from home.

“There’s a lot of talk about the trouble of commuting to work, but to me the real national security issue is if we had something that disrupted the ability of the federal workforce to get to the office, could we continue to provide the services of government? I think you’d find that many departments and agencies would have problems,” said John Streufert, deputy chief information officer for information security at the State Department.

Read More

Rethinking the workplace in the 21st century

(Washington Post Blog)

Sometimes the sign of good leadership is an ability to see challenges as opportunities rather than roadblocks to success.

Case in point: telework.

It can be tempting as a manager to assume that workers who are not present are not productive. One agency head recently told one of my colleagues: “People come to the office and do nothing. I want those kinds of employees inconvenienced by having to come into the office. I don’t want them working in the comfort of their homes.”

Yet, with the ever-increasing demands on government, leaders must learn to adapt to the new century and start rethinking when, how and where work is done. The bottom line is simple: it’s not where you are, but what gets accomplished that counts.

While a great deal has been written about the benefits to individuals, avoiding long commutes and improving work-life balance, implementing an effective telework arrangement can save the government money on overhead, provide better citizen services by extending hours, ensure continuity of operations during regional and national emergencies and improve worker performance.

Read More

Manager buy-in remains the biggest telework challenge

(Federal News Radio)

With legislation to expand teleworking pending in Congress, and backing from the White House and the Office of Personnel Management, you might think that getting more and more federal workers to do more of their jobs away from their offices might be just around the corner.

But you’d be wrong-at least according to several experts.

Kurt Vondran, a legislative representative for the National Treasury Employees Union, says no matter how many executive orders the White House issues, how many laws Congress passes, or how many well-meaning pronouncements from Cabinet officials, nothing will matter unless agency managers buy-in to the idea that telework is an operational advantage.

And he says NTEU’s efforts to negotiate telework agreements with agencies, such as the IRS, provide a good launch pad for discussions about getting federal managers to say “yes” on telework.

“We had discussions with them over proposals to save space,” says Vondran during a panel discussion on teleworking during a program sponsored by the Coalition for Effective Change, Thursday at the Partnership for Public Service in Washington.

Read More

Efficient, user-friendly bureaucracy? With USA.gov, we’re getting there.

At a recent Brookings Institution panel, US CTO Aneesh Chopra acknowledged that “While our culture celebrates that ‘there’s an app for that’, in Washington we still reside in a culture where…“there’s a form for that.”  Last week, the GSA made strides towards improving civilian engagement with bureaucracy with the release of its newly revamped one-stop shop for all things government.  The USA.gov site now provides a sleek new portal for users to easily access some 10,000 online government services and websites.  Plugged with the tagline, “Government made easy”, the site  — powered by Bing and Microsoft Enterprise Search — combines speed and simplicity to achieve a user experience that is superior to that of its predecessors.

The site’s homepage includes links to popular searches (topping today’s list: Lottery Results, Unemployment Extension and Passport Renewal, which leads me to suspect the nation’s masses are winning jackpot millions, quitting their jobs and touring the world) as well as indexes that allow users to search topics by local, state or federal government.  Best of all, the main search is far more specific and helpful in accessing government services than a Google search: Looking up “Birth Certificates” on USA.gov will lead you to a Vital Records Homepage, whereas a Google search of the same thing yields a heap of sponsored links to dubiously rated 3rd party service sites.

In addition to improving search processes, the new site showcases 17 new government mobile apps; among them, a Product Recall App that allows consumers can search products for recalls and safety concerns, an Alternative Fuel Locator App and an EPA App that send users alerts on local UV index and air quality ratings.  As yet, the site does not include 3rd party apps, but US CIO Vivek Kundra has said the agency is considering these for inclusion in the future.  Currently, over 110 additional government apps are currently in development for the site.

For more information about the site and its features, check out these recent stories from the scoop.

USA.gov gets an Overhaul (Federal Times)

The New USA.gov: Enhanced Search, Mobile Applications, Easier to Use (Federal Computer Week)

Mobile Health Management Apps Debut on Revamped Federal Website (eWeek)

CIO’s Weigh In on OMB’s Push For Increased IT Program Scrutiny

In recent weeks, the OMB has issued a number of initiatives to increase scrutiny over IT programs across federal agencies, eliminating those which prove ineffective or redundant.  In addition to halting the progress of all financial system modernization projects pending OMB review, federal CIO Vivek Kundra has said he will be reviewing high-risk IT projects for the 2012 budget.  All of this is part of a broader effort by the administration to close the IT gap between the federal and private sectors; while private industry has seen a high productivity return on IT investments, the federal government has not.

Yesterday, a panel of top government CIO’s met at a leadership briefing breakfast to discuss management and vision, and reflected on the OMB’s recent efforts.

In all, the IT leaders agreed that increased scrutiny around IT programs would shine a spotlight on waste and force programs to prove their functionality and efficacy from a business perspective:

Susan Swart, Chief Information Officer, Department of State

“The OMB’s focus on project management has made, in general, the execution of project management better; I think there is still room for improvement and I like the idea that came out in the memo, not just in the financial systems, but the whole idea of …rapid turnaround and all of that.  I think one of the things that hinders that from happening, even with good project managers is that there is no reward for risk taking that doesn’t work out. You can’t really take a risk, and say, ‘I’m going to do this, I’m going to do it quickly and put it out and if it doesn’t work I’m going to try again.’ That’s a whole new way of thinking.  I also think that a project is successful if it delivered the functionality that you wanted. [For example], the state department shouldn’t build a weapons system. It doesn’t matter how well we could build it, it shouldn’t have built that in the first place.  So, I think that a lot of the decision making and responsibility around IT projects needs to be done better, that at the beginning we need to say, ‘is that the right project?’ and ‘is it going to deliver the functionality that we need?’ and ‘who says we need it? How is it ranked against other priorities?’ If those things were done better, I think we would have better success in what we deliver at the end.”

….

“TechStat was one of the worst experiences of my life, but I will say that it worked.  We had two projects that should have been combined into one; they were doing duplicative work and that visibility and getting the business owners — not their IT project managers — up there to talk about it and take responsibility for it worked out great. And that visibility, and getting a broader audience paying attention across all those initiatives has been an advantage.”

Richard Spires, CIO, Department of Homeland Security

“It goes back to the empowerment of the CIO; if they won’t listen to us, then they’ll certainly listen to the OMB.  Maybe there’s too much, in a sense, there’s a lot coming out of the OMB.  That being said, I do think that particularly the stuff that’s come out this week is spot-on. I have real issues with programs in the Department of Homeland Security, and getting the focus on them… makes a difference, and gets the visibility and gets the business involved in ways that maybe they haven’t been involved…Generally, I’m very supportive of this. I think its helping the government better manage IT.”

…

“There’s great power in transparency…It helps build trust, it helps focus attention, and serves as an early warning, to see problems before they’re so far down the road that they’re really hard to fix.  So, there’s great power in transparency and that can’t help but help everyone … In the end, though, its all about where you focus; its strategic intent, strategic direction, putting the right tools into place and holding people accountable, where problems get solved and people are held accountable.  And you can apply that model to wherever you live.”

Joe Klimavic, CIO; and Director, High Performance Computing and Communications, NOAA

“I think we’re seeing a tremendous push toward program accountability.  What Roger Baker’s doing over at VA with PMAS is something we’ve got to do in all the different departments.  I think what I try to do with out strategic alignment of our acquisitions… is to give better transparency of our investments that we’re making in IT, and I think that’s critical; it’s ‘where do you spend the money?’ and ‘what are you getting for those investments?’ The high-level scrutiny is much like the standards of learning in school systems. It levels the playing field, and when you shine a light on these programs you have to have better program management. The CIO is still going to have a choice though, of how they operate and how they manage programs, but I think we need to push the accountability down to the lowest level, and that’s what we’re trying to do at NOAA. The other thing is a focus on metrics, and what you measure really does get done. What I’ve been trying to do is get the metrics in place.”

****

What are your thoughts on the OMB’s latest war on waste?  Does it threaten innovation and risk-taking or force new programs to ‘make the grade’? Share your thoughts!

No more remembering (or forgetting) user-id passwords online?

FedScoop.com is abuzz today with news that the Obama administration has released a draft of its National Strategy for Trusted Identities in Cyberspace (NSTIC) laying out its cybersecurity-focused identity management vision.

White House Cybersecurity Coordinator Howard Schmidt said during a keynote address at Symantec’s Government Symposium last week that this comprehensive strategy to move away from user-id password authentication would improve online transactions for government, industry and private citizens alike.

“There is a business requirement to do security,” Schmidt said. “We must ensure the ability to conduct transactions…[and] interact with the government in a very secure manner, where private and civil liberties are protected — and you can only do that with some of these things we’re looking at from an ID perspective.”

The draft, created in response to a requirement laid out in the President’s Cyberspace Policy Review, will be open for review and comment until July 19^th at www.nstic.ideascale.com.  A final NSTIC draft is expected to be finalized by this fall.

Other resources to check out for more information on the draft:

The National Strategy for Trusted Identities in Cyberspace (White House Blog)

‘Identity ecosystem’ to replace passwords, draft strategy suggests (Federal Computer Week)

White House drafting plan for cyberspace safety (CNet News)

US Outlines Security Strategy for Online Identity (eWeek.com)

Weighing In: Cybersecurity Legislation

New Cybersecurity legislation cleared a congressional hurdle yesterday when the Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs approved the Protecting Cyberspace as a National Asset Act. The legislation would, among other things, establish a White House Office for Cyberspace Policy to advise the President on policy issues, as well as a National Center for Cybersecurity and Communications at the Department of Homeland Security to fortify that agency’s capability and authority.

Of primary concern to those opposing the act is a clause widely referred to as the “kill switch” (S. 3480), which effectively grants the President authority to shut down the internet in the event of a cyber attack.

In response to this and other concerns surrounding the legislation, the committee released a factual overview of the bill.  The report counters that rather than granting executive authority, it instead places limits on the President’s currently unchecked authority, granted under the Communications Act of 1934, allowing the President to “cause the closing of any facility or station for wire communication”.

FedScoop’s feeds have been ripe with blogger input on the legislation, check out some of the opinions below and share your thoughts!  (Also, for the full scoop on yesterday’s committee vote, check out Gautham Nagesh’s coverage in for The Hill’s HilliconValley tech blog.)

• As I hit the kill switch, now that’s how you let the beat build … (Ezra Klein, Washington Post)
• Killing the Internet (Tony Kontzer CIO Insight.com)
• What if the internet fell over tomorrow? (Gordon Ferrer, SMH.com)
• Proposed cybersecurity bill: stop calling it a “Kill Switch” (Drew Armorosi, InfoSecurity)
• Cyber-security legislation seeks emergency powers (Pam Benson, CNN)

Government Meet the Citizens; the Role of Social Strategies in the Government by Kevin Pashchuck, Vice President of Public Sector, RightNow Technologies

Today’s citizens are technologically sophisticated, always connected, and expect around-the-clock support, no matter where they are or what they are doing. They expect that their experience with an agency will remain consistent and feel seamless as they traverse social and traditional channels, like it often does with commercial brands. As a result, agencies are under pressure not only to quickly identify strategies and technologies to keep up with the increasing number of citizens trying to interact with them on the social web, but also to ensure that social efforts are part of their cohesive citizen experience strategies – all with less resources than their commercial counterparts.

Social media is the fastest growing channel where citizens are engaging with government agencies, and it demands real-time attention.  In a recent Harris Survey sponsored by RightNow, when asked how U.S. government agencies could improve the way citizens interact with them, respondents sited online communities or branded forums (54%) and an increased presence on social sites (34%) as top reasons. With social concepts quickly taking over as the best way to engage with the government, agencies need to establish the most effective ways to manage these new channels to meet their unique agency needs while managing security requirements at the same time.

The next frontier in government is thinking about these social media tools as a necessary response to citizen centered innovation driven by the convergence of business applications and social media platforms, the semantic web (self learning knowledge and technology) and personalization. But in order for social citizen experience strategies to really take off in the government sector, expect to see a heavier focus on measuring the social citizen experience and the return on investment associated with implementing social tools. Let’s take a closer look at how agencies can be more social in their citizen experience initiatives:

1) Citizen centered innovation. The primary concept here is engaging with citizens to allow them to drive innovation – let’s call this citizen powered innovation.  Government agencies can leverage the citizen to help improve the service, support and information they provide.  Citizens have strong opinions and great ideas – why not let them work to help identify new business processes, and help submit, share and pilot ideas to further refine them before putting into practice? Tactical speaking, citizens can assist in knowledge creation and maintenance by commenting on and rating answers that appears in an organization’s  knowledge base.  Agencies can continue to encourage this by syncing answers from their communities and forums as well. 

2) Convergence of business applications and social media platforms. The contact center is a prime location for the convergence of business applications with social media platforms.  Agencies’ contact centers need to listen to conversations that are taking place on social sites like Twitter, Facebook, and YouTube etc. and have the ability to engage in the conversation as appropriate.  As Andrea DiMaio states  “(“real” engagement) is about figuring out where citizens are already having conversations that government needs to be aware of. It is about bringing information and dialogue to places where citizens want that dialogue to happen: their blogs, their Facebook groups, their Twitter streams.”

Agencies that are more vigilant about conversations happening on the social web can scan and automatically route content to the appropriate next step (publish, moderate, or discard) based on the sentiment of the post. An example of this would be a citizen posting a comment on Twitter stating “I’m stuck in Italy, lost my passport & the State Dept does not have a 24 hr hotline.  Please help. #gov.”  Agencies can use social monitoring tools to immediately route this tweet into the contact center so an agent can immediately begin solving the problem.  Moreover, a reply can be tweeted stating that “Hello, I’m with the State Department and I see you need help.  Please feel free to contact me at .”

3) Personalization and the semantic web. Agencies need to get to know the individual citizen to provide a more personalized experience.  Each interaction with an agency should be captured and a contact history developed.  Agencies need to do more than simply track the questions they’ve been asked and address information citizens have already searched for, by  extending this further to  allow citizens to participate in forums and communities of interest.  Once a history is established, agencies are better equipped to evaluate citizen participation.  For example, if someone posts something positive – say “thank you.” Or if they are expressing unhappiness, the agency can use this information to open a support ticket to help. If incorrect facts are being circulated – provide correct information. If they have correct facts – use social tools to share the facts with others to amplify the conversation. At the very least, just monitoring social channels helps agencies stay one step ahead of a call for action.

4) Measure Return of Investment. Agencies can measure successful social citizen experiences in many tangible ways.  For instance, support costs can be decreased by allowing citizen-to-citizen help through a forum. What’s cheaper than a channel that does not require any direct contact with your agency?  How about the free collaboration that the citizens can provide? Certainly it’s more cost effective than a multi-million dollar RFP.  Finally there are the savings around delivering proactive citizen support by monitoring and joining conversations, in addition to routing citizens to self-service applications that are far less expensive than traditional contact centers.

Alan Webber with Altimeter Group recently pointed out that “organizational and cultural shifts take time, effort, resources, and work to be successful – not hype,” and I believe this is representative of the government’s exploration of social technologies at this point in time.  Even just a few years ago it was commonplace for citizens to accept and even expect poor citizen experiences when interacting with federal agencies. As more and more social networks, platforms, and communities become widely used, citizens will continue to interact with their government agencies as they do in the commercial world.  And those agencies that find a way to implement a citizen experience strategy that allows for massive social engagement will increase internal productivity, operate with more efficiency and raise citizen satisfaction.

About RightNow Government

RightNow is a leader in bringing the cloud delivery model to government clients and has successfully served the U.S. government for more than ten years.  170 government clients have already implemented RightNow’s cloud based solutions including Center for Medicaid Services, Department of Agriculture, Department of Homeland Security, Department of Energy, Department of State, Department of Treasury, Department of Veterans Affairs, Environmental Protection Agency, Federal Aviation Administration, General Services Administration, Housing and Urban Development, Health and Human Services, Social Security Administration, United States Postal Service, American Forces Information System, Defense Travel Management Office, Future Combat Systems, National Security Agency, and United States Marine Corps to name a few.

About RightNow

RightNow is helping rid the world of bad experiences one consumer interaction at a time, seven million times a day. RightNow CX, the customer experience suite, helps organizations deliver exceptional customer experiences across the web, social networks and contact centers, all delivered via the cloud. With more than eight billion customer interactions delivered, RightNow is the customer experience fabric for nearly 2000 organizations around the globe. To learn more about RightNow, go to www.rightnow.com.

White House Execs: There’s (Going to Be) an App For That

White House IT executives met to speak on the administration’s strategy for encouraging technical innovation in the federal government at the Brookings Institution this morning.

U.S. CTO Aneesh Chopra, U.S CIO Vivek Kundra and Senior NEC Advisor Phil Weiser outlined a holistic approach to “bridge the culture gap between consumers and government.”

“While our culture celebrates that ‘there’s an app for that’, in Washington we still reside in a culture where… “there’s a form for that,” Chopra told a conference room of DC attendees among whom not one owned a Farmville account (a discovery made when Weiser conducted an informal show of hands).

3 Tiered Strategy:

The panel presented a three-tiered Presidential strategy for reforming the federal system of bureaucratic paper-pushing. Chief priority, Chopra said, is investing in the building blocks of innovation — namely, infrastructure that will support a technical future based on cloud computing and mobility. This, he said, involves working with the FCC to reform and expand broadband access to all Americans through programs like the “Beta Block” R&D initiative, which seeks to deliver 1 gigabyte to the poorest American homes.

“Cloud computing rests on broadband technology,” Kundra said. “Getting as many people connected as possible is one of the great challenges of our administration.”

Second step of the White House strategy: spur productive entrepreneurship through competitive markets.  The panelists outlined various cash-for-apps competitions that federal agencies have sponsored that encourage entrepreneurship by offering rewards for individuals who come up with the most effective, cost-saving or inventive apps. Recent examples of this trend include the USDA’s Apps for Healthy Kids, Gov 2.0 Apps for Army, the DARPA Network Challenge and the i6 EDA program, among others.

Kundra contextualized this strategy as part of a “global movement to democratize data” and compared the Data.gov approach to Apple’s strategy of creating the iTunes platform to enable private individuals to create the applications.

“With this platform, we have seen 3rd parties create value at the intersections of various data sets,” Kundra said. The Data.gov platform currently supports 250,000 applications.

Finally, the top tier of the Presidential strategy outlined methods for “catalyzing breakthroughs for national priorities”, a strategy which seeks public input on what projects the administration targets with its new arsenal of tech.  Chopra cited healthcare IT specifications to allow easy, secure sharing of medical records as one such pressing issue, and said that a pilot program will be tested in June.

The event, “Improving Science and Technology Innovation in the United States”, was part of the inaugural A. Alfred Taubman Forum.

Intel and Microsoft Tap FedScoop for Online Cloud Computing Campaign

Earlier this week we announced that Intel and Microsoft will be sponsoring an educational campaign focused on the present and future possibilities of cloud computing called, “Minds in the Cloud.” Each week, for 25 weeks, new High Definition (HD) interviews of influential technologists from the government, non-profit, and private sectors discussing their views on the importance of the cloud will be posted to http://mindsinthecloud.org.

Initial interviews include those of Aneesh Chopra (Federal CTO), Linda Cureton (CIO, NASA), Tim O’Reilly (O’Reilly Media Group), Nigel Ballard (Federal Marketing Director, Intel), and Teresa Carlson (VP, Microsoft Federal).
IT spending on cloud computing is increasing, with 16 billion USD spent in 2008 and 42 billion USD forecasted by 2012. With Minds in the Cloud, viewers will be able to understand more fully why cloud computing services are becoming increasingly important, and what the future may hold for citizens, businesses, and the government as this shift occurs. Candid discussion of issues related to privacy, data portability, standards development, and the social implications of cloud computing will be discussed.

Viewers are encouraged to visit http://mindsinthecloud.org to watch the latest interview, as well as to follow http://www.twitter.com/mindsinthecloud for notifications about new episodes as they become available. Minds in the Cloud will be capturing interviews across the United States in Q1 and Q2; if you’re a subject matter expert in this area, please feel free to reach out to setup an interview.

2010 Cybersecurity Outlook: Formidable Challenges, But An Expanding Arsenal With Which To Face Them

Senior Vice President for Public Sector, McAfee

2010: It’s here already — and, as with every new year, it brings with it lots of promise and, inevitably, a few challenges, too. That’s certainly the case in the area of cybersecurity.

If 2009 was a year in which we saw cybercrime expand as never before, then 2010 looks almost certain to see an increase in threats — especially as related to government networks, social networking sites, banking security, and botnets, as well as attacks targeting users, businesses, and popular applications.

And now for the good news…

While 2010 will see us facing the same level of cyber issues we faced 2009 (albeit with the inevitable new twists), we can also expect to see an increase in the overall effectiveness of government, business and law enforcement — powered by innovative new technologies — to combat cybercrime.

With that dynamic — formidable challenges, but an increasingly powerful arsenal with which to face them — in mind, let’s make a few “predictions” for the new year. After all, anticipating what lies ahead is the first — and most important —n step in achieving success in any challenge.

5 for ’10: Our Top Five Cybersecurity-Related Predictions for the Coming Year

1 — Social networking sites may not relate directly to government agencies, but their widespread use means they “matter” for any enterprise. As such, the most popular mediums, such as Facebook and Twitter, will face more sophisticated threats as the number of users grows. The explosion of applications on these outlets will be an ideal vector for cybercriminals, who will take advantage of friends trusting friends to click links they might otherwise treat cautiously.

2 — The expansion of HTML 5 will blur the line between desktop and online applications. This, along with the release of Google Chrome OS, will create another opportunity for malware writers to prey on users.

3 — Cybercriminals have long picked on Microsoft products due to their popularity. In 2010, we anticipate Adobe software, especially Acrobat Reader and Flash, will take the top spot.

4 — Banking Trojans will become more clever, sometimes interrupting a legitimate transaction to make an unauthorized withdrawal.

5 — Botnets will remain the leading infrastructure for cybercriminals, used for spamming to identity theft. However, recent successes in shutting down botnets will force their controllers to switch to alternate, less vulnerable methods of command, including peer-to-peer setups.

The Federal Angle

We often think of “civilian” applications and “government” applications, but the increasingly seamless nature of the world means the potential fallout of cybercrime knows no borders and does not distinguish between victims.

Given that reality, it is, inevitably, the U.S. government that has the most power to make positive changes — even if the collaborative role of the private sector, especially for technology development, is a vital one.

To that end, the U.S. government would be well served to create an entity that has the ability to transcend corporate competition. This will allow trust to be brokered and ultimately, relationships so the best counsel is provided to the national leadership before, during and after cyber attacks happen.

In addition, our leaders should focus on defining U.S. government cybersecurity standards through collaboration with the private sector, specifying process, performance criteria or functional specifications for best leveraging COTS technologies while not requiring specific products or technologies.

Of course, these aren’t the only measures that can — or should — be taken, but they represent a positive direction and, most importantly, reflect the borderless realities of the world in which we exist.

About McAfee Labs

McAfee Labs is the global research team of McAfee, Inc. With the only research organization devoted to all threat vectors— malware, web, email, network, and vulnerabilities—McAfee Labs gathers intelligence from its millions of sensors and its cloud-based reputation technologies such as Artemis and TrustedSource. McAfee Labs’ 350 multidisciplinary researchers in 30 countries follow the complete range of threats in real time, identifying application vulnerabilities, analyzing and correlating risks, and enabling instant remediation to protect enterprises and the public.

About McAfee, Inc.

McAfee, Inc., headquartered in Santa Clara, California, is the world’s largest dedicated security technology company. McAfee is relentlessly committed to tackling the world’s toughest security challenges. The company delivers proactive and proven solutions and services that help secure systems and networks around the world, allowing users to safely connect to the Internet, browse, and shop the web more securely. Backed by an award-winning research team, McAfee creates innovative products that empower home users, businesses, the public sector, and service providers by enabling them to prove compliance with regulations, protect data, prevent disruptions, identify vulnerabilities, and continuously monitor and improve their security. www.mcafee.com.

Cloud Computing Comes of Age

By Casey Coleman, CIO of GSA

The federal government spends more than $75 billion annually on information technology. Due to its size and critical mission requirements, feds have often lagged behind the commercial sector in embracing new technologies. With cloud computing, however, the federal government is leading the way.

From the earliest days of his Administration, President Obama along with his technology team focused on the importance of cloud computing as a key innovation that could reduce energy consumption and enhance agility within U.S. federal agencies. Federal Chief Information Officer Vivek Kundra laid out a vision for cloud computing that addresses the “Five Pillars” of the government’s IT agenda: citizen engagement, reducing the cost of government operations, driving innovation, transparency, and cybersecurity.

Many other governments around the world are getting on the cloud now. They are interested in the United States’ lessons learned and future vision. In a short time, federal agencies collaboratively created a formal definition for cloud computing; launched the first government cloud storefront, Apps.gov; created a federal cloud computing program and governance structure; and began addressing critical success factors such as security, portability and interoperability, and education and awareness.

Cloud computing is truly a game-changing development. A few examples:

• The cloud’s scalability implies that government agencies no longer need worry about reaching the limits of their digital capacity. By transitioning to the cloud, agencies tap into an infrastructure that is as flexible as their needs are varied. 
• Cloud solutions encourage cross-agency collaboration and help government perform better for the American people.
• The federal government’s commitment to cloud computing signals to private industry that smart technology solutions are the future of government.

The General Services Administration experienced many of these benefits by moving the federal portal, USA.gov, to the cloud. GSA wanted to reduce costs and add scalability and flexibility to USA.gov in order to meet emerging citizen needs. Using a traditional IT procurement, it would likely have required six months to upgrade USA.gov to keep up with growing traffic, at a cost of approximately $2.47 million per year. In a cloud environment, GSA is able to perform upgrades in one day at an annual cost of $806,000. The transition significantly lowers GSA’s costs and improves the scalability of USA.gov, saving taxpayers $1.7 million annually.

Of course, the private sector is a vital partner helping the federal government realize the benefits of cloud computing. Companies such as those participating in the FedScoop Cloud Computing Shoot Out will play a critical role in advancing innovation and overcoming challenges. Cloud computing has a bright future, and today’s event is one more step in that direction.

#   #  #

Casey Coleman is chief information officer for the U.S. General Services Administration.  She is a co-chair for the Federal CIO Council’s cloud computing Executive Steering Committee.

Cloud Computing: Bull, Silver Bullet, or Silver Lining?

By Linda Cureton, CIO of NASA

I suppose you can’t have a Shoot Out about Cloud Computing without talking about Silver Bullets. So, bang, bang, here goes!

There is a lot of discussion about Cloud Computing and it has become a very popular term. Because of this, there is a lot of confusion about the definition of this evolutionary computing capability. Nevertheless, the confusion and hype do not negate the significant benefit that this technology offers. Grave budget problems are forcing most Chief Information Officers (CIOs) to seriously look at these capabilities and their potential to save costs. Furthermore, the Obama Administration, through the Office of Management and Budget (OMB), is strongly encouraging Federal CIOs to consider this and other types of innovation to address agency challenges.

The Bull – Get Past the Hype

There is so much marketing hype surrounding Cloud Computing it is very difficult to sift through issues to determine whether there is a benefit for your organization. What further exacerbates this is the … dare I say it … cloudy definition of what Cloud Computing really is. It’s always good to agree on the definition before you even start to have a conversation.

Cloud Computing is a style of computing where scalable and elastic capabilities are provided as a service through Internet capabilities. Elasticity is the most important attribute and is looked at from the perspective of the consumer of the service. Capabilities are acquired at the consumer’s (end user) discretion and are automatic, demand-focused, with no manual intervention. There is no need to place a call or make an order; these capabilities are done in an automated fashion. The elasticity provides for a “pay as you go” concept that negates the need to build infrastructures for new products or new development projects. The cost savings are achieved through this elasticity. Its security model is designed to operate in a hostile environment and focuses on flexibility. The security model is best described as rather than building a big secure moat around a computing environment to protect data, have “armed guards” escort data every where it needs to go.

CIOs should strongly resist the allure of the hype and look at this style of computing as a means to an end rather than the end itself. It’s not the style of delivering the technology that is important, it is the mission and business value. However, if CIOs are not sure about the mission and business value, piloting a few small initiatives to get your feet wet in any new innovation can always have the potential of delivering great results.

The Silver Bullet – Determine If This is Appropriate

Cost savings is typically a strong driver for considering use of cloud services. However, it is not always cost effective. As CIO of NASA, I can’t overlook the economic attraction of obtaining, for example, email services through a cloud service provider. Many of these providers can meet or exceed my service levels for a fraction of the cost of providing the services internally. However, the complexities of internally provisioning cloud services for other less appropriate applications may drive costs higher when compared to traditional computing methods.

Efforts requiring new design, new integration, and development are well-suited to cloud computing. However, large-scale transaction processing may be better suited for traditional computing methods. As NASA CIO, I have a strong interest in the suitability for scientific and technical requirements early in the development and concept stage. This is very attractive also for negating the need to invest and build complex infrastructures before the requirements are fully developed or before they are needed.

The Silver Lining – Do What is Right for Your Organization

Obtaining services through cloud computing can deliver radically lower cost when compared with traditional environments. Not every organization will find appropriate needs to use Cloud Computing. However, CIOs should strongly investigate the usefulness and potential cost savings that this computing environment may offer. Here are three strategies to start:

Strategy 1: Begin to consume cloud services

Investigate high value areas where cloud services are appropriate. Specifically look at cloud services for opportunities to reduce fixed-cost services or explore it as an alternative to investing in the high entry costs for development efforts.

Strategy 2: Build internal private clouds

Private clouds mitigate many of the perceived and real security and risk issues. Do this thoughtfully because many cloud service providers are making significant progress in addressing and mitigating these risks. You may see, for example, many service providers close to receiving their Federal Information Security Management Act Certification and Accreditation.

Strategy 3: Develop cloud-centric solutions

Educate your agency enterprise architects on the efficacy of cloud capabilities and make a determination about the appropriateness of cloud when designing solutions.

Regardless of the strategy or approach you use, strive to get past the bull, don’t expect that this is a silver bullet, and look for the silver lining.

Public-Private Partnerships for Innovative Information Technology Solutions

By Karen Evans, Partner of KE&T Partners, LLC. Former Administrator of the Office of Electronic Government and Information Technology

When taking a look over the current information technology (IT) landscape, it is clear IT will be integral to any business solution. According to both Gartner and Forrester Research, during 2009, the United States (US) will spend over $600 billion. The total global IT spend is $3.2 billion which makes the US 20% of the total global IT spend. If you look at the GDP of the US, it is $14 trillion which makes IT 4% of the GDP. However, IT is driving almost all contributors to GDP and providing for some of the highest paying jobs. IT will play an important role in the economic recovery of the nation.

The challenge will be in the financing of these solutions. Sure there are venture capitalists (VCs). VCs will fund the IT leap ahead solutions in the areas of nanotechnology, health IT, cyber security, and wireless apps…the next killer app!! We will use it too…just like we use Google Search, iTunes, Facebook, Twitter, etc. But, what about the back office operations? Especially in the public sector?

In order to look ahead, let’s take a look back. On June 28, 1966, President Lyndon B. Johnson wrote a memorandum for the Heads of Departments and Agencies clearly stating the value of computing. Included was the following:

The electronic computer is having a greater impact on what the Government does and how it does it than any other product of modern technology.

The memorandum states his commitment to manage the huge investment efficiently and the Federal Government must give priority attention to:

• Establishing better and more effective procurement methods
• Making fuller use of existing facilities through sharing and joint-use arrangements before acquiring additional equipment
• Re-utilizing excess equipment whenever feasible
• Achieving, with industry cooperation, greater compatibility of equipment.

The investment in IT is now nearly $75 billion for the Federal Government which is not necessarily inclusive of all mission funding. Just during my tenure, the investment grew from $63 billion to $71 billion. Sure, there was better reporting but there was also the recognition of the importance of IT to the departments’ and agencies’ missions.

The Clinger-Cohen Act of 1996 and the E-Government Act of 2002 codified many aspects of the federal IT management practices as well as the promise of properly managed and implemented IT initiatives.

The current Administration will be releasing their budget soon. All of us are anxiously awaiting the Analytical Perspectives Chapters to read the future directions for management performance and IT. We have seen definition of initiatives beyond what was included in Fiscal Year 2010’s Presidential Budget Request. These initiatives included Cloud Computing, Cyber Security, Work at Distance and Procurement Reform along with meeting the objectives of Transparency and Accountability. In order to implement these initiatives, the departments and agencies who propose solutions which define the funding mechanisms should be a better investment.

And what will these funding mechanism be? Always getting appropriations? Establishing a “fee-for –service” model? And where do state and local governments fit in? Maybe it is time to re-look at the “public-private” partnership models and government-to-government models? The federal government has matured and has greater information now about their operations. Maybe the “share-in-saving” model could actually be implemented now. The E-Government Act of 2002 included in Section 210:

The term `share-in-savings contract’ means a contract
under which–
“(A) a contractor provides solutions for–
“(i) improving the agency’s mission-related
or administrative processes; or
“(ii) accelerating the achievement of agency
missions; and
“(B) the head of the agency pays the contractor an
amount equal to a portion of the savings derived by the
agency from–
“(i) any improvements in mission-related or
administrative processes that result from
implementation of the solution; or
“(ii) acceleration of achievement of agency
missions.

Wouldn’t this be a true a partnership if these objectives could actually happen? The time has come for innovative solutions and partnerships really need to mean something for the American people. As we close out this decade, we need to look back to the LBJ memo for lessons learned. He laid out the same objectives which are needed today. The “business as usual” model should be replaced along with what we traditionally called “public-private partnerships.” Congress should consider new funding authorities for the federal government which will allow for new partnership models to develop. These new partnership models need to meet the challenges of improved services along with accountability and transparency while reducing overall operating costs. IT continues to evolve…Federal agencies continue to evolve…their partnerships need to evolve…..and this includes their ability to fund their services. So, let’s look back…in order to move forward.

If We Can Put a Man on the Moon …

Earlier this week, I attended a book signing event sponsored by Deloitte to mark the publication of “If We Can Put a Man on the Moon… Getting Big Things Done in Government.” This is a wonderful study by Bill Eggers of Deloitte and John O’Leary of Harvard’s Kennedy School. Based on a review of over 75 government undertakings in the United States and abroad, the authors look at the process by which government tackles its biggest challenges.

As I poured through the volume these last two days, I came back again to the view that for at least the last 30-plus years in federal government we’ve been over-led and under-managed. Our focus has been on leadership, vision, inspiration, modeling the way, etc. But what we have really needed is to manage, to better execute.

Ironically, earlier that same day I had attended the monthly luncheon of AFFIRM. The program focused on the General Services Administration and the Networx transition. Over 40+ months into the transition to newer, more powerful, and cheaper telecommunications technologies, only 33 percent of all services have been disconnected from FTS 2001 and about half of all agencies still need to award a contract to a provider. Karl Krumbholz, who guides the Networx vehicle for GSA, contrasted this with America’s experiences in the World War II – when it took 44 months to defeat the Axis powers and win the war.

So tomorrow I start work on my companion volume to the Eggers- O’Leary volume. My working title: “How Can we Get Big Things Done in Government When We Can’t Even Get Small Things Done?”

A Management Agenda for the Obama Administration

This current Administration has gained a great deal of attention for its focus on technology. They are looking to build on and expand existing e-government initiatives, increase government’s openness and transparency, make use of so-called Web 2.0 collaborative tools, and explore cloud computing and other mechanisms to reduce existing infrastructure investments. Moreover, technology is being viewed as an enabler in dealing with major challenges in such policy areas as health, transportation, energy, the environment, and so. The importance of information technology (IT) is evidenced by the creation of the first Chief Information Officer(Vivek Kundra) for government and the first Chief Technology Officer (Aneesh Chopra) as well as the roll-out of such new websites as www.data.gov and a dashboard on major government IT projects. But these initiatives are best understood in the broader context of the Administration’s management agenda.

In the FY 2010 Analytical Perspectives volume, the new President outlines a management and performance agenda. That agenda is organized around the following themes:

1. Putting performance first: Replacing the Bush era Performance Assessment Rating Tool (PART) with a new performance improvement and analysis framework;

2. Ensuring responsible spending of Recovery Act Funds;

3. Transforming the federal workforce by reforming the current hiring process and hiring several hundred thousand civilian employees during the next four years;

4. Managing across sectors (e.g., private and nonprofit) and collaborating across levels of government;

5. Reforming federal contracting and acquisition; and,

6. Transparency, technology and participating democracy.

Stay tuned to future issues of Fed Scoop for more on these themes.

Alan P. Balutis
Director and Distinguished Fellow
Business Solutions Group, Cisco Systems Inc

Government Collaboration: How Far Can It Go?

CGI Federal
Vice President, Consulting; Federal Energy and Environment Industry Lead

One of the biggest challenges for CIOs is preparing their agencies to work in the “new” world of collaborative technology and services. Citizens already are quite comfortable in the new world. We now use the Internet for everything from bargaining for and purchasing items that are delivered by the next morning to reconnecting with old friends and even collaborating on a family tree. Business services and our personal lives have changed rapidly, so it only makes sense that government services are changing in order to remain relevant.

Collaborative technology (Web 2.0) has been embraced by the federal government. Blogs are commonplace and internal wikis are going strong in many agencies. These are good steps, and I would argue that blogs and wikis done well can help foster openness. But technology is the easy part – creating truly collaborative services is much harder and brings big changes. True government collaboration means being open and transparent with data, assumptions, debates and decisions. It won’t be easy, and in some ways its counter to the culture of federal agencies. The mission of many agencies is to regulate in one way or another, thus their natural tendency is not to share and educate.

Collaborative services, on the other hand, bring people together to improve or advance their community goals. And that means giving away knowledge that is not normally shared. Apple’s iPhone is a great example. Apple’s goal is to sell phones to a wide variety of consumers. Those consumers want to maximize the use of their phones. In order to make consumers happy and to reduce its own investments, Apple decided to expose the code that runs iPhones enough to allow others to build applications (a.k.a. apps) that will work on the phone.

These mobile apps, can be developed for fun –like the one that turns your iPhone into a light saber–or to be useful—such as the one that helps find nearby restaurants. Apple encourages developers to create apps by making sample code publicly available. The applications, in turn, inspire more people to buy iPhones. So Apple meets its goal while satisfying consumers.

This kind of exposing and sharing of data is the first step toward true collaboration. I’ve long advocated making government data more available in usable formats. Agencies spend so much time collecting data it only makes sense to leverage and use it, or to let others do so.

Over the years, I’ve seen citizens, companies, and organizations tie themselves in knots trying to obtain and use government data in reports, analysis and tools. Traditionally, federal data lived in information management systems that made it hard to extract. Those who sought to use it tried to export the data into spreadsheets, or re-enter into their own tools. People always have tried to use government data – it just hasn’t been easy and the contortions they went through to retrieve it often compromised its quality.

This tortured history makes Data.gov all the more important. Data.gov is a site people can go to obtain government data in usable, retrievable formats. Data.gov is finally forcing government agencies to design their systems so they can share data, not just collect and enter it. Whether or not Data.gov survives and thrives in its current form, its impact will endure.

Exposing data in usable formats challenges government. With more people using government data in new ways, errors will crop up and people will draw incorrect conclusions because they don’t understand the real purpose and intended use of the information. The big stumbling blocks for federal data exposure and sharing always have been quality and context.

But if the federal government can withstand the media and political criticism that assuredly will come with the new era of openness and collaboration–and already has been seen on Recovery.gov–data and understanding of it eventually will be improved. The discomfort of this first phase of collaboration just might force federal agencies to invest the time to improve their data, the process by which it is obtained, and the context in which it is presented. Exposing data already serves this purpose in the private sector.

Once data is made available, government will need to decide its future role in collaboration. Do agencies want to follow Apple, whose iPhone apps are being developed by consumers, organizations, and other companies? Apple approves apps it hasn’t developed and lets customers download them onto their iPhones. The company even allows the app creators to charge for downloads. Apple does not support the apps, but rather links to the developers’ sites for resolution of problems. Some of developers provide little support, but when apps are free or inexpensive, most iPhone users are willing to assume the risk and don’t get too upset if applications sometimes don’t work perfectly.

This raises some interesting questions: Can government be this collaborative? Do citizens want it to be? Do agencies want to be?

The Sunlight Foundation is holding an open contest for developing apps using federal data available from Data.gov. Federal Chief Information Officer Vivek Kundra held a similar contest when he was Washington, D.C.’s chief technology officer. Just like iPhone applications, some contest submissions will be toys, others “nice to haves”, and a few will add real value. It’s the latter that most interest Kundra and other open government advocates. It is my hope that by exposing its data to collaborate with citizens, government will be pressured to improve, gather and provide the data people really want and need, and come up with some valuable new apps. Citizens and companies are building applications that use this data in new ways that are fun, interesting or important to them.

Once the contest is over, will people continue to develop apps for government, especially as more data becomes available on Data.gov? If so, will government be expected to manage these apps as Apple is doing for the iPhone? Will this become a new government service? If it does, how will the federal government determine which apps to accept and which to reject? If an app fails due to poor development or bad data, will citizens be as accepting as they are of faulty free apps for the iPhone? I doubt it.

A few agencies have developed widgets. I will loosely define them as a kind of app that can be easily downloaded and placed on consumer Web sites. Widgets can help citizens track a hurricane or display the countdown to Earth Day on their websites. But they were developed in-house or through traditional procurement or contract vehicles. The more collaborative approach being used in the private sector challenges traditional government partnerships and procurement rules. If the federal government decides to begin to collaborate more broadly, then policies, procurements, and rules will need to change.

I’m not sure government or citizens are ready for or even thinking about the implications of collaboration. For many citizens, the idea triggers fear of Big Brother government knowing too much about them. For many agencies, it triggers fear of bad publicity, privacy breaches and violations of regulations, if not the law. Despite our fears, the future surely will be more collaborative, so we all need to begin imagining how.

Embracing the Change

Director of Federal Marketing, Intel Americas

Your shiny new car is delivered – it’s normally a cause for celebration! The sales literature assured you it will be an altogether more rewarding experience than your last ride. That’s how I felt about my first opportunity to vote in the last elections. As a shiny new American citizen I was, and remain, chock full of hope. First time voter, long time fan!

Spending time in Washington in this new administration, one does indeed get the sense that there is a new sheriff in town. I’ve observed a new energy and an urgency of execution.

I’m pleased to see west coast IT luminaries play a role and be part of the IT transformational solution. Tim O’Reilly and Craig Newmark come to mind, and I’m certain there will be many more west coasters raising their hands to assist.

It was a great pleasure to meet Vivek Kundra, the new Federal CIO. His message is clear and consistent: he wants openness and operational efficiency, and gone are the days of crazy contracts to design something bespoke, when a perfectly good commercial solution is out there and available for delivery today. Imagine a virtual storefront of ready-made government apps to choose from, pick one and go. We clearly all have a role to play in marching to the efficiency drum, be it operational efficiency, natural resource efficiency or even human capital efficiency.

Vivek exudes a sense of much needed urgency, aware that technologies change rapidly, and procurement needs to keep pace with those changes.

An early example of that accelerated execution was the Federal dashboard. No sooner was the notion floated, than it seemed to appear for all to see and benefit from. And if that wasn’t enough, it is both pleasing to the eye and doesn’t require a decoder ring to understand. Try searching for Federal IT spending by state, then rank by single source contracts. It’s easy and truly gives an everyman view into how our tax dollars are being spent.

I’m something of a fan of his five pillars. His putting a stake in the ground (well, five in this instance!) gives the rest of us something to march to. Nobody can look back in anger and say, “I didn’t know what the plan was, or where you were taking us, Vivek!”

I’m pleased to work in an exciting technical sector where our solutions clearly advance on a generation-by-generation basis. From a data center perspective, it isn’t the cost of buying new servers that folk need to worry about, but the cost of keeping the old ones powered up and cooled down. Those who shore up ‘old iron’ instead of investing in an energy efficient fully virtualized network lag behind their peers in other agencies, who have a defined refresh cycle, crunch their numbers faster, and use far less electricity in the process.

Intel has been only too pleased to share our IT knowledge and best practices with Government agencies, or anyone for that matter looking to do IT better. At the end of the day, Intel’s concerns aren’t too different from that of Federal agencies: keeping the unwelcome out of our internal systems while allowing our employees appropriate access privileges, all on a global basis with about 100,000 servers operational today (yes our network is that big!) while supporting Teleworking, mobility and cloud computing where appropriate.

On a recent government VIP tour of one of our data centers, the VIP asked the question, how many people work in this building? The answer was just one, and that one person is tasked with building security. Gone are the days, for us at least, where admins roam up and down the server racks manually plugging in CAT5 cables whilst precariously balancing laptops.

On the subject of the cloud, another word needs to come into the equation: interoperability. Our customers are already asking us to help create an open standard that will run across all hardware platforms. It doesn’t exist today, and getting there won’t happen overnight. Disparate cloud-based networks must be capable of seamless and secure data transfer with each other; otherwise we’ll engineer ourselves into an expensive VHS/Betamax corner.

Cloud computing from an operational flexibility and cost savings perspective is clearly attractive, but it is not in my opinion the all-encompassing IT panacea. Let me explain.

If your agency embraces mobility as an efficiency tool as much of industry does, then you must be aware that the pipe (connectivity) is not realistically available 100% of the time, and when the next natural or manmade disaster strikes, then connectivity can and probably will go down. Katrina comes to mind as a prime example, with the American Red Cross entering the details of the thousands of displaced persons into the local database residing on numerous laptops that had no connectivity to the outside world, and wouldn’t have for many days.

If you have a mandate saying you must have a Continuity of Operations Plan (COOP), achieving that will probably require localized storage and data execution, as absolute reliance on remote connectivity during a disaster is unrealistic. All it takes is one backhoe at the end of the day.

Our new President has been very vocal about his support for Telework and the work/life balance, and I’m right there with him. The benefits for both employees and employers so far outweigh the negatives. A recent piece of editorial from Harvard Business publishing spoke well on the subject, and makes for a good and concise read:

http://hbdm.harvardbusiness.org/email/archive/managementtip.php?date=073009

I’m out of time, if you made it this far I thank you, and if my jumping from subject to subject threw you a bit of a curveball, then just take comfort in the fact that I’m far more random in the flesh!

These are of course my own thoughts and mutterings and do not constitute official statements by Intel.

You can find me on Twitter as ‘Bowlieweekender’ just don’t expect every tweet to be IT related, I do have a life outside of Intel and I do value my work/life balance!

Cheers,
Nigel

True Transparency and Naked Leadership

There is much discussion about transparency in government especially as it relates to Web 2.0 tools such as blogs, twitter, and various social networking applications. Transparency in a literal sense simply means to be able to see right through something. Definitions and common understanding in a government context varies. It would be a mistake to consider transparency purely in the technology context of Web 2.0 tools. It should be considered from a personal leadership perspective. And personal could mean you as a leader or you and your organization.

But, this means more than just putting data up on static websites, posting irrelevant blogs or inane Twitter posts. Leading in a transparent way has the atomic advantage of being able to be exposed to a huge set of diverse ideas that can thus hasten innovation and creativity. However, the cultural challenges associated with leading in this environment require a new kind of personal leadership. I call it Naked Leadership. I will talk about three of the key qualities of Naked Leadership – courage, self-awareness, and accountability.

The Courage to Expose Yourself

I had the pleasure of moderating a panel on virtual worlds for the FOSE 2009 Conference. This panel was going to be conducted in the virtual world Second Life. I had to get an avatar and learn some basic things like walking, sitting, flying, and dressing.

While practicing and setting some things up in the familiar venue of NASA/JPL Explorer Island, I decided that I wanted my avatar to look like me – African American non-skinny female with brown hair, etc. I was surprised to find out that up to that point, I was a man and not a woman. I fixed that. I thickened up my body and lips. Then I had to decide what to wear. I struggled with basic things like the difference between a blouse and a jacket, etc. To make a long story short, I took off more than I planned to take off and ended up topless in a surprisingly anatomically accurate way. I was mortified. Fortunately, there were only deer around.

The point here is that as we operate and lead in transparent ways, you might be exposed in non-complementary ways. It may also mean, especially in this day and age of increased risks associated with data security, some stuff just should not be exposed. And finally, what does what you’re hiding expose about you as a leader?

"Man is least himself when he talks in his own person. Give him a mask, and he will tell you the truth."
– Oscar Wilde

Naked Leadership means that you may make a few mistakes…but you’ll have to take it on the chin. Some could be knock out blows. However, managing the risks appropriately can lead to championship results.

Don’t Believe the Hype You’ve Got to Know Yourself

So this guy decides that he will don a new transparent wardrobe. Everyone wrote comments in the Emperor’s blog about how great his transparent threads were. A courageous follower told him he had no clothes.

You may find a lot of people with varying levels of sincerity who tell you that you’re doing a heck-of-a-job. Similarly, you may even find some people in a mean-spirited way tell you that you are awful. So, brace for impact, get prepared to have your feelings hurt and immunize yourself against flattery.

"But I, as Emperor, was OVERPOWERINGLY stupid… I, as Emperor, was more stupid than you all, because I was responsible for all this stupidity!"
– 1987 Movie: The Emperor’s New Clothes

With Naked Leadership goes the responsibility of doing honest self-examination and having high emotional intelligence. It also requires seeking out and nurturing courageous followers who will tell you are indeed you have no clothes.

Who Told You That You Were Naked? – With Knowledge Comes Accountability and Responsibility

I once went to a church where the Pastor would always say … “I wish I didn’t know these things!” Once you know right from wrong, you have the responsibility to chose right. And once you know, you have to do something and it has to be the right thing. It might be better to not know.

"Knowledge also imposes responsibility"
- W.M.L. Jay

Diverse opinions from a diverse set of people may breed conflicts. Naked Leadership will require strong conflict resolution skills. Some information may not be relevant. Naked Leadership will need to be able to discern that. But, if you ask for perspectives, you better be prepared to actually listen and try to understand. If appropriate, you will need to act.

Operating in a transparent way helps provides a lot of value. Expanded perspectives from a diverse set of employees or constituents can produce better end products. Successful Naked Leadership will need to learn to navigate these waters in order to obtain true transparency.

Linda Cureton, CIO, NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center

Gov2.0: getting serious about transforming government

There are a lot of people around who are beginning to transform government into something new that realizes the vision of the Founders. I’m trying to focus on the gist of what’s happening, bearing witness to their efforts, on their requests. While these conversations have involved multiple levels of government in the US, UK, and other, the orientation here will be Washington. My focus will result in a little oversimplification, just to get the word out.

Overall, what we’re talking about is reinventing government from the bottom up, where web workers and ordinary citizens engage via the Net in large scale online grassroots democracy.

Note that these are organizational matters; the technology is secondary, and comparatively easy.

Our Founders created a flawed representative democracy, but with improvements it serves us well. However, we’re complementing that system via the Net with grassroots efforts which will create new checks and balances and accountability.

We’re seeing movement from mere words to reality, and by bearing witness to that progress, I hope to help accelerate that progress, with actual results.

Our goal involves:

• Increasing government accountability
• Everyday engagement between government workers and the public for customer service
• Everyday engagement between the public and their representatives regarding ongoing government policy

This has to be manageable, particularly when considering that millions of citizens will be clamoring for the attention of hundreds or thousands of representatives and workers.

We’re talking about three general groups of participants.

Realistically, very few people are interested in governance. Most of us are just happy to get through the day, and like myself, prefer to enter couch potato mode. However, there are people who have a real sense of public duty and engagement, and some, like myself, feel a need to stand up. There’s also the millennial generation, which seems to be committed to civic engagement, much like the Depression/WW II generation.

On the government worker side, I’ve directly observed a lot of people who are committed to superior public service, who believe in its nobility.
These are folks who not only want to do their job, but feel they’re part of something much bigger. They’re starting to transform their teams, from the bottom up and inside.

Finally, the leadership of our country includes elected officials and people who run major agencies and departments. Many of our leaders understand that something new is happening; it’s the future reality, the arc of the moral universe. I’ve chatted with many who understand and are committed. Some have seen that the way they do business will change, and will go with that flow.

A lot of managers will fear these trends, particularly transparency, will expose problems in their departments that have been long in developing, warts and all. This actually provides the opportunities to repair their areas in a fairly no-lose manner, since everyone expects a lot of problems to surface. As citizens, we need to be prepared to give such managers a break.

As a nation, we’re already heading to our shared goals, mostly via many grassroots, spontaneous efforts, often involving informal collaborations between the citizens and government workers.

Toward increasing real progress, some specifics:

Elected and appointed leaders in government need to commit to helping these efforts, specifically:

• Committing to hearing what they hear from their workers and from the public, and then acting. That is, feedback needs to get actual results, involving changes to policy and government operations.
• Changing regulations and guidelines that might have made sense in the past, but now need revision. Specifically, government workers need to be able to use the same Net-based tools that consumers use.
• A methodology where experiments in service are performed with the acceptance of failure; in new areas, there will be attempts to provide superior service, and the first attempts will fail.
• Training government workers to provide customer service via direct engagement with citizens.
• Preparation for and acceptance of failure for unintended consequences.
• Transparency of government data, wherein all will be made available to the public, online, in standard format and searchable.
• Transparency of campaign financing data, all online and searchable
• Working with the providers of Net based tools to modify Terms of Service as needed

This is what the new democracy is about- building upon existing structures with serious engagement from the public, and from genuinely dedicated public servants.

Cybersecurity in the Spotlight

Deputy Director, Office of Information Assurance

Bureau of Information Resource Management, Department of State

The Obama Administration is quite forward-thinking in its use of technology. From the creation of new positions within the Executive Branch (including the CIO, CTO, and cybersecurity czar) to the use of social media for public communication, IT security has become a paramount initiative. On Wednesday, June 24, I sat down with Federal News Radio host, Tom Temin, to discuss the challenges facing the Department of State during this progressive time in the Federal Government.

Using technology to facilitate citizen–government dialogue, simplify government services, increase government transparency with public information, and public diplomacy are top priorities for the Administration’s new Federal CIO Vivek Kundra, but secure IT systems are key to these initiatives. Challenges in information security are numerous, but they all share one common feature: security starts with the user. When users are educated about best practices and develop situational awareness, they increase the security of their system and agency networks. The Bureau of Information Resource Management (IRM) works diligently to protect Department information through training, communications and tools.

In the Department of State, it is the program offices in Washington that develop tools and policies to enhance cybersecurity, but integration and maintenance of our global networks depend on the IT professionals in our 265 embassies and consulates around the world that implement these measures. There are some locations where infrastructure challenges make it extremely difficult to maintain secure networks and the IT professional staffs work tirelessly to keep the Department’s systems assured. The teamwork throughout the Department has created a symbiotic relationship for the ever-improving cybersecurity environment.

Working closely with our Deputy CIO/CISO, John Streufert, and Information Assurance’s Chief Computer Scientist, Dr. George Moore, has been critical to the security of Department networks. Engineered by a team under the guidance of Dr. Moore, a Site Risk Scoring program was implemented as a tool to provide a dashboard and detailed reporting of the vulnerabilities that exist on every computer and user account. Centralized vulnerability and compliance scans gather this data from a variety of tools hosted in Washington and the results are distributed to the embassy or consulate for remediation. My Global Oversight staff provides the customer service interface to successfully implement the Site Risk Scoring program and a Tiger Team has been developed to help system administrators around the world increase their site scores, thus lowering the risk to the Department’s data.

Problems with the network are not only technical; there is a physical security aspect that must not be overlooked. IRM and the Bureau of Diplomatic Security coordinate closely to integrate the necessary physical security and cybersecurity. Physical inspections are performed by Diplomatic Security officers and the application of technical controls is handled by Information Management Specialists.

While the challenges facing information assurance at State are considerable, with dedicated staff and coordinated efforts, we aim to secure our networks to support the vision of our new Administration. Emphasizing user responsibility will be a key message in the age of Government through technology and the public will benefit with improved access to government dialogue, services, information, and announcements.

To learn more about these initiatives, listen to the entire interview located at the following link: http://www.federalnewsradio.com/index.php?sid=1703823&nid=56.

Unlocking the potential of Green IT in government

Initiatives from the new administration indicate that the government recognizes the need to reduce its carbon footprint and mitigate negative environmental impacts. To that end, green information technology (IT) has become an increasingly familiar concept – and movement – on the federal IT landscape.

Industry brings green IT options to government by offering various technology-based solutions for data and applications – the focal point of most, if not all, government services today.

Green IT can reduce exponentially the consumption and costs associated with critical, energy-intensive government IT functions, like the datacenter and the desktop. With datacenters showing no signs of diminishing in importance, their growing energy consumption must be addressed. The Environmental Protection Agency estimates that the energy consumption of federal servers and datacenters accounts for approximately $450 million taxpayer dollars a year. Green IT, such as virtualization technologies, can bring the datacenter’s skyrocketing energy use – and the related costs – back down to earth.

While government commitment and industry innovation have created a green-aware IT environment, a few more steps must be taken in order to bring green IT to bear on responsible energy consumption. Three keys can help government and industry achieve the maximum public sector benefit from green IT:

1. Government needs to build clear, specific green IT requirements into procurements. Until industry sees green IT contract language, including meaningful metrics for success, industry will not be adequately motivated to bring green IT solutions to important procurements.

2. Industry needs to develop green IT solutions as reliable as previous, less green solutions. Advancements in virtualization and other green technologies enhance performance and meet federal security protocols; industry must demonstrate these advances to government at every opportunity. By providing demonstrations, advice, proof-of-concept and implementation assistance, industry can help government “go green” faster.

3. Individuals must take personal responsibility for energy consumption. Every day, personal decisions have dramatic impact on the state of green government. Actions as simple as powering down desktops, printers and other peripherals significantly impact government’s energy use. If just one percent of government’s 1.8 million civilian employees turned off their computers and peripherals overnight, government would save an average of 234,000 kilowatt-hours – which translates into a cost savings of about $23,400 in a single night. Power IT Down Day, which reminds individuals of the importance of powering down IT equipment at the end of the day, comes on August 27 of this year. Sign up at www.hp.com/go/poweritdown, mark your calendar and make a difference.

Green IT comes down to one essential tenet: we want to leave behind a better environment than we inherited. By working together, government and industry can adopt green IT solutions that are more flexible, more adaptable while addressing a wide range of government initiatives without sacrificing speed or performance. Considering the possibilities of green IT, the benefits are universal, from the agency to the contractor to the taxpayer.