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Volume 3 Issue 6: June 24, 2008
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The DotGov Buzz is an e-mail newsletter published by the GSA Office of Citizen Services and Communications to reach opinion leaders, policy makers, IT professionals and others with the latest developments in e-government. Pass it along to your colleagues and let us know if you want to subscribe on your home e-mail. To SUBSCRIBE, submit a new e-mail to LISTSERV@LISTSERV.GSA.GOV, with SUBSCRIBE THEBUZZ in the body of the message, followed by your first name and your last name. To UNSUBSCRIBE to this mailing list, submit a new e-mail message to LISTSERV@LISTSERV.GSA.GOV and enter in the body of the message: SIGNOFF THEBUZZ. This and previous issues of The DotGov Buzz are available at www.usa.gov/dotgovbuzz. |
 DotGov Spotlight: Steve Ressler, IT Specialist, Department of Homeland Security
Why would an IT Specialist in Immigration and Customs Enforcement at DHS merit a DotGov Spotlight? Because with his high profle as a leader of young government workers, it is easy to view him as the IT community's "token awesome young person." Although he chuckled as he said that, Steve Ressler, co-founder of Young Government Leaders, is one of the truly awesome young people in government IT. A 27-year-old GS-13, he is proof that you don't have to be in government for many years to make an impact. Ressler, already the winner of a Fed 100 Award, has made a name for himself and his organization as the go-to group for perspective and insight on young federal workers. Now 1,500 strong and representing 30 federal departments and agencies, Young Government Leaders began as a happy hour for a handful of twenty-somethings in 2003. Fresh out of college and new to government, they were looking to meet people and share experiences about their new environments-like how to decipher the alphabet-soup of acronyms. Larger crowds appeared at each session and people began asking about other activities the group offered. It was then the co-founders knew they had a real organization on their hands.
As YGL has grown, Ressler's role has also changed. Although he's still "heavily involved," he now only spends a few hours each week (on his own time), on YGL business. He enjoys how YGL has evolved into a "well-oiled machine" that becomes more structured each year as more members take an active role in the organization. It has grown in ways Ressler says he never would have imagined. For instance, about 20 people from the Bethesda chapter meet on Sundays for "coffee talk" to talk about work and important societal issues at a local coffee spot. "That's a cool program we hadn't thought of before," he mused. Ressler finds himself at the nexus of the generations. A Millennial, he is an effective ambassador to the Baby Boomers who hold power in the government, many of whom view him as more than a "token awesome young person." At the same time, he is a path-finder for those in his own generation (and Gen Xers, as well), who are still trying to comprehend the federal government as a workplace and find a way to make a difference. Recognizing the need to reassure new young federal employees, YGL created a 'road show' that members present to agencies during orientation programs for new employees. He has been representing the younger generation at numerous conferences for government IT leaders. He recently was awarded a "scholarship" to participate in the International Council for Information Technology in Government Administration's annual conference in Seoul, South Korea, in October. The scholarship pays expenses to the conference for a couple of young upcoming e-gov talents from around the world to offer a different perspective to the discussions. Ressler, a Cincinnati native, joined DHS in 2004 under a Homeland Security Graduate Fellowship after receiving his master's in sociology from the University of Pennsylvania, and a bachelor's in sociology from Miami of Ohio. He was one of 50 fellows chosen out of 1,500 applicants nationwide. Starting at DHS in the Inspector General's office, Ressler moved to the CIO's office in Immigration and Customs Enforcement last December. In his new position he provides program management, communications, and acquisition guidance for major ICE IT investments, despite having an "informal" background in IT. Although he lacks a computer science degree, he took programming classes in college, created websites and enjoyed it. He's taking courses to become a certified project manager. He also put his IT skills to good use at YGL. He established its original website, weekly newsletter, created their Facebook and LinkedIn groups, and brought internal wikis and a weekly blog to the organization. Most recently he launched a new online community that is open to all government employees. GovLoop.com is a 'Facebook for feds' that provides government employees a way to connect and collaborate with their peers. Ressler believes there is a lot of interesting work for his generation in the federal government, but laments that the government doesn't sell itself well enough to attract young employees. He's impressed with how the Teach for America program markets itself, and would like to see other agencies follow suit. Teach for America promotes itself widely on college campuses and has made the application process very straightforward, he explains. It's amazing that Teach for America can be inundated with applicants, while the government can't get smart graduates to help Katrina victims, he says. Ressler aspires to the Senior Executive Service, where he believes he can affect real change to help people. He talks about using technology to enable government to better serve its citizens. Meeting influential top government leaders through YGL has convinced him that these goals are attainable. "It's less scary" to envision working at those levels after interacting with the people who are in the high-level positions, Ressler says. The government of the future that he envisions will be more customer-friendly and transparent, sharing more data with the public through technology. "It will be a model employer for young people who want to implement change," he says. |
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Reader feedback: Survey results lead DotGov Buzz to provide wireless devices link Thanks to everyone who responded to the DotGov Buzz request for feedback last month. We heard you and now include a link at the top, right corner of each monthly e-mail blast that will enable you to read DotGov Buzz stories on your wireless device. We have also added a 'bookmark this page' tool to the DotGov Buzz homepage. We are working to add an RSS feed for those of you who would prefer to read the newsletter that way. Thank you for your comments. Keep them coming to dotgovbuzz@gsa.gov. |
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White House: Security directive tells agencies to use biometrics to identify terrorists
President Bush issued a security directive for agencies to use similar methods to collect, use and share biometric information on "known and suspected terrorists." The National Security Presidential Directive-59/Homeland Security Presidential Directive-24, issued June 5, requires agencies to share all biometric and associated biographic information on persons who pose a reasonable threat to national security, available to other agencies through interoperable systems. The directive does not apply to state, local or tribal governments. The directive gives the Attorney General and other Executive Branch security officials 90 days to submit an action plan to the President, containing:
Within a year, the security officials and heads of agencies must submit to the President an implementation report, including any additional steps to carry out the directive. |
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CIO Council: Strategic Plan for FY 08-09 includes transition activities
The Chief Information Officers Council has released its FY 08-09 Strategic Plan, which maps out future goals and activities for the two-year period and encourages continued development of the IT workforce and sharing of best practices. This year's updates to the FY 07-09 plan include transition activities to ensure the continuation of effective and common government-wide solutions. The four strategic goals outlined in the latest plan are:
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Security: IT executives in survey say more collaboration will improve cyber security
IT executives from the private sector and federal, state and local governments want increased collaboration to improve cyber security, according to a study by O'Keefe & Co. Fifty-nine percent of corporate IT officials, and 68% of federal and 48% of state and local survey respondents favored more collaboration. Also, 78% of private sector respondents said they want more information from the government on cyber threats. The 2008 Critical Connections study examines each sector's information security priorities. It surveyed 200 federal, 200 state and local and 200 private sector IT executives. Other highlights from the study:
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E-Gov: E-Government results report shows major milestones met
OMB's Expanding E-Government Results Report for FY 07 shows that 81% of agencies (22 out of 27) successfully completed major implementation milestones. These resulted in greater adoption and use of these services from citizens, businesses, government agencies, and legacy systems terminations. The report also sets out five goals for FY 08. They are:
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OMB: New OFPP guidance on interagency acquisitions is effective November 3
The Office of Federal Procurement Policy at OMB released interagency acquisition guidance that agencies will need to start using on November 3. The guidance will help agencies achieve the greatest possible value when using another agency's contracts or acquisition services, and reflects comments received from CIOs. The guidance includes:
Starting October 1, agencies must support decisions to use interagency acquisitions with "best interest determinations." Beginning November 3, agencies must either begin using the model interagency agreement or ensure new agreements include the model agreement's key elements. |
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Health IT: HHS releases Federal Health IT Strategic Plan
A Federal Health Information Technology Strategic Plan for 2008-2012, was released by the HHS Office of the National Coordinator for Health IT on June 3. The plan, entitled, Using the Power of Information Technology to Transform Health and Care, will advance the President's goal for the majority of Americans to have access to electronic health records by 2014. The goals and strategies of the plan illustrate how the federal government must coordinate to achieve a national interoperable health IT architecture. The two goals of the plan are patient-focused health care and population health. Four themes of privacy and security, interoperability, adoption and collaborative governance are addressed by each goal. Patient Focused Health Care -
Population Health -
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IPv6: EC wants IPv6 implementation by 2010, U.S. deadline June 30, 2008
The European Commission released an action plan for full deployment of the Internet Protocol version 6 (IPv6) by 2010. By 2010, 25% of European users should be able to connect to the IPv6 Internet and access their most important content and service providers without noticing a major difference compared to IPv4, the Commission states. In the United States, OMB requires federal agencies to transition to IPv6 by the end of this month. There are about 4 billion addresses in use and another 700 million available under the current version of the Internet, IPv4. However, that is not enough addresses to keep up with the growth of the Internet, the Commission states in its new Communication, Advancing the Internet. After 2011, it is forecast that, new end-users will find it increasingly difficult to acquire addresses from their Internet service providers. In order to stimulate IPv6 accessibility to content, services and applications, the European Commission:
In addition to accommodating a skyrocketing Internet usage rate, IPv6 will provide an innovation platform for IP-based services and applications, the Commission report noted. |
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USA.gov: Federal Websites provide easy-to-find information on Midwest floods
USA.gov, the U.S. government's official web portal, has created a web page where government information related to the Midwest floods can be accessed, regardless of the official source of the information. The new page links to government agency web pages on flood-related topics in the following categories:
A Spanish-language version, which links to official government pages in Spanish, has also been posted. The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) has posted its own flood-related page. Individuals who would prefer to get the government's flood information by telephone should call the National Contact Center at 1 800 FEDINFO. |
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Buzz: U.S. ranks 7th in broadband connectivity; Delaware is most wired state
South Korea has the greatest level of high broadband connectivity, according to Akamai Technologies Inc.'s The State of the Internet report. It ranks the countries and the U.S. states with the greatest levels of high broadband connectivity (>5 Megabits per second) to Akamai. Akami Technologies Inc. is a company that provides a distributed computing platform for global Internet content and application delivery. Top 10 countries with percentage of connections greater than 5 Mbps:
Top 10 U.S. States with percentage of connections greater than 5 Mbps:
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Kudos: Franke Award, Exceptional Leadership Award, Intergovernmental Solutions Awards, AFFIRM Leadership Awards
Franke Award. The American Council for Technology presented its 2008 John J. Franke Award to Karen Evans, OMB administrator for e-government and information technology, at its Management of Change conference, June 8 in Norfolk, VA. The Franke Award is given to an individual who has made an extraordinary long-term contribution to federal service. Exceptional Leadership Award. Retiring Congressman Tom Davis, R-VA, received the first Exceptional Leadership Award at the conference. Davis was recognized for his many contributions and his support and recognition of the IT and government procurement communities. The award will be given only when merited and the ACT Board and IAC Executive Committee will jointly select the recipients. Intergovernmental Solutions Awards. ACT also presented its Intergovernmental Solutions Awards at the Management of Change conference. The five winners represented federal and state agencies that clearly demonstrated how adopting best practices from government and industry led to measurable improvements in efficiency and effectiveness of government programs. The four federal/civilian award winners were:
The state winner was:
AFFIRM Leadership Awards. Lt. Gen. Charles E. Croom, Jr., was awarded the Executive Leadership Award for Information Technology Management at the Association for Federal Information Resources Management's Annual Leadership Awards Luncheon on June 19. The Leadership Awards are given for outstanding leadership in IT and related areas of management. Other award recipients were: |
Transitions: Changes in the IT Community Also available in pdf 171 kb |
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Awards Nominations: Deadlines for e-gov community awards applications
The National Electronic Commerce Coordinating Council (eC3) is accepting nominations for its 2008 eC3 Excellence Awards Program until September 10. Government Computer News is accepting nominations for its GCN Awards until July 14. |
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Upcoming Events Calendar
AFCEA: Solutions Series - Identity Assurance Social Media for Government Conference Biometrics for Government Conference World Future Society Conference The Public Manager and ASPA's 2008 Inaugural Conference The 7th Enterprise Architecture Conference & Exhibition AFCEA Solutions Series - Information Assurance GTC East 08 GEIA 2008 Vision Conference ACT/IAC Executive Leadership Conference The 6th Annual Program Management Summit The 9th Security Conference & Exhibition The Council of State Governments Annual Conference National Electronic Commerce Coordinating Council Annual Conference AFCEA Solutions Series - CyberSpace/CyberWarfare GSA's IRMCO |
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Please send your comments, concerns, complaints and questions to dotgovbuzz@gsa.gov. Check out our previous editions at www.usa.gov/dotgovbuzz.html. The DotGov Buzz is produced by the following individuals in the GSA Office of Citizen Services and Communications: |
The group's goal is to give new federal workers an opportunity to develop both professionally and personally, though seminars, sports outings, access to job postings, a book club and other get-togethers. With chapters in Bethesda, Boston, Denver, Hampton Roads, Virginia and Pennsylvania, the group has begun to establish a foothold in the government centers around the country where young feds hang out. This year Young Government Leaders attained non-profit status, a huge accomplishment because it allows the organization to raise funds that will help sustain it.