By ALIYA STERNSTEIN, Nextgov
A lawmaker who backed the recent selection of Aneesh Chopra for White House chief technology officer continues to push his bill to make the position permanent, more powerful and more expansive, because the job's responsibilities are not what President Obama had first described.
Rep. Gerald Connolly, D-Va., is still backing a bill (H.R. 1910) he introduced on April 2, because the job the president granted Chopra -- coordinating national strategies to spur innovation throughout the economy -- is not the role outlined during the transition. At that time, Obama said the responsibilities would be "to ensure the safety of our networks and lead an interagency effort, working with chief technology and chief information officers of each of the federal agencies, to ensure that they use best-in-class technologies and share best practices."
The CTO -- the first-ever in government -- will focus more on leveraging technology to drive public and private innovation rather than using technology to transform government operations. Vivek Kundra, Obama's chief information officer, who resides in the Office of Management and Budget, will play that role by overseeing government-wide information technology. Obama made the CTO an assistant to the president, with direct access to him, and an associate director of the White House's Office of Science and Technology Policy, reporting to OSTP Director John Holdren.
In contrast, the Connolly proposal would station an official in the Executive Office of the President to supervise both technology government-wide and national technology strategies.
Connolly said his bill would ensure that the CTO is the supreme technology leader in the White House, responsible for advancing intergovernmental and nationwide technology. Under the measure, the CTO's duties would include assessing federal IT policies, analyzing trends inIT, developing IT to assist human resource management, evaluating the effect of systems on privacy and security, and advising the president on the federal IT budget.
"What I'm trying to do here is essentially provide a statutory framework for what President Obama has done by executive order," said Connolly, referring to a February order that established the position of assistant to the president and chief technology officer. "It is a logical extension of what he has done. It guarantees that the CTO is the spokesman for technology in the federal government and the White House itself -- and the advocate for it."
By ALIYA STERNSTEIN, Nextgov
Aneesh Chopra, the nation's first-ever chief technology officer, would serve as both "assistant to the president" and "associate director of the Office of Science and Technology Policy" if confirmed by the Senate, White House officials said on Monday.
As assistant to President Obama, he would have direct access to the president, said Rick Weiss, senior science and technology policy analyst at OSTP. Within OSTP, he also would report to OSTP Director John Holdren.
The CTO job was initially touted as a White House-level position, but the technology industry feared the post had been downgraded after months went by without an appointment. When the administration announced the CTO would work at OSTP, open government advocates and industry expressed even more doubts about the job's heft.
But with the president's ear, Chopra, the current technology secretary for the state of Virginia, will automatically carry the backing of the White House when conferring with agency officials.
The CTO slot entails thinking through uses of advanced technologies that can improve the economy and quality of life, Weiss said. Examples include examining how technology can foster private sector innovation, reduce health care costs and transform teaching. White House officials described the CTO position and the role of Chief Information Officer Vivek Kundra as complementary. Kundra is more focused on intergovernmental uses of technologies to improve federal operations and public outreach.
The OSTP appointment requires confirmation by the full Senate, but the assistant to the president appointment takes effect immediately, officials said.
Chopra's start date has not yet been determined, as he is tying up loose ends in the Virginia government.
By KELLIE LUNNEY, Government Executive
President Obama on Saturday named a Washington-area entrepreneur and management consultant as the government's first chief performance officer.
Jeffrey Zients also will serve as deputy director for management at the Office of Management and Budget, Obama said during his April 18 radio address. A multimillionaire who made his money as a management consultant, Zients currently runs Portfolio Logic, a firm that invests in business services and health care companies.
"Jeffrey will work to streamline processes, cut costs, and find best practices throughout our government," Obama said.
The president focused his address on government efficiency and accountability. He said he will ask department heads during their first full Cabinet meeting next week for specific proposals on cutting their budgets.
"Already, members of my Cabinet have begun to trim back unnecessary expenditures," Obama said, citing Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano and Defense Secretary Robert Gates as examples.
Obama said that he plans to announce in the coming weeks the "elimination of dozens of government programs shown to be wasteful or ineffective," adding that there will be "no sacred cows, and no pet projects."
The president also announced that Aneesh Chopra, Virginia's technology secretary, will serve as the government's chief technology officer and work closely with Vivek Kundra, the chief information officer.
Zients replaces Nancy Killefer as Obama's pick for the top federal management position. Killefer withdrew in February to avoid controversy over issues related to her personal income taxes.
Zients served as chief executive officer and chairman of the Washington-based Advisory Board Company -- where Chopra has also worked -- and as head of the Corporate Executive Board. The firms provide best practices and customized market research on health care and financial management. Zients also launched an unsuccessful bid with other Washington-area investors in 2005 to buy the Washington Nationals baseball team.
By ANDREW NOYES, CongressDaily
President Obama on Saturday announced the selection of Virginia Secretary of Technology Aneesh Chopra to serve as the nation's first chief technology officer, making good on a campaign promise to create the post that enthused Silicon Valley and high-tech policy watchers in Washington.
Chopra "will promote technological innovation to help achieve our most urgent priorities -- from creating jobs and reducing health care costs to keeping our nation secure," Obama said in his weekly radio address.
He will work closely with Obama's chief information officer, Vivek Kundra, who is responsible for setting technology policy across the government, and using technology to improve security, ensure transparency and lower costs.
Kundra was appointed CIO and administrator for e-government at OMB last month. The pair worked together before when Kundra served as Virginia's assistant secretary of commerce and technology.
Before joining Gov. Tim Kaine's cabinet, Chopra was a managing director at the Advisory Board Company, a health care think tank.
By CONGRESSDAILY STAFF
President Obama's new computer chief, just restored from a forced leave after an FBI raid at his old office, pleaded guilty to misdemeanor theft in 1996 when he was 21 years old.
White House spokesman Nick Shapiro refused to say what Vivek Kundra, now 34, stole or whether the administration knew of Kundra's guilty plea before announcing his appointment, but he dismissed the old charge against him as a "youthful indiscretion."
Court records show that Kundra pleaded guilty to theft of less than $300 on Aug. 27, 1996, in Rockville, Md. He was sentenced to supervised probation, community service and a small fine. A case file describing the offense could not be found.
"Vivek committed a youthful indiscretion," Shapiro said. "He performed community service, and we are satisfied that he fully resolved the matter."
Obama appointed Kundra March 5 to the White House post of chief federal information officer in charge of purchases of computers and other information technology.
A week later, the FBI raided the District of Columbia technology office, which Kundra had led until recently. Agents arrested a city employee and a technology consultant on corruption charges, and Kundra was put on leave from his White House post until further details became known, but was reinstated Tuesday.
"Mr. Kundra has been informed that he is neither a subject nor a target of the investigation and has been reinstated," Shapiro said.
By CONGRESSDAILY STAFF
President Obama's new computer chief, Vivek Kundra, is on leave from his White House job after the FBI raided his old District of Columbia government office Thursday, arresting a city employee and a technology consultant on corruption charges, a White House official said.
The charges were lodged against the two men at a federal court hearing as the FBI finished searching the city's technology office, which was led until recently by Kundra.
Kundra is on leave from his White House job until further details of the case become known, according to a White House official speaking on condition of anonymity.
At the court hearing, Yusuf Acar, the acting chief security officer in the city's technology office, was ordered held without bond pending a hearing Tuesday. Prosecutors said $70,000 in cash was found during a search of Acar's Washington home and that he posed a flight risk.
Technology consultant Sushil Bansal of Dunn Loring, Va., was released but was ordered not to conduct overseas financial transactions or leave the area. Bansal is due back in court on April 21, and prosecutors said they hoped a plea agreement could be reached in his case.
Acar worked under Kundra, Obama's choice to coordinate federal computer systems. Obama spokesman Robert Gibbs would not say whether the White House knew the investigation was under way when it named Kundra last week.
Mafara Hobson, a spokeswoman for Washington Mayor Adrian Fenty, said she was very confident Kundra is not a target of the investigation.
NextGov's Gautham Nagesh has more on the raid and on Kundra's possible future in the administration here.
The FBI has arrested an employee of the D.C. Office of the Chief Technology Officer along with a private contractor in a federal bribery sting, according to AP and Washington's WTOP radio. Vivek Kundra recently left his position as head of that office to work as chief information officer in the Obama administration but has not been linked to the ongoing investigation.
WTOP is reporting that the office's acting chief security officer, Yusuf Acar, and Advanced Integrated Technologies Corp. President Sushil Bansal have been arrested and that the FBI has searched two floors of the downtown D.C. office building, but few details have been forthcoming. In initial accounts, the FBI, the White House, the office of Washington Mayor Adrian Fenty and a spokesman for the U.S. Attorney's Office have all refused to comment.
The news that Kundra was not a target of the raid produced some relief in tech quarters. Kundra has generated excitement for his plans to improve outdated federal IT systems and set up a site called data.gov to make available more of the government's vast stores of data.
By GOVERNMENT EXECUTIVE STAFF
President Obama today named Vivek Kundra to serve as federal chief information officer at the White House, a newly created position.
As CIO, Obama said, Kundra would work closely with a still-to-be-named chief technology officer to implement the administration's technology agenda. The president added that Kundra "will play a key role in making sure our government is running in the most secure, open and efficient way possible."
The federal CIO, according to a White House announcement, "directs the policy and strategic planning of federal information technology investments and is responsible for oversight of federal technology spending." That includes establishing and overseeing an enterprise architecture for federal systems.
Kundra has been rumored to be a candidate both for the CTO job and to be administrator for e-government and information technology in the Office of Management and Budget. He had been serving as chief technology officer for the District of Columbia, where he was responsible for managing technology operations at 86 city agencies.
By GAUTHAM NAGESH, Government Executive
In his year and a half in office, District of Columbia technology chief Vivek Kundra has developed a reputation as an innovative, open-minded leader who uses technology to increase the transparency and accountability of government. So it's hardly surprising that Kundra is being considered for a post in the Obama administration, which has promised to use technology to create a more open government.
Democratic insiders have told NextGov that the D.C. official is on the short list of South Asian-Americans being considered for roles within the new administration. The details remain uncertain, but one possible fit for Kundra would be the new federal chief technology officer position that President-elect Barack Obama proposed during his campaign.
Complete story available on NextGov.
