Government Executive - Authors - Bara Vaida

McCain draws some union support

Gregg Sangillo and Bara Vaida — Wed, 03 Sep 2008 00:00:00 -0400

"You are a member of the SEIU? Are you here to protest?" his interlocutors ask, Roberts recounted in an interview with Convention Daily. "People don't quite know how to deal with us."

What people forget is that although the powerful union is heavily Democratic and has endorsed Democratic nominee Barack Obama for president, about 25 percent of the 2 million members are registered Republicans, and their voice matters, said Roberts. The Connecticut native was hired three years ago by SEIU President Andy Stern to help bolster the SEIU's voice among Republicans and help the union find common ground with the party on economic security issues.

"It's important to leverage our support" on both sides of the aisle, said Roberts, a former aide to the late Sen. Frank Church, D-Idaho, and Rep. Neil Abercrombie, D-Hawaii.

Under Stern, the SEIU is making a concerted effort to build bridges with the GOP, and for the first time ever it helped to finance a Republican convention by giving $50,000 to the host committee. Furthermore, the SEIU wrote a $25,000 check to the Republican Governors Association and gave about $10,000 to the Republican Main Street Partnership.

Those checks got Roberts invited to several receptions at the convention, which has helped the SEIU make a few new friends. The union also held a reception on Sunday afternoon to honor Republican labor activists in state delegations. Roberts said 2,000 were invited, and 200 came. Though the number may seem low, the lobbyist said the process was useful for the SEIU because it raised awareness among SEIU members that the union cares about its Republican members.

"It is hard for people to wrap their minds around the concept," said Roberts. "I think we are in the consciousness-raising phase right now."

This November, while most of the union will be focusing its energy on electing Democrats, the SEIU's political action committee will endorse and give money to several Republican candidates, including Rep. Tim Murphy of Pennsylvania. Roberts estimated that the union will probably spend about $150,000 to $200,000 on electing Republican candidates -- a tiny amount compared to the $85 million that the Change to Win alliance (which the SEIU is part of) expects to spend on get-out-the-vote efforts that are likely to help mainly Democrats.

The SEIU isn't the only union to reach out to Republicans this week. The National Education Association Fund for Children, the International Association of Fire Fighters, and others co-hosted a lunch with pro-labor Republicans, which included Reps. Mark Kirk of Illinois and Denny Rehberg of Montana.

Randy Moody, the chief lobbyist of the teacher's union, said the convention has been a "good opportunity to let people know that we have 3.2 million members and 1 million of them are Republicans." Moody, himself a lifelong Republican, said the NEA event had some 200 people in attendance. "It's certainly appropriate for us to be here."

For full coverage of the Republican National Convention, go to NationalJournal.com.

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FBI manager keeps agency tech upgrade on track

Bara Vaida — Mon, 30 Jun 2003 00:00:00 -0400

In the late 1980s, the Internal Revenue Service began a technology modernization program to replace its decades-old computing system. The effort was a disaster. The agency spent $4 billion and ended up with an unworkable computer system that had to be scrapped and replaced in the late 1990s. W. Wilson Lowery, the FBI's executive assistant director for administration, has a plan for ensuring that his agency doesn't repeat the IRS's mistakes.

Lowery spent 30 years at IBM in various management positions before FBI Director Robert Mueller wooed him to the FBI in June 2002 to oversee the bureau's technology overhaul. So far, Lowery is on track with the upgrade. By the end of March, the agency had succeeded in creating one network by linking 21,025 of its desktop computers spread across 622 locations. The success marked the first time FBI agents in the field could connect by computer with the home office in Washington.

Lowery is also making sure that the FBI's 11,500 agents have access to laptop computers and portable computing devices to speed up investigations. By year's end, all agents and analysts will have access to a new computer tool called the "virtual case file," which is expected to enhance the FBI's ability to analyze the enormous amount of data it receives daily. Lowery, whose style is both straight-talking and personable, sat down with National Journal on June 13 to discuss the re-engineering effort. The following are edited excerpts from the interview.

NJ: What makes you think you will be able to succeed in re-engineering the FBI?

Lowery: There are three ingredients for re-engineering efforts to succeed. No. 1-and it will sound trite, but it's absolutely true-the leader of the organization has got to be fully committed to it. To say that Bob Mueller is committed to this is an understatement. He demands it, because he understands the implication of not changing.

No. 2 is that you have to put someone in charge who understands how to do it and is going to basically manage the day-to-day operation; that is me. The third thing is that you have to convince the organization that they must put some of their better people on these particular projects, because these projects are very important to our future. So if you get those three things, it's not that hard.

NJ: How did it happen that FBI agents went for so long without laptops and that its field offices weren't connected to one network?

Lowery: I don't know that answer. I'm playing the hand that we've been dealt. I don't want to go throwing rocks at any individuals, but I can tell you [technology] was not emphasized, and people here will tell you that. Even today, we'll get from people that have been here a while, "Am I going to have to learn how to type?" And the answer is that absolutely you are. You are going to have to understand how to use computer technology.

NJ: How do you know what you are doing is succeeding?

Lowery: You have to have a mechanism to know what you are doing is actually working. That says measurements. [With] some of our projects, we have good measurements, and I feel that we are about where we need to be.

With others, however, we are still developing and testing what those measurements should be. One of the things that we want to do is [determine] how many terrorist events we have prevented. That gets you into an area where you cannot unequivocally say this is what we prevented, because it didn't happen in the first place.

NJ: Why did you decide to come to the FBI?

Lowery: Most people assume that I have a political connection. I barely contribute and don't anymore. The story is that I retired from IBM in September 1998. I had three objectives. You know how we type A's are; you have to have objectives, right? My wife and I were going to move to South Carolina and build our dream home, and I was going to get my golf handicap down, and we were going to spend time together. It was a great three and a half years until September 11.

My reaction was no different than others'. I sat there with tears running down my face and said I should do something to help. So I called a man I had worked with at IBM who was at the FBI. He said, "Why don't you come up and meet Mueller?" And I said, "That would be a thrill." I met with him and asked him a straightforward question: "Are you serious about [changing the FBI]?" And he said, "If we don't change the way this organization operates and re-engineer it from top to bottom, there will be no FBI as we know it today."

And he said, "Will you come help me?" I couldn't say no. It's been the best year of my life.

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Warning center for cyber attacks is online, official says

Bara Vaida — Wed, 25 Jun 2003 00:00:00 -0400

A national early-warning network and analysis center for cyber attacks is operating in 30 locations, a senior White House official said on Wednesday.

Paul Kurtz, a special assistant to President Bush and senior director for critical infrastructure protection in the Homeland Security Council, said the Cyber Warning and Information Network (CWIN) has begun operating, and administration officials are working to add state and local officials to the network.

"It's not a first-responders network," Kurtz said at a cybersecurity conference organized by the Center for Strategic and International Studies and the Information Technology Industry Council. "But we've been hearing a lot of questions about how we'll share information ... and CWIN is just the beginning" of that information-sharing effort.

CWIN was an idea of former White House cybersecurity adviser Richard Clarke, who in October 2001 said creating such an early-warning system would be a top priority as part of the government's efforts for bolstering network security. Two information-sharing and analysis centers for various sectors of the economy already have joined the network, with more expected to join by year's end.

CWIN was to be modeled after the existing National Operations and Intelligence Watch Offices Network, which connects senior officials at the Pentagon, National Security Agency, White House, State Department and CIA by phone within 15 seconds, Clarke said in 2001.

CWIN "is being used just a little bit ... and we will need greater assistance" from the private sector, Kurtz said. "But there is movement on the ground."

Kurtz also outlined the role of the White House Homeland Security Council, which is modeled after the National Security Council. He said the Homeland Security Council's main goal is to make sure the Homeland Security Department is successful, as well as to work with all federal agencies to coordinate homeland security efforts.

He emphasized the importance of the private sector continuing to work with the government to answer ongoing questions, such as "what is the cyber infrastructure, what is the role of the federal government and what is the proper role of state and local officials in protecting computer networks?" He also said the Bush administration philosophy is to let the private sector find market-based solutions to security before seeking "government remedies."

Other panelists at the event spoke about their companies' efforts to play a role in homeland security. For example, Frank Koester, vice president of technical operations at Eastman Kodak, highlighted a technology standard called JPEG 2000 that enables the sharing of digital imaging to help emergency workers do their jobs.

Tom Richey, director of homeland security at Microsoft, noted that his company's software has met national security standards for intelligence sharing and that his firm is bolstering the security of its current systems and products. And Bill Boni, chief information security officer at Motorola, outlined his firm's efforts to make wireless systems more secure.

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Companies outline efforts to practice, preach cybersecurity

Bara Vaida — Mon, 23 Jun 2003 00:00:00 -0400

Executives from companies in the Internet Security Alliance (ISA) on Monday outlined their efforts to bolster cybersecurity and privacy as the number of computer attacks continues to rise.

At a congressional briefing, executives from AIG Cyber Insurance, Nortel Networks, Verizon Communications and Visa all outlined how they are encouraging cybersecurity while also educating lawmakers on the need for the government to urge companies and individuals to invest in cybersecurity.

"A role the government can play is in public awareness," said Larry Clinton, deputy executive director of the ISA, which is managed by the Electronic Industries Alliance. "Consumers need to develop sensibility" to cybersecurity.

The Bush administration's strategy to protect cyberspace notes that because 85 percent to 90 percent of the nation's computer networks are privately held, the private sector will play a large role in protecting computer networks.

Ty Sagalow, executive vice president and chief operating officer at AIG Cyber Insurance, explained how his company has been providing incentives for firms to increase cybersecurity. He said companies that are interested in purchasing cyber insurance first must subject their security programs to thorough examination by independent teams of cyber experts.

The teams produce 25-page reports for the companies and recommend ways to improve security. Each company also receives a grade, and then AIG determines what types of insurance to provide and at what cost. Sagalow said 75 percent of companies that seek insurance do purchase some type of it from AIG.

Sagalow also said AIG provides insurance discounts for companies that follow ISA's "best practices" for cyber protection, and for purchasing certain types of technologies and equipment.

Rod Wallace, director of network security at Nortel Networks, said his company requires all its vendors to meet cyber-security requirements. And Linc Howell, Verizon Communications' assistant vice president for Internet technology policy, said his company provides packages of cyber-security protection for its high-speed Internet users.

Mark MacCarthy, Visa's senior vice president for public policy, said his company requires all of the top 100 e-commerce destinations on the Internet to follow Visa's privacy and cyber-security guidelines if they plan to use Visa's financial system. The company also requires that of smaller companies in the United States and has begun the program in the European Union.

MacCarthy said that now almost all 100 of the e-commerce sites follow Visa's rules on protecting consumers' Visa numbers.

All the panelists agreed that the best thing the government could do is highlight the need for cybersecurity.

AIG's Sagalow said that some companies also would like Congress to revisit the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) again to strengthen the exemption from the law for companies that voluntarily provide information on critical infrastructure protection information to the government. The FOIA exemption in the 2002 law that created the Homeland Security Department did not go far enough, they argue.

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Ex-IBM executive leads FBI technology overhaul

Bara Vaida — Tue, 17 Jun 2003 00:00:00 -0400

Wilson Lowery, a former IBM executive who came to the FBI in July 2002 because he "wanted to do something to help" after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, has been implementing the largest IT reengineering effort in the agency's history, including linking 22,000 agency computers into a single network.

"This has been the best year of my life. True statement," Lowery said in an interview last week with National Journal Group reporters. Lowery retired from IBM in 1989 after 30 years at the company, most recently as head of IBM's credit division. But after the terrorist attacks, he emerged from retirement at the request of Mueller, who assured him that changing the FBI's technology systems was a top priority.

"He said, 'If we don't change the way this organization operates and reengineer it from top to bottom, there will be no FBI as we know it today,' " Lowery recounted Mueller saying last April. At the time, many FBI agents had no access to laptop computers and were not connected to each other or to the main office in Washington.

After Lowery joined the FBI in July 2002, he implemented 40 reengineering projects, including an update of the Trilogy program-the FBI's $595 million computer upgrade.

Even before Lowery joined the FBI, Mueller had identified existing problems with the software interface application that was to be implemented in Trilogy. Mueller scrapped that application and restarted with a new one called the "virtual case file."

Lowery said his team then realized that Trilogy needed better encryption and a satellite backup system to ensure that the computer network would run in the event of a disruption, and that the FBI had created 66 regional joint ant-terrorism task forces that needed to be added to the network.

The extra costs resulted in the Trilogy program overrunning its congressionally authorized budget by $138 million, causing criticism by some lawmakers earlier this year.

"A cost overrun is technically not [a] true" way to characterize the price tag of Trilogy, Lowery said. "It is true that it is costing that amount of money more, but we are getting a lot more for it, which includes more locations, more capabilities and a total redesign of the software package."

The initial implementation of the Trilogy network was completed as of March 28, and a central network-operations center is almost complete. The virtual case file, which is expected to be completed by the end of this year, enables agents and analysts to input data into computers and then provides analytical tools.

Lowery said Mueller will outline these successes at the Wednesday hearing and that the National Academy of Public Administration, which has an ongoing study on the success of the FBI's reorganization, is expected to provide a favorable report on the agency's progress.

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Tech industry doubts about focus on cybersecurity linger

Bara Vaida — Fri, 13 Jun 2003 00:00:00 -0400

For some lobbyists, the fact that the Homeland Security Department chose to outline its new cybersecurity division's place on the bureaucratic ladder on a Friday afternoon last week was not a coincidence. It signaled to them that cybersecurity issues are not the highest priority as the department's leaders work to morph 22 agencies into a working organization.

"They always seem to make their cyber announcements at the very last minute on Fridays, when no one is paying attention and members are out of town," said one high-tech lobbyist, who noted that the final strategy on cybersecurity also was released on a Friday afternoon in February, with little notice to press or industry.

The timing of the announcement comes after other developments on the cybersecurity front that have concerned such lobbyists.

On March 1, when the White House dissolved the Critical Infrastructure Protection Board (CIPB), which wrote the cyber strategy, no replacement for the board's leadership was named. Cybersecurity experts in the high-tech world were left guessing the direction of the administration's cybersecurity policy for months. Some lobbyists said it was because the administration originally had no plan to create a cyber division within Homeland Security.

Also in March, Homeland Security Secretary Tom Ridge told Congress that cybersecurity is important but that he sees it as intertwined with physical security. According to sources, Howard Schmidt, then co-chair of the CIPB, met with Ridge to argue that a senior person was needed within the department to oversee cybersecurity alone, but Ridge's staff was not convinced of that need, one lobbyist said. Schmidt left his position at the White House last month to join eBay.

"There was a group of senior officials ... that believed cybersecurity is no different than water or energy security ... and that cyber shouldn't be given some special carve-out," one lobbyist said. That source added that some people in the administration believed that cries about impending technology problems, like the outcries about the Year 2000 computer glitch, were overblown.

Meanwhile, high-tech lobbyists and several prominent lawmakers-such as House Government Affairs Committee Chairman Tom Davis, R-Va.- continued to push the administration and Homeland Security officials to create a senior cybersecurity position.

In the end, the two met in the middle. The department created a 60-person cyber division-but not at the senior level that the tech industry had wanted.

Robert Liscouski, the assistant Homeland Security secretary for infrastructure protection, said last week that the cyber division would have been "dysfunctional" anywhere else within the department and assured the high-tech sector that Ridge will be actively involved in cyber policy.

Now lobbyists are guessing who will be named as director of the division. That speculation has centered on: Michael Aisenberg, VeriSign's director of public policy; Julia Allen, technical staff member of the CERT Coordination Center at Carnegie Mellon University; Kathy Burton, a former National Communications System official; Computer Sciences Corp. Vice President Guy Copeland; and Oracle Chief Security Officer Mary Ann Davidson.

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Homeland Security unveils new cybersecurity division, seeks chief

Bara Vaida — Fri, 06 Jun 2003 00:00:00 -0400

Assistant Homeland Security Secretary for Infrastructure Protection Robert Liscouski called the new division "the feet" to implement the administration's strategy to secure cyberspace and said his goal is to name a director within the next 30 days.

"I want a private-sector person who can be a visionary," Liscouski said at a news briefing. "We will kick off an aggressive search to find a director."

The question of who will oversee cybersecurity within the Bush administration has been an open issue since March 1, when the White House dissolved its Office of Cyberspace Security as part of the process of creating Homeland Security. Several high-ranking cybersecurity officials declined to take jobs in the new department, spurring speculation that the administration was not going to put the new cybersecurity adviser in a senior position.

"I think what you saw was confusion about where the new division was going to be placed in the department," Liscouski said. "If this organization were anywhere else [but here], then it would be dysfunctional. ... This is a peer office ... and the secretary [Tom Ridge] has a laser-beam focus on cyber security." He added that Ridge knows the importance of technology to the business community.

Liscouski outlined the office's goals, which include prevention, protection and mitigation of cyber attacks. He emphasized that cyber security is a key part of physical security, part of the department's overall mission. As part of the effort of prevention and protection, the division will oversee a Cybersecurity Tracking, Analysis and Response Center (CSTARC), which will serve as a central point for detecting, coordinating and responding to cyber attacks.

Liscouski emphasized that the cyber division would not regulate but would "act as a bully pulpit" for creating a culture of cybersecurity.

He noted that department officials are discussing ideas, such as creating cyber-security standards, providing cybersecurity insurance or requiring companies to publicly state their cybersecurity efforts in their financial statements. "But these ideas are in a discussion stage" and nowhere near a policymaking stage, he said.

Liscouski said his division works so closely with Paul Redmond, assistant secretary for information analysis, that the line between the two divisions is "blurry." Redmond is also working with the Terrorist Threat Integration Center (TTIC), which is to be the center point for that nation's intelligence gathering.

TTIC, which is being housed within the CIA, is to have a "cyber capability," Liscouski said, and is to help them his department with mapping cyber vulnerabilities. He said the new cyber-security division at Homeland Security would not have investigative abilities, as that remains the FBI's primary responsibility to follow up on cyber crimes.

The Business Software Alliance, Entrust, Information Technology Association of America and the security firm VeriSign all expressed public support for the new division.

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Security officials urge more research into supercomputing

Bara Vaida — Wed, 04 Jun 2003 00:00:00 -0400

The nation's investment in supercomputing research and development has played a crucial role in national security, but more investment is needed to resolve numerous computational problems, a key National Security Agency (NSA) official said on Wednesday.

George Cotter, chief of NSA's Office of Corporate Assessments, said the conclusion of a congressionally mandated study on high-end computing R&D determined a need for faster computing to enable the military to create better weapons, aircraft and ships, as well as to improve the nation's ability to monitor its nuclear-weapons stockpile. Faster computers also are needed to analyze intelligence data and build better mapping capabilities for the military, he said.

"We have to continue to invest in R&D in these systems," Cotter told attendees of an Army High-Performance Computing Research Center luncheon. "The problem is, [right now] our capacity is limited."

The center has received $4 million in research funding annually over the past two years from the Army as the Pentagon decided to increase its focus on using supercomputing for military purposes. The program was initiated in 1990 and at that time received $2 million.

That amount dropped in the late 1990s and was recently increased, according to Paul Muzio, a spokesman for Network Computing Services, which provides the facilities management for the program. The center is among the programs Cotter examined as part of his study.

He cited the need for advances in computer simulations and modeling, adding that no current computer can satisfy the robust needs in several areas.

He said, for instance, that better simulation is needed to identify what changes occur within nuclear weapons as they sit in inventory, and better modeling is needed in aerospace and ship design, both for pilot training and for creating stealth ships.

Cotter also called for advanced atmospheric modeling in national missile defense to help missiles more precisely hit their targets, and he said more precise modeling of the impact of biological or radiological terrorist attacks is needed.

The reasons to hope the challenges will be met include the work occurring at the center, he said.

The emphasis on supercomputing machines declined during the 1990s, as the high-end computing industry shifted its research emphasis onto parallel and distributed computing.

Vincent Scarfino, manager of numerically intensive computing at Ford Motor, said at the lunch that the shift resulted in lower costs and higher productivity for high-end computing but that the ability of computers to solve increasingly complex problems came to a standstill. As a result, he said, "there has been no new breakthroughs in applications of science to solving problems."

Cray Computer has returned to making supercomputers over the past several years, and the government has been among its biggest customers. The center now uses some Cray computers.

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Report details homeland security contracting opportunities

Bara Vaida — Wed, 28 May 2003 00:00:00 -0400

To help venture capitalists and corporations determine how to better target their dollars in the market, the Washington, D.C.-based homeland security investment firm O'Gara Company on Wednesday unveiled a guide for determining where federal dollars will be spent and where the likely growth areas in the sector are.

"We wanted to understand what was driving this market, and so we created a roadmap to understand what the opportunities may be," said Tom O'Gara, founder and chairman of the firm.

While the Homeland Security Department has a fiscal 2003 budget of $28.2 billion and that is projected to rise to $36.2 billion in fiscal 2004, O'Gara Company has estimated that the actual market for federal security contracts is only $6.13 billion in fiscal 2003 and $7.21 billion in fiscal 2004.

Most of the remaining money is being spent on personnel and other costs of operating the department and hence is not available to private contractors, according to the report.

The report identifies the areas most likely to provide the highest investment returns for corporations and venture capitalists as cargo-screening technology, equipment for "first responders" to emergencies, multi-model cargo security for tracking and authentication, aviation screening technology and physical security upgrades.

The areas least likely to provide high returns involve integration of the Homeland Security Department and in the intelligence community, law enforcement intelligence training, identification systems for national and population segments, and state and local intelligence sharing, the report said.

O'Gara also warned companies that Homeland Security is trying to make decisions about the best technologies even though it has existed only five months, and hence in the short term officials are likely seeking off-the-shelf technology solutions with proven markets, not new technologies.

O'Gara noted that many technology companies have come to Washington offering security technologies but so far have been frustrated with the Bush administration's follow-up to requests for ideas. He described the Homeland Security officials charged with private-sector outreach-Homeland Security Undersecretary of Science and Technology Charles McQueary and Al Martinez-Fonts, special assistant to the secretary in the Office of the Private Sector-as currently being public-relations specialists without any real power to help companies get contracts.

Despite that difficulty, the report said some companies are making money in the market. To demonstrate, it identified 30 "pure play" security companies-such as CACI, Entrust, Intergraph and Symantec-that have seen an increase in their market share since Sept. 11.

As to frustrations that money has yet to begin flowing to the private sector, O'Gara said, "Politically, I think homeland security money will be flowing by the summer of 2004," before the presidential election. "Homeland security money is like God and country."

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Administration has hits, misses in implementing management agenda

Bara Vaida — Fri, 09 May 2003 00:00:00 -0400

Government reform is a perennial favorite issue, but no administration has been able to fully implement its plans for overhauling the operations of the federal bureaucracy. However, President Bush has taken a different approach that officials and executives say bodes well for making government, including electronic government, more efficient and accessible to citizens.

White House Personnel Director Clay Johnson required all 500 of Bush's appointees to government agencies to get training in the President's Management Agenda before starting their jobs, making it clear that improving government management is a top priority. Johnson, who was Bush's college roommate, has been nominated as deputy director of management for OMB, placing him in charge of the agenda.

"This administration has a much more business-oriented approach" to government reform, said David McClure, vice president for e-government at the Council for Excellence in Government. "It's very metrics and cost-focused ... and I think there has been real progress."

The overall management agenda, implemented in 2001, targets five areas for change. They are: expanded e-government, which is defined as the use of Internet and Web-based approaches to delivering government services; strategic management of human capital; competitive sourcing; improved financial performance; and budget and performance integration.

Under the e-government agenda, which was unveiled in early 2002, the administration has set 24 project priorities, which touch on all other aspects of the management agenda, according to Norm Enger, e-government program director at the Office of Personnel Management. For example, OPM is consolidating payroll for 22 agencies and 1.8 million civilian employees, and it hopes to complete the project by September 2004. That consolidation also meets a government goal for improving human capital management.

"E-government is one of five components, and they are all inter-related," Enger said.

So far, implementation of the plan has been varied, with some agencies moving ahead more quickly than others. There are tangible signs of progress, with the operation of several governmentwide Web sites such as USAJobs, for listing all openings for federal jobs.

Cameron Findlay, deputy secretary at the Labor Department and chairman of the President's Management Council Committee on E-government, said that the process of implementing the agenda is a "monumental undertaking" and that the administration is probably "in the early stages" of what is likely to be a five- to 10-year process.

"This clearly will be a long hard slog," Findlay said, while adding, "We are announcing progress on initiatives every day."

Members of the private sector particularly like the governmentwide grading system, where progress can be charted publicly every quarter.

OMB Director Mitch Daniels required agencies in fiscal 2004 budget planning to provide business and management plans to justify funding. Agencies that failed to meet OMB requirements were listed on a chart at the Web site www.results.gov. Almost every agency failed or showed need for improvement when the chart was posted as part of Bush's budget proposal in February.

"The Web site creates a kind of subtle peer pressure between agencies," said John Kamensky, a senior fellow at IBM's Endowment for the Business of Government. "If an agency slips, everyone knows."

As the president's staff works to implement the agenda, challenges abound. The greatest is inertia among staff and resistance to cultural change, said Findlay and Enger. Until recently, agencies developed their own information technology budgets and Congress, through the 13 annual appropriations bills, approved them.

There has been reluctance on Capitol Hill to change that process. As the management agenda is implemented, agencies are finding that they must share their IT budgets with other agencies.

"The big rub and the huge challenge lies on Capitol Hill," said George Molaski, CEO of E-Associates and a former chief information officer for the Transportation Department. "Congress totally sees government in silos ... and they really need to take a more enterprise view of the government."

That "stovepipe" view, bureaucratic lingo that describes agencies planning their work independently rather than as part of a broader government agenda, may point to Congress' failure to provide the administration with full funding for its e-government initiative. Bush requested $45 million in fiscal 2003, which could be used to fund interagency e-government pilot projects, speeding the implementation process. Congress provided $5 million.

"Lack of congressional commitment is a concern," said Tom Gann, vice president and general manager of e-government initiatives at Siebel Systems, who has lobbied Congress to garner full funding for e-government. "These are valuable investments because they help prove concepts that can be pushed agencywide, so it's a valuable use of small amounts of money."

Labor's Findlay said that while it would be better to have full funding, the administration could function by pulling money from other projects.

"We thought the funding was a good idea," he said, "but it won't be the end of the world if we don't get it."

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Small Florida firm navigates federal procurement market

Bara Vaida — Fri, 02 May 2003 00:00:00 -0400

Early last month, Ideal Technology, a computer-forensics company, won a $65,000, six-month contract from the Defense Department for developing portable systems designed to quickly mine data from computers captured from enemies.

"We are taking a slow, homegrown approach," vice president and co-founder Jordan Jacobs said. "We aren't venture capitalized. We don't advertise. We didn't hire a lobbyist. ... We just do lots of pitches ourselves to government entities and to geeks. We're trying to do things differently."

Jacobs believes his firm won the contract because of Ideal's expertise with "open source," a type of software that includes code that can be examined, modified and copied without threat of copyright infringement. A November 2002 study by Mitre Corp. for the Defense Information Systems Agency (DISA) found that there were 115 different types of open-source software used in operating DISA computer networks in 251 different programs.

Microsoft has been lobbying the Pentagon, Congress and the Bush administration to stem the growing use of open-source software such as Linux and has argued that the open nature of the technology can make it more vulnerable to attack.

"Microsoft spends more money on advertising and promoting their products than we ever hope to make," Jacobs said. "But I think there is a growing interest in open source, and more companies are adopting the open-source model."

Though Ideal does not employ a lobbyist, it sees an open-source advocate in Tony Stanco, director of George Washington University's Center of Open Source and Government, which is tracking governments' use of open source. Jacobs said he has been invited to give presentations at Stanco's periodic conferences, which has helped him gain connections in Washington.

Jacobs previously worked for Lockheed Martin, while his partner, company President Douglass Hock, worked in a research and development division for the Army. Those experiences enabled the partners to start the firm with a list of potential clients, Jacobs said.

Ideal also used Defense's Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) program to get the contract. The small-business program generates bids for applications twice a year and aims specifically at small companies. Jacobs said a great benefit to the program is that his firm gets to keep the intellectual property it develops with the research program money.

"It's a great program for small companies," he said.

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Think tank urges Democrats to focus on government reform

Bara Vaida — Thu, 01 May 2003 00:00:00 -0400

In a paper titled "Network Government for the Digital Age," the Progressive Policy Institute (PPI), the policy arm of the moderate Democratic Leadership Council, argued that most Americans do not want smaller government, but they also do not trust the current structure of government to work efficiently. The paper outlines a framework for reforming government.

"What we need to do is focus on making government work instead of blindly defending it," said New Democrat Caucus co-Chairman Adam Smith, D-Wash. "If progressive policies are to survive, government has to be made more efficient."

Among the key ideas in the reform framework, PPI calls for the government to make greater use of information technology, to reform the civil service so pay is tied closer to performance, to give agency leaders more flexibility in management and to demand accountability from managers. Another key point is shifting the focus of government to a new model of governance, in which there is more emphasis on funding a network of services instead of specific programs.

Reforming government has been a top priority of the Bush administration, which implemented the President's Management Agenda in 2001. It also unveiled an e-government strategy in early 2002 and has created several Web sites that consolidate services online. So far, the private sector largely has applauded administration efforts, and public use of the Web sites has risen.

Rob Atkinson, vice president at PPI and author of the government reform paper, said President Bush deserves credit for the reform work his administration has conducted, but he questioned whether the administration has placed too much emphasis on privatization of government jobs and not enough on improving public services.

"My concern is that they see privatization as a goal in itself rather than a means," Atkinson said.

Smith said there is nothing wrong with privatizing government jobs if doing so improves efficiency, but he worries that the focus on privatization is more on shrinking the size of government rather than making it better.

One area of the PPI plan that is likely to be controversial within the Democratic Party is its call for restructuring the civil service system. Smith said over the past six months that he has been reaching out to federal labor unions to discuss ways to provide managers with more flexibility and incorporate merit-based pay programs, but it is "really hard to change unions."

Still, Smith said he sensed an acknowledgement that no change makes it easier for Republicans to successfully paint Democrats as favoring big government.

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Homeland chief urges firms to bolster cybersecurity

Bara Vaida — Wed, 30 Apr 2003 00:00:00 -0400

At a speech before the Northern Virginia Technology Council, Ridge cited a poll showing that 90 percent of CEOs do not think their companies are a target for terrorist attacks, and he expressed concern that companies may not be vigilant enough in trying to prevent hackings or other types of cyber attacks.

"If you don't think you're a target, it's very unlikely you're going to do anything about it," Ridge said. "That's very disquieting. It's not just the physical destruction of your capacity ... that you need to be worried about. Given the interdependency of the cyber and physical capacity that you have, you need to be just as worried, or maybe even more worried, about somebody hacking into your system."

Ridge's emphasis on cybersecurity came as some people in the high-tech industry have expressed concern about the Bush administration's attention to the issue. With the creation of the Homeland Security Department on March 1, the White House dissolved its critical infrastructure protection office and has yet to name an individual to oversee cyber security.

Robert Liscouski has been nominated as Homeland Security assistant secretary of infrastructure protection and will have jurisdiction over cyber security, but industry officials have pushed for a single, high-level person to focus on the issue.

"We appreciate the outstanding individuals that President Bush has designated to oversee infrastructure protection," said Harris Miller, president of the Information Technology Association of America. "We are concerned, however, that the cybersecurity issue is losing visibility inside the White House."

A source close to the White House said an individual would be dedicated to cybersecurity when the White House Homeland Security Council is announced.

On Tuesday, Ridge asked businesses to examine their vulnerabilities and to develop plans for addressing them, as outlined in the cyber-security strategy released in February.

"This will not be a cost-free arrangement," Ridge said. "But the cost of doing little or nothing ... will be much higher."

Ridge also said technology is key to homeland security and encouraged businesses to share their products and services through the department's vendor information site. He also urged companies with prototype ideas to click on the "Working with DHS" on the agency's Web site, as his staff is looking for such projects.

"We are planning frequent, broad area announcements of our technology needs to give companies like yours an opportunity to meet them," he said.

Ridge also outlined how technology is already being used at the borders, through the Vehicle and Cargo Inspection System (VACIS), where a machine with gamma rays is used to scan rail or truck containers for illegal weapons or materials. In addition, the department is providing every primary border inspector with personal radiation detectors.

"Technology puts the smart in smart borders," he said.

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Venture capitalists urge small tech firms to enter government market

Bara Vaida — Mon, 14 Apr 2003 00:00:00 -0400

Schroeder, the CEO of the San Jose, Calif., company, said he had thought the federal procurement process was too slow and too expensive to be a potential market for small firms. But the slow economy coupled with the fast growth in homeland security funding has made venture capitalists in Silicon Valley intently focus on Washington and the federal market, he said.

"Not long after the venture capitalist on my board suggested we look at the federal market, I was at a board meeting of another company and a venture capitalist said, 'A small company that doesn't have a government strategy is missing a bet'," Schroeder said. "Then I started to think that this is a growing trend in the venture-capital community."

Mark Heesen, president of the National Venture Capital Association, confirmed that trend. He has been hearing more often that venture capitalists are pushing startup firms to determine how to sell to the government because the corporate information-technology market is at a near standstill.

"Basically, venture capitalists are looking for customers, and in the past they ignored the government because it's a pain in the neck to deal with," Heesen said. "Now when times are tough, they are seeing the government ... as a customer that pays its bills. And when you look into the areas of cybersecurity, the government can be a huge customer."

The amount of money in the federal budget for cybersecurity has been growing. President Bush requested $4.7 billion for cybersecurity in fiscal 2004, an increase from the proposed $4.2 billion in fiscal 2003. The government ultimately allocated $2.7 billion for cyber security in fiscal 2002.

So far, some of the largest high-tech firms have won a big chunk of that money. The FBI, for example, chose Science Applications International Corp. and Oracle as its main contractors to modernize its technology systems and provide cyber security.

But the administration has been reaching out to the small-business community. Late this month, Commerce Department officials-in conjunction with the General Services Administration and House Government Reform Committee Chairman Tom Davis, R-Va.-will participate in seminars in Silicon Valley and Los Angeles to educate businesses about procurement.

Meanwhile, Vormetric has hired a salesman to focus on federal sales, and it has been working through its public relations firm, Applied Communications, to tout its products to government officials. Vormetric's technology provides another layer of security beyond computer-system firewalls, and it encrypts computer files stored on servers and personal computers.

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Homeland R&D chief laments lack of staff

Bara Vaida — Thu, 10 Apr 2003 00:00:00 -0400

"My challenge is that I don't have enough people," McQueary told the House Homeland Security Appropriations Subcommittee. He said the directorate has 40 staffers, a number that is expected to rise to 75 by the end of fiscal 2003 and to a full staff of 150 to 175 by the end of fiscal 2004.

In the near term, McQueary said he and his staff will visit national laboratories, universities and private companies to evaluate existing security-related R&D programs and those already on track for funding. He then will examine what technologies already exist, and he said, "Wherever there are holes, that is where we'll focus our R&D efforts."

McQueary told lawmakers that he views his job as being the top "systems engineer" in homeland security, as well as the top manager of security-related R&D projects that are being conducted at agencies, federal labs, universities and within the private sector. For instance, to avoid duplication, he sees his staff meeting with the Health and Human Services Department's R&D staff to determine what types of research should be done and then funding them.

McQueary said his key areas of emphasis will include: developing and deploying systems to prevent illicit traffic of radiological and nuclear materials and weapons; providing systems to detect and mitigate the consequences of biological and chemical attacks, and illicit explosives; enhancing the missions of all agencies through targeted research, testing and evaluation; protecting the Internet and other critical infrastructures; and preventing technology surprises by anticipating emerging threats.

McQueary said he would look broadly for security technologies, including those developed overseas. "It is important to learn from our international partners ... and we need the best technologies," he said in answer to a question about whether American firms would have preference in getting security contracts.

McQueary also testified before the Senate Homeland Security Appropriations Subcommittee on Thursday. His written testimony was the same that he submitted to the House, but in verbal testimony he added that the Homeland Security Advanced Research Projects Agency is expected to be operating by Oct. 1.

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Homeland privacy officer to review passenger-screening system

Bara Vaida — Wed, 09 Apr 2003 00:00:00 -0400

Homeland Security Secretary Tom Ridge on Wednesday told a congressional panel that the government will not implement a pilot version of a controversial program for screening airline passengers until a privacy expert examines it.

Ridge told the Senate Commerce Committee that the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) will not test the Computer Assisted Passenger Pre-screening System (CAPPS II) until Homeland Security's chief privacy officer has been appointed and examined the program.

"It is my intention to have this be [examined] by the privacy officer," Ridge said, responding to a question by Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., on why CAPPS appeared scheduled to be implemented before a privacy officer has been named.

Ridge said he has identified an individual to become chief privacy officer, "and we are just making sure all the papers are in order" before naming the person. Additionally, he said that several weeks ago TSA chief James Loy met with privacy advocates "from the political right and left" to discuss their concerns about CAPPS and procedures that TSA might implement to protect privacy before the program's implementation.

Meanwhile, committee Chairman John McCain, R-Ariz., urged Ridge to incorporate military technologies developed for surveillance purposes into border-control efforts at the U.S. borders with Mexico and Canada. For example, he suggested that the department use unmanned vehicles.

Ridge said that Homeland Security takes McCain's recommendations "seriously" and that staff within the border and transportation security directorate, in conjunction with the science and technology directorate, are looking at border-control technologies and should initiate a pilot project "sometime this year."

Committee members grilled Ridge on whether the Bush administration is providing adequate funding for the Coast Guard. Sen. John Breaux, D-La., said he had tried unsuccessfully to insert into an emergency spending bill for fiscal 2003 money specifically aimed at the agency to strengthen its infrastructure and personnel.

Ridge said the administration believes it is providing enough money to the Coast Guard, but he would like to work with lawmakers on reforming the process for allocating and distributing homeland security money to the states.

Sen. Frank Lautenberg, D-N.J., asked Ridge why Wyoming received $9.78 per state resident for security purposes while New Jersey received $1.58 despite maintaining a large port and airport. "We don't think the [current] formula is appropriate for counterterrorism funding," Ridge said. "It doesn't take into consideration threats or vulnerabilities" faced by the state, "hence I think this would be the appropriate time to talk about" crafting a better formula for the grants, he said.

On airline security, Ridge said TSA continues to work on "trusted flier" program aimed at moving frequent airline travelers through the security process more quickly.

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Red tape could curb firms' reconstruction work in Iraq

Bara Vaida — Fri, 04 Apr 2003 00:00:00 -0500

While some U.S. companies may be poised to help with reconstruction and humanitarian aid in Iraq, they will not be able to conduct business there until Congress repeals a 1990 law that bars American firms from doing any work in the country.

Hence, the National Foreign Trade Council (NFTC) will push lawmakers next week to adopt the Senate-passed version of the emergency spending bill for fiscal 2003 because it would repeal the act once a new regime is installed in Iraq. The House-passed version of the bill would merely allow the president to waive the act until September 2004.

"As it turns out, there are significant obstacles to companies doing anything in Iraq ... even with regard to humanitarian efforts," said NFTC President William Reinsch, who has been working with White House staff to identify export barriers to U.S. business operations in Iraq.

At a lunch for reporters, Reinsch identified telecommunications equipment and computer-powered medical supplies as two types of humanitarian aid that could be stymied if Congress does not lift the sanctions. Without that action, he said, companies from other countries could have an immediate advantage over the United States when the war ends.

Reinsch cited history as precedent. After the war in Kosovo, the industrial equipment manufacturer Caterpillar could not sell bulldozers to U.S. military forces in Kosovo because the United States was slow in lifting sanctions on work there.

"Companies can get screwed by inadvertence rather than anything else," Reinsch said.

He noted that some telecom companies in Kuwait have said they are ready to provide cellular phones and other services to Iraq and that if U.S. companies have to clear significant red tape, the Kuwaiti companies could win the business contracts instead of U.S. firms.

When sanctions on Iraq are lifted, Reinsch noted that Commerce and Treasury department officials will have to reconsider the process for providing export licenses, and he hopes the government will provide "general" licenses to companies that have received a contract in Iraq so the firms do not have to get licenses for every single shipment they make to the country.

Another potential hurdle for U.S. companies is U.N. sanctions against foreign companies working in Iraq. Those also likely will need to be lifted, Reinsch said, unless the United States decides to ignore U.N. sanctions.

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FBI to maintain separate information analysis center

Bara Vaida — Tue, 01 Apr 2003 00:00:00 -0500

Though the integration center is expected to be a hub for analyzing all terrorist information collected by the government, Ashcroft said the FBI would continue to conduct separate analysis while gathering and distributing information with the center. "The FBI will maintain its own analysis, but it will provide information to the TTIC," Ashcroft told the Senate Appropriations subcommittee that oversees his department.

Ashcroft said the TTIC is on track to begin operating May 1, and it would receive $50 million in fiscal 2004. He was unclear about which appropriations bill would provide the funding. He said the center initially would operate within the CIA, but a new, independent facility eventually would house the center, which will fuse FBI and CIA counter-terrorism efforts.

Ashcroft also outlined the Justice Department's budget request for fiscal 2004 in an initial statement of testimony to the committee. He did not read that testimony, however, instead offering a long opening statement about the department's success in preventing terrorist activity over the past year and in preventing and prosecuting other crimes within the United States.

He noted that the emergency funding request for fiscal 2003 includes $500 million for Justice to spend on, among other things, the work necessary to issue warrants under the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act.

In his statement, Ashcroft said the Bush administration has proposed providing the FBI's counterterrorism program with $7.1 million to facilitate the collection, analysis and dissemination of intelligence gathered through the interception of e-mails of known and suspected terrorists.

The administration also is seeking $844,000 to support a "robust analytical capacity" to enable the FBI to better predict national security vulnerabilities and targets. And it is requesting $4.6 million for a "communications application tool capable of conducting sophisticated link analysis on high volumes of telephone calls and other relational data."

For the task force the agency created with state and local law enforcement agencies to track foreign terrorists, Justice requested $5 million to create an information-sharing initiative. And it is seeking $47.5 million for personnel and technology upgrades to the FBI's Visa Identification Terrorist Automated Lookout System, including the creation of a system to electronically process fingerprints of visa applicants overseas.

The FBI also asked for $12 million to expand the Regional Information Sharing Systems linking state and local law enforcement officials with the FBI.

In addition, Ashcroft said Justice is developing an integrated wireless network with the Treasury and Homeland Security departments to ensure that law enforcement and public-safety agencies can communicate if there is a future terrorist incident.

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FBI chief details progress on upgrading computer systems

Bara Vaida — Thu, 27 Mar 2003 00:00:00 -0500

FBI Director Robert Mueller told a congressional panel on Thursday that the bureau has made significant progress updating its computer systems and that one operations center soon will connect and manage all of the bureau's computers.

Mueller told the House Appropriations subcommittee with jurisdiction over the FBI that a wide-area network, by the end of the month would link the agency's 21,025 desktop computers spread throughout 622 locations. He said the Enterprise Operations Center will begin business this spring to manage data, network, hardware, software applications and security access.

"We are now focused on implementing a corporate-data warehousing capability that is key to FBI intelligence, investigative and information-sharing initiatives, as well as to our records-management system," Mueller said in testimony. "Agents will search multiple databases-linking thousands of data points of evidence, leads and suspects-through a single portal."

He noted that the data-collection center, dubbed the "integrated data warehouse," will link 31 FBI databases for single-portal searches and data mining. It also will allow electronic data sharing with other agencies. Mueller noted that computer-security experts monitored every step of the creation of the bureau's data warehouse and the linking of its computer systems.

"As we have upgraded Trilogy, we have made sure that at every step we cleared it with our security" team, Mueller said, when asked by Rep. Mark Steven Kirk, R-Ill., whether the FBI is taking every precaution to prevent hackers from accessing the FBI computer system.

Mueller said the FBI is requesting $234.4 million to protect the United States against cyberattacks and high-tech crimes. He said the three priorities of the bureau's new cyberdivision are: identifying and stopping individuals or groups conducting computer intrusions and spreading malicious code on the Internet; catching intellectual property thieves and Internet frauds; and halting online predators who exploit children.

Commenting on the cyberdivision's success, Mueller said the FBI last year identified 2,554 compromised computers, resulting in 95 convictions and $186 million in restitutions. The bureau's Innocent Images National Initiative investigations resulted in 692 arrests, 648 indictments and 646 convictions, he said.

Separately, subcommittee ranking Democrat Jose Serrano of New York pressed Mueller on his actions to ensure that the agency is balancing civil liberties with the bureau's increased efforts in counterterrorism and counterintelligence. Mueller pointed to the numerous laws that check the agency's power and assured him that through training, outreach with Arab communities and other measures, the FBI is ensuring that its 25,000 agents respect individuals' civil liberties.

"I believe that [the Justice Department] and FBI are very concerned about civil rights guaranteed by the Constitution," Mueller said.

Subcommittee Chairman Frank Wolf, R-Va., suggested that the FBI do more to educate the public on the bureau's efforts to protect civil liberties.

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Study shows agencies, firms forego investment in security training

Bara Vaida — Tue, 18 Mar 2003 00:00:00 -0500

Companies and government agencies are increasingly aware of the importance of computer security and yet most spend less than 5 percent of their budget on security training for their information technology employees, according to a study released Tuesday.

Through the 638 members of the Computing Technology Industry Association who responded to the survey, CompTIA found that 75 percent of companies and agencies spent 10 percent or less of their IT budgets on computer security, and of that amount less than 5 percent is spent on training. Still, 96 percent of those surveyed said they would recommend security training for their staff, and they believe it could reduce their vulnerability to cyberattacks.

"We think the results are pretty staggering," said Brian McCarthy, CompTIA's chief operating officer at a news conference to release the survey. "Agencies and companies have looked primarily to technology for network safety...but 80 of the respondents say...that the lack of IT security knowledge ...resulted in human error and...were the root causes...of security breaches."

The survey also found that 31 percent of companies and agencies had experienced one to three "major security breaches" in the last six months. Andy Purdy, a cyberpolicy adviser at the White House who spoke at the press briefing, said the administration recognized the need for more training and made note of it in President Bush's national strategy to secure cyberspace. An updated version of the strategy was released last month.

Purdy also said he believed in an era of heightened focus on corporate accountability that companies will have to start doing more to demonstrate publicly that they are adhering to the best practices laid out in the cybersecurity strategy.

Purdy said it is likely the Homeland Security Department will oversee the implementation of the strategy, although White House officials are deciding whether senior members of the President's Critical Infrastructure Protection Board will move to the department or remain at the White House. Bush dissolved the board last month as Homeland Security absorbed 22 agencies but did not clarify who would lead cyberpolicy within the administration.

Purdy said the White House might issue a presidential directive or executive order clarifying the structure of cybersecurity within the administration.

Rep. Adam Putnam, R-Fla., the new chair of the House Government Reform Subcommittee on Technology and Information Policy, vowed to continue aggressive oversight of cybersecurity within the government. He said the first hearing on government's implementation of cybersecurity measures would be April 8, and he would continue the committee's tradition of issuing a report card on government agencies' progress in implementing computer security plans.

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California research center at heart of data-mining storm

Bara Vaida — Tue, 11 Mar 2003 00:00:00 -0500

She is the leader of one research project to be funded by the Defense Department's Information Awareness Office. Lunt's project aims to develop a "privacy firewall" that weeds out identifying information in searchable databases while providing government analysts with enough information to try to identify terrorists. The project was one of 26 chosen out of 180 proposals and is expected to receive about $1 million a year for the next three years.

"What the [Defense officials] are trying to do is prevent future Sept. 11 events, and their feeling is that though they have a lot of information ... they need tools to help them discover suspicious activity within that information," Lunt said in an interview last week. "Our job, at heart, is to develop technology that will let them do that but still protect individuals' private information."

The Information Awareness Office, part of the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA), has been controversial since its director, John Poindexter, announced his goal of Total Information Awareness (TIA): the consideration of every information source available worldwide to try to identify terrorists.

The data-mining idea sparked fears that TIA would erode Americans' privacy and led Congress to halt full TIA funding for 90 days, until DARPA can provide a report to Congress on what it is doing to protect privacy while working on TIA. In the meantime, the Electronic Privacy Information Center (EPIC), through a Freedom of Information Act request the group filed last year, made public the names of Lunt's center and other contractors for TIA.

"There is some interesting research" to be funded by TIA, EPIC Executive Director Marc Rotenberg said of Lunt's privacy project. "But the problem is that these programs are being funded with the expectation that it will result in massive surveillance of the American public."

Lunt said she understands people's concerns and believes that those people working at TIA also are worried about the privacy implications. As she envisions the program, the government would not have control over commercial information; rather, the data would remain in the private sector.

Her privacy firewall would block the release to government of people's names, addresses, phone numbers, credit cards, license-plate numbers, Social Security numbers and other individually identifying information. At the same time, it would allow searches for particular type activities that, based on a model developed within the government's intelligence community, could indicate potential terrorist behavior.

"A concern of civil libertarians is that if these models are developed, too many innocent people will meet that profile," Lunt said. "So the model has to be refined so that it only applies to a few people ... and then you can get some authorization to obtain identifying information that meets your model."

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Small firms hire lobbyists to push homeland security products

Bara Vaida — Fri, 07 Mar 2003 00:00:00 -0500

CoCo Communications, a Seattle startup firm, had an idea and a product for homeland security but few friends in Washington, D.C. So the 10-person firm hired the lobbying firm the Petrizzo Group to help it connect with lawmakers on Capitol Hill and officials in the Bush administration.

The product-a new protocol for multiple network wireless communications systems that can be used by "first responders" to emergencies-would provide a solution to a problem that several lawmakers say is urgently needed. On Sept. 11, 2001, because officials used different types of communications equipment, police, firemen and emergency workers could not communicate. Since then, the government has been scrambling to make such equipment interoperable.

"We are working with the Petrizzo Group to build awareness about our technology," said CoCo CEO and co-founder Mark Tucker. "We want folks on the Hill and in the regulatory agencies to be aware that here is one component to solving the first-responder problem."

CoCo's idea to hire a lobbying firm has been the latest trend over the past year among small and medium-sized high-tech companies previously uninvolved in government contracting. As of the end of November, more than 450 companies had filed lobbying registration forms with Congress, specifying that their main lobbying issue is "terror" or "security," according to Political MoneyLine, a nonprofit Web site that tracks federal election and lobbying filings.

Petrizzo Group is well-connected to Republican leaders with high-tech interests. The firm's founder, T.J. Petrizzo, previously was the chief of staff for Rep. Jennifer Dunn, R-Wash., and before that worked for Sen. Olympia Snowe, R-Maine. Another recent hire is Kerry Fennelly, who handled government affairs and communications for the Electronic Industries Alliance and before that was a long-time aide to Rep. Connie Mack, R-Fla.

Tucker hopes their initial round of meetings with lawmakers, which began over the past month, will result in securing a pilot program to show how the company's protocols can, in addition to fostering interoperability, resolve the difficult issues of connecting existing equipment securely while also taking advantage of available wireless spectrum.

Peter Erickson, CoCo's vice president of business development, said some other companies already are conducting pilot programs for first-responder communications systems, but he said none of them solve the issues of security, availability of spectrum and interoperability at once.

Tucker also is in talks with traditional defense contractors to determine if CoCo can partner with another firm for a pilot program, and CoCo's officials are sharing their ideas with local and state emergency officials. Without hiring Petrizzo, Tucker said his firm probably would have had to partner first with a large firm before conducting visits with lawmakers and agencies.

"We didn't have to come through a large contractor to talk with folks ... but that we have been able to get in front of folks directly has been positive and Petrizzo really helped us with that interface," Tucker said.

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House appropriators back tech programs Bush seeks to eliminate

Bara Vaida — Thu, 06 Mar 2003 00:00:00 -0500

Both Virginia Republican Frank Wolf, chairman of the Commerce, Justice, State and the Judiciary Appropriations Subcommittee, and ranking Democrat Jose Serrano of New York noted that the Advanced Technology Program (ATP) and Manufacturing Extension Partnership (MEP), two of the programs Bush targeted for elimination in his budget, have wide support in the committee and are likely to receive funding in next year.

"You proposed once again that ATP and MEP should be on the chopping block," Serrano said, "yet you must know that this committee seems to favor these programs and will work hard to put them back in again. ... When you present a budget that makes us then have to pay for it again, you put us in a hole-a hole that doesn't allow us to address some new initiatives."

Bush proposed that ATP funding be curtailed to minimal levels necessary to finish existing projects and that MEP receive $12 million to fund two remaining centers for seven years, after which time they would be on their own. In the past two budget cycles, Bush has requested that those two programs, as well as the Technology Opportunities Program (TOP), be eliminated, but Congress has supplied funding anyway.

Evans testified that while both ATP and MEP are successful programs, Bush has made other areas related to homeland and economic security higher priorities, so he had to cut money elsewhere. "These are worthwhile programs," Evans said. "But this is about the president's budget and his priorities, and the administration's position is that this is a difficult period and we are managing a very tight budget and these [programs] just didn't make the list."

Evans also noted in testimony to the subcommittee that the department is working to eliminate the practice of using fees collected by the Patent and Trademark Office (PTO) for unrelated federal programs. Many in the technology community have said the practice has stymied PTO's ability to review patent applications, as well as to make quality decisions about what products and ideas should receive patents.

Further, Evans outlined a request for $10.3 million to be allocated to the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) to both develop standards for biometrics systems used to identify visitors to the United States and to test radiation standards. Some $7 million would be used to complete a NIST study on the collapse of the World Trade Center towers.

When asked why NIST is researching biometrics given that the Homeland Security Department's research and development division also is expected to conduct such research, Evans said NIST's team of scientists "are set and ready to go" while Homeland Security is still developing. In future budget years, the NIST research on biometrics may move to that department, he said.

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Elimination of cybersecurity board concerns tech industry

Bara Vaida — Mon, 03 Mar 2003 00:00:00 -0500

An executive order that President Bush issued on Friday shifted a portion of the White House's Critical Infrastructure Protection Board to the Homeland Security Department, leaving high-tech groups unsure who in the administration will specifically oversee cybersecurity.

The board, which drafted the national cybersecurity strategy, and the position of White House special adviser on cybersecurity were officially dissolved, spurring high-tech representatives to furiously lobby the administration to ensure that one individual will be specially tasked to work on cybersecurity.

"We got assurances that cybersecurity remains a priority ... but it isn't clear as of today who will be in charge," said Harris Miller, president of the Information Technology Association of America, who noted that the "Slammer" computer worm recently caused $1 billion in damage to the economy and that hackers last month used the Internet to steal credit-card information on 8 million individuals. "More so than ever before, we need a strong advocate for cybersecurity in Washington, D.C."

Tiffany Olson, who has been deputy chief of staff at the board, said its operations and implementation portions are being shifted to the information analysis and infrastructure protection division in the Homeland Security Department. The board is to be merged with the FBI's National Infrastructure Protection Board, the Commerce Department's Critical Infrastructure Assurance Office, the General Service Administration's FedCirc and several other small agencies focused on physical and cybersecurity.

Olson said the new division would be in charge of implementing the national cybersecurity plan and will serve as the "focal point" on cybersecurity in the government. "We believe that the special adviser role will be moved to [the department], but it won't disappear," she said.

Cybersecurity policy will continue to be coordinated by the White House within the new Homeland Security Council, which was created to replace the White House Office of Homeland Security, she said. The council is a "peer" group to the existing National Security Council and is structured like that entity, Olson said, adding that there will be "a group of experts" at the Homeland Security Council focused on both physical and cyber infrastructure policy.

Richard Clarke was Bush's cybersecurity adviser from October 2001 until he left the post last month for the private sector. Howard Schmidt replaced Clarke in the interim, but it is not clear what job Schmidt will take in the administration. Olson said "no individual positions have been identified at this point."

Mario Correa, director of Internet and network security policy at the Business Software Alliance, said that while the cybersecurity adviser's position remains unclear, the industry will continue to lobby the administration about the "wisdom" of having one person with the ear of Homeland Security Secretary Tom Ridge to focus on cybersecurity.

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White House adviser urges funding equality for all sciences

Bara Vaida — Thu, 27 Feb 2003 00:00:00 -0500

Though President Bush's fiscal 2004 budget proposal would not provide as much funding for research and development programs as some seek, it demonstrates that the administration is addressing concerns about the balance between R&D funding for the physical and life sciences, a key White House official said on Thursday.

Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP) Director John Marburger testified that the administration is committed to funding basic research and has listened to concerns from the scientific community and lawmakers to ensure that there is a federal priority on physical sciences as well as life sciences.

The president's budget "sends a strong signal that we are addressing the concerns about balance raised by this committee and the scientific community," Marburger told the House Appropriations subcommittee that sets funding for the Veterans Affairs Department, Housing and Urban Development Department and other federal entities.

In the mid-1990s, Congress agreed to double the funding for the National Institutes of Health and to invest heavily in life-sciences research, while the National Science Foundation (NSF), the Energy Department and some agencies received small increases in R&D funding. That approach raised concerns about the balance of the nation's R&D portfolio.

Bush's fiscal 2004 budget would increase NSF funding by $453 million, or 3 percent more than in fiscal 2003, and would provide a $100 million boost in aid for physical sciences. The budget also would provide $3.3 billion for Energy's science programs, an increase of $55 million. That money would include an emphasis on support for physical sciences research, Marburger said in his opening statement to the committee.

Marburger faced criticism from the House Science Committee earlier this month, as lawmakers argued that the administration's proposed budget for NSF and physical sciences was insufficient. Several lawmakers said they plan to increase the level during the budget process.

Several lawmakers at the Appropriations Committee focused their questioning on what OSTP is doing to increase diversity in the nation's scientific community. Marburger cited a multiyear effort to better attract and retain U.S. students in science and engineering careers by increasing graduate-student fellowship and training stipends from $25,000 to $30,000. Additionally, Energy has a specific program to reach out to historically black colleges.

Marburger said the National Science and Technology Council, which is the administration's interagency group that focuses on government-wide R&D priorities, this year created a task force on science and technology workforce issues.

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