New federal CTO lays out his strategy

The federal government's new chief technology officer laid out his plans for defining and putting in place a technology architecture for agencies in a telephone interview with journalists Friday. Norman Lorentz, the former CTO of Dice Inc., said he would focus his attention on two areas. First, he'll help agency officials managing the 24 e-government projects sponsored by OMB define the overall architecture of their projects. Second, Lorentz said he'd help agencies find the right technology products for their homeland security needs and develop architectures for them as well. Lorentz started working at the Office of Management and Budget Jan. 2 under the direction of Mark Forman, associate director for information technology and e-government. Comparing his management approach to his work in the private sector, Lorentz said he wouldn't wield control over any of the technology used by the agencies he will advise. Rather, he will support agencies by making sure that the right technology components are used to support their missions, he said. The goal "is to deliver [information] faster and with higher quality to the citizenry of this country," Lorentz said. Lorentz pointed to his work as CTO of the Postal Service from 1994-2000, including the agency's efforts to standardize its desktop computers and back office technology operations, as well as its Y2K modernization initiative, as valuable lessons for agencies. He also said agencies could learn from the private sector to create compatible technology systems within and across agencies. "This is not rocket science," he said. The biggest hurdles agencies must overcome aren't technological, Lorentz said, but defining goals, deciding who's in charge and devising a way to meet those goals. Right now, Lorentz said, the government isn't getting the most bang for its buck out of its estimated $45 billion information technology budget. Lorentz also said that he would work with Richard Clarke, the President's cyber security adviser, on defining an architecture for GOVNET, a proposed exclusive network for civilian agencies that would be impervious to online attacks.