Volume 6 • Number 5 • May 2008

Telework Is Not A "Break Glass In Case Of Emergency Proposition"

Last year, when she issued her “Telework Challenge”, GSA Administrator Lurita Doan spoke about the widespread interest in incorporating Telework into our COOP.

Lots of Work, So Little Time

Five short years!

“People forget that DHS has been around for just five years. They ask ‘why haven’t they integrated everything yet?’” said Jim Flyzik of The Flyzik Group.

Flyzik pointed out that there are other agencies that have been around for hundreds of years and many of those agencies aren’t integrated.  “It is a monumental effort but it’s good to hear that progress is moving in the right direction,” added Flyzik.

DHS FY2009 Budget Priorities

DHS has been in existence for just five short years. Its watchwords of “One Team, One Mission Securing The Homeland” are taken very seriously by its workforce of 208,000. Their priorities are: border and cargo security; secure identification; infrastructure protection, emergency response; and department management. These priorities are reflected in DHS’s budget request for FYO9 of $50.5 billion – an increase of 6.8% over FY08.

“There comes a point that rhetoric and promises do not secure the homeland; results secure the homeland. I’m interested in results,” said DHS Secretary Michael Chertoff in announcing his budget request on February 4, 2008.

Crucial to DHS success is the continued investment in the development and deployment of a wide range of advanced technologies.  For example DHS is investing $335 million for real-time information sharing and situational awareness detection tools. These include an Advanced Spectroscopic Portal to examine cargo containers for nuclear materials and a Human Portable Radiation Detection System.

But for these advanced technologies to perform as planned DHS has to have something basic -- a strong unified IT infrastructure. “Successful mission performance is driven by human capital development, executing efficient procurement operations, and possessing state-of-the-art information technology resources,” said Secretary Chertoff.

Providing that strong unified infrastructure is exactly what ICE CIO Luke McCormack is doing. The goal is to provide “not sort of what they need, not kind of what they need, not what we could have given them, should have given them, (but give them) exactly what they need -- when they need it,” says McCormack.

Making that happen is ICE’s Atlas Data Center program. “That’s really our infrastructure plumbing and we’ve made quite a bit of progress in that area,” reports McCormack.

Progress according to McCormack translates into migrating to one network, consolidating our email environment, freshening up our desk top hardware and working very closely with the Department in the consolidation of data centers by moving out of the DOJ data centers into the new DHS data centers.

“A year or two from now, I see an environment where things like Atlas data centers, desktops, emails are like the air we breathe, just a commodity we buy,” notes McCormack. “I see us really focusing on the business applications and more importantly, building specifically what the special components need and when they need it from an applications standpoint. “

For McCormack building includes partnering. “Delivering a solution as a full service provider might not be something that you build yourself, you might be partnering with several different communities, whether it be state and local, whether it be within DHS, other departments and certainly the private industry.”

Migrating Data Centers

“I certainly think continued integration is really key to our success,” says Kathy Kraninger, Deputy Assistant Secretary for Policy, Screening Coordination Office at DHS.

For some migrating data centers might seem mundane and maybe not that important, but not for Kraninger. “We have infrastructure all over the country in different places with different capabilities scattered,” explains Kraninger. Consolidating those data centers is the backbone of accomplishing information sharing, of getting a common operating picture (COP) for the Coast Guard, the Border Patrol and Air and Marine operations personnel.

“We already see pockets of this,” says Kraninger. “Going out to the field and seeing what’s happening in places like Miami where you have the Coast Guard, CBP, TSA and ICE working in the airport, (who) are sitting down on a regular basis and putting together joint operations.”

“These are field folks that need the tools so that they can be successful in those kinds of operations to really further our nation’s security,” says Kraninger. “That’s something that we are all here to do and that’s the mission and goal into the future that we are going to see real benefits from.”

Future VISIT

Bob Mocny, Director of the US-VISIT program says his program is poised to make great even greater strides over the next three to five years.

“You’ll have ten (finger) prints deployed to all the ports of entry. You will see the marriage of iris and face to help with a lot of the throughput,” says Mocny. “You are going to see full interoperability with the FBI’s next generation identification system, with state and local and other law enforcement agencies. You will see biometric exits at all of our air and seaports of entry. All foreign nationals will check out and check in using their biometrics in association with the airlines and the airports and working in conjunction with them.”

Mocny sees an expansion of mobile technology as well with a joint program with the Coast Guard for mobile pass biometrics at sea and doing the same to help CBP in its work in the mountains and in the deserts.

“We have to get serious about pushing our borders out as we have been doing, but moving that in a cooperative manner with all these other entities, sharing our data as appropriate, and getting their data as well,” says Mocny.

“If I have information about individuals I want to share that with the UK, I want to share that with Australia,” explains Mocny. “I want to share that with all these other countries that are building their systems so that we can truly keep these people off the planes, off the ships, and away from our borders.”

Project 28

No project has received more publicity – most of it negative – than Project 28, the Virtual Fence which is an integral part of CBP’s Secure Border Initiative (SBI).

Greg Giddens is the Executive Director of the Secure Border Initiative (SBI) and its program to develop and deploy technology -- SBInet.

“From a CBP perspective in terms of border security, I think you’ll continue to see us using all types of technology,” says Giddens.  According to Giddens CBP has spent a lot of time focusing on a single slice of the SBInet, P28, which brings together the work of many different components and includes a variety of technologies that need to be developed and tested – and most importantly – demonstrated before they can be fully deployed, understanding that it’s not a one size fits all.

“Clearly we want to develop an in-field operational configuration this summer for SBInet and continue to build out the tactical infrastructure,” explains Giddens. “Then (we can) be in a position that we can really productionize that…and have the configuration control where we can apply that to where the operators need it.”

“What we want to do is be nimble in our planning,” says Giddens. “I don’t want to sit here in 2008 and lock ourselves in for a location for 2009; we want to have a nimble enough planning that we can look at our operators and put the technology and solutions where they think they need it most. And we want to do that with continued good oversight.”

“I know that a lot of people have written about Project 28 and how it was delayed,” says Giddens. “But you never read about the dedicated public servants from the government side that protected the government’s interests and looked at this and said ‘that it does not meet the contract’. We managed this in such a way that held Boeing accountable to deliver what they had on contract. You never hear about those dedicated public servants that worked to protect the interests of the tax payer, you never read about those. “

Giddens is adamant about the fact that Project 28 was a demonstration – not a final implementation and deployment. And he says Boeing has stepped up and taken responsibility for the projects shortcomings.

“You also don’t read about Boeing,” explains Giddens. “When we told them, as their customer, that this product’s not ready, they stood up and took responsibility and said ‘you are right, and we are going to fix it, and we’ll take responsibility for that’.”

For Giddens, that’s the type of strategic partner America needs to help secure the borders; people that will take responsibility and invest for this country’s future.

Kermit Says: “Green IT Is Green in Your Pocket”

“I don’t want to take on Kermit the Frog, but I don’t think it is tough being green if you are really committed to it,” said GSA ITS Assistant Commissioner John Johnson.

Being green takes a commitment. And while government has stepped up its efforts as a leader in implementing environmentally friendly practices, Johnson says to make a difference means "embracing change" right now.

“Behavior, behavior, behavior!” repeated Johnson. “Changing behavior is something we can do right now, today. Just think of the savings if everyone turned off their monitor.  That would be significant.”

Johnson made his comments during the Federal Executive Forum on Green Government produced by the Trezza Media Group and broadcast on Federal News Radio. (FEF Audio/Video)

Joining Johnson on the panel moderated by Jim Flyzik of The Flyzik Group were:

• Molly O'Neill, Assistant Administrator for the Office of Environmental Information (OEI), Chief Information Officer (CIO), EPA

• Catherine Cesnik, Senior Program Manager, Office of Environmental Policy and Compliance, Department of the Interior

• Myra Galbreath, Chief Technology Officer, EPA

• Tom Simmons, Area Vice President for Federal Systems, Citrix

• Edward Vaccaro, Partner, Homeland Security, Federal Systems, Unisys

• Erin Rae Hoffer, Industry Program Manager, Autodesk

During the broadcast, EPA’s O’Neill and Galbreath both talked about how far green had come in government. Just a few short years ago, the focus was on recycling print cartridges, now the focus is on how to be green throughout the entire IT lifecycle.

“We think of this as a lifecycle,” says O’Neill. “Green is always a moving target. First it was print cartridges, then we focused on recycling desktops, now it is virtualization and we’re looking for ways to reduce the footprint.”

O’Neill explains the lifecycle is 4 parts:

1. Building a green facility

2. Making green acquisitions

3. Optimizing performance (and thus reducing power consumption)

4. Green disposal.

Thinking green in terms of lifecycle makes decisions more complex; now we are getting down to green for each individual component even down to the chip.

This cradle-to-grave approach is the heart-and-soul of the Electronic Stewardship program. According to EPA, this “program area addresses the life-cycle management of electronics from procurement to disposal.” You can find links, documents, and case studies at Federal Electronics Challenge (FEC), the Electronic Product Environmental Assessment Tool (EPEAT), and Energy Star.

When it comes to awareness, research shows global warming ranks second to terrorism Galbreath says. “That is awareness in the way we are using, buying and disposing of things. The network is the computer and we are all connected.”

Reducing your carbon footprint is what we are all striving for. Think about when we thought about computing being “always on”. But now a better thought might be computing at the “right time and right place, not anytime or anyplace” said Jim Flyzik.

“I’m feeling guilty now when I don’t turn off my computer at night,” confessed Flyzik. “Or even if I leave the power source in and am sucked up by “vampire” power consumption. (Vampire is when you leave power sources plugged in even though they are not connected to a device. They suck power even when plugged in.)

As a consumer, provider and consultant in this space, Unisys is keenly aware of its green responsibilities in the Data Center says Unisys’ Ed Vaccaro.  “Through a major green initiative and we reduced our carbon footprint by 67% and this is a data center we use for work that is outsourced to us including that from government.”

Vaccaro points out Unisys is taking those same experiences and technologies and offering to our clients. So, when working with government clients undergoing technology refreshes, Unisys is coming up with green strategies using virtualization and consolidation.

“It is a holistic approach where we look at computing management, power management and cooling management to reduce the overall energy consumption and carbon footprint at their sites,” says Vaccaro.

Citrix’s Tom Simmons agrees saying that the biggest impact we can have immediately is in reducing power and making the data center greener. “Telework initiatives, the expanded ability to support and deliver IT applications, virtualization and the dynamic data center are all strategies to reduce energy consumption and extend server life,” explains Simmons. “By extending the life of equipment on client side and by maximizing processing power at data center, we can leave a light footprint.”

Not knowing how to be green is something a lot of people struggle with says Autodesk’s Erin Rae Hoffer “The issue is that I don’t always know what the right thing is in terms of trying to be green or energy efficient.” Autodesk has been focusing internally on awareness and has staffed a group to specifically to look at internal processes of how we work. “We are looking to create messages to help our employees understand how to make their own decisions, because in the end, those individual decisions really add up to a huge impact.”

Rising To The Challenge

When it comes to Green IT, clearly demonstrating savings is a challenge; thus the need for metrics that give us some idea of how to approach these challenges and ROI issues that are sometimes logical in nature but hard to justify.

“From a challenge perspective, you really have to think about green IT from a life cycle perspective,” said EPA CIO Molly O’Neill. Read More

When everything seems so important, how do you prioritize what it is you should actually be doing? Well, that’s daily fare for those responsible for federal government Green IT efforts. So where are government and its Industry Partners putting their emphasis?

For Catherine Cesnik, Senior Program Manager, Office of Environmental Policy and Compliance, Department of the Interior the focus is on Energy Star implementation.

“That is one of the requirements of life cycle management. And we are determining what equipment we need to focus on. The goal is 100% target, so it is very aggressive,” says Cesnik. Read More

“EPA’s mission is to protect human health and the environment,” said EPA CIO Molly O’Neill.

O’Neill says EPA, like other government agencies and commercial companies is responsible for ensuring that IT investments are socially responsible, environmentally friendly, and fiscally sound. She is very proud of what EPA is doing to further Green IT.

“EPA is a leader in this and we are a proud Gold Award winner for the Federal Electronic Stewardship model, an accredited program addressing the purchasing, use and disposal and recycling of IT equipment,” explained O’Neill. Read More

For Identity Management, “the trust relationship is fundamental in where we are going as a country,” explains DHS Senior Advisor Tom Lockwood. "When we talk about a knowledge-based community, we are talking about working in a distributive environment, where the ability to cross boundaries quickly must be commonplace.”

“I’ll sum it up in a phrase that Mark Twain said, ‘it took a brave man to eat the first oyster'. It’s going to take a braver person to really accept the certification of identity that’s been done by another department or agency. And it’s going to take leadership and guts when when something about that identity doesn’t go right the first time.”  Click title to read more.

True Information Sharing Requires A True Trust Relationship

“There has to be a trust relationship across the board,” says Karen Evans, Administrator of E-Government and Information Technology at OMB.

Evans explains that “we are asking for agencies to put trust in other agencies to deliver services better than you can do it yourself in their areas of expertise.” For Information Sharing to be ultimately successful, changes are necessary because agencies are used to doing and providing services for themselves. Click title to read more.

Secure Borders With Open Doors

"Over the next five years we will see the concept of securing our borders, yet at the same time providing open doors, really come to fruition,” said Frank Moss, State Department Deputy Assistant Secretary of Consular Affairs & Passport Services. “I think we are well on the way there already, but we still have some more work to do.”

“We can make our borders more secure and move them into the 21^st century. But do so in a way that doesn't shut down the movement of people and goods across those borders. That has to be our overarching objective in this process,” Moss added. Click title to read more.

“We take a proactive view of the things that matter the most, what we call attack-based metrics,” says Dennis Heretick, Deputy CIO for Information Security at Justice. “They give you a chance to learn from experience what has been successful so at least you are mitigating those successful attacks first -- those things that would have that direct impact on the mission.”

Thwarting attacks are an everyday occurrence for cyber security professionals as they guard against a constant barrage of threats and avoid a "digital Pearl Harbor". Click title to read more.

Interoperability: Act Locally But Think Globally 

“We like to focus on working centers and the community is effectively a working center,” says DHS’ Dr. David Boyd. “It is used to dealing with its neighbors, so that’s the first and easiest place to establish Interoperability with folks they know.”

Dr. Boyd is an expert on Interoperability. He is the DHS Director, Command, Control and Interoperability, Science and Technology Directorate. He runs the SafeCom program which is part of the Presidential Management Initiative aimed at achieving national Interoperability. Click title to read more.