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Vivek Kundra to Moderate Friday’s AFCEA Bethesda Budget Preview Breakfast
Posted by John Adams on February 24, 2010 · 2 Comments
Federal CIO Vivek Kundra will moderate the discussion Friday morning at the AFCEA Bethesda Budget Preview Breakfast. Here are the details:
When: Friday, February 26, 2010 – 6:30 AM – 9:30 AM
Where: Ritz-Carlton Tyson’s Corner (New Location)
| 1700 Tyson’s Boulevard |
| McLean, Virginia 22102 |
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| Topic: 2011 Budget Preview |
On February 1, 2010, President Barack Obama requested $79.4 billion in spending on information technology projects for fiscal 2011. Please join AFCEA Bethesda on February 26th for a panel of federal Chief Information Officers to discuss the 2011 IT budget priorities, including:
- How will next year’s budget reflect the president’s ongoing agenda in areas like healthcare, education, energy and the environment?
- What will the continuing push towards transparency, reusability of data and cloud computing bring in terms of IT budget priorities?
- What new technology applications should agencies invest in to enable intra-agency and interagency collaboration and create a coordinated process for identifying and implementing social media tools in open government?
- How might the winding down of the war in Iraq and the surge in Afghanistan be reflected in IT budget priorities?
Speakers include:
- Roger W. Baker
Assistant Secretary of Veterans Affairs for Information and Technology
& Chief Information Officer
Department of Veterans Affair
- Vance Hitch
Chief Information Officer
Department of Justice
- Dave Wennergren
Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for
Information Management, Integration and Technology
and Deputy Chief Information Officer
Department of Defense
For more information on the February 26 breakfast, please contact Beth Kelley, Registrar at registrar@bethesda-afcea.org |
However well intentioned and effective new IT initiatives might be…the ultimate root cause behind data breach and data security violations lead back to the lack of personal “employee” accountability.
Federal Chief Information Officer Vivek Kundra was quoted February 23, 2010 as saying:
“…Better accountability and focus on results lead to better services for our Veterans and better value for the American taxpayer,” namic
“… investing in what works is about continuing projects that are effective and making tough choices when projects, however well intentioned, are broken and failing. We owe it to the American people to make sure their dollars are being spent wisely.”
The frustrating truth [in my opinion] is this. Mr. Kundra has a noteworthy reputation and demonstated history of effective leadership. The frustrating aspect of the dynamic is [some] of the individual employee’s of the Veterans Administration working on the front line in the Regional Offices; appear to be immune from some of the most obvious and intentional IT violations. The result (of course) blame IT at large. The employee shifts personal accountability away from [themselves] and blame a mystery or imaginary IT glitch. Moreover, Regional counsel and departmental heads will sign onto this blame shifting. By the time Reginoal counsel and others, get their story straight…the truth is lost.
I am saddened by the waste of tax payer dollars of the Veterans Administration’ Regional Offices, by defending their willfull violations of privacy against veterans. Case in point: 06 cv 050131 U.S. District Court, Northern Illinois, Western Division. The V.A. has wasted tens of thousands of dollars in court denying and avoiding their part in a gross privacy violation. Blaming it on IT seems to be common place. I hope Mr. Kundra is able to correct this deceptive practice within the very system he is trying to fix. IT is not the fatal problem. The employee needs to take responsibility for their mistakes.