Creating a Future-ready, Digital Government Today

The Federal government released The Digital Government Strategy on May 23, 2012. This 12-month action plan for the deployment of new technology is designed to enable the delivery of digital information and services anytime, anywhere, on any device, safely and securely—throughout the Federal workforce and to the American public. This strategy was made possible through the collaboration of many throughout the federal government including, the Federal Chief Information Officer’s Council, the Federal Web Managers Council, and representatives from numerous departments and agencies. My thanks go to Federal Chief Information Officer (CIO) Steve VanRoekel and Federal Chief Technology Officer (CTO) Todd Park for their leadership in the development of this strategy.
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Celebrating Federal IT Reform with DHS Accomplishments

To mark the June 9, 2012, completion milestone for Federal IT reform, I am pleased to highlight several DHS initiatives. Our focus includes shifting to a Cloud-first policy, establishing strong governance of the Department’s IT investments, and the implementation of TechStats.
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Ringing in the New Year with Data Center Consolidation

The formation of DHS, through combining 22 agencies under one department, created a natural need for consolidated and centrally managed IT services, systems, and hardware.
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DHS IT Priorities

In November 2009, OCIO and all component Chief Information Officers jointly identified the following DHS IT priorities:

1. Improve IT program performance through maturation of governance and establishment of a Program Management Center of Excellence
2. Accelerate data center consolidation and OneNet completion
3. Broaden and deepen Enterprise Architecture
4. Maintain cybersecurity focus, with particular emphasis on Identity Management and HSPD-12
5. Foster improved internal and external information sharing
6. Ensure operational excellence
7. Bolster Federal Government IT employee base

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Related Audio Links

March 5, 2010
Q&A with Homeland Security CIO Richard Spires," InformationWeek (TechWebNews.com, via NewsEdge Corporation)

February 15, 2010
"DHS Chief Information Officer Richard Spires reviewing all of agency’s IT projects," Federal News Radio 1500 AM

Richard A. Spires was appointed in September 2009 to serve as the Department of Homeland Security’s (DHS) Chief Information Officer (CIO). In this capacity, Mr. Spires is responsible for the department’s $6.4 billion investment in Information Technology (IT). He leads and facilitates the development, implementation, and maintenance of the department’s IT architecture. Mr. Spires is the chairman of the DHS Chief Information Officer Council and the Enterprise Architecture Board. He strongly supports the Secretary’s goal of unifying and maturing DHS–one DHS, one enterprise, a shared vision, with integrated results-based operations. Mr. Spires also serves as vice chairman of the Federal CIO Council, and co-chairs the Federal Data Center Consolidation Initiative.

Mr. Spires held a number of positions at the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) from 2004 through 2008. He served as the Deputy Commissioner for Operations Support, having overall responsibility for the key support and administrative functions for the IRS, to include IT, Human Capital, Finance, Shared Services, Real Estate, and Security functions. Prior to becoming Deputy Commissioner, Mr. Spires served as the IRS’ CIO, with overall strategic and operational responsibility for a $2 billion budget and a 7,000-person Modernization and Information Technology Services organization. This division is accountable for maintaining over 400 systems that administer more than 200 million taxpayer records and support more than 100,000 IRS employees. Mr. Spires served for two and half years as the Associate CIO for Applications Development and led the IRS’ Business Systems Modernization program, which is one of the largest and most complex IT modernization efforts undertaken to date.

From 2000 through 2003, Mr. Spires served as President, Chief Operating Officer, and Director of Mantas, Inc., a software provider that provides business intelligence solutions to the financial services industry. In helping to establish Mantas, Mr. Spires successfully led efforts to raise $29 million in venture funding. Mr. Spires received a BS in Electrical Engineering and a BA in Mathematical Sciences from the University of Cincinnati and an MS in Electrical Engineering from the George Washington University. Mr. Spires was named a Distinguished Alumnus of the University of Cincinnati’s College of Engineering in 2006.

National Information Exchange Model (NIEM)

NIEM enables information-sharing through enterprise-wide information exchange standards and processes that provide jurisdictions to effectively share critical information in emergency situations, as well as support the day-to-day operations of agencies throughout the nation. NIEM is a partnership of the U.S. Department of Justice and DHS. The DHS Office of the CIO’s Office of Applied Technology is the lead NIEM program management office for Federal, state, local, and tribal governments.

The NIEM exchange development methodology results in a common semantic understanding among participating organizations and data formatted in a semantically consistent manner. NIEM will standardize content (actual data exchange standards), provide tools, and managed processes. NIEM builds on the demonstrated success of the Global Justice XML Data Model (GJXDM). Stakeholders from relevant communities work together to define critical exchanges, leveraging the successful work of the GJXDM.