Elodie Collins
Maria Roat, former deputy federal chief information officer and a Wash100 Award winner, wants to see more clarity and a more defined plan surrounding the government’s approach to IT.
In a recent panel, Roat and other former government officials Sean DuGuay, David Bray and Simon Szykman shared what they want to see from Federal CIO Greg Barbaccia, also a Wash100 Award recipient.
Policy Gaps, Lack of Overarching Direction
Roat, who now heads MA Roat Consulting, said she is waiting for the administration’s IT priorities.
“I’ve been through a lot of administration changes and generally, by this time, you see shaking out is the form of a plan. Those overarching directionally, hey, here’s what we’re going to focus on for the next three or four years,” she explained.
She pointed out that, during the first administration of President Donald Trump, Federal CIO Suzette Kent focused on IT modernization. Tony Scott, who served as federal CIO under former President Barack Obama, focused on transitioning to the cloud.
“We’re not seeing that,” Roat commented. “We don’t know what this is going to look like. We saw an executive order, but sometimes those are about as clear as mud. I think this gets back to, what are those priorities and what’s the plan?”
Focusing on Mission Efficiency
DuGuay, a retired criminal investigator and special agent for the Marine Corps, talked about driving mission efficiency, especially as policies and budgets are not yet finalized.
The current Aretum chief growth officer provided an industry perspective, saying that if his team is not focused on mission enablement and success, “we’re going to fail as a company.”
What Other CIOs Are Looking For
Bray, who formerly served as CIO at the Federal Communications Commission, said he wants to see the federal response to Salt Typhoon and Vault Typhoon attacks. He shared that he expected a greater push for the defense industrial base “to harden things up.”
Meanwhile, Szykman, former Department of Commerce CIO, is “anxiously waiting to read the AI action plan” that came out in July. He is also monitoring quantum information science, which is one of the administration’s priorities, but Szykman noted that there is still no policy or direction surrounding QIS.
