February 2005: Letters
FDA Approved
I'm writing to thank you for creating an
environment for positive articles about
government IT projects and their
executives. I know that the June 2004
Everyday Heroes section ("Checking Food
at the Border") of Fed Tech, which featured
the Food and Drug Administration and the
U.S. Customs and Border Protection, took
time and energy to get the story right.
We appreciate your reportage. The
excellent and careful writing done by Stacy
Collett offers your readers and customers a
glimpse of the important IT work our
cooperating agencies do to protect the
public health.
James J. Rinaldi
FDA Chief Information Officer
Food and Drug Administration
Department of Health and Human Services
Rockville, Md.
The One and Only
The Tech Insights article "Multimedia at
the Museum" in the September 2004 issue
of Fed Tech stated that the Smithsonian
Institution, in all of its 17 museums, will
have personal digital assistant and Wi-Fi
access within the next 18 months. Only
the Smithsonian's National Museum of
Natural History will embark on this
project.
Michele Urie
Senior Press Officer
National Museum of Natural History
Smithsonian Institution
Washington, D.C.
E-Government Content
Services for DHS
Through March 2005, Department of
Homeland Security staff may get their
questions answered using unclassified
materials through the Ask a Federal
Librarian service, a project involving
24 federal libraries and information
centersÂa big jump from the eight small
libraries in DHS. The service is available
through the DHS departmentwide
intranet and a few local DHS intranets.
Staff members may submit
questions via e-mail, phone or live
online chat. Participating libraries
donate staff time and resources, and
DHS funds software and training. A
needs assessment will be done at the
project's end to help DHS plan future
information services.
Jean Conrad
Librarian
NOAA Central Library
Silver Spring, Md.
A Satisfied Senate
Just wanted to thank you for the
excellent coverage ("Capital
Makeover") in the September 2004
issue of Fed Tech and bring you up to
date on our customer satisfaction efforts
here at the U.S. Senate. We just
completed our 2004 CIO Customer
Survey, with promising results.
Our 2003 customer satisfaction
action plan included a minimum 10
percent improvement across-the-board
and emphasized new technology
infusion processes. This year's survey
results show strong progress with a 13
percent overall improvement, with a
20.2 percent increase in satisfaction
with our technical initiatives.
I am looking forward to a great 2005
here at the Senate as we continue to
focus on innovation, modern
technologies and solutions to improve
effectiveness ("Big E").
J. Greg Hanson, Ph.D.
Assistant Sergeant at Arms and CIO
U.S. Senate
Washington, D.C.
