June 2004: Letters

Ambitious Premiere

Fed Tech March 2004

Congratulations on the premiere issue of
Fed Tech. The magazine reads well and
looks great.

We share your opinion that America
has undertaken some of the most
ambitious IT goals in recent history, and
are glad that another publication has
arisen that will document our progress
toward these objectives.

GSA, particularly the Office of Citizen
Services and Communications, plays an
important role in the effort to vastly
improve the way government information
and services are made available to the
public. Our office is responsible for
FirstGov.gov, the official Internet portal
for the entire government, as well as USA
Services, a far-reaching e-gov initiative
established two years ago to streamline
and modernize access to government
information and services.

These are massive projects: FirstGov
alone allows citizens to search more than
24 million federal and state pages
whenever they want. We expect 190
million page views this year.

We believe the demand for citizen
services is headed up, and we at GSA,
like many of our colleagues in the
federal technology community, are
actively and aggressively taking
advantage of the technology at our
disposal. A dramatic change is under
way—one that scientists, sociologists
and historians may not fully
appreciate for decades to come.

It's nice to know that Fed Tech will be
there to help tell the story as it continues
to unfold.

M. J. Jameson

Associate Administrator

Office of Citizen Services and
Communications

General Services Administration

CDC's Disease Detectives

Fed Tech March 2004

I think your March 2004 article
typifies the transformation that the
Centers for Disease Control (CDC)
is undergoing. Without a doubt,
research, data collection, analysis
and dissemination of information
will continue to be important for
the CDC. As an employee of a major
IT service provider working with
the CDC, I found the article
particularly interesting because it
provides information on the CDC's
consolidation efforts to make
the agency even more flexible in
responding to public health threats.

Moreover, it is refreshing to read
that technology will be enablers to the
overall mission of the CDC. I think
speed, accuracy, ease of service
delivery and collaboration among
health departments will continue to
play a vital role as the CDC
continues to identify, track
and fight health issues.

Max Mirabito

Systems Engineer

Northrop Grumman Mission Systems

CDC/CITS/Atlanta

Extreme IT

Fed Tech March 2004

Congratulations to you and your team
as the journey begins with Fed Tech
magazine!

Our nation and federal government
are at a pivotal point in history
following the events of September 11.
Now, more than ever, our nation needs
to leverage its leadership in technology
to give our citizens greater access to
government products and services,
while simultaneously providing for
national security. For a potential role
model, we have only to look to our
neighbor to the north: Canada.

To realize these goals, our nationally
elected and appointed leaders must
have a vision of change and must give
federal CIOs a seat at the decision-making table as trusted members of
their executive team. The CIOs should
be empowered to participate in making
decisions and choices with regard to
solutions and outcomes for the
government enterprise.

We are at a crucial point, and
exciting times are ahead as these
enterprise architectures begin to take
shape and offer great opportunities for
change and transformation. Fed Tech

magazine is uniquely positioned to be
the federal CIO's voice for change in
achieving the critical goal of making the
vision of better government through
technology a reality.

Finally, thanks for giving me the
opportunity to share some good news
regarding technology and our efforts
in Iraq ("Extreme IT," March 2004
Fed Tech).

Colonel Robert W. Milford

U.S. Army

Deputy Director of Global Operations

Joint Chiefs of Staff

Washington, D.C.