Former Microsoft exec tapped to replace Jeff Zients

There’s a new lead man running healthcare.gov.

Kathleen Sebelius, secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services, announced today Kurt DelBene will be Jeff Zients’ successor and also serve as Sebelius’ senior adviser.

DelBene most recently served at president of the Microsoft Office Division and will start his new role in government tomorrow.

In the blog post, Sebelius said DelBene will be working closely with her, the White House and the teams and senior leadership at HHS and the Centers for Medicaid and Medicare Services, as he leads and manages healthcare.gov.

DelBene has agreed to serve in this role for at least the first half of 2014.

“Because of the site’s progress, his responsibilities, while similar to Jeff’s, will reflect an evolution of focus as we move on to the next phase,” Sebelius said.

DelBene will be working and consulting with CMS Administrator Marilyn Tavenner and QSSI, the general contractor for healthcare.gov. One of his main focuses will be to ensure the website runs smoothly and is functional through the open-enrollment deadline of March 31, 2014.

“The president and I believe strongly in having one person, with strong experience and expertise in management and execution, who is thinking 24/7 about healthcare.gov,” Sebelius said.

Jeh Johnson confirmed for top DHS post

The Senate last night confirmed Jeh Johnson to be the next secretary of homeland security.

The 78-to-16 vote makes the former Pentagon lawyer the fourth leader in the short history of the Department of Homeland Security.

Johnson, 56, is a native of New York and was in Manhattan on Sept. 11, 2001, an experience he credited with helping him make the decision to accept the job as DHS secretary.

“I was not looking for this opportunity,” Johnson said during a Rose Garden press briefing during which President Barack Obama announced his nomination. “But when I received the call, I could not refuse it. I love this country. I care about the safety of our people.”

Obama has credited Johnson with helping to design and implement many of the policies that help keep the United States safe. “He’s been there, in the Situation Room, at the table,” Obama said, describing Johnson as a cool and calm leader.

Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee Chairman Tom Carper (D-Del.) characterized Johnson as a strong leader who is well-prepared for the challenges that await him at DHS.

“He brings experience from the public and private sectors, as well as an impeccable character,” Carper said in a statement issued shortly after the Senate vote.

At DOD, “he was a major player in the management team that ran the Defense Department … giving him invaluable experience for the huge task to which he has been nominated,” Carper said.

During his confirmation process, Johnson has received bipartisan support and letters of recommendation from all three former DHS Secretaries Tom Ridge, Michael Chertoff and Janet Napolitano.

Guest column: Wearable technology, shareable data

Nigel Ballard is Intel’s director of federal marketing and a FedScoop contributor. 

You’ve probably read at least a dozen times already that the so-called wearable segment will be huge in 2014. From my vantage point, such as it is, I see a mad scramble from vendors known and unknown to get into this space. Why? Because it’s a new market sector, there’s everything to gain and the field is green and wide open. You don’t have to prove yourself up against any of the big brands because as of today, nobody has a controlling interest.

Innovation plus venture capital funding beats or has the potential to beat the Fortune 100 tech companies. There’s no rule book regarding what makes a successful wearable product, and it’s too early to call any of them a flop.

Glass

The highest-profile wearable today is the ambitious Google Glass, which isn’t even shipping yet. I count myself among those Glass Explorers, but as I write this, mine sit on the table behind me. Why? I’m more pragmatist than enthusiast when it comes to doing actual work as opposed to just geeking out. Glass is fun, “trick” and has promise, but I wear glasses, have astigmatism and happen to believe that today, and for mass-market appeal, a wearable device on your wrist makes way more market sense than one on your head.

Blog

I have a personal blog on my website at http://www.joejava.com, and I used to have a Google Glass page there. But I tired of reporting endless stories about how Glass was going to “change the way be build cities” (sic). And so I swizzled it to a wearable page, and my, how the visitors grew. Their domains show me they are indeed largely made up of those Fortune 100 companies. This space is hot and hopping!

Cupertino time

Everybody outside Apple knows, or thinks they know, that an iWatch is coming, we just don’t know what it will feature and when it will arrive. The smarter money is on a curved touch glass design with wireless charging. They’re probably waiting for the Bluetooth 4.1 specification to get fully baked before they commit to production silicon. Knowing Apple, it won’t just be the assembly of other people’s chips and screens; there will be that certain something or somethings that will separate it from the mass of lookalike products that will surely pour out of Asia within in a few short months of its availability.

Made in Vietnam?

Apple has had leak problems of late; casings from the 5S and 5C were all over the interwebs months before the official launch. This bodes well for Vietnam, which has better, (read, lower) labor rates than China. Vietnam is also a dexterous nation and it promises not to kiss and tell.

24/7 fitness

Where are the wearables today? That would be the fitness and wellness market. Clips, straps or bangles that record your steps (activity) just like the pedometers of yesteryear, but in a much sexier hi-tech way. The better ones incorporate altimeters and fancy displays and do other things like analyze your activity. Every article I’ve read seems to claim one or another is the victor, so there’s no agreement on which is tops right now. I’ve owned and used two; both have inherent strengths and weaknesses befitting a burgeoning product segment.

The fitness do-dat you wear today will be old hat in none month’s time. That, my friends, is how life is on the technology bleeding edge. To tote the latest toys, you have to accept some rough edges. Nothing is perfect, but then again, nothing in life ever is. So, suck up the shortfalls and show off your new gadget at the water cooler and do it quickly!

So, what am I going to do when the iWatch or rumored Google watch appears? I already have a Nike FuelBand SE on my wrist; do they expect me to wear the watch on the other wrist? Wrong. Tout le manufacturers better combine the recording features of the fitness band with the “don’t-need-to-remove-your-phone-from-your-pocket” alerting, incoming call screening, automatic timezone setting convenience of the SmartWatch into a single product, otherwise I’d call that a big fat fail. I’m looking for a twofer here!

Sharing is caring

Now, I get to reuse the title of my article: They aren’t only wearable, they’re shareable, and that’s almost as important as the measuring of your Himalayan trek to Safeway’s and back. Now, you must share the sweat (steps) with your social network. If you’ve done really well, then you get to feel superior. If you’ve done really poorly, then you get to shame yourself in public, but best of all you get to compete against your friends and co-workers. And that truly healthy competition is what ultimately drives many of us to do better, eat healthier, be a bit thinner, walk farther than our friends and WIN. Hey, whatever it takes to shed the weight, right? #WINNING

I’m walking the long way round into 2014, I hope to see you there, and regarding my daily step count, if you show me yours, I’ll show you mine.

Happy holidays!

Mongo DB Federal’s Will LaForest on open source trends

Will LaForest, senior director at Mongo DB Federal, highlights some of the open source trends in this FedScoopTV interview.

DHS expands student volunteer program in cybersecurity

The Department of Homeland Security today announced the launch of the 2014 Cyber Student Volunteer Initiative for college students, opening up new opportunities at five additional DHS components as well as state and local fusion centers around the country.

Created in April 2013 as part of the Secretary’s Honors Program, the Cyber Student Volunteer Initiative offers college students hands-on experience and exposure to the cybersecurity work performed by DHS cybersecurity professionals. The program is specifically designed for current college students pursuing a program of study in a cybersecurity-related field.

In a statement, DHS said more than 100 unpaid positions have been made available in more than 60 DHS field offices across the country. Participants will perform a broad range of duties in support of DHS’ cybersecurity mission, from cyber-threat analysis to digital forensics to network diagnostics and incident response. Student volunteers will begin in spring 2014 and participate throughout the summer.

“DHS is excited to continue the Secretary’s Honors Program Cyber Student Volunteer Initiative and expand it to additional DHS offices and locations while increasing our engagement with students in the important cybersecurity work DHS does every day,” said Rand Beers, DHS acting secretary. “Providing these opportunities across the department is a vital step in our efforts to cultivate the next generation of cybersecurity leaders and to attract the best and brightest cyber talent who are looking to pursue a career in public service.”

The program originally provided assignments at U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement Homeland Security Investigations computer forensics labs and state and major urban area fusion centers. This year, however, DHS is expanding the program to include new opportunities at the U.S. Secret Service, the U.S. Coast Guard, the Transportation Security Administration, the Office of Intelligence and Analysis, the DHS Office of the Chief Information Officer, and additional state and more than 60 major urban area fusion centers and ICE labs.

The SHP Cyber Student Volunteer Initiative was created in response to the Homeland Security Advisory Council’s Task Force on CyberSkills, which last year released 11 detailed recommendations on how government can recruit and retain the thousands of cybersecurity professionals needed in the coming years.

Despite roadblocks, expectations high for FITARA in 2014

The Federal Information Acquisition Reform Act may have been extracted from the National Defense Authorization Act, but the bill meant to overhaul government IT procurement is far from dead.

In fact, folks on Capitol Hill are saying there’s a good chance FITARA will see new movement in the near future.

Co-sponsored by Reps. Gerry Connolly, D-Va., and Darrell Issa, R-Calif., FITARA was tacked on as an amendment to the defense bill. The bill is still awaiting action in Congress, but when the House Armed Services Committee met over Thanksgiving recess and decided on a final draft of the bill, FITARA was left out.

However, Connolly says there’s reason to hope.

“There may be a silver lining to this,” Connolly said in an emailed statement to FedScoop. “In March, FITARA was favorably reported out of committee with unanimous support as a standalone bill, in addition to being unanimously passed by the entire House as an amendment to NDAA in June. Thus, we are confident FITARA carries the broad, bipartisan support that will enable it to be expeditiously advanced through the House.”

FITARA, or H.R. 1232, would reform the laws governing the management and procurement of IT in federal government. Specifically, the bill would establish a center to coordinate the acquisition of IT products, increase authority of the agency chief information officer and the CIO Council, and require additional analysis and reports by federal agencies.

“The federal government needs to be able to build cutting-edge, 21st-century computer systems, but right now we are hobbled by laws written in the days of floppy disks and telephone modems,” Sen. Tom Udall, D-N.M., said in an emailed statement to FedScoop. “We desperately need to modernize the law and especially to incorporate flexibility and accountability.”

According to a Nov. 12, 2013, Congressional Budget Office report, implementing FITARA from 2014 to 2018 would cost more than $145 million. “CBO estimates, however, that any net increase in spending by those agencies would not be significant,” the report said. “Enacting the bill would not affect revenues.”

The CIO section of the bill specifically would cost about $50 billion over the 2014-2018 time period, CBO estimates. It would grant CIOs the authority to hire additional staff, expand the role and responsibilities of the CIO Council as well as the analysis process to justify governmentwide IT procurements.

According to a Hill staffer close to the issue, morale for FITARA is high. The language for the bill has already passed in the House.

“There’s a good cohort of senators behind this bill,” the staffer said. “The fact that they’re interested in these issues is a great surprise.”

Sen. Jeanne Shaeheen, D-N.H., who’s on the Senate House Armed Services Committee, has indicated she wants FITARA pushed forward. The staffer said it will come down to figuring out a version of FITARA most members of Congress share views on and has buy-in for most stakeholders.

“The bottom line is that there is an influential group of members from both sides of the aisle that share the same goals with respect to enhancing how government procures, develops and deploys technology,” Connolly said. ”I am confident that for the first time in nearly two decades, we can work together to fundamentally strengthen federal IT management.”

Connolly also said moving FITARA must be a priority for Congress when it reconvenes in the new year.

His colleague Udall expressed disappointment the amendment was dropped from the defense bill, but said he is “considering the next step forward.”

“This issue needs to be a priority, and as chairman of the Financial Services and General Government Appropriations Subcommittee, I look forward to continuing to work for reforms with my colleagues on both sides of the aisle,” he added.

Microsoft’s Xbox Kinect could be a game changer for homeland security

Since its debut a few short weeks ago, Microsoft Corp.’s new Xbox One gaming console has jumped off store shelves at the rate of more than 100,000 per day. The pace of adoption has led to shortages in all of the 13 launch markets.

And now, less than two weeks before Christmas, there’s one more market that may be trying to get its hands on the new Xbox — the homeland security market.

While purchases by federal, state and local security agencies won’t be having a real impact on the commercial availability of the new Xbox One anytime soon, officials acknowledged in interviews with FedScoop unnamed federal agencies have been leveraging the Kinect 3-D motion-sensing, facial and voice recognition technologies that power the Xbox One for security purposes.

“They’re using it to look for threats,” said Greg Myers, vice president of Microsoft Federal. Although he mentioned improvised explosive devices, Myers declined to provide additional details or other specific examples, citing security and customer confidentiality concerns.

“It’s a gaming system, but it’s a development platform that we can do all kinds of things on,” said Joan Barrow, director of the Microsoft Technology Center in Reston, Va., one of 11 such centers around the country. Barrow gave FedScoop a tour of the new center, which includes a large space setup like a family room that features a new Xbox One system. Barrow also alluded to a wide range of non-gaming applications where the popular Xbox is quickly gaining traction.

“It’s great for gaming, but think about it in an operating room where a doctor needs to look at X-rays, but he’s already sterilized and he can’t touch it,” Barrow said. “That doctor can manipulate the image with his hands. In physical therapy, it can record movement progress and can tell me whether or not I’m making progress. And in war-gaming, we’ve used it with some of our DOD systems integrators to leverage this technology in simulations.”

Microsoft’s Kinect is the sensing technology that allows gamers to use their bodies and body motions as the game controller. The company re-engineered Kinect for the Xbox One to be more responsive and precise.

Information about the use of the Xbox’s Kinect motion-sensing and optical technologies is scarce in the U.S. But in Singapore, the government is promoting multiple proof-of-concept studies that show just how powerful the Xbox Kinect system is in a public safety and homeland security context.

One area in which the advanced sensors and infrared systems of Kinect have shown great promise is in detecting illegal border crossings, said Joan Liu, information systems officer for the Singapore Ministry of Home Affairs.

In a presentation posted on the Microsoft public safety and national security website, Liu offers a detailed look at the tests her government conducted using Kinect. In one example, Liu shows how a standard optical camera detects a black blob on the back of a motorcycle that looks like nothing more than a backpack in the final image. Using the Kinect depth sensors, however, evaluators were able to easily discern a human figure trying to blend in with the driver’s form in order to avoid detection.

In another example, Liu explains the challenge of seeing through heavily tinted glass on automobiles. Using a standard camera, no human figures can be seen. But the Kinect sensors can easily detect human figures behind the tinted glass.

One of the more surprising examples offered by Liu involved the ability of the Kinect sensors to detect the difference between a real face and a fake face printed on a sheet of paper.

“Traditional 2-D facial recognition systems can be easily spoofed using fake faces printed on paper,” Liu said. But testers in Singapore were able to prove Kinect’s depth sensor as a viable additional layer of security for customs and border protection. “Kinect detects very accurately whether a face is fake or not,” she added.

Just a few years ago, Microsoft shied away from granting third-party developers access to the Xbox and its technologies. The company didn’t want the technology used on anything other than an Xbox. Officials eventually relented, realizing the multitude of enterprise-level applications the technologies could benefit, from health care to search and rescue, and homeland security. Version 1.8 of the software development kit is now available to third-party developers.

The main hardware components of the Kinect system are a video camera, a monochrome sensor, an infrared projector/sensor and a multiarray microphone. Add to this some sophisticated software behind the scenes and the Kinect is able to determine an object’s depth (distance from camera to subject) to within 1 centimeter and its height and width to within 3 millimeters.

The new active infrared capabilities allow the new sensor to work in nearly any lighting condition. “This will offer developers better built-in recognition capabilities in different real-world settings—independent of the lighting conditions—including the sensor’s ability to recognize facial features, hand position and more,” wrote Bob Heddle, director of Kinect for Windows, in a blog posting in May.

“We find that problems with 2-D optical cameras can be mitigated using Kinect’s 3-D sensor,” Liu said. “This is just the beginning of what is possible.”

And there are, in fact, other areas of security where research and development into the potential uses of Kinect are likely, Liu said. One such area is perimeter protection using Kinect technology to produce virtual fences and leveraging its ability to obtain high-contrast images in low light conditions. Another is being able to detect dangerous actions, such as a person pointing a weapon.

Liu also sees a future for security personnel to be able to conduct “Minority Report” style manipulation of multiple video feeds, referring to the Hollywood blockbuster in which the title character, played by Tom Cruise, is able to control the programs on a large screen display using hand gestures.

The Xbox Kinect system has even found its way into the disaster response field. In 2011, student researchers from the Warwick University in the U.K. designed a rescue robot that leveraged the Xbox Kinect sensing technologies capable of producing 3-D images of an earthquake disaster site and scan for survivors.

The use of Xbox Kinect in the homeland security arena may come as a surprise to many, but not to Barrow. “We integrate many of our consumer products today with our more enterprise technologies,” he said. “And everything is on the same Windows 8 platform. If you think about how Xbox works, there’s just a lot of ways to use that technology that are not just fun and games.”

FedWire: Mobile health devices, modular reactors and cellphone unlocking

FedWire is FedScoop’s afternoon roundup of news and notes from the federal IT community. Send your links and videos to tips@fedscoop.com.

Air Force to refine funding priorities.

FCC CIO David Bray on secure mobile health devices.

The DARPA Robotics Challenge.

Advancing small modular reactors.

Cyber-warriors graduate with Army’s newest military occupational specialty.

Answering the call on cellphone unlocking.

It’s the 10th anniversary of FBI’s 10 years Terrorist Explosive Device Analytical Center:

West Wing Week:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zMOuEE68N6Q

TV: FedScoop’s Dan Verton on continuous evaluation and clearance process

FedScoop’s cyber and national security reporter Dan Verton made an appearance Dec. 15 on NewsChannel 8’s “Government Matters” to discuss the role continuous evaluation may have in the federal clearance process. Watch the clip below; Dan’s segment starts at the 12:20 minute mark:

Red Hat Emergent’s Daniel Climo on what industry can learn from government’s open source use

Daniel Climo, director of sales at Red Hat Emergent, talks in this FedScoopTV interview about what industry can learn from how the government is using open source.