Obama Administration Broadens CIO Role

A look at the week of August 22 in public advocacy for the IT channel: This week, Amazon announced a new cloud service geared toward government agencies.  Peter Orszag, former director of the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) under Obama, believes the HITECH Act is creating significant value in healthcare.  The White House wants to expand the role of agency CIOs to encompass management of the agency’s total IT portfolio.

Amazon Launches Gov-Only Cloud — Amazon's new "GovCloud" service offers the same basic security features as other portions of its public cloud and also allows agencies to comply with other regulations governing treatment of federal data. The new service is only accessible to U.S. citizens or permanent residents holding a green card, opening up the cloud provider's services to more sensitive data from agencies that must comply with strict data-handling regulations such as the International Traffic in Arms Regulations, reports Nextgov.com.

Healthcare Prognosis Better with Digital Law — Peter Orszag, vice chairman of global banking at Citigroup and a former director of the Office of Management and Budget in the Obama Administration, wrote an op-ed for Bloomberg in support of the HITECH Act.  Orzag states that electronic medical records are revolutionizing healthcare by allowing providers to be more selective in ordering tests, improving efficiency and sharing information to create best practices, thus creating greater value in healthcare.

Seeking Better IT Management, Obama Administration Broadens CIO Role — In a memo released last week, Jacob J. Lew, director of the Office of Management and Budget, said Chief Intelligence Officers’ responsibilities should now go beyond simply policymaking and infrastructure maintenance to truly oversee an agency’s total IT portfolio. CIOs should lead the review process and identify underperforming programs that should be canceled or changed, as well as drive down costs on basic equipment and services, reports Washington Post.