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NASCIO Gains Firm Foothold on Capitol Hill

President Gerry Wethington says technology issues and policies are becoming a priority for federal lawmakers

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. -- Gerry Wethington, president of the National Association of Chief Information Officers (NASCIO) and CIO of Missouri, is calling the organization's fourth annual Washington D.C. Fly In, a success. The 18 CIOs in attendance logged a total of 73 meetings on Capitol Hill with the goal of establishing NASCIO as a resource for federal decision makers in the IT arena.

"We spent a good deal of time talking about identity and identity theft with a number of members," Wethington said. "We offered NASCIO as a resource for building legislation." Although identity issues resonated with many legislators, the CIO's also discovered a new interest in enterprise architectures -- accompanied by a relative lack of understanding about what "enterprise" means in digital government.

"Enterprise architecture appears to be catching on, somewhat," Wethington reports. "There was a lot of discussion about finding a way to talk about it in ways that are meaningful to the lay-person. They [legislators] understand what its role is but it's hard for them to deliver the message. They need a new language for this."

NASCIO representatives also covered issues that are currently important to states, mainly federal mandates that have hit states where they hurt most. "We pointed out that in the area of homeland security there is no money appropriated and states are scrambling," Wethington said. "We talked about ways to authorize and appropriate money for technology to support homeland security - without robbing Peter to pay Paul."

Other important topics included business continuity, disaster recovery, cyber security and the evolving role of the state CIO. Wethington said there appeared to be general recognition that Congress had short-changed the states with mandates such as HIPAA, homeland security and the No Child Left Behind legislation. Awareness levels about technology and acceptance of NASCIO as a resource has grown considerably among players in the federal sector, he added. This he credits to the organization becoming increasingly visible and engaged with lawmakers at all levels of government.

"If you look back over the last year, NASCIO has had its members in D.C. a lot," Wethington said. "... I would venture to say there is a state CIO in town once a month and more frequently. It's by taking advantage of those trips that we can do parallel work."

It has also becomes easier to observe change in the halls of Congress. "It was interesting to see how many congressional offices had staff specifically assigned to IT activities," Wethington said. "It was also amazing how many Blackberries there were in staffer's and member's hands."

Wethington admitted that Mark Foreman, the CIO of OMB, has been a welcome advocate for collaboration. "We definitely have a good working relationship with Mark Foreman," he said. "We immediately reached out to see how we could cooperate. But we are not limited to that." Members, he added, are participating on numerous federal commissions and boards in the Hill, including the Federal CIO Council.

With increased visibility and participation, NASCIO is becoming recognized as a source of expertise. Wethington said that state CIO's offer a broad spectrum of talent that could be tapped by federal legislators. The recent "fly-in" showed that many members of Congress are open to a collaborative relationship.

"We've certainly been interested in making sure NASCIO is the go-to organization," Wethington said. "We would like [congressional] members to be comfortable turning to NASCIO."

This year, NASCIO stayed focus on this collaborative strategy. We didn't go there asking for money," Wethington said. We talked about IT elements than can be addressed by NASCIO ... We didn't come with our hat in our hands. I think that was an effective approach."

NASCIO's annual meeting will be in Scottsdale, Az., September 7 -- 10.