Page 68 - FCW, October 2017

Point/Counterpoint
The CIO and government IT
Two longtime federal IT leaders discuss the pros and cons of elevating agency CIOs to Cabinet-level positions
BY ALAN P. BALUTIS AND DON UPSON
Editor’s Note: Alan Balutis and Don Upson are longtime friends who sit on different sides of the political fence. Both have served in govern- ment and now work in the private sector — Balutis as a distinguished fellow at Cisco Systems and Upson as founder and president of the Government Business Executive Forum. Between them they have won 13 Federal 100 awards.
This is the second in a series of Point-Counterpoint articles they are writing for FCW that focus on cur- rent management challenges.
Upson: With every new adminis- tration comes the cry from some quarters for a Cabinet-level CIO. It makes sense at first blush; after all, the $80 billion-plus in annual federal IT spending is more than the bud- gets of all but a few departments. Washington often equates “budget” with “power,” so in this equation, $80 billion-plus represents a heavy dose of the latter.
On the other hand, the focus on IT spending as a rationale for a Cabinet- level CIO makes little sense, at least for the foreseeable future.
Balutis: Actually, Don, I’d put total federal IT spending at close to
$100 billion, per President Donald Trump’s fiscal 2018 budget proposal. That number might give the argu- ment even more “power.” Your old friend Rep. Darrell Issa (R-Calif.) recently asked a Data Act Summit audience whether a Cabinet-level CIO is the future of government IT. But let’s argue about that another time.
Upson: Agreed. Let’s put aside the question of whether a federal CIO
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