Pres. Issues Executive Order on Open Data – Plus the DorobekINSIDER’s 7 Stories

On GovLoop Insights’ DorobekINSIDER:

• Becoming an innovator doesn’t happen overnight, you need strong support from your leaders, an ability to take risks and budgetary support. Michigan’s CIO David Behen and CTO Rod Davenport know all about implementing innovation. We tackle how in part two of our discussion.

But up front: Open Data.

The Obama administration today released an Executive Order that essentially makes federal data more open and accessible to innovators and the public. The goal, Obama administration official said, is to fuel entrepreneurship and economic growth while increasing government transparency and efficiency.

The Executive Order says that information is a valuable national asset whose value is multiplied when it is made easily accessible to the public and it requires that, going forward, data generated by the government be made available in open, machine-readable formats, while appropriately safeguarding privacy, confidentiality, and security.

• More on the White House blog about what the open data announcement means.
• The White House Executive Order: Open Data Policy-Managing Information as an Asset

The SEVEN stories that impact your life

• The House passed legislation that would allow the Treasury Department to borrow money above the debt limit only to make payments on the debt and Social Security if the government hits its ceiling. GovExec reports, the Full Faith and Credit Act (H.R. 807) would require the government to pay the principal and interest on public debt and the Social Security trust funds before paying its other bills if it hits the debt ceiling. The government only could borrow money above the debt limit for those payments.

• President Obama faces a potentially big Senate battle over his nominee for labor secretary, Thomas Perez. Federal Times reports Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., served notice of Republican opposition by saying that Perez has abused his authority as head of the civil rights division of the Justice Department.
• The accuracy of the Office of Personnel Management’s calculation of new federal pensions has slipped as it has worked to speed up its retirement processes, the agency’s inspector general is set to testify Thursday, reports Federal Times.
• After 10 years and half-a-billion dollars, the TSA’s ID system for transportation workers is riddled with flaws. Federal News Radio reports, that’s the verdict in a new report from the Government Accountability Office. It says the agency’s test of the TWIC program was incomplete, inaccurate and unreliable. Auditors say the Department of Homeland Security has failed to fix long-standing problems. TSA officials will defend the program before a House subcommittee today. TWIC is a biometric credential system meant to control access to U.S. ports.

• The White House is developing a proposal to expand wiretap laws. Reuters reports, the FBI wants to eavesdrop on Internet communications just like it can on telephone calls. Online chats and Voice-over-Internet-protocol services like Skype are of particular interest. Providers argue they are exempt from wiretap laws. Tech companies have opposed the idea. It’s not clear what their responsibility would be in translating encrypted data.

• A new industry report warns of a coming U.S. national security crisis that could be spawned by a “growing and dangerous” reliance on combat system components and raw materials purchased from foreign sources. Defense News reports, “Remaking American Security: Supply Chain Vulnerabilities & National Security Risks Across the U.S. Defense Industrial Base,” compiled by the Guardian Six consulting firm for the Alliance for American Manufacturing (AAM), concludes, “the United States now relies heavily on imports to keep our armed forces equipped and ready,” as well as “foreign financing arrangements.”

• And on GovLoop, you can now register for the May 15th DorobekINSIDER Live panel. This time around we are talking about the one year anniversary of the Digital Government Strategy. The free online webinar will feature government and industry experts.

DorobekINSIDER water-cooler fodder

• CIOJournal oped: Building a computing strategy around ‘flow.’ Only 3% of IT shops see employee self-provisioning of hardware and software as a critical priority, says guest contributor David K. Johnson. But if he were a betting man, his money would likely be on organizations in that tiny minority. With their desktop and tools already set up the way they like it, employees are more likely to enter into a state Mr. Johnson calls “flow.” It’s “where a person performing an activity is fully immersed in a feeling of energized focus, full involvement, and enjoyment in the activity,” he writes. Flow has been a central concept in behavior science for decades, but it’s yet a topic in most IT shops.

• A List Of The 6 Best Alternative To-Do List Apps: Evernote is great, but it’s not the only choice for productivity and to-do lists. Here are some up-and-coming apps to suit all personalities, from the type A’s to the guilt-free procrastinators.

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