AFCEA tries to soften transition blow for DHA CIO

As the Defense Health Agency continues to expand and grow into its role as a joint military health service, its chief information office needs some work to keep pace with the rest of the organization.

DHA CIO David Bowen left in December, but since then the demands on the office have not let up.

Whoever fills Bowen’s position will be faced with a slew of challenges and only have a short amount of time to deal with them, which is why the industry and AFCEA have joined up to recommend some top priorities for Bowen’s successor.

Jim Craft, deputy director of information enterprise management for the Joint Improvised-Threat Defense Agency speared-headed the initiative as a private citizen.

“I went to AFCEA’s Cyber Committee and I said ‘Can you pull the existing contractors, as many of them as you can find, as quick as you can, get them in there. A one day workshop, spot analysis [laying out] strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, threats and what are the top priorities you recommend for the new CIO,’” Craft said during an April 26 speech.

Craft said the document should be out in the next three weeks.

“I’ve seen the early draft and it was pretty darn good,” he said at an AFCEA event in Fairfax, Virginia.

Craft would not give details as to what exactly would be recommended in the report.

Craft said the incoming CIO will have a lot on his plate once he gets into office. DHA has only been an agency since 2013 so it is still growing into itself. The country is at war and DHA has to act in wartime-mode.

Additionally, budgets are austere, technology is exploding and legal requirements are mounting, Craft said.

That’s not to mention that DHA has 60 IT positions are that currently unfilled, Craft said.

Craft added that he was impressed by the work AFCEA and industry did on the report and that he was blown away by what he’s seen so far.

Part of the issue with the DHA CIO position is the incoming CIO will only have a short time in office before the next president comes into office.

Craft said it is likely that a new CIO won’t even get into office until July. Federal News Radio contacted DHA to verify the likelihood, but DHA did not respond in time for the article’s publication.

If the new CIO doesn’t come in until July, he will miss the Program Objective Memorandum (POM) process, which explains how the office will balance its available resources, Craft said. Not only will that be hard for the current CIO, but also for the CIO who takes the job in the new administration.
Craft said another area that is likely to be neglected is the transition books to inform the new administration’s CIO about current challenges.
Craft said the report may help the new CIO with all of those issues and more.

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