Bill Marion

Federal News Network asked 10 members of the federal IT community to offer comments and insights about the impact Federal CIO Suzette Kent has had on the government over the last two-plus years.

In today’s Federal Newscast, the Chief Information Officers Council says government needs a new pay and personnel system to better recruit and compensate the future federal IT workforce.

Bill Marion, who left federal service after 28 years including the last four years as the deputy chief information officer of the Air Force, said the next deputy CIO will have a long list of priorities including continuing network modernization, transforming risk management and ensuring the service has a digital workforce.

Bill Marion, the Air Force’s chief information officer, said through one of the enterprise IT-as-a-service pilot programs, the service is reimagining help desk and end user support services.

DoD’s deputy chief information officer for information enterprise said working out the bugs in production is “just not how we’re wired” at the Pentagon, but in the case of AI is needed.

The Air Force is preparing to invest in what it’s calling Digital U, an online schoolhouse similar to Udemy or Codecademy that will let airmen learn basic cyber skills.

The Defense Information Systems Agency has been pushing its mission partners toward “app rationalization,” urging them to figure out what they need to operate in the cloud.

The Air Force is aligning its business practices with the National Defense Strategy to stay ahead of near-peer competitors over the next two years.

The Air Force will merge the three-star positions that oversee intelligence and IT into a single position, known as the A2/A6. Lt. Gen. Dash Jamieson is expected to lead the new organization.

The Air Force believes its new streamlined ATO process will not only get systems online faster, it will deliver better security.