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Published on: 1/2/2003
Last Visited: 10/3/2003
Dr. John Gauss - Veterans Affairs
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Dr. John Gauss - Veterans Affairs Dr. John Gauss is the Assistant Secretary for Information and Technology at the Department of Veterans Affairs.He is our guest on this week's "Ask the CIO".
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GAUSS: Today we have eight primary missions for supporting veterans from compensation benefits to disability compensation benefits to burial services in our national cemeteries to providing world-class quality healthcare for our veterans.Each line of business has dealt with veterans very effectively within their lines of business.My vision was to transform VA from a line of business service delivery model to a veteran-centric service delivery model.
WTOP: Which is kind of in keeping with the whole citizen-centric move that's part of e-gov efforts and kinds of fits nicely into your pocket there.
GAUSS: Absolutely.
WTOP: What moves or efforts have you made to reach in the e-government arena to reach your customers or the people that VA serves?
GAUSS: We are a very large organization.We're the largest department of government next to Defense.
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GAUSS: In many areas we are ahead of the curve.
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GAUSS: What we did was we found that there were some serious inefficiencies in our networks.
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GAUSS: In the data network business, I sincerely believe that is a model that others could follow.
WTOP: As you do this modernization, it's a good time for you to address security issues as well.Are you working on the cyber-security side of the equation as well?
GAUSS: Absolutely.
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WTOP: John, as you get the systems in place for security, then how do you address the people factor which actually is just as important as getting the system - the training and the education for the people who are responsible for it?
GAUSS: We have developed a comprehensive cyber-security professionalisation program with comprehensive training packages for our information security officers leading to a certification of their skills in the area.That has been developed.People have received the training and the certifications are ongoing as we speak.
WTOP: Do you think that the people factor is as important as the media makes it sound when we talk about that?
GAUSS: It's huge.
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GAUSS: External penetration and violation of personal privacy data.
WTOP: The whole personal privacy issue has got to be big, considering the constituent group that you're dealing with.
GAUSS: It's huge.Particularly in the medical arena given HIPAA. (The Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act.)
WTOP: Let me ask you this question.You've basically already touched on this.You are spread out all over the country, which makes coordinating a project like this with the geographically dispersed enterprise difficult.How did you address that issue?
GAUSS: There are IT leaders in geographic regions across the country within our three administrations - Benefits Administration, Health Administration and Memorial Affairs Administration.I meet with them and the headquarters leadership quarterly.
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GAUSS: If a veteran goes to www.va.gov, there will be a series of icons that represent the benefits that we provide to our constituency.
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GAUSS: I think the plan that we're on first sets out to modernize the infrastructure, build a comprehensive enterprise architecture, overhaul our capital investment and planning processes, conduct our business process reengineering such that when our modernized infrastructure was in place, we could start introducing these capabilities that transform the organization from a line of business-centric view to a veteran-centric view.
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