. . . But Baker IS in the Building . . .

. . . after being sworn in today as the new assistant secretary for information and technology and chief information officer at the Veterans Affairs Department headquarters on Vermont Avenue. He will need to tackle a range of problems, including the outsourcing of numerous VA IT development projects to the Space and Naval Warfare Systems Command.

VA, knowledgeable folks tell me, has handed over a whole mess of IT work to SPAWAR, including a new system to process post-9/11 claims and payments created by the new GI bill and next week they expect the VA inspector general to release a report on the VA/SPAWAR relationship "that is not pretty," a source said.