IT Exchange Program Update

Up to 10 Defense Department employees can participate in a pilot information technology exchange program with industry slated to start next year, according to a Pentagon spokeswoman. This may seem small, but marks a tenfold increase from the last time Defense tried to run such a project.

Congress originally authorized ITEP under the 2002 E-Gov Act and the Office of Personnel Management kicked it off in 2004. In 2008, Defense tapped John "Mike" Moore, a top Lockheed Martin Corp. executive, to work for the chief information officer's Information, Policy and Integration shop as part of the exchange program.

But Moore -- who said he came away from the experience impressed with the caliber of Defense personnel he worked with -- ended up as the first and only person to take part in ITEP, as legislation authorizing it expired at the end of 2008.

Congress dusted off ITEP in the fiscal 2010 Defense Authorization Act, which President Obama signed in October 2009. Last week -- 14 months later -- Defense put a notice in the Federal Register that it planned to restart ITEP, pending a public comment period closing Feb. 14.

A Pentagon spokeswoman said Defense views ITEP as "a unique opportunity for DoD and the private sector to share best practices and the common problems we are all facing such as data strategy, information sharing, IT security, etc., in today's constantly changing environment of information technology."

Defense also considers it as a way for private sector and Defense IT professionals to buff up their skills by the exchange of information, the Pentagon spokeswoman said.

The Pentagon does not, however, view ITEP as a recruitment tool, the spokeswoman said, nor as a way for Defense employees to land a job with a vendor. Rather, it allows a temporary exchange of personnel.

Gary Wyckoff, CIO at the Office of Naval Research, said ONR is ready to participate: "I believe that both the government and private sector would greatly benefit from the exchange of personnel. While the exchange is not just focused on cybersecurity/information assurance, I believe this is where both groups could gain better insights into each other's efforts concerning cyber threat, cyber protection and remediation."

And, who knows. If the ITEP pilots works, then the program could eventually involve hundreds of folks, not just a handful.