Intercepts

Going, Going, Gone?

Although incoming president George W. Bush has moved quickly to put his administration in place, he needs to pick up the pace to retain some of the Defense Department's top information technology executives. The Interceptor is picking up strong signals that lucrative offers are pouring in from outside. Deputy chief information officer Paul Brubaker, a card-carrying Republican in good standing who helped author the Clinger-Cohen Act, has made a play for the DOD CIO spot, letting the new administration know he is interested.

But signals indicate that Brubaker also has been offered at least one high-paying position outside the Pentagon and must decide soon. Brubaker is regarded as a bold reformer and straight talker. Don't take too long, Mr. Soon-To-Be President, or you'll be recruiting teenage script kiddies to replace all the experienced IT folks who said sayonara to the Pentagon.

It's EDS, Stupid

Electronic Data Systems Corp. is on a roll. First, the company won the $6.9 billion Navy Marine Corps Intranet contract Oct. 6. Then fellow Texan Bush took the White House. The Plano, Texas-based firm is one of the Lone Star State's largest employers, so you know Bush is familiar with EDS. And incoming vice president Dick Cheney served on the company's board of directors, along with Bush Senior/Junior supporter James Baker III, former White House chief of staff, secretary of State and Florida recount guru. Nice company EDS keeps.

Going My Wrong Way

Information provided in the last edition of Intercepts concerning ACCWay's being renamed turned out to be flat out wrong. "As chief of the ACCWay Division, I naturally assumed I would have been aware of such a name change," wrote Col. Wayne Scott in a blunt e-mail message. "We have informally bandied about the name "AFWay' because our process/product is now being used across several Air Force commands, but we are still in the process of presenting our approach to Headquarters Air Force so the Air Force CIO Management Board can decide if ACCWay will indeed become "AFWay' or "Air Force Way.' "

To learn more about ACCWay and the direction it is likely to take, see this week's News section. Meanwhile, the Interceptor will clean the egg off his face and seek a broadcast news position covering election returns in Florida.

Intercept something? Send it to antenna@fcw.com.