Homeland IT team filling up

White House officials are slowly filling in the ranks of the Transition Planning Office team that will determine how information technology can best serve the proposed Homeland Security Department.

Steve Cooper, the Office of Homeland Security's chief information officer, is also serving as the captain of the "systems team" at the transition office. That team will work with other function-area teams "to shape the system requirements and capabilities for the new department," said Illa Brown, an OHS spokeswoman.

Federal IT executives already on detail to the systems team are Ronald Miller, CIO at the Federal Emergency Management Agency, and Regina Fletcher, an IT program manager at the Federal Aviation Administration.

The team likely will have five or six members, Miller said.

President Bush created the transition office by executive order June 20 to lead the administration's efforts in laying the foundation for the more than 22 federal organizations that will move to the proposed department.

Tom Ridge, the president's homeland security adviser, serves as director of the office within the Office of Management and Budget.