CIO looks back on nine years at Justice

Departing Justice Chief Information Officer Vance Hitch, the longest-serving federal CIO, says the memory of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks kept him in the post most managers vacate after two years.

"It was because of 9/11" that Hitch, who will retire in July, joined Justice in the spring of 2002 and stayed there almost until the 10-year anniversary of the attacks, he told Nextgov. "As a citizen, I'm always interested in law enforcement, but back when I came to the department it was a very emotional time," he said.

Although the former Accenture consultant was not acquainted with anyone who died that day, he had worked at the World Trade Center only a year before terrorists destroyed the landmark.

"I was drawn to the department because I care about its mission. I found the mission challenging, invigorating," Hitch said. "You can easily get caught up in day-to-day issues."

That past decade has not been without frustration -- computing project failures and information-sharing slip-ups -- but Hitch said he could always find motivation in the pursuit of public safety. He tells staff who are joining the federal workforce for the first time that to enjoy the work, they must understand and embrace the business of what the government.

Since Sept. 11, Hitch has helped law enforcement and intelligence officials organize a slew of acronyms that, when deciphered, basically translate to sophisticated information sharing.

The Law Enforcement Information Sharing Program, or LEISP, has allowed the department to electronically circulate criminal and counterterrorism tips among states, local governments and other federal agencies. The National Information Exchange Model, commonly known as NIEM, a joint Justice-Homeland Security Department effort, has provided offices at every level of government with an easy-to-replicate standard data configuration that works on any kind of system so that public safety officers can communicate across jurisdictions. The FBI's N-DEX, which stands for National Data Exchange, links together disparate criminal justice systems containing sensitive data that could hold clues for investigators, including incident reports, incarceration information and parole records.

In addition to trafficking information, Hitch's team increasingly has focused on protecting that information from network threats. "Cybersecurity became more and more important and I emphasized it more and more," said Hitch, who also co-chairs the Federal Chief Information Officers Council's information security and identity management committee. The culmination of this labor, Hitch said, is the Justice Security Operations Center, a 24-7 network surveillance hub that scans for vulnerabilities, fixes bugs and coordinates with other agencies to defend critical information against intrusions.

Justice, like every agency, has encountered runaway IT projects that veer off schedule, go over budget or don't work as expected. Such upgrades also offer key takeaway lessons. Hitch has had to contend with -- and learn from -- the long-delayed development of an FBI case management system for agents.

In 2005, Justice abandoned one attempt, the Virtual Case File system, which suffered from vague design requirements, high management turnover and poor oversight, according to inspector general audits. Sentinel, the department's current endeavor to build an online application that can organize evidence and automate the review of documents, also hit setbacks. But after revising the project's schedule and budget, it now is on track to provide investigators with a functional system by the end of the fiscal year, according to a May performance review by Hitch.

"Anybody that is an IT executive in the federal government has to understand IT projects, by definition, are a very complex and difficult undertaking," he explained. "You need to have the right standards, governance and you need to very much get the right project management and processes in place. . . And, obviously, you need to set priorities."

Hitch says he is a fan of a new system development approach promoted by federal CIO Vivek Kundra, who also is leaving later this summer, to accept a fellowship at Harvard University. The Kundra model breaks large-scale, multiyear software projects -- historically the kind that deliver disappointing results -- into six-month production cycles.

"Demanding some working code is a great thing to have happen," Hitch said. "You can test any technology to the hilt. You don't know really how it's going to work until you implement it in an operational environment."

And, no, he does not have any interest in taking Kundra's place.

"At this point, I'm interested in taking some time just for myself," Hitch said. "There's no doubt about it. This is a very tough job." He plans to spend much of the respite at his beach house in Stone Harbor, N.J., after dedicating nearly three decades of his life to steering programs for the National Security Agency, the City of Philadelphia, the CIA, and state and local governments -- in addition to Justice.

When asked what he would do over again at Justice if given the chance, Hitch said he is very proud of what the department has accomplished, but wishes "things could have happened quicker."

During the next couple of years, the biggest challenge facing his successors and federal IT, in general, he said, will be outdated computer systems. "Our infrastructure is, as everybody's is, beginning to age, and technology keeps marching on as we all know," Hitch said.

Even the big boss, President Obama, grumbled in April about the lack of "cool phones" and the existence of 30-year-old IT relics in the White House. Hitch said, "Everybody looks to IT as a way to solve other problems and other inefficiencies and to enhance productivity. In order to do that, we have to implement new infrastructure."