Seeking to advocate for state IT concerns, 43 state chief information officers (CIOs) and policy officials converged on Washington Wednesday for the Washington-based National Association of Chief Information Officers' (NASCIO) 9th Annual DC Fly-in. Those concerns include a proposed grants program for national cyber security and federal reforms to support state IT modernization, two key topics of NASCIO's 2009 Calls for Action.
The state representatives met with members of Congress, committee staff, federal agencies and NASCIO's strategic association partners to lobby for their causes and to be briefed on important policy issues. "The [Obama] administration's goal of harnessing technology to transform government and build a competitive America for the future requires a stronger federal-state IT partnership," NASCIO President and Minnesota CIO Gopal Khanna said in a statement. "States are leaders in using innovative technology to support health and social services, education, public safety, transportation and labor programs. Their expertise should be leveraged at the national level, and their efforts should be part of a coordinated whole."
More information on NASCIO, the DC Fly-in and the 2009 Calls for Action is available at www.nascio.org/advocacy/dcFlyIn/.
