Circuit

How many DOE employees does it take...?
Samuel Bodman, the Energy Department’s secretary, took an online pledge to replace at least one traditional light bulb at his house with an energy-efficient fluorescent bulb. DOE’s Change a Light campaign, running Oct. 4 through Nov. 30, challenges 120,000 DOE employees to follow their leader. The public is also encouraged to participate.

“Taking small and easy steps, such as replacing light bulbs with newer, more efficient compact fluorescent bulbs, can add up to real, substantive savings,” Bodman said.

According to DOE, if every household replaces one bulb with a compact fluorescent light, the nationwide savings on electric expenses would be $526 million a year. If every DOE employee changes one bulb, they would save enough energy to light 3,065 homes for a year, which would have the same effect as planting 1,260 acres of trees. To take the pledge, go to www.energy.gov/pledge.htm..

And the information security winners are...
The International Information Systems Security Certification Consortium (ISC)2 announced the winners of the 2006 Government Information Security Leadership Awards.

For the first time, the nonprofit information security group recognized three leaders for their contributions to the federal information security workforce.

n Senior Information Technology Security Manager: Edward Roback, associate chief information officer for cybersecurity and chief information security officer at the Treasury Department. The group recognized Roback for his contributions to security awareness using educational tools, such as lecture series and online training courses.

n Senior Non-IT Security Manager: Stephen Warren, the Federal Trade Commission’s CIO. The judges honored Warren for sustaining the FTC’s information security staff and for establishing an information security program that is integral to the FTC’s IT program.

n Non-Managerial IT Security Professional: Terri Cinnamon, a supervisor at the Department of Veterans Affairs’ Training and Communications Division. Cinnamon was credited with being the driving force behind the VA’s Cyber Security Professionalization Program, an initiative that provides specialized security training for all VA cybersecurity practitioners.

(ISC)2 also gave special recognition to Tonya Manning, the Labor Department’s CISO, and Thomas Madden, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s CISO, for incorporating workforce improvement initiatives into their agencies.

The judges committee consisted of six members from (ISC)2’s U.S. Government Advisory Board for Cyber Security. (ISC)2 officials honored the winners at a ceremony Oct. 3 at the Bethesda Marriott in Bethesda, Md.

“Cybersecurity is not just a technical issue. There’s a big managerial and people component,” said Lynn McNulty, (ISC)2’s director of government affairs.

“We’re recognizing that there are a lot of different people who play a role in developing and increasing the effectiveness of information security in the government,” McNulty said.

Mr. Rumsfeld, please open your baggage
From the fiscal 2007 Homeland Security Department appropriations conference committee report: “Provided further, That Members of the United States House of Representatives and United States Senate, including the leadership; and the heads of Federal agencies and commissions, including the Secretary, Under Secretaries, and Assistant Secretaries of the Department of Homeland Security; the United States Attorney General and Assistant Attorneys General and the United States attorneys; and senior members of the Executive Office of the President, including the Director of the Office of Management and Budget; shall not be exempt from Federal passenger and baggage screening.”

A wishful attack on e-voting
Rep. Dennis Kucinich (D-Ohio) introduced a bill last month that would require all citizens voting in presidential elections to cast paper ballots. Nineteen co-sponsors have signed on.

The Paper Ballot Act of 2006 would go into effect November 2008, according to the bill’s text, which adds that “The state shall conduct the election using only paper ballots…. The ballots cast at a precinct or equivalent location shall be counted by hand by election officials at the precinct, and a representative of each political party with a candidate on the ballot, as well as any interested member of the public, may observe the officials as they count the ballots.”

The bill has been referred to the House Administration and Government Reform committees.

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