Government's Sustainability Moment - CGI Initiative for Collaborative ...

ecords. “The technical complexity was staggering.”About two and a half years later, the IRS asked himto become their chief information officer, and not longafter, deputy commissioner for operations support.He stayed until 2008.“So I had a good run there at the IRS, four and a halfyears. I worked hard and I needed a break. So I tooka year off, did some consulting, and tried to figure outwhat to do with my life.”Going the DistanceBut his break did not last long. In 2009, he got a callfrom the incoming Obama administration asking him ifhe was ready to take on Mission Impossible II. Spireswas asked to become the CIO of the Department ofHomeland Security and assist DHS in upgrading its ITinfrastructure to a greener, more sustainable model.Spires knew that DHS was a mammoth agency thathad experienced difficult IT challenges in its short history.DHS systems were all the more important to thenation because the DHS mission involves among themost critical government functions—protecting theborders, protecting the coasts, protecting the airlines,protecting the President, providing aid and comfort tocitizens after natural disasters and much more. Stillin its early years, DHS was created from 22 differentagencies that previously had been spread throughoutthe government, and often operated different emailand IT systems, few of which interfaced. Just mergingthese IT systems would be a Herculean task.Plus, the new administration desperately neededtalent to help move all federal agencies to moderntechnology, relying on smaller, greener, more sustainableshared infrastructure.While some technologists would have run the otherway, Spires saw the offer as “a chance to make a difference.I’d had enough success in the commercialworld so I could do this financially.” He was also attractedby the idea that the Obama administrationwanted him, specifically, not just a suit to fill a seat.“I’m an independent,” he says. “I’m not even a Democrat.”He asked the transition team liaison why theywould ever want to hire him, given his lack of involvementin the campaign or the Democratic Party. “Andthey told me because they thought I could do thejob! To me that was impressive. It made me say ‘Heymaybe this is a place I want to work.’”Spires had recharged his batteries during his yearoff. “This was the chance to take on something reallychallenging.” Rather, it was another chance, likethe IRS modernization. “I’m very driven,” Spires adds.“Some might say overly so. But I try to keep it inbalance.”Spires admits he works 12 hours a day, and onweekends. Yet, he’s feeling more relaxed, now that thetwo major data centers have come online, six olderones have been closed, and top-quality permanentstaff have been hired to move the DHS transformationforward, faster. “I don’t feel nearly as stressed as I didthe first 18 months I was here,” he adds.But Spires acknowledges that DHS is still wrestlingwith becoming one agency, and that has a major impacton how quickly—and with what level of success—Spires can meet his new challenges. “This is a difficultjob,” he admits. “. . . You are supposed to be anamazing change agent, but when something breaks,everybody is screaming at you. DHS is a harder placeto deal with than the IRS. On pure technology, the IRSwas more complex. But the IRS had a uniform culture,few political appointees, and actually no political environmentexcept at the very top.“Here, at DHS, you have many different cultures. . . and a very political environment because youhave so many political appointees. And I am one. Sothe cultural differences, the immaturity of the processesbecause it is such a young department—kindof a start-up agency—it’s a very different challengethan that at the IRS.”Spires knows that changes in culture and thinkingas great as those involved in federal agencies givingup control of their own data systems does not happenovernight. But he’s prepared to go the distance. A runnersince high school when he competed in track andfield, he has the endurance of a marathoner, which hehas been, and the optimism of a winner.AMANDA SPAKE is a former staff writer at U.S. Newsand World Report and the Washington Post Magazine.She lives at the Chesapeake Bay, in Churchton, Md.46 Leadership | CGI INITIATIVE FOR COLLABORATIVE GOVERNMENT | S P R I N G 2 0 11