President Obama established the Director of White House Information Technology (IT) and appointed David Recordon, former Engineering Director at Facebook [FB], to the position, the White House announced in a presidential memo and release on March 19.
The director is to be the senior officer responsible for the IT resources and systems provided to the president, vice president, and executive office of the president (EOP) by the Presidential Information Technology Community.
The director’s primary authority is “to establish and coordinate the necessary policies and procedures for operating and maintaining the information resources and information systems provided to the President, Vice President, and EOP” the memo said.
“Today, I’m pleased to welcome David Recordon as the Director of White House Information Technology. His considerable private sector experience and ability to deploy the latest collaborative and communication technologies will be a great asset to our work on behalf of the American people,” President Obama said in a statement.
Recordon had recently been working as an engineer with the U.S. Digital Service. At Facebook he led software teams responsible for companywide internal productivity tools that enabled staff to create, share, and find information efficiently. Recordon “also oversaw teams responsible for open source, engineering education, and the technology behind the company’s human resources, video conferencing, and physical security efforts,” the White House said.
As the first IT director, he will be responsible for modernizing the White House’s technology. This includes building on the Obama administration’s Smarter IT Delivery efforts to guarantee White House technology is efficient, effective, and secure, the White House statement said.
“This includes converging overlapping systems, modernizing software used to collaborate, and bringing use of new technologies in line with private sector best practices.”
Recordon, as IT director, will have authority to disseminate necessary procedures and rules governing these resources, the memo said.
The director will also periodically review IT-related activities, including expenditures and procurement. Those activities will be subject to the director’s coordination, guidance, and review “to strengthen the quality of the Community’s decisions through integrated analysis, planning, budgeting, and evaluation processes.”
The memo also establishes an executive committee for presidential information technology, consisting of the assistant to the president for management and administration, the executive secretary of the National Security Council, the director of the Office of Administration, the director of the Secret Service, and the director of the White House Military Office.
This committee is tasked to advise and make policy recommendations to the deputy chief of staff for operations and the IT director regarding IT operational and procurement decisions. The director will update the committee on strategy and execution, including collaboration efforts with the federal chief information officer and the CIO Council.
The memo also directs the Secretary of Defense to assign a White House technology liaison for the White House Communications Agency and the Secretary of Homeland Security to designate a liaison for the Secret Service. Any future groups that join the community will also designate a liaison subject to the president’s review.