Biography

In his February 2002 budget submission to Congress, President George W. Bush outlined a management agenda for making government more focused on citizens and results, which includes expanding ‘Electronic Government’--or ‘eGovernment.’ eGovernment uses improved Internet-based technology to make it easier for citizens and businesses to interact with the government, save taxpayer dollars, and streamline citizen-to-government communications.

USDA has been working hard to focus our technology efforts so that this Department of roughly 110,000 employees runs much more efficiently and is more responsive to the needs of American agriculture.

Scott Charbo, USDA’s Chief Information Officer, has coordinated our efforts across the Department. And we are starting to see tangible results.  For instance, you have probably noticed a new look to the USDA website, http://www.usda.gov This is the first phase in efforts to make the website more powerful and improve access to USDA information and science. The new look will be followed by improved functionality. We will continue adding features for users, culminating in August with the launch of 'MyUSDA.gov' to provide a customized version of the USDA homepage for individual users based on their unique needs.

Other features include a "customer statement" to put a whole range of USDA services and programs into a single report at the fingertips of agricultural producers. For instance, farmers will be able to view their contracts in various conservation programs, payments under commodity programs, and information on loans and crop insurance.  Farmers and ranchers will even be able to cross-reference that data with interactive maps of their operations using geographic information systems--or GIS--technology with overlays for roads, soil types, water, and other geographic features.

Producers will have quick and easy access in a single gateway to the volumes and volumes of maps and geospatial data generated by USDA. Instead of traveling to a county office, farmers and ranchers will be able to log on from a computer to apply for loan deficiency payments over the Internet.

To support these new programs, USDA is making several changes to upgrade systems behind the scenes, including: high-speed networks nationwide to increase data capacity to meet the Department’s increasing needs; a web authentication, or privacy, system to allow customers to access information and submit forms securely; improved e-mail service for employees; a content management system to improve the ability to update websites and other information; and, this year, USDA will put into place a cutting-edge tracking system to better manage civil rights cases and data.

I appreciate all the efforts throughout the Department to get us where we are today. If we continue to work together, we will provide better service to our customers and provide you, our employees, with the tools you need to do your job. •