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GCN Home > 05/01/06 issue

Change manager

Navy’s Hoffman overcame organizational intertia to implement smart card, e-gov, IT investment certification

By David Walsh, Special to GCN

Barbara Hoffman, investment and performance management team leader for the Department of Navy CIO, is described by admiring colleagues as a risk-taker who doesn’t make enemies.

And Hoffman took one of her biggest professional risks when she was among a handful of officials in any service who early on recognized the need for an ID solution beyond the traditional laminated building pass, said her boss, Robert Carey, deputy CIO for policy and integration.

Through the efforts of Hoffman and Carey’s office, the Navy acquired 50,000 of the Defense Department’s Common Access Cards. In all, about 4 million DOD personnel are using these smart cards around the world. The CAC initiative is now part of DOD’s Identity Protection and Management Program, which is implementing the administration’s Homeland Security Presidential Directive-12. HSPD-12 requires all federal employees and contractors to use a single credential for access to federally controlled physical locations and digital information systems.

Carey said the evolution of the smart card was “a massive change management effort.” The techies loved it, but the “this is my green ID card” guys didn’t.

And then there were none

Many traditionalists “basically rebuffed it,” he said. “But Barb was very calm and cool and collected, and nipped off [objections] one by one by one. We’ve turned the corner—we’re on the way to getting the CAC used in the Pentagon.”

Cary praised Hoffman’s talent for overcoming institutional inertia: “She has that uncanny ability—courage in the face of adversity. You have to find that common denominator with this wide group of folks to get them to move in a unified direction.”

Bob Wagner, one of Hoffman’s co-workers, agreed. “Her enthusiasm is contagious and is one of the reasons for her success in getting people to overcome their resistance. There are a lot of rice bowls that end up having to be overturned in her area, and gaining consensus is key to her success.”

Carey added that her attitude is: “We’ve got to get the right people in the room, and we’re going to talk through this.”

Hoffman described herself as involved but not a micromanager.

“Throughout my career in government IT, I have either been a part of, or led, very small IT teams,” she said. “As a team leader, this has allowed me to truly support the concept of individual empowerment. I have, over my career, empowered team members at every level to be responsible for key elements of the overall task at hand.”

Being instrumental in smart-card/PKI technology is only one of Hoffman’s achievements, which include:
  • Leading the Navy Department’s implementation of the E-Government Act of 2002, along with its identity, records and knowledge management projects
  • Aggressively helping eliminate redundant Navy databases, legacy applications and networks for the Navy-Marine Corps Intranet
  • Instituting and developing the DOD Business Management Modernization process, and integrating it with the Navy’s enterprise software, hardware and networks.
Another area where Hoffman’s impact was especially valuable, Carey said, was implementing the precertification of Navy IT investments that met the Fiscal 2005 National Defense Authorization Act criteria.

More news on related topics: Defense IT, Management, IT Management



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