National Aeronautics and Space Administration

www.nasa.gov

NASA's Web Modernization

IT Talk

April - June 2020 Volume 10 • Issue 2
IT Talk

Apr - Jun 2020 Volume 10 • Issue 2

Office of the CIO

NASA Headquarters

300 E Street, SW

Washington, D.C. 20546

Chief Information Officer

Renee Wynn

Editor & Publication Manager

Eldora Valentine

Graphic & Web Designer

Michael Porterfield

Copy Editor

Meredith Isaacs

IT Talk is an official publication of the 

Office of the Chief Information Officer 

of the National Aeronautics and 

Space Administration, Headquarters, 

Washington, D.C. It is published 

by the OCIO office for all NASA 

employees and external audiences.

For distribution questions or to 

suggest a story idea, email:

eldora.valentine-1@nasa.gov

To read IT Talk online visit:

www.nasa.gov/offices/ocio/ittalk

For more info on the OCIO:

v www.nasa.gov/offices/ocio

v inside.nasa.gov/ocio

 (Internal NASA network only)

v www.nasa.gov/open/

www.facebook.com/NASAcio

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Message From 

the NASA CIO

NASA's Web

Modernization

NASA Data

Governance Board

Teams in the Time 

of Telework

NASA CIO Renee Wynn

Set to Retire!

In this Issue
For the past year, NASA has made significant strides in modernizing its websites. 

This has been an exciting opportunity to refresh and modernize NASA’s digital 

presence and make sure we have the best tools that represent the NASA brand. In 

this issue, we’ll look at this effort, which is making communications more effective 

and strengthening our technological and cybersecurity capabilities while reducing 

costs for the Agency.

We’ll also explore how some new software tools are improving our collaboration 

efforts at NASA. Finding the right teamwork tool can make all the difference in the 

success of your meetings and your work.

And I’m pleased we are highlighting some prestigious industry honors at the Centers. We have a terrific lineup, so I hope you enjoy what we have in store for you. 

Finally, after nearly five years on the job as Chief Information Officer at NASA, I will 

bid you all a fond farewell at the end of April. I decided to retire after 30 years of 

Federal service. I’ll miss everyone! I will miss that front-row seat of history in the 

making. I’m sad that I won’t be here to see the Mars 2020 Rover launch this summer 

or the Artemis 2 Moon mission test that is coming soon. 

I want to thank all my staff at the various NASA Centers for the hard work they’ve done to improve information 

technology at NASA. We’ve made terrific progress, and I know I am leaving this ship behind in capable and good 

hands. So, keep pressing on and reaching for the stars!

Members of the CIO Staff Meeting team during a face-to-face on January 28 - 30 at Johnson Space Center.

NASA OCIO IT Talk Apr - Jun 2020 3

Message from the NASA CIO 
Teamwork Tools to Work Remotely 

By Luis Bares, Agency Collaboration Services Lead, Kennedy Space Center

As NASA transitions to a completely remote 

workforce, the NASA CIO is reprioritizing its 

active projects to ensure that any services 

that may enable a more effective mobile 

workforce are being delivered as soon as 

possible. More than ever, NASA employees 

are depending on the Agency’s remote work 

capabilities, such as Virtual Private Network (VPN) access, mobile email, audio and 

video conferencing, and secure collaboration in applications like Office 365 Teams. 

The NASA CIO has also expanded its 

monitoring of operational services and 

the NASA network to ensure that technologies and infrastructure are meeting 

the demands of the NASA workforce. 

To support the newly remote workforce, NASA 

is accelerating the deployment of Office 365 

Mobile Applications. This capability allows 

users to download the NASA approved version of Office 365 applications onto mobile 

phones. Users will then have mobile access to 

audio and video meetings, as well as Teams 

chats, through their approved devices. To date, 

Teams meetings have only been accessible via 

computer-provided audio which has posed an 

issue for users without a computer headset. 

Users will also have the ability to download 

the NASA approved versions of Outlook, 

Planner, and Office Online (e.g. Word, PowerPoint, Excel). This project was slated for 

piloting in June 2020 and the project team 

has been diligently accelerating the engineering and testing over the last few weeks to 

help speed up the effort. The pilots started on 

March 18, 2020 and a rollout to the Agency’s 

mobile users is expected in early April. 

Similarly, NASA OCIO is developing a rapid 

deployment plan to add a call-in phone 

number to Teams meetings. This service is 

called Teams Audio Conferencing and will 

allow Teams meeting participants (both 

NASA-credentialed and external partners) to 

join NASA Teams meetings by using a call-in 

phone number instead of computer-provided 

audio or the NASA Teams mobile application. 

For additional information regarding other 

approved and unapproved teamwork 

collaboration tools, employees are 

encouraged to visit our When to Use 

What site (still in beta-testing) at https://

approvedtools.nasa.gov [internal to NASA]. 

If you have questions or insight on how NASA 

IT services can better serve your team during 

this remote work period, chat directly with 

the NASA CIO team by connecting to our 

NASA Remote Work Chat in O365 Teams. 

We have useful links and resources, as 

well as answers to many of your questions 

provided by the NASA CIO staff. You can also 

contact Luis Bares, the Agency Collaboration Services Lead at luis.bares@nasa.gov. 

Teams in the Time of Telework

By Shaina Strom, Communications Specialist, End User Services Program Office, Marshall Space Flight Center

Collaboration can’t happen without effective 

communication and Microsoft Teams created 

an incredibly capable tool to do the job. Teams 

helps you get in touch with the right people at 

the right time with targeted communication that 

you design. If you’re looking for relief from email, 

Teams can help organize conversations alongside documents, project plans, and Outlook.

It all starts with a team. Add the people you 

need to collaborate with on a particular task 

or project. Don’t know where to start? Think 

small. Small groups facilitate better collaboration, and you can always add people later. In 

most cases, you’ll put together a Team to knock 

out a project. In other cases, you might create 

an organizational Team for announcements.

Channels are places to have conversations with 

different people within the Team. Divide conversations up with specific and dedicated channels 

formed around a project or topic, and then chat 

about progress, share files and hold meetings.

If you just want a quick way to reach out to your 

coworkers, try Chat. Teams Chat allows you to 

reach out one-on-one and quickly get answers 

with a robust set of chatting tools: call your 

coworker’s laptop for a voice call, use video to 

talk face-to-face, or share your screen so they 

can see exactly what you’re working on.

With these tools at your fingertips, here are 

some tips remember to keep your Team performing in times of uncertainty:

• Proactively communicate. Send out short 

progress updates throughout the day, even 

if they’re not required. Communicating early 

and often is an important way to clarify 

expectations and work in sync with teammates. Use it as an opportunity to collaborate 

effectively with your team and gauge progress, even if you’re not in the same office.

• Document collaboratively. Co-creating 

documents is a great way to ensure that 

the document everyone is working on is 

the latest version – because it’s always updated. For teams keeping track of meeting 

notes, create a Notebook tab to collaborate.

• Make the most out of meetings. Forget 

busy teleconference lines or using multiple tools to get the meeting done. It’s time 

to make the switch from Skype before 

Microsoft decommissions the tool later 

this year. Only the owners of a meeting 

can add a Teams link, but it never hurts to 

nudge them in that direction.

• Try not to interrupt. In a Teams Meeting, 

you can see who is talking in real-time, 

so you know how to navigate your social 

graces. And in true Teams fashion, every 

Meeting has a chat window so you can 

have an effective sidebar without interrupting the speaker.

• Be patient. It’s a new tool, and we’re all 

learning to use it at an unusual time! If 

you’re not sure where to start, try Make A 

Test Call and troubleshoot your calls before there’s a coworker on the other line.

If you have any issues, ESD is ready to help 

– create a ticket at nasa-esd@mail.nasa.gov, 

or call 1-877-677-2123. Want to learn more? 

Check out the EUSO Teams Site, or the Office 

365 Support Portal.

Ready to get started? Check out our Telework 

with Teams Quick-Guide (internal to NASA).

4 www.nasa.gov
Collaborating with External Partners

By Meredith Isaacs, Communications Specialist, NASA Headquarters

Maintaining consistent and effective Agency 

operations often requires collaboration with 

partners and organizations outside of NASA. 

There are a number of ways NASA employees, 

even when working remotely, can work effectively with their external partners. Please note, 

most links below are internal to NASA only. 

Voice

It’s easy to keep in touch with a simple phone 

call, whether you use Jabber (as available) to 

place a direct call or host a conference call 

using the Instant Meeting conference service. 

Teams and Webex (there is a fee associated 

with this service) also have audio options to 

avoid crowded phone lines. 

Email

Keep using email to collaborate with NASA’s 

partners! NASA employees can access their 

email when on VPN or by using mobile device 

management on their approved smartphone. 

As always, be aware of phishing and other 

malicious activities in email. Verify senders 

before opening attachments or links, digitally 

sign and encrypt email, and report any suspicious cybersecurity activity to NASA’s Security 

Operations Center at soc@nasa.gov. 

Chat

Send and receive instant messages using 

Skype or Teams. 

Meetings

There are several ways you can host meetings 

with those inside and outside of NASA. External partners, if included as a meeting attendee 

on the invitation, can join NASA Teams, Skype, 

and Webex meetings. They will be able to participate in audio, video, and screen sharing. 

File Sharing

To share and collaborate on files with external partners, use NASA Box External, Large 

File Transfer, or NASA G Suite (there is a fee 

associated with this service). Data security 

level rules and encryption policies for sensitive 

information for these services must be followed; click above for more information about 

each service. 

External users are not allowed to collaborate 

in Teams or other areas of Office 365 where 

content is stored unless they are vetted and 

provided with NASA credentials and VPN access. For more information, visit: https://nasa.

sharepoint.com/sites/o365/SitePages/YourData-Sharing-Questions-Answered.aspx. 

Maintaining Information Security

When sharing information with our external 

partners, whether via email, on a conference 

call, through screenshare, or through a file 

sharing service, it is important to know that 

each member of your audience is allowed to 

hear or view the content you are sharing and 

to follow the encryption guidelines for the 

information and service you are using. 

Have questions or looking for other ways to 

work with external partners? Visit NASA’s 

When to Use What site (still in beta-testing) 

to find approved teamwork tools: https://

approvedtools.nasa.gov. Contact AgencyWTUW@mail.nasa.gov for questions about 

collaborating with external partners.

NASA Information Technology (IT) Strategic Plan—

Goal #2: Data 

By Jonathan Walsh, IT Strategic Planner, NASA Headquarters

NASA’s IT Strategic Plan for Fiscal 

Years 2018–2021 is an outcomeoriented plan based on conversations 

with diverse stakeholders in support of 

achieving NASA’s missions. Progress 

toward the plan helps NASA improve 

Agency outcomes by driving discoveries as a strategic partner; accelerating 

results through productivity; sharing 

NASA’s data and results; and increasing quality, resiliency, and cost-effectiveness. 

The Agency is on a journey to manage 

IT as a strategic resource to securely 

unleash the power of data. The safe 

sharing and use of data are fundamental needs, as required by the Space 

Act of 1958 for NASA to “provide for 

the widest practicable and appropriate 

dissemination of information concerning its activities and the results 

thereof.” Effective data management, 

access, and innovation are necessary 

to support the increasing requirements 

of our scientific, engineering, and business communities and can dramatically amplify the effectiveness of NASA’s 

missions and stewardship.

NASA is introducing digital capabilities 

to revolutionize how we work. This effort will reinvent mission and missionsupport processes, products, and 

capabilities enabled by an innovative 

culture, digital-savvy workforce, and 

advanced digital technologies built on 

modern data management and access. The transformation will accelerate product and system development, 

significantly increase productivity and 

operational efficiencies, and improve 

innovation. To ensure success, we 

must take calculated risks and transition promising innovations into operations in a timely, effective, and scalable 

manner.

NASA’s IT Strategic Plan is reviewed 

annually and updated as necessary to 

reflect NASA’s overall strategic direction and Presidential administration 

priorities. 

For more information, visit

www.nasa.gov/ocio/itsp or e-mail

agency-itsp@mail.nasa.gov.

NASA OCIO IT Talk Apr - Jun 2020 5
NASA's Web Modernization

By Robert Garner, Public Affairs Specialist, Goddard Space Flight Center 

In May 2019, NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine issued a memo that requires the Agency 

to comply with the Integrated Digital Experiences Act (21st Century IDEA), signed into law 

in December 2018. His memo also requested a 

“full modernization of NASA’s digital presence 

to best reflect the priorities and activities of the 

Agency in this new era of science, discovery 

and exploration.” This led to the creation of the 

NASA Website Modernization Team (NWMT)—

tasked with reviewing the Agency’s entire web 

footprint and providing recommendations as 

well as responding to the requirements of the 

IDEA Act.

Over the past several months, the team has 

taken great strides toward “cleaning up the 

Agency’s web presence,” said NASA Chief Scientist Jim Green, who leads the multi-Center 

and multidisciplinary group.

Progress So Far

With goals to reduce website cyber vulnerability, decrease redundancy, and maximize 

effectiveness of communications efforts, the 

team undertook an inventory of 2,867 NASA 

web domains.

Upon completion of this census, Center Web 

Managers were notified of their Center-specific 

websites and asked to work with stakeholders 

to address the following:

• Redirect groups of related sites to a 

single website: About 20 percent of sites 

were found to be exact copies of other 

content (e.g., https://esto.gsfc.nasa.gov, 

https://esto.nasa.gov, https://esto.ndc.

nasa.gov). Site owners will work with the 

respective IT managers and determine if 

one domain will suffice, while the rest will 

be redirected to the preferred address.

• Employee-only sites: Publicly accessible 

sites intended only for employees will be 

moved inside the NASA firewall.

• Login sites: Determine if these sites 

must be public. Move behind the NASA 

firewall if not.

• “Unknown” sites: Four hundred fifty-five 

of the sites inventoried returned “forbidden” or “server not found” errors. Web 

managers will begin removing these sites.

• Vanity sites: A standalone, one-person 

résumé site or URL for a specific person.

Future State and Consolidation

At the same time as his memo, the Administrator placed a moratorium on creating new 

public web domains. This moratorium remains 

in effect today, but a major deliverable of the 

team’s work so far has been the creation of a 

workflow governing how and by whom new 

domains will be approved. This workflow, 

which assigns authority based on the nature 

of the content, will be codified first as a NASA 

Interim Directive for one year, then as a NASA 

Policy Directive with any needed changes.

The modernization effort is intended to address and improve the public’s experiences 

interacting with NASA online. To that end, the 

team has partnered with Blink UX, a userexperience research and design firm that has 

worked with NASA in the past on optimizing 

web content.

Blink UX’s in-depth analysis and user-testing 

results, due to NASA in April 2020, will help 

inform the team’s recommendations to the 

NASA CIO on the future hosting 

architecture and design of Agency 

public websites.

The Web Modernization Team 

does expect to recommend site 

consolidations to the CIO, but 

specific actions will not be 

considered until Blink UX’s assessment is complete.

“What we’re not doing is 

making any changes before 

we have the data,” Green said. 

“Gathering that data on what 

NASA’s web landscape looks 

like today will inform our recommendations and decisions 

for what it looks like tomorrow.” Site owners 

can rest assured that the team will not “force” 

their content onto the existing www.nasa.gov

“portal,” and web traffic will not be used as 

the sole metric for any action. The team will 

not take any steps without attempting to work 

with site owners.

It is important to note that sites operated by 

partner institutions and sites whose primary 

purpose is to host scientific data are not 

currently in scope for this effort, though it is 

expected the team’s work will be applicable 

and beneficial in these cases as well.

The Web Modernization Team is also investigating a long-term archival system (such 

as that used by the Library of Congress) to 

preserve web content and material with historical value but without the need for ongoing 

updates—past NASA mission websites, for 

example.

The future NASA web landscape will most 

likely encompass far fewer web domains. At a 

high level, it is hoped that this effort will lead 

to a culture shift in how new web domains 

are requested—the discussions of the need 

for a new domain must precede any independent investment of resources. This will allow 

stakeholders the opportunity to find the right 

home for content among NASA’s existing sites, 

better serving both the public and the NASA 

community.

Future State of NASA Web

• Better, faster, and more secure 

web experience

• Improved www.nasa.gov “portal” 

and expanded use

• Increased number of websites in 

compliance (Section 508, etc.)

• Decreased redundancy of websites 

and information

• Increased web traffic

• Improved ranking of NASA content 

in search results

6 www.nasa.gov
How Kubernetes is Moving JPL’s Applications to a 

Modern Universe

By Emily Sylvester, Communications Specialist, Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology

When container technology revolutionized 

application development by enabling efficient software deployment and operations 

at an unparalleled scale, the question of how 

to manage a multitude of containers soon 

emerged. Container orchestration became the 

answer and JPL IT has continued to find new 

ways to apply its benefits toward improving 

JPL’s computing environment. 

JPL IT originally integrated the Kubernetes 

container orchestration platform within its 

internal development for applications related 

to search, such as indexing. The development 

team quickly saw the platform’s potential 

to not only optimize what JPL IT is able to 

offer the lab-wide community, but to improve 

the overall IT process for JPL missions and 

projects. 

Similar to shipping containers packed with 

goods, software containers are packed with an 

application’s components – such as operating 

system libraries, configuration files, application binaries, and other parts of its technology 

stack. This allows the application to run independently from the underlying IT infrastructure 

and software can perform consistently across 

different operating systems, networks, servers, 

security infrastructures, and more. Kubernetes simplifies the orchestration process 

by automating the scaling, scheduling, and 

monitoring of containers, freeing up valuable 

time and resources for JPL’s diverse projects 

and missions.

“Kubernetes helps developers as they focus on 

moving through their product’s entire lifecycle, 

including continuous development, integration, 

deployment, and ongoing operations,” explained Bill Seixas, Section Manager, Application Consulting, Development and Engineering. 

Seixas led the team responsible for implementing Kubernetes within JPL’s computing 

environment. “That’s one of the benefits of 

automated container orchestration - it makes 

it much easier to introduce updates on a more 

frequent basis.” 

As Kubernetes became the standard for container orchestration, industry began introducing related tools to automate what was once 

customized. In March 2020, JPL IT applied 

an enterprise solution which supplements 

its existing Kubernetes service, significantly 

cutting operating costs for the end user, while 

simplifying maintenance, increasing security, 

and providing integrated tools for running 

containerized workloads on multiple venues, 

including the cloud and on-premises.

“Kubernetes supports the continued evolution 

of application development. It helps enable 

numerous leading-edge development practices, including container systems within a 

cloud native architecture,” said Rudy Gutierrez, 

Group Supervisor, Infrastructure & Business 

IT Systems Operations. Gutierrez recently 

oversaw the Kubernetes service updates and 

venue expansion at JPL. “This technology will 

allow our missions and projects to build and 

run scalable applications in modern, dynamic 

environments such as public, private, and 

hybrid clouds.”

For more information about JPL’s Kubernetes 

service, contact k8s-support@jpl.nasa.gov.

NASA Data Governance Board Created

By John Sprague, Deputy Associate CIO for the Technology and Data Division, NASA Headquarters

A new board has come to town. The Data Governance Board (DGB) was approved by the Chief 

Information Officer Leadership Team on January 

28, 2020. It will focus on interoperability and 

data standards, strategic direction of data and 

information, data products, and providing leadership for standardizing analytical capabilities 

within NASA. The DGB will facilitate making data 

available to decision makers to enable them 

to make informed decisions using advanced 

analytics, artificial intelligence, machine learning, and other emerging technologies. The goal 

of IT data governance is to provide an efficient 

and cost-effective way to implement enterprise 

data technology throughout the Agency. This is 

done by aligning IT resources with Agency missions and requirements while strengthening the 

Agency’s costs, performance, and security. 

Data governance: the process of establishing 

and enforcing policies, processes, and procedures for managing data in alignment with the 

Agency's priorities to support our mission. This 

is accomplished by establishing a data-governance structure with sufficient authority over 

the management of and access to key data 

(Continued on page 8)

NASA OCIO IT Talk Apr - Jun 2020 7
NASA Centers Undertake Daunting 

Electronic Records Challenge

By Patti Stockman, NASA Records Manager, Johnson Space Center

With other executive branch agencies, 

NASA is pressing to become an all-digital 

Agency. For years, we have implemented 

more enterprise-wide systems to support NASA business processes.

The Agency now operates digitally almost 

exclusively. We’re producing electronic 

records that document our work: financial 

reports; contracts; health records; imagery; 

design drawings and models; project plans 

and milestone reviews; and, yes, e-mail.

But over the decades, the Agency has generated massive volumes of hard-copy records, 

including those on microfilm and microfiche. 

NASA has a whopping 91,000 cubic feet of 

records stored in Federal Records Centers 

(FRCs) and another nearly 30,000 cubic feet of 

records in onsite storage areas spread across 

all NASA Centers except Ames, Goddard, 

and the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL).

Records stored in the FRCs, where they wait 

out their retention period until they are destroyed or transferred to the National Archives, 

are not an issue. The 30,000 cubic feet of analog records stored onsite at Centers, however, 

are an immense challenge for the Agency. Office of Management and Budget (OMB) Memorandum M-19-21, Transition to Electronic 

Records, mandates that agencies eliminate all 

analog records by 2023 by digitizing or moving 

them to FRCs or commercial records centers. 

Centers have established quarterly milestones 

for the disposition of analog records from their 

onsite storage areas and will largely either be 

destroying the records or transferring them to 

the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA). Most Centers expect to disposition 

nearly all permanent records by 2023; only a 

few anticipate accomplishing the same with 

temporary records—such as those that will 

ultimately be destroyed, but have not met their 

retention requirement by 2023—or records 

that truly need to be maintained locally. 

It’s possible that some records—e.g., 

legacy health and environmental records, 

facilities drawings, and related records—

will need to be held close for rapid retrieval. Owners might choose to digitize 

select special collections if the need justifies the additional Agency expenditure. 

Nevertheless, an immense challenge for 

Centers still lies ahead as Center Records 

Managers work with the Office of the Chief 

Information Officer (OCIO) to analyze the over 

11,000 cubic feet of analog records that 

they anticipate remaining by 2023. They will 

determine when the Agency could eliminate them, assess the legitimacy of retaining them on NASA premises, and conduct 

cost-benefit analyses of storing them locally versus transferring them to an FRC. 

The OCIO will complete its analysis within 

the next few months and develop a NASA 

plan to eliminate all analog records. Before the year is out, we plan to submit 

the plan to NARA with a request for an 

exception for those unique records.

assets, including roles for developing, overseeing, and coordinating data-management policy 

and resource allocation. 

NASA’s charter from 1958 says: “...provide for 

the widest practicable and appropriate dissemination of information concerning its activities 

and the results thereof.” NASA does this through 

numerous sites like data.nasa.gov below. 

One of the ways to get NASA data. Credit: NASA 

The DGB fulfills the requirements for governance bodies outlined in Office of Management and Budget (OMB) Memoranda M-19-17 

(Enabling Mission Delivery through Improved 

Identity, Credential, and Access Management) 

and M-19-23 (Phase 1 Implementation of the 

Foundations for Evidence-Based Policymaking 

Act of 2018: Learning Agendas, Personnel, and 

Planning Guidance). 

Members of the DGB include a distinguished 

group of data experts, starting with NASA’s 

first Chief Data Officer, Ron Thompson. Thompson commented, “NASA is a data-rich culture 

since its inception in 1958, and this is a new 

opportunity to expand upon the great work 

of so many dedicated mission scientists, researchers, employees, and university partners. 

We plan on tackling the hard challenges facing 

NASA, which, more than ever, involve data—

volume, velocity, and variety—in an enterprise 

fashion focusing on digital transformation. 

We will be leveraging FAIR Data Principles as 

a set of guiding principles in order to make 

data Findable, Accessible, Interoperable, and 

Reusable. These principles provide guidance 

for scientific data management and stewardship and are relevant to all stakeholders in the 

current digital ecosystem.” 

Other stakeholder experts include the Deputy 

Associate Administrators of the Aeronautics, 

Human Exploration and Operations, Science, 

Space Technology, and Mission Support Mission Directorates; the NASA Evaluation Officer/

Performance Improvement Officer; the NASA 

Statistical Official; the Program Executive of Information Management Program; the Chief of 

Advanced Super Computing Division; the Chief 

Acquisition Officer; the Chief Financial Officer; 

the Chief Freedom of Information Act Officer; 

the Senior Agency Information Security Officer; the General Counsel; the NASA Records 

Officer/NASA Privacy Act Officer; a representative from the Center Leadership Team (rotates 

yearly between Centers); and representatives 

from the Office of Communications and the 

Office of the Chief Technologist.

(Data Governance Board, Continued from page 7)

8 www.nasa.gov
Jet Propulsion Laboratory Is Named a

2020 CIO 100 Award Winner

By Whitney Haggins, IT Communication Strategist, Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology

The Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) has been 

named by IDG as a recipient of the 2020 CIO 100 

Award. The 32nd annual award program recognizes the top 100 organizations around the world 

that exemplify the highest level of operational and 

strategic excellence in information technology (IT).

The award process consists of three parts, 

beginning with the submission of an extensive 

online application detailing the nominee’s 

innovative IT and business initiatives; it is 

followed by a review conducted by a team of 

external judges; and the final step is a review 

by CIO magazine editors to select the final 

100. This is JPL’s ninth consecutive selection 

to the CIO 100. The complete list of winners is 

available at https://www.cio100.com/awards/.

Leaders from the winning companies will be 

recognized at the CIO 100 Symposium and 

Awards Ceremony to be held August 19 in 

Rancho Palos Verdes, CA.

Communications Program Concludes 2019 by Connecting, 

Enabling, and Transforming How NASA Performs Its Missions

By Sylvester Placid, Communications Program Communications Strategist, Marshall Space Flight Center

The Communications Program (CP) achieved 

significant milestones across nearly all of our 

enterprise services over the last year. Highlights of our busy 2019 include:

• Debuted new logo and branding to 

complete our transition from the Communications Service Office (CSO) to a fully 

established program office known as the 

Communications Program (CP).

• Implemented wireless external partner 

networks for Boeing at Michoud Assembly 

Facility (MAF) and the Vehicle Assembly 

Building (VAB) at Kennedy Space Center 

(KSC) to help power construction of the 

Space Launch System (SLS) launch vehicle.

• Hosted CP Center Communications 

Subject Matter Experts, stakeholders, and 

customers at the Huntsville Botanical Gardens for briefs on the planned evolution 

of the program over the coming years and 

how CP can address and enable Center 

priorities, challenges, and missions.

• Hosted mission customers at the Jet 

Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) for the annual 

Mission Communications Working Group 

(MCWG) to respond to customer requests 

and capture feedback for improvements 

to mission service quality. CP’s mission 

services team traveled to customers at 

the National Oceanic and Atmospheric 

Administration (NOAA) and Penn State 

University, as well as customer sites in 

Colorado, Alaska, Norway, and Germany.

• Provided video feeds from the launch pad 

at the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan for the successful Soyuz launch of 

International Space Station (ISS) Expedition 61-62. CP provides connectivity and 

highly specialized IT solutions in Russia 

for astronaut/cosmonaut training and 

launch complex services.

• Implemented Network Access Control 

(NAC) clients to enterprise-managed 

Windows, macOS, and Linux users 

across the Agency and the new enterprise NASA-Connect wireless profile for 

guests/visitors, setting the stage for NAC 

enforcement to begin this year as part of 

the NASA Strategy to Improve Network 

Security (NSINS). 

• Supported the White House communications and advance teams’ network 

connectivity and security needs for Vice 

President Mike Pence’s visit to Ames 

Research Center. CP aided key lunar exploration missions at Ames, including the 

Volatiles Investigating Polar Exploration 

Rover (VIPER) hosted by the Ames MultiMission Operations Center (MMOC).

• Received a record six Agency honors 

from the Office of the Chief Information 

Officer (OCIO) with outstanding leadership, exceptional achievement, and group 

achievement awards.

• Launched the Customer Assistance and 

Relationship Enhancement (CARE) Team 

to more effectively and efficiently deliver 

CP services to mission customers by 

providing targeted team workshops and 

developing customer service best practices based on comprehensive evaluation 

of customer feedback for service delivery.

• Created a highly scalable, agile, secure, 

and cost-effective solution for NASA research partner network connectivity with 

LabNet, which builds on the success of 

the Space Network Research Federation 

(SNRF) while providing a next-generation, 

enterprise-grade service that is fully compliant with NSINS security demands. The 

Lunar Gateway team at Johnson Space 

Center (JSC) is already using LabNet, and 

CP is finalizing details for LabNet with the 

Lunar Gateway Habitation and Logistics 

Outpost (HALO) team.

• CP remote collaboration services, including the enterprise virtual private network 

(VPN) and Webex, received capacity and 

user enhancement upgrades over the 

last year to further prepare the NASA 

workforce for telework 

events, such as inclement weather 

and Center 

closures 

resulting from 

the coronavirus disease 

(COVID-19) 

pandemic.

NASA OCIO IT Talk Apr - Jun 2020 9
NASA CIO Renee Wynn Set to Retire! 

By Eldora Valentine, OCIO Communications Manager, Headquarters; Photos Credit: (NASA/Michael Porterfield)

NASA Chief Information Officer Renee 

Wynn is retiring on April 30, 2020, after 30 

years in Federal service. She is one of the 

longest-serving departmental CIOs at NASA 

and in the Federal Government. Before 

coming to NASA, Wynn spent 25 years at 

the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), 

where she served in several executive roles, 

including as acting CIO and deputy CIO.

During her NASA tenure, Wynn said she had 

her work cut out for her. She was instrumental 

in improving the Agency’s external reputation 

regarding cybersecurity and how information 

technology was managed at NASA. 

“As an Agency, when I arrived, we did not 

fully understand the true threats—through 

IT hardware and software—that this Agency 

faced. There were definite needs for significant 

improvement on how we utilized modern 

tools to protect NASA. I am very proud of 

how my team worked in trying to change the 

culture here at NASA to embed cybersecurity 

in the way we do business,” said Wynn.

Besides helping to improve the Agency’s 

cybersecurity posture, she helped raise 

Federal Information Technology Acquisition 

Reform Act (FITARA) scores up from an 

F to a C+ and successfully regained 

control over IT spending, helping to reduce 

redundancies and unnecessary costs.

Wynn said she’s proud of her accomplishments, 

but it’s time to move on to the next chapter 

in her life. She says she doesn’t have any 

immediate plans. Her priority will be a little 

rest and relaxation with her family—then, 

maybe later, doing something in the private 

sector. Wynn said there are a couple of 

things she will miss about her job.

“I wish I could be here to see many of our 

initiatives, such as MAP [Mission Support 

Future Architecture Program] for IT, come 

to fruition. And, of course, I definitely 

would have loved to have had a front-row 

seat to the Mars 2020 Rover launch this 

summer or the Artemis 2 Moon mission 

test that is coming soon. I'm going to miss 

knowing about it firsthand,” said Wynn.

Wynn is originally from the Washington, DC, 

area and plans to remain here in her retirement 

years. We wish her safe travels as she 

embarks on this new adventure in her life!

10 www.nasa.gov
NASA OCIO IT Talk Apr - Jun 2020 11
National Aeronautics and Space Administration

Office of the Chief Information Officer

300 E Street, SW

Washington, DC 20546

www.nasa.gov

NASA

Goddard Welcomes New Chief 

Information Officer

By Robert W. Mitchell, Communications Specialist, NASA Headquarters

Armed with a wealth of Government information 

and technology experience that spans more than 

three decades, Rob Leahy recently took over the 

IT reins at Goddard Space Flight Center (GSFC) as 

its newly appointed Chief Information Officer.

Leahy succeeds Dennis VanderTuig, a 30-year 

NASA veteran who has spent most of his tenure 

in space communications and holding various 

management roles at GSFC.

Prior to coming to NASA, Leahy served as the 

Deputy Chief Information Officer for Operations 

at the Internal Revenue Service (IRS), where he 

oversaw a massive IT operating environment 

comprising more than 600 systems and legions 

of end-user devices and equipment that support the work of more than 80,000 Government 

employees.

Leahy also developed an IT workforce strategy at 

the IRS, a measure aimed at attracting the next 

generation of professional talent and critical skills 

needed by future employees and employers.

Prior to his leadership roles at the IRS, Leahy 

served as the Deputy Chief Information Officer at 

the Office of Personnel Management.

Leahy started his career in Federal service as a 

computer specialist in the IT department at IRS 

headquarters in 1991. Throughout his tenure, he 

has held IT positions in several areas, including 

Criminal Investigation and the Commissioner’s 

Office; he also served as Deputy Commissioner 

for Services and Enforcement.

Leahy is a graduate of Georgetown University. He 

holds two Master Certificates in Project Management from George Washington University and 

CIO Competencies from the National Defense 

University. 

Photo caption: Goddard Space Flight Center New 

Chief Information Officer Rob Leahy

IT Talk