NASA's Pathway to Zero Trust

National Aeronautics and Space Administration

www.nasa.gov

IT Talk

Oct - Dec 2023 Volume 13 • Issue 4
IT Talk

Oct - Dec 2023 Volume 13 • Issue 4

Office of the CIO

NASA Headquarters

Mary W. Jackson Building

300 E Street SW

Washington, D.C. 20546

Chief Information Officer

Jeff Seaton

Editor & Publication Manager

Eldora Valentine

Graphic & Web Designer

Michael Porterfield

Copy Editor

Meredith Isaacs

Mia Roundtree

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/it-talk

For more info on the OCIO:

v www.nasa.gov/ocio

v nasa.sharepoint.com/sites/cio/

 (Internal NASA network only)

www.facebook.com/NASAcio

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Message From 

the NASA CIO

The NASA Pathway 

to Zero Trust

Preloading @ NASA

How HQ/GSFC OCIO 

Uses Video to Catch 

Employees’ Attention

Future Horizons in

Records Management

In this Issue
None of us are immune to cyber threats. We all need to do our part to ensure that 

our online personal and work lives are kept safe and secure. This fall, we mark the 

20th annual Cybersecurity Awareness Month. It’s the perfect opportunity to highlight some of the ways NASA is increasing its resiliency to prevent and address 

cyber incidents. 

In this issue, we’ll share how we continue to work diligently to improve the agency’s cybersecurity and to more effectively manage the IT systems that make NASA 

missions possible. 

We’ll explore how NASA’s Pathway to a Zero Trust architecture is providing tremendous benefits to the agency. Zero Trust principles can securely enable the 

“anywhere, anytime, any device” in a hybrid workforce. 

We’ll take a closer look at how NASA is addressing a Federal mandate known as 

HTTPS - Everywhere for Government. HTTPS is a key protection for websites and 

web users. It offers security and privacy when connecting to the web and provides 

Federal agencies with the assurance that what they publish is what is delivered to users.

And we’ll recognize some of our team members for the exceptional work they are doing to modernize and broaden NASA’s 

records management capabilities.

We have a great lineup this issue, so I hope you enjoy reading our most recent and ongoing activities.

With gratitude,

Jeff Seaton

NASA Chief Information Officer

Workplace and Collaboration Services (WCS) News and Updates

Check out the latest news from WCS (all links are internal to NASA):

• Stay up to Date on the Rollout of Follow Me Print

• Maintaining Security Compliance 

on Your Mobile Device

• Permission Levels for Managing Your Computer

• Cloud Recording Now Available for Webex Hosts

• Microsoft Edge Browser is 

Becoming Edge for Business

• New Teams Features: Add Pronouns to Your Profile, 

Zoom Controls for Screenshared Content, Files App, 

Chat Settings, Spatial Audio, and Speaker View

• See What's New with ICAM

NASA OCIO IT Talk Oct - Dec 2023 3

Message from the NASA CIO
Jet Propulsion 

Laboratory 

Named a 2023 

CIO 100 Honoree

By Whitney Haggins, IT Communication 

Strategist, Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology 

The Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) was 

honored by Foundry’s CIO as a 2023 CIO 

100 Honoree at the CIO 100 Symposium 

& Awards in August. The CIO 100 awards 

program, now in its 36th year, celebrated 

100 organizations that apply innovative 

methods to IT and drive business value. 

The honor is considered by many to be 

a mark of enterprise excellence, and this 

is JPL’s 12th consecutive selection to the 

prestigious list. 

Chris Mattmann, JPL Chief Technology and 

Innovation Officer, accepted the award at 

the August 16 award ceremony. Mattmann 

had this to say about the honor: “The JPL 

team is so proud to receive this award in 

an area of prime technological importance 

in today’s threat environment: cybersecurity and protecting our NASA assets. IT 

has a prime role to play in ensuring that 

the hardware is robust, and our winning 

CIO 100 submission promises to help 

secure NASA hardware using an innovative blockchain-based approach. Meeting 

Ken Jennings, the co-host of Jeopardy, to 

receive the award was icing on the cake!”

The complete honoree list is available at 

https://events.foundryco.com/event-series/

cio100-symposium-and-awards/awards/

cio-awards-august-2023/.

From Newsletters to Videos: How 

HQ/GSFC OCIO Uses Video to Catch 

Employees’ Attention

By Hilary Jackson Gambale, Strategic Communications Specialist, Code 702, 

Goddard Space Flight Center (GSFC)

Gone are the days when employee 

newsletters maintain the same readership levels they once did. With texting, Teams chats, and short videos 

on social media, people are used to 

receiving information in quick short 

spurts. The dramatic decline in the 

number of readers of the Headquarters (HQ) and Goddard Space Flight 

Center (GSFC) Office of Chief Information Officer (OCIO) newsletter, The 

Nexus, demonstrates this trend. Jamie 

Dulaney, a member of the HQ/GSFC 

Communications Team, came up with 

a way to solve this problem. Why not 

replace the lengthy newsletter, produced quarterly, with a short monthly 

video? Whereas the quarterly Nexus 

took weeks to produce and covered 

events as far back as 3 months, a 

video could be produced quickly with 

more current events. In addition, unlike 

newsletters, videos can convey emotions, expressions, and personalities, 

which is greatly needed in our remote 

work environment. The Nexus was 

formal, time-consuming, and impersonal, whereas a narrated video can 

portray a friendly voice and presence. 

Unanimously, the communications 

team decided to sunset The Nexus as 

a newsletter and replace it with a new 

video format.

The Nexus had gone through a transition over the years. It began as a 

PDF newsletter in 2013, shared with 

employees via e-mail, then moved to 

the intranet as a website newsletter in 

2019; now, after declining readership, 

the newsletter is being retired and 

replaced with a new video series that 

Dulaney named What’s Up HQ/GSFC 

OCIO? At first, creating the video was 

time-consuming since Dulaney had 

never professionally produced videos 

and was lacking a video-editing tool, 

but she learned quickly how to use 

Camtasia and is now able to produce 

videos in a matter of hours. Not only 

did she cut production time by 90 percent since she no longer had to produce a lengthy newsletter, but viewership improved by over 200 percent, 

even with a reduced staff post-realignment. The videos were more personal, 

showcasing employee engagement 

events, in-person directorate meetings, special employee events, and 

colleague accomplishments. 

If you decide to use videos in place 

of print, you should first determine 

who your audience is and how best 

they like to consume information. 

Videos offer many advantages over 

newsletters. They are easier and faster 

to create and consume. They allow 

employees to showcase their skills, 

talents, and passions in a more engaging way. And they enable employees 

to see and hear each other, creating a 

sense of closeness and trust. Videos 

are also great for telling stories and 

conveying narratives and can be an 

effective way to provide instruction or 

training. Overall, videos are an incredibly versatile medium that can be used 

to convey a wide range of information in a highly engaging and powerful 

way. Our What’s Up HQ/GSFC OCIO? 

videos proved this to be true. The 

team now wonders what will replace 

videos, probably something AI-related, 

but are prepared to embrace the next 

new communication medium when it 

comes their way.

4 www.nasa.gov
Engineering for Tomorrow Focuses 

on Data-Centric Approach

By Alex H. Wagner, Digital Transformation Communications Specialist, NASA Headquarters

In December 2022, 50 years after the 

launch of the last human mission to the 

Moon, the Artemis I Orion spacecraft 

safely landed back on Earth. It was 

the beginning of a new era of space 

exploration, one that is powered in part 

by the innovations harnessed through 

NASA’s Digital Transformation (DT). 

DT’s Engineering for Tomorrow project 

utilized Model-Based Systems Engineering (MBSE) methodologies and 

tools to create a “digital twin” of the 

electrical system on board the Orion 

spacecraft. Relying on data modeling 

to understand competing and interdependent requirements in the vast 

documentation of the spacecraft’s design, the team could provide as-flown 

engineering design insights in a fraction of the time required by traditional 

document-centric approaches. Such 

developments embolden DT’s guiding 

principles of transcending the document-centric approaches of the past 

to data and model-centric approaches 

for today and the future.

“How do we transform engineering 

beyond what it is today? We’ve had 

simulation capabilities for decades, 

we have math models, and 3D CAD 

models which we use for mechanical and electrical design. Everything’s 

‘digital,’” says Terry Hill, NASA’s Digital 

Engineering Transformation Lead 

and Office of Chef Engineer's Digital 

Engineering Program Executive. “The 

difference is really looking at every 

aspect of engineering from a datacentric standpoint. And not just hardcore engineering processes, but the 

business side of engineering as well.”

While NASA’s journey harnessing 

MBSE for engineering transformation 

began nearly a decade ago, the creation of the MBSE Leadership Team 

(MLT) in 2020 solidified the agency’s 

efforts. The initial goal: develop a new 

implementation strategy for systems 

engineering, which would rely on interoperable tools and common federated sources of truth to streamline and 

accelerate the agency’s capabilities.

“It’s about understanding the flow of 

information like you would understand 

the flow of electricity, or the flow of 

water in your designs,” says Hill.

The MLT published an MBSE handbook, NASA Systems Modeling Handbook for Systems Engineering (NASAHBK-1009), and partnered with the 

Academy of Program/Project and Engineering Leadership (APPEL) to embed 

MBSE principles into NASA training. As 

MBSE approaches are adopted, this will 

drive transformation systems engineering from documents to models, helping 

to accelerate the design process, manage increasing mission complexity, and 

reduce design error rate. 

In 2022, in partnership with NASA's 

Office of Chief Engineer, the Engineering for Tomorrow project broadened 

their focus and proposed an implementation plan for scaling Digital 

Engineering across the agency. The 

team’s activities and accomplishments 

to date include the following:

• Clearly defining what digital Engineering is for the NASA Engineering domain by applying standard 

systems engineering approach of 

defining DE Need, Goals, & Objectives which are mapped to functional capabilities.

• Approving a Digital Engineering 

transformation approach at the 

November 2022 Engineering Management Board by the Engineering 

Directors from across the agency

• Initiating a multi-center, cloudbased product life-cycle management (PLM) pilot to demonstrate a 

secure approach to project integration, collaboration, and exchange 

of information between centers

• Completing a benchmarking 

survey to understand the current 

state of integrated toolchain capabilities and identify interoperability 

requirements

• Exploring opportunities for managing unique NASA standards in a 

structured format, which will facilitate tailoring and assistance via AI/

ML technologies

• Developing MBSE training content 

requirements for the agency’s APPEL office

• Modeling agency policy and 

process documents (NPR 7132, 

7120.5/.8, and 8705) in integrated 

SysML models to identify potential 

changes when performing engineering, safety, and mission assurance from a data-centric approach

• Generating the “digital twin” for 

the electrical system of Artemis 

I’s Orion capsule, launched on 

November 16, 2022

By identifying and leveraging common 

federated sources of truth through this 

data-centric approach, the amount 

of errors can be dramatically reduced 

and addressed much earlier in the 

engineering process, meaning greater 

workplace efficiency, quicker project 

turnaround, and potential cost savings.

This will be crucial as the aeronautical 

and space sectors continue to mature, 

Hill says, in areas where NASA “used 

to be the only people that could do it.” 

Currently, according to Hill, the team 

has been busy with an agencywide 

5-year digital engineering roadmap.

With further exploration into our solar 

system and greater challenges on 

Earth expected in the future, this new 

way of doing engineering is not just an 

ideal, but a necessity. 

“The new missions that we need to 

embark [on] here on Earth and out 

in the solar system are going to be 

bolder and more complex than ever 

before,” says Hill, “and to manage 

that complexity and risk, we must 

approach the business of engineering 

differently: different models, different 

tools, different approaches to managing and leveraging our data and corporate knowledge. This is the next step 

of how NASA leads in engineering.”

NASA OCIO IT Talk Oct - Dec 2023 5
The NASA Pathway to Zero Trust

By Mark Stanley, CIP Cybersecurity Architect, Langley Research Center (LaRC),

and Rachel Campbell, CIP Communications Lead, NASA Headquarters

Zero Trust Architecture (ZTA), a common 

IT buzzword, sounds a bit unfriendly. 

Trust is a good thing, right? Actually, not 

when it comes to cybersecurity. According to a 2020 Stanford University/

Tessian Research study, “Psychology 

of Human Error,” 88 percent of cybersecurity breaches are caused by 

human error. Users are the major target 

for cyberattacks in which the attacker 

searches for and targets the system’s 

users instead of directly attacking the 

system itself. Indeed, this kind of cyberattack gives the attackers an easier way 

to get access to the targeted systems 

or sensitive assets such as databases, 

sensitive files, or even control processes 

in industrial enterprises.

In a user-oriented attack, the attacker 

searches for and extracts sensitive information about the user, such 

as their e-mail or personal address 

or social network profiles, or even 

information on their closest and most 

vulnerable friends, to build an efficient 

attack. Once the user is compromised, 

the attacker takes full control of their 

machine so that the attacker can use 

their access to the system to spread 

malware within the corporate network 

and retrieve sensitive data.

As a result, NASA OCIO is working 

to consolidate and transform our IT 

architectures with a data-centric “zero 

trust” cybersecurity model.

What Is Zero Trust?

The GAO Science & Tech Spotlight 

describes ZTA as “a cybersecurity 

approach that authenticates and authorizes every interaction between a 

network and a user or device—in contrast to traditional cybersecurity models 

that allow users or devices to move 

freely within the network once they 

are granted access. ZTA works on the 

‘never trust, always verify’ principle and 

assumes that attacks will come from 

within and outside of the network.”

Zero Trust Tenets

1. All data sources and computing 

services are considered resources.

2. All communication is secured 

regardless of network location.

3. Access to individual enterprise 

resources is granted on a persession basis.

4. Access to resources is determined 

by dynamic policy—including 

the observable state of client 

identity, application/service, and 

the requesting asset—and may 

include other behavioral and 

environmental attributes.

5. The enterprise monitors and 

measures the integrity and 

security posture of all owned and 

associated assets.

6. All resource authentication and 

authorization are dynamic and 

strictly enforced before access is 

allowed.

7. The enterprise collects as much 

information as possible about 

the current state of assets, 

network infrastructure, and 

communications and uses it to 

improve its security posture.

In a Zero Trust network, the compromised user’s credentials and the 

6 www.nasa.gov
device are already assumed to be malicious until proven otherwise, and the 

network is segmented, limiting both 

enumeration and lateral movement opportunities. While the malicious actor 

can authenticate as both the user and 

the device, access to data will be limited based on security policy, user role, 

and the user and device attributes. In 

a mature Zero Trust environment, data 

encryption and digital rights management may offer additional protections 

by limiting which data can be accessed 

and the actions that can be taken with 

the sensitive data even if access is 

allowed. Further, analytic capabilities 

continuously monitor for anomalous 

activity in accounts, devices, network 

activity, and data access. While a level 

of compromise occurs in this scenario, 

damage is limited, and the time for 

defensive systems to detect and initiate appropriate mitigating responses is 

greatly reduced.

What Are the Benefits of Zero Trust?

According to Gartner in their September 2022 version of “Quick Answer: 

How to Explain Zero Trust to Technology Executives”:

• Zero Trust principles can securely 

enable the “anywhere, anytime, 

any device” hybrid workforce (Future of Work).

• Well-implemented Zero Trust architectures streamline cybersecurity and provide the same security controls and user experience 

regardless of location.

• Zero Trust forms a guiding principle for security architectures 

that improve security posture and 

increase cyber-resiliency.

• Zero Trust architectures both reduce the risk of malware infections 

and minimize the potential spread 

of an attack.

• Zero Trust principles enable more 

secure use of cloud computing via 

identity-based adaptive controls.

• Partial Zero Trust deployments still 

result in dramatic security improvements—do not let perfect be 

the enemy of good.

So How Is NASA Working Toward 

Zero Trust?

OMB Memorandum M-22-09, issued 

in late January 2022, calls for a collaborative effort to allow teams within and 

across agencies to regulate access 

based not only on who or what is accessing data, but also on the sensitivity of the data being requested.

One key component of NASA’s response to this mandate is the OCIO’s 

Cybersecurity Improvement Portfolio 

(CIP) (link internal to NASA). Managing 

projects and initiatives as a portfolio 

realizes greater benefits, efficiencies, 

and points of integration than working on each effort individually. The CIP 

focuses exclusively on projects and 

initiatives that mitigate cybersecurity 

risks, achieve compliance with Federal 

mandates, and deliver a Zero Trust 

Architecture.

Zero Trust is a marathon, not a sprint. 

It will take years to achieve Zero Trust 

(target level) and years to achieve the 

optimized state (advanced). We realize 

that this is a tectonic shift in how we 

create, use, and protect resources 

(DAAS—Data, Assets, Applications, 

Services).

NSA Example of Zero Trust remote exploitation scenarios where most attempts 

would have been successful in non–Zero Trust environments.

NASA OCIO IT Talk Oct - Dec 2023 7
Preloading @ NASA

By Karim Said, Goddard Chief Information Security Officer (CISO)

In 2020, the Federal Chief Information Office (CIO) announced its “intent 

to preload” all .gov and .mil domain 

names. Preloading will force the “green 

lock” in folks’ browsers when they connect to Federal Government websites, 

which ensures the security, privacy, and 

trustworthiness of those connections.

Agencies are responsible for preloading their own longstanding domains. 

That includes NASA and the domains 

we manage across www.nasa.gov, as 

well as other program-specific ones 

like globe.gov, usgeo.gov, and scijinks.

gov. In support of this effort, NASA announced its own intention to preload 

all agency domains by September 

2024, a major milestone in our nearly 

decade-long push to implement the 

“HTTPS-Everywhere” standard. 

Now, NASA is one of the oldest 

residents of the internet and manages 

nearly 1,800 public-facing websites, 

which collectively influence how the 

global community views and interacts 

with our agency. We also manage 

tens of thousands of websites that are 

accessible only on our private internal 

networks, upon which we rely to do 

all of our day-to-day work. Along with 

that history and complexity, we carry 

the weight of thousands of technical 

choices made by thousands of systems administrators. Some of those 

choices weren’t always made through 

the lens of modern cybersecurity, so 

orchestrating the preloading of our 

domains is no simple task!

So why bother? One view might just 

call the whole thing a bureaucratic 

“compliance” activity. From this perspective, preloading is just another in 

a long line of arbitrary requirements 

foisted upon our helpless agency.

I don’t agree with that view. For me, 

cybersecurity has never and will never 

be about “compliance,” and I bristle 

every time I hear the term applied to 

what are fundamentally sound engineering principles. Cybersecurity 

exists to support our mission, and a 

big part of that mission is rooted in our 

agency’s good name. People trust in 

and rely on NASA. Integrity is core to 

our work, and preloading is the most 

effective tool we have for safeguarding 

that integrity across our websites. 

Sure, we have work ahead. A lot of 

work. Tough work! But it’s all in service 

of our mission and the public that 

believes in it.

AEGIS Enables Cybersecurity 

Enhancements for NASA

By Sylvester Placid, AEGIS Communications Team Lead, Marshall Space Flight Center

The Advanced Enterprise Global 

IT Solutions (AEGIS) team recently 

implemented several cybersecurity 

enhancements for NASA:

• AEGIS received concurrence from 

NASA Senior Agency Information 

Security Officials (SAISOs) and 

approval from Authorizing Officials 

(AOs) for enterprise Wide Area 

Network (WAN) and Local Area 

Network (LAN) System Security 

Plans (SSPs). AEGIS conducts 

annual authorizations from AOs to 

assess the health of SSPs, analyze 

vulnerability management performance, and review risk items. 

NASA commended the AEGIS 

team for the high quality of a 

recent review and our continuous 

monitoring program.

• A new credential set for Simple 

Network Management Protocol (SNMP) version 3 has been 

implemented on all NASA center 

LAN devices. This will enable the 

AEGIS-managed Cisco Identity 

Services Engine (ISE) to take over 

Hardware Asset Management 

(HWAM) requirements from the 

Cybersecurity Services service line 

within the Office of the Chief Information Officer (OCIO) and replace 

the existing Forescout infrastructure managed by the Cybersecurity Infrastructure (CSI) team. ISE is 

a next-generation Network Access 

Control (NAC) solution used to 

manage endpoint, user, and device access to network resources 

within a zero-trust architecture. 

It has been proven to increase 

coverage in identifying devices 

and provide more accurate profiling capabilities. AEGIS is powering 

the ISE solution for NASA to meet 

the ever-growing cybersecurity 

needs of the agency.

• AEGIS developed a Pulse Secure 

Virtual Private Network (VPN) dashboard requested by a senior agency 

information security official to provide monitoring of NASA external 

partner access to internal resources 

and improve collaboration.

AEGIS continues to migrate NASA’s enterprise networks to software-defined 

access (SDA), an innovative approach 

to network security and automation being deployed across the agency.

8 www.nasa.gov
Shaping Cybersecurity 

Policy for Space

By Katherine Herrick, Communications 

Officer, Johnson Space Center

In August, the White House’s Office of the National Cyber Director 

(ONCD) visited NASA’s Johnson 

Space Center (JSC) to conduct an 

industry workshop on Space Systems 

Cybersecurity. Representatives from 

JSC and many of NASA’s commercial 

partners gathered to discuss the state 

of cybersecurity policies as they apply 

(or do not apply) to the space industry 

today. The ONCD is working to update 

cybersecurity policy to help translate 

terrestrial cybersecurity practices into 

space cybersecurity practices. The 

aim is to establish best practices that 

can be applied across small, medium, 

and large organizations, covering both 

Federal and commercial realms. The 

workshop’s discussions focused heavily on the theme “Cybersecurity by 

Design,” as well as on how companies 

of varying sizes handle mitigations for 

cyber risks. 

The major takeaway? With growing 

dependency on space systems, growing security integration across different 

sectors, and growing cybersecurity 

threats, there is an increasing need to 

determine the most resilient protections for our systems and data. We 

must understand how all the organizational and technical pieces fit into the 

full industry/Government ecosystem to 

make these policies effective, as information and its security are at the nexus 

of everything we do as a nation. From 

a NASA perspective, proactively securing our systems is imperative to ensure 

crew safety and mission success.

Records Management 

Recognized for Innovative 

Management Services Tool 

By Patti Stockman, NASA Records Officer, Information, Data, & Analytics 

Services, NASA Headquarters

A development team at Ames 

Research Center, spearheaded by 

Records Manager Steven Hunt, was 

recognized last year with a NASA 

Group Achievement Award that commends the team for its “vision, dedication, digital-savvy, and user focus 

in developing NASA's Organizational 

Records Inventory (ORI) application.”

The application will provide every 

NASA organization, program, and 

project with the ability to maintain 

an efficient, accurate, and comprehensive records inventory. All NASA 

records managers will be able to 

conduct real-time records analysis, 

granting full situational awareness of 

NASA records within their scope. The 

ORI also holds some promise of usefulness for Controlled Unclassified 

Information (CUI) and Contingency 

Operations management.

With NASA quickly transforming 

many mission support functions from 

center-managed to enterprise-managed models, a primary goal in developing the ORI tool was to reduce 

the number of center-unique records 

management services and achieve 

greater efficiency and improved service delivery. 

Hunt expressed to colleagues that he 

feels the award extends beyond the 

Ames team to everyone who contributed many hours refining functional 

requirements for ORI, testing, and 

suggesting improvements. This effort 

to modernize and broaden NASA’s 

records management capabilities is a 

success story for the entire agency’s 

information and data management 

community. 

NASA employees can work with their 

organization’s Records Liaison Officer to ensure that their records are 

represented in ORI.

Steven Hunt displays the NASA 

Group Achievement Award at Ames 

Research Center

Records Officer Patti Stockman 

points out a prime example of why 

managing records is so important. She is holding a replica of the 

Apollo Lunar Rover wheel created 

through reverse engineering, from a 

test article, by a GRC Constellation 

Program team because the original 

wheel design records were not preserved. Proper disposition of records 

preserves NASA’s legacy and serves 

the agency itself.

NASA OCIO IT Talk Oct - Dec 2023 9
Future Horizons in Records Management

By Patti Stockman, NASA Records Officer, Information, Data, & Analytics Services, NASA Headquarters

NASA has long pushed the technology 

envelope, employing new technologies 

throughout the years to enhance the 

way we conduct business, accomplish 

our mission programs and projects, and 

keep the agency running. These new 

technologies introduce opportunities 

and challenges in records management 

for NASA and all Federal agencies. 

One challenge is ensuring proper management and disposition of electronic 

records created through use of new 

technologies. Memoranda issued by 

the Office of Management and Budget 

mandate that all Federal agencies create and manage records exclusively in 

electronic formats by June 30, 2024. 

Transitioning Federal agencies to an 

electronic—or “paperless”—environment is a priority to enable and 

increase the ability of the public to 

engage with Government in new and 

more efficient and effective ways.

Newly selected NASA Records Management Team Lead Christi Yapching 

will help orchestrate several initiatives 

that are underway toward NASA accomplishment of the mandate’s intent:

• The development of the Organizational Records Inventory (ORI) 

– an enterprise tool conceived by 

Steven Hunt, Records Manager 

at Ames Research Center, for the 

oversight of records agencywide. 

As the ORI is populated by NASA 

organizations, records managers 

will be able to identify the locations of all physical (e.g., paper) 

records, allowing them to work 

with organizations to produce only 

electronic records. 

• The revision and consolidation of 

NASA records retention schedules 

is another enterprise initiative, led 

by Anne Mills at Glenn Research 

Center, that aims to reduce the 

number of retention schedule 

items. Records Managers are also 

exploring means for an automated, 

user-friendly way to identify schedule items that prescribe how long 

their records must be maintained.

• Cloud capabilities, including 

SharePoint Online, OneDrive for 

Business, and Exchange, will 

also be leveraged. The broader 

team supporting agency records 

management is spearheading the 

deployment of a new capability for 

managing records in the MS Cloud. 

• As part of the agency web modernization, a team of archivists developed criteria for assessing NASA 

web content that is historically, 

culturally, scientifically, or technologically significant. Future application of these criteria could enable 

identification and capture of this 

valuable digital content for eventual 

transfer to the National Archives.

With the opportunities and challenges 

presented by new technologies and the 

transition away from physical to electronic records, it is essential for NASA 

organizations to leverage the expertise and responsiveness of our records 

management professionals. Records 

management services within Information, Data, & Analytics Services of the 

Office of the Chief Information Officer 

enable targeted assistance to functional and mission organizations and are 

available as a resource to all of NASA.

Internal records management resources are available on the records management site.

The NASA records management community met at Ames Research Center 

in March 2023 to collaborate on ways 

to move NASA forward to better manage records.

10 www.nasa.gov
AR/VR and STEM

By Phil Posey, Mission Program Enabling Applications Service Element Chief, Application & Platform Services,

Marshall Space Flight Center

In July, The Application & Platform 

Services (APS) AR/VR team represented NASA, alongside Astronaut 

Anne McClain, at the Learn Fresh 

STEM event at the MLB All-Star game 

in Seattle, WA. Launched in partnership with the MLB Players Trust, MLB 

Players STEM League is a baseball-inspired program for middle-school-age 

youth. The program brings to life the 

energy of the sport through a board 

game and curriculum that cultivates 

students’ math and social-emotional 

skills. The event featured students 

across the United States and Latin 

America. Learn more about the event 

at their website.

At the event, the APS AR/VR team 

led students through an interactive 

STEM activation that allowed them to 

experience the AR/VR technologies 

developed by the team. This event 

was a huge success and students 

expressed great excitement with the 

AR/VR activities.

The APS AR/VR team’s public outreach goals include engaging with the 

general public to provide a positive image of NASA’s efforts in science for all 

mankind, whether it is at a large tradeshow such as CES, SXSW, MegaCon, 

or at smaller local exhibitions such as 

Orlando’s Science Center Otronicon 

and NASA’s Dreamflight night event. 

Learn more about the APS AR/VR 

team here (link internal to NASA).

NASA OCIO IT Talk Oct - Dec 2023 11
National Aeronautics and Space Administration

Office of the Chief Information Officer

Mary W. Jackson Headquarters

300 E Street SW

Washington, DC 20546

www.nasa.gov

Coming Soon: The NASA IT Strategic Plan 

for Fiscal Years 2022–26

By Jonathan Walsh, IT Strategic Planner, Strategy & Architecture Office, NASA Headquarters 

The new NASA IT Strategic Plan outlines our vision for 

the strategic use of information and technology at NASA 

through fiscal year (FY) 2026. This plan provides a unified 

direction for mission alignment, roadmaps, investments, 

and accountability for NASA’s IT community to help 

achieve NASA’s Strategic Plan. Once published in the 

October timeframe, the plan will be available on OCIO’s 

public website.

The agency’s IT strategy focuses on achieving outcomes—the impacts and change NASA’s missions need 

to be successful. We engaged NASA’s mission directorates, mission support offices, and centers during formulation, as well as external stakeholders. Execution of 

this plan will maximize the value of our IT contribution to 

NASA’s missions and partners, as well as the public.

The NASA IT Strategic Plan identifies five strategic goals 

and underlying strategic objectives and performance 

objectives for IT. Our goals are to deliver great customer 

experiences; achieve consistent operational excellence; 

transform NASA through information and technology; 

and ensure proactive, resilient cybersecurity—all delivered by an exceptional team. 

These goals provide a focus for roadmap and investment 

priorities that will continuously guide the allocation of IT 

resources to help accomplish NASA’s missions. We are 

excited about the journey ahead, and we are ready to 

make this vision our reality with our mission partners.

NASA IT STRATEGIC PLAN

Fiscal Years (FY) 2022-2026

www.nasa.gov

National Aeronautics and Space Administration

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