Paul Brubaker is leaving networking giant Cisco to become the chief operating officer of up-start Synteractive, the company behind Recovery.gov.

Brubaker has a storied career in both the public and private sector, having worked as the Defense Department deputy CIO and as one of the primary authors of the Clinger-Cohen Act, the bill that created federal CIOs back when he worked for Sen. William Cohen (R-ME). Brubaker joined Cisco about two years ago.

Brubaker will be working with Synteractive CEO Evan Burfield, who just happens to be a winner of the 2011 Fed 100 Award. The Fed 100 Gala just happens to be tonight.

Below, read the release… and Brubaker’s bio:

The release:

Change is never easy. We do almost anything to avoid it. But these days, change is almost the norm. 

And today represents a change for me. I’m moving on.

For the past three years, we’ve been able to spend the afternoons together here on this magical medium called radio. A lot has happened during that time. No, budgets never got passed… And yes, there were government shutdowns — but they were thanks to snowstorms rather then any budget battle.

• Agencies have been told by the Obama administration to make moving to the cloud a priority. But sharing information securely in that environment is both a priority, and a challenge for agencies. Federal News Radio's Jared Serbu reports the Homeland Security Department is working on standardizing its sharing procedures for its internal cloud.

Amy Su and Muriel Maignan Wilkins, co-founders, Isis Associates
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Organization-wide meetings -- most people hate them, including both managers and employees. But there are ways you can make them useful. Tip number one, cancel power point presentations.

Amy Su and Muriel Maignan Wilkins are the managing partners and co-founders of consulting firm Isis Associates. And they've put together a list of perils to organization wide meetings.

RELATED LINK

The Perils of All-Employee Meetings (Business Week)

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The big tech fest South by Southwest wrapped up last week. The conference brings together the top minds in emerging technology. The week-long trade shows is like a show and tell for the best new digital works, video games and innovative ideas.

So what could these new technologies mean for you? Alex Howard is the Government 2.0 Correspondent for O'Reilly Media and Bill Eggers is the Global Director for Deloitte. Eggers is also author of the books If We Can Put a Man on the Moon: Getting Big Things Done in Government and Government 2.0: Using Technology to Improve Education, Cut Red Tape, Reduce Gridlock, and Enhance Democracy.

David Moore,Director, Participatory Politics Foundation
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You're familiar with a lot of the open government projects at the federal level.

You have sites like Recovery.gov, which tracks stimulus spending, and Data.gov. That site keeps tabs on various projects that agencies are working on.

David Moore, director of the Participatory Politics Foundation, says you can learn some things about open government at another level. Moore manages opengovernment.org, which checks the pulse of transparency at state, city and local levels. He also runs opencongress.org.

Greg Wilshusen, director of information security issues, GAO
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More and more, hackers are targeting your computer systems.

The Department of Homeland Security says cyber attacks against the federal government jumped by 40 percent last year.

The Government Accountability Office is also among the agencies that are sounding a warning call.

GAO was on the hill last week telling Congress about the latest threats to federal computers and critical infrastructure.

Greg Wilshusen is that agency's director of information security issues.

RELATED LINK Cybersecurity: Continued Attention Needed to Protect Our Nation's Critical Infrastructure and Federal Information Systems (GAO)

DorobekINSIDER Newscast

• You or someone you know might have to give up that performance-based raise. The Energy Department is telling senior executives there the pay hikes they got late last year will be cancelled on Sunday. Energy says OPM ordered the move as part of the two-year federal pay freeze. This affects about eight hundred people. But Federal News Radio has learned that number could grow to include other members of the SES.

• OPM is asking for changes to your federal employee health insurance. The agency has given insurance carriers a list of requests for 2012. It includes health and wellness programs aimed at employee productivity ... and promoting generic drugs. OPM has outlined ALL of its requests in a letter to carriers.

• The State Department is adding more green power to its portfolio. They've signed a new energy savings agreement aimed at getting 45 percent of their electricity from renewable sources. Constellation Energy will provide the power, which includes wind and solar energy. This is a joint project with Federal Prison Industries to reduce the State Department's greenhouse gas emissions.

Here's a list of the DorobekINSIDER stories you made most popular on Thursday:

1. AfterCollege measures agency's popularity among students
   
2. Causey: Feds 'outraged' over threats to pay, benefits
   
3. House passes CR through 12.21; Senate still debating
   
4. FOIA.gov is visual report card
   
5. Pentagon Labyrinth: Industry, politics guiding DoD procurement
   

Chuck Tant, Business Transformation Agency, DoD
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It seems like a no-brainer -- improving the workforce will help agencies run better, faster, cheaper. But it's easier said than done.

This year the American Council for Technology and Industry Advisory Council honored a DoD team that was able to achieve that goal. Chuck Tant is with the Business Transformation Agency at the DOD. He worked to reform the DoD's security and suitability processes through the design and implementation of a secure end-to-end IT solutions as it related to case adjudication.

Homeland Security is outlining a three-pronged approach. to securing your agency's computers.

A new white paper calls for networks where computers and devices work together in near-real time in its own defense.

The plan focuses on automation, interoperability and authentication.

DHS is calling them building blocks for stronger security.

RELATED LINK

DHS Outlines Cybersecurity Strategy (Information Week)

This story is part of Federal News Radio's daily Cybersecurity Update brought to you by Tripwire. For more cybersecurity news, click here.