Vivek Kundra

The CIO of the federal government, Vivek Kundra, is resigning after two and a half years on the job, the White House said.

White House Chief Information Officer Vivek Kundra will explain how the federal government plans to offer cloud computing services to U.S. agencies at a Silicon Valley press event set for next Tuesday.

Yusuf Acar, who has been working as acting chief security officer in the District of Columbia's IT department, was back in federal court Tuesday to seek his release from jail, where he has been held since his arrest on bribery charges last Thursday. But the judge ordered Acar to remain in custody, saying that the evidence underpinning the bribery charge is "overwhelming."

Mr. Kundra: You have been hired by the Board (excuse me, the Obama Administration) to reduce federal technology spending, to increase information sharing between federal agencies, to allow greater access to government information and to ensure privacy and security. What now? Having been in IT for over 20 years (including 5 years with the RTC, God rest its soul), I offer you the following advice:

Dear Vivek: Congratulations on your recent appointment as the federal government's first official CIO. I've often wondered why the role hasn't existed up to now. I just assumed they could not find a person willing to take on the herculean task for a government salary. Evidently I was wrong.

The fallout from Thursday's arrests of a District of Columbia IT security official and contractor quickly raised questions about the fate of Vivek Kundra, the new federal CIO who until recently ran the office now mired in bribery allegations.

When President Obama appointed his new federal CIO, Vivek Kundra, last week, Kundra announced ambitious plans to "democratize" federal government data by making it accessible in open formats and in data feeds. His plan calls for the creation of a single point of access to all public federal information.