Judith Rasmussen spearheaded the FBI’s drive to issue secure personal identity verification cards to more than 35,000 FBI employees and contractors. The cards are required by Homeland Security Presidential Directive 12, a mandatory federal building access and computer access security program.

Rasmussen delivered the public-key infrastructure necessary for the governmentside secure identity card program ahead of schedule and under budget.

PKI is critical to the FBI’s security improvements, said John Hope, deputy assistant director of the FBI’s Office of IT Program Management. Rasmussen also demonstrated that fast and effective technology deployments need not threaten FBI field office operations, Hope said.

Ron Ross led the development of major security guidelines for protecting federal information and critical information systems. Those security guidelines, required by the Federal Information Security Management Act of 2002, define a consistent approach to setting security controls.

As FISMA implementation project leader, Ross led teams in creating thousands of pages of guidelines for conducting security assessments, developing security plans and providing security awareness training. He created a unified FISMA framework that gives federal agencies a reasonable way to protect their critical information and information systems.

“Ron’s success in everything he does is his ability to embrace ideas from many sources and constructively integrate those into his analysis,” said Joan Hash, chief of the National Institute of Standards and Technology computer security division.

Steven Saboe urged the State Department to begin using software to track materials that could yield weapons of mass destruction. The Cold War is over, but global terrorism creates a new threat of nuclear components and other deadly materials falling into the hands of terrorists.

Officials use the software, called Tracker, to detect trends and connections that could signal a problem in what might otherwise appear to be legitimate imports or exports. FGM, a company based in Reston, Va., developed the Tracker software.

Saboe suggested offering the software free to other countries, which has enabled them to regulate the materials passing through their borders.

In less than a year, Lisa Schlosser has transformed information technology operations and egovernment applications at the Department of Housing and Urban Development. The accomplishment is in no small part because of her leadership and management abilities.

“She’s plain-speaking,” said Harold Youra, president of Alliance Solutions. “She treats people with respect, and she does not govern from the mountain down. She’s open; she’ll see people,” he said.

Schlosser has earned respect and recognition from federal officials, peers and staff members for her IT transformation efforts at HUD, Youra said.

Fred Schobert responded to industry concerns about an ambitious Networx telecommunications contracts program by refining the requests for proposals and coordinating a team effort to release the final RFP on time.

As the General Services Administration’s program manager for Networx, Schobert introduced several innovations, including a Webbased pricing model that GSA uses to communicate with industry. He also created a digital certificate-based virtual private network to protect GSA’s private communications with industry officials.

“We couldn’t ask for a more dedicated individual,” said John Johnson, assistant commissioner of service development and delivery at GSA’s Federal Technology Service.

Richard Skorny has helped the IRS make much needed progress with its Business Systems Modernization program after several years of delays and cost overruns.

Among other things, he delivered the first release of the Customer Account Data Engine, which will eventually be the storehouse of all taxpayer information. The system, in limited use, processed more than 1.4 million returns last year. He also pushed through a modernized e-file system and a suite of electronic self-service applications for tax practitioners.

“He has made great contributions to the improvement of our nation’s tax administration systems by playing a critical leadership role in the turnaround of the once-troubled IRS systems modernization programs,” said W. Todd Grams, the IRS’ chief information officer.

Albert Sligh wrote the book on how the Homeland Security Department can maximize its information technology spending.

Through strategic sourcing, Sligh has saved DHS more than $200 million on IT. Sligh was using that procurement approach even before 2005 when the Office of Management and Budget asked federal agencies to spend their procurement dollars among fewer vendors to achieve greater savings.

“Al’s expertise and dedication to strategic sourcing sets a model for the rest of the government to follow,” said Robert Burton, associate administrator of OMB’s Office of Federal Procurement Policy.

Thomas Stock led a team that upgraded the Whiteman Air Force Base network to Gigabit Ethernet performance. It was a smooth and flawless deployment completed on time and within its $3 million budget.

Senior Master Sgt. Max Grindstaff, flight chief of the Information Systems Flight’s 509th Bomb Wing, said upgrading networks can be a headache at best and a nightmare if things go wrong, which makes what Stock did unusual.

Stock also breathed new life into Whiteman’s storage-area network system, Grindstaff said, by designing a new basewide storage hierarchy and moving more than 3 terabytes of data. Stock also helped the base save more than $2.5 million by replacing obsolete equipment.

W. Hord Tipton has emerged as one of the federal government’s most vocal advocates for information technology security, with a special interest in promoting certification and accreditation programs for federal employees.

He has gone through the process himself, gaining certification as a Certified Information Systems Security Professional and an Information Systems Security Engineering Professional. He has served as the government chief information officer adviser to the International Information Systems Security Certification Consortium.

Lynn McNulty, director of government affairs at the International Information Systems Security Certification Consortium, said Tipton regularly drills IT employees on the security vulnerabilities that created legal troubles for the Interior Department. “He has taken an unusual degree of personal and professional involvement in doing this,” McNulty said.

Dr. Roxane Townsend helped develop an online service called KatrinaHealth.org that enables health care providers anywhere to get electronic medical history and prescription information on Gulf Coast evacuees.

Townsend worked at the Louisiana Superdome in New Orleans to care for patients after Hurricane Katrina passed over the city. She met a woman who had waded through the flooded city with a plastic bag full of her prescription drugs.

Unfortunately, the labels were washed out, said Jeannine Hinton, principal of a small consulting firm called Healthworks.