| It seems that from the day Vivek Kundra was named to the post of Federal Chief Information Officer, he has had to keep one eye looking over his shoulder for attacks. As if the job of being the first Federal CIO isn’t tough enough, Kundra has had to be on guard against attacks that go well beyond technology and into his personal character.
You may recall that back in March Kundra was temporarily placed on leave following the arrests of officials in a Washington, D.C. government office he headed. He was back on the job in a matter of days when White House officials quickly determined he was not involved in the alleged bribery scandal.
Then, later that same month, the Associated Press ran a story noting that Kundra had been arrested at the age of 21, in 1996, for shoplifting four shirts from a J.C. Penney. The White House said it was aware of the arrest, but dismissed it as a youthful indiscretion.
Kundra managed to survive those storms and seemed to be settling into the job until another gale blew up this week. John Dvorak, a long-time PC Magazine columnist and broadcaster, ran a blog Wednesday which basically accused Kundra of being a phony. In fact, the blog is titled, Special Report: Is US Chief Information Officer Vivek Kundra a Phony?
Before going into any of the allegations in Dvorak’s blog, it needs to be stated that a number of the claims he made have been disputed. In particular, Dvorak questioned whether Kundra had obtained the degrees he claimed to have earned from the University of Maryland. The University responded by saying Kundra did earn undergraduate and graduate degrees from the institution. He earned an undergraduate degree in behavioral and social sciences in 1998 and a Masters of Science in Information Systems Management in 2001. Federal Computer Week and Government Computer News both have articles looking into the allegations.
It does seem like the swipes against Kundra’s reputation have gone too far, and I’m curious why that is. On one hand, it may be that there were high expectations on who might be named to the role of Federal CIO – such names as Bill Gates and Google CEO Eric Schmidt were once bandied around – and Kundra doesn’t have the same star appeal.
At this point, however, it seems like he’s taken on more than his fair share of personal attacks and deserves to be left to do his job. In time he can be judged on what really matters – the results he is able to achieve.
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