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The White House confirmed Friday that Vivek Kundra, the newly named Federal Chief Information Officer, has been placed on leave, following arrests involving a Washington, D.C. government office he headed until recently.

According to the Washington Post, Kundra was being placed on leave out of "an abundance of caution" and that Kundra is not being investigated as part of an alleged bribery scheme.

However, the news is bad start for Kundra, who already faces a full plate of challenges as the Federal CIO. The fact that the bribery scheme occurred under his watch is bound to undermine his credibility.

Before being named to the CIO post on March 5, Kundra was the chief technology officer for the District of Columbia, and as such oversaw the technology projects and budgets for some 86 government agencies.

On Thursday, Federal agents arrested Yusuf Acar, 40, who worked in the technology office since 2004, on bribery charges alleging that he had created "ghost" workers to garner kickbacks.

A contractor, Sushil Bansal, 41, president and chief executive of the contracting firm Advanced Integrated Technologies Corp. (AITC), was also charged with bribery and money laundering. AITC has received more than $13 million in government contracts from the D.C. government over the past five years, according to Federal agents.

The scandal is disappointing for obvious reasons. It comes at a time when the Obama administration is trying to position itself as a champion of ethics in government. From the technology industry's perspective, it is disturbing as it could take weeks or months for all of the details to come out, ultimately clearing or implicating Kundra in the affair.

That could put a number of high-profile technology initiatives on hold at a time when the spending boost is sorely needed.

Comments (4)

	1. 03-16-2009 12:57
	Hate to say it, but Obama better start looking for another CIO. It's doubtful Kundra is involved in the bribery, but it happened under his watch. And once they start looking under more rocks, you can bet more back-office deals will surface. Best to start clean. Registered

Jack Powell

	2. 03-16-2009 18:55
	Kundra served on Obama's presidential campaign team and that should earn him enough goodwill to get through this. Sooner he's back on the job, the better. His thoughts on how to use the Web to make goverment more transparent and accessible are sorely needed - particularly in light of the bribery charges. Registered

Mike Valley

	3. 03-17-2009 08:37
	I was under the distinct impression that folks who work with technology in the government sector were subject to background checks and appropriate psychological checks as well. If not, it might be time to think about qualifying candidates in a way that reduces the possibility of bribery and related cyber crimes that can occur when a person is given access to powerful government infrastrucutre. Registered

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	4. 03-17-2009 10:40
	This seems to be a part of a pattern with this new administration. Why do they keep selecting key individuals to head up strategic posts and then finding out they have something questionable happening in their past. Not that anyone is perfect, but when you have guys who head up the IRS having problems understanding tax laws, and CIOs who have questionable people working for them, you start to see a pattern that you'd rather not see. Jay raises an important question; so where are the background checks and the character checks? Registered

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