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Posts Tagged ‘USCIS’

USCIS Day 2019

USCIS Day 2019: Continuous Improvement of the U.S. Citizenship & Immigration Process
October 28, 2019 | 8:00 am – 3:00 pm | Arlington, VA

Join GTSC for a deep-dive into the missions and challenges faced by U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. USCIS’s Strategic Plan focuses on four strategic goals that emphasize the efficiency and effectiveness of core operational priorities and the continuous improvements the agency needs to achieve quality organizational performance. The goals are supported by 14 supporting strategic objectives. These objectives focus on championing the workforce at all levels, continuing to enhance rigorous anti-fraud and risk mitigation measures to protect national security, operating as efficiently as possible as they examine and fairly decide the outcome of applications and petitions, and improving their digital environment.

USCIS’s four objectives include:

Strengthen our investment in an empowered workforce to better accomplish the agency’s mission
Safeguard the homeland by deterring, detecting, and addressing vulnerabilities in the immigration system
Ensure fair and efficient adjudication of benefits and delivery of information
Continuously improve key processes, programs, and systems

LEARN MORE and register here.

USCIS Day 2018 October 12

Join us for our third annual USCIS Day! USCIS Day 2017 was such a success we all wanted to do it again to take a look at the missions, priorities, and challenges of U.S. Citizenship & Immigration Services. Meet and hear from the people making tranformation real and agile development second nature.

Agenda and Speaker Updated Coming Soon and will be available here.

Sign up for news and announcements on all GTSC events and the latest homeland security news at: www.HSToday.us – Specific newsletters available for Government contractors, Terrorism/Counterterrorism, Cyber Security, Border Security & Immigration, Coast Guard and Maritime Security, and Emergency Managment/First Responders.

Sponsorships are still available! Email [email protected] today to get yours!

GTSC Welcomes New Members FROM USCG, USCIS, TSA, & INTEL to Board of Advisors

The Government Technology & Services Coalition (GTSC), the premier organization for small and mid-sized companies in homeland and national security, today announced several new appointments to add more expertise to their prestigious Board of Advisors.

“GTSC’s has grown by leaps and bounds in the last several months as companies and federal partners realize the true potential of active, mission-oriented collaboration. Achieving the homeland security mission requires the expertise of both mission experts and those who execute to achieve top performance. Our recent Board of Advisor additions add tremendous vision and capabilities to our engagements,” said Kristina Tanasichuk, Founder & CEO of GTSC. GTSC welcomes:

Rear Admiral John Acton, Former Rear Admiral, U.S. Coast Guard and Special Advisor to the Presidential Transition who will work with the Coalition on initiatives with the U.S. Coast Guard and continued White House transition. “It’s an honor for me to continue my support of GTSC. As we enter a period of budget tightening and evolving policy challenges, the role of medium and small companies in supporting our homeland security missions remains as essential as ever. With a security threat stream that continues to broaden and morph, these smaller companies can fill vital roles and often react quicker than larger, more bureaucratic firms. And GTSC plays an important role helping these smaller firms increase their effectiveness and efficiency, to the benefit of us all,” said Rear Admiral Acton at the announcement.

Joshua Seckel, Chief Engineer at WhiteHawk and former Chief of the Applied Technology Division at U.S. Customs & Immigration Services joins the Coalition to assist our federal partners to understand and implement agile development projects, agile thinking, and strategic development of projects and initiatives that includes an agile framework. At the release, Seckel said, “I’m looking forward to working with the GTSC community to bring modern development practices into both government agencies and contractors supporting them.”

Jill Vaughan, Senior Advisor at GSIS and former Assistant Administrator for the Office of Security Capabilities and the Chief Technology Officer at the Transportation Security Administration joins GTSC to contribute to, and continue the strategic development of, “Smashing the Box” events and the challenge of bringing new security technology to our federal government partners.

Caryn A. Wagner, Former Undersecretary for Intelligence & Analysis at the U.S. Department of Homeland Security joins the Coalition to further the quality of the threat and risk information collected by our federal partners and the data analytics that support it. “I am committed to working the seams between national and domestic security and look forward to my association with GTSC.”

Profiles of these and all GTSC Board of Advisors are available at: https://www.gtscoalition.com/about-us/strategic-advisors/

Members of the Board of Advisors provide input to GTSC’s programming, identify areas of collaboration and increase the awareness and understanding of the Federal homeland and national security mission. GTSC works on behalf of its members with the U.S. Departments of Homeland Security, Defense, State, Justice and the Office of the Director of National Intelligence. Since its inception, GTSC has worked with these agencies to achieve mission in an increasingly challenging budget environment, advocate for the value of small businesses, increase understanding of mid-tier companies, improve market research and increase collaboration between the public and private sector.

READ THE RELEASE: Press release Advisors May 17 2017

USCIS Day 2016: Mission, Operations & Transformation November 4

GTSC is so proud to welcome members to our inaugural U.S. Customs & Immigration Services “deep dive” to examine the mission, operations and transformation of this critical agency.

Each year, U.S. Citizenship & Immigration Services processes millions of applications for persons seeking to study, work, visit, or live in the United States, and for persons seeking to become a U.S. citizen. In 2006, USCIS began the Transformation Program to enable electronic adjudication and case management tools that would allow users to apply and track their applications online. In 2012 USCIS changed its acquisition strategy to improve system development.

Join us to explore USCIS’s successes and challenges with transformation and how they have used Agile software development, systems integration and testing, and strong leadership to forward their ambitious program.

THIS IS A CLOSED SESSION OPEN TO THE GOVERNMENT CONTRACTORS AND GOVERNMENT ONLY – NO PRESS. Questions? See our policies at www.gtscoalition.eventbrite.com

AGENDA (Subject to change)

Government Technology & Services Coalition
USCIS Day 2016: Mission, Operations, & Transformation
November 4, 2016 | 8:00 am – 3:15 pm | Arlingon, VA

8:00 am Welcome & Opening Remarks

Kristina Tanasichuk, CEO, Government Technology & Services Coalition
Sara Kindsfater-Yerkes, Managing Principal, Alethix
Kris McMenamin, McMenamin Consulting Group

8:20 am Keynote: USCIS IT Transformation Business Perspective

Introduction: Sara Kindsfater-Yerkes, Managing Principal, Alethix
Mark Schwartz, Chief Information Officer, Office of Information Technology, USCIS

9:00 am Panel Transformation: Line of Business Perspectives

Amy Wheelock, Senior Advisor, Field Operations Directorate, USCIS impact of rollouts
Leslie Hope, Associate Center Director, Service Center Operations, USCIS
Armad Kitrell, Deputy Division Chief, Fraud Detection & National Security, USCIS

10:00 am BREAK

10:15 am Panel: Enabling Transformation

David Blair, Chief, Capability Delivery Division, Office of Transformation Coordination, USCIS
Rowena Furce, Chief, Customer Service, Office of Customer Engagement, USCIS
Lee Bowes, Chief, Biometrics Division, USCIS
Ken Moser, Branch Chief, Delivery Assurance Branch / Applied Technology Division, USCIS
Yemi Oshinnaiye, Associate Chief, Software Engineering Division, USCIS

11:15 am LUNCH

11:45 am KEYNOTE: Mariela Melero
Associate Director, Customer Service And Public Engagement Directorate, USCIS

KEYNOTE PANEL

Mary Hermann, Acting Chief of the Public Engagement Division and Chief of the Content and Quality Division – Customer Service and Public Engagement Directorate, USCIS
David Simeon, Jr., Division Chief – Customer Service and Public Engagement Directorate, USCIS
Robert Genesoni, Infrastructure Chief, Customer Service Division, Customer Service & Public Engagement, USCIS

1:00 pm Panel: Mission Driven Value Delivery
Moderator: Kristin Cooke, Director, Acuity
Lucy Patterson, Chief, Data and Business Intelligence Services Program, USCIS
Sarah Fahden, Chief Verification Program, Software Development Division, USCIS
Matt Dosberg, Chief, Digital Innovation & Development, USCIS

2:00 BREAK

2:15 pm Operation Ready: Moving to an Agile DevOps Framework
Moderator: Kristina Tanasichuk, CEO, Government Technology & Services Coalition
Keith Jones, Deputy Chief Information Officer, Management Directorate, OIT, USCIS
Larry DeNayer, PMP, CISSP-ISSEP, Deputy CIO for Operations, Management Directorate, OIT, USCIS
Joshua Seckel, Chief, Applied Technology Division, Management Directorate, OIT, USCIS
Rafaa Abdalla, Chief, Transformation Engineering Services, USCIS

3:15 Adjourn

Special thanks to our supporters!

Guardian Sponsor

Thanks for lunch!

Part II: Implementing Agile at USCIS

PART II

In part II of our interview with Josh Seckel, Sara Kindsfater-Yerkes, Chair of the GTSC Business Development Exchange, was able to sit down with USCIS’ Chief of the Applied Technology Division (ATD) to discuss the agile transformation at U.S. Citizenship & Immigration Services at the U.S. Department of Homeland Security. Among ATD’s chief responsibilities are driving the adoption of agile across the USCIS enterprise, brought about in part by providing agile coaching services – experts across the technical, process and organizational change domains who help clients shift their culture and mindset to lean/agile thinking. This is a sea change in Federal IT – moving away from the lengthy, and staged waterfall methods to continuous activities for developing software. By doing them continuously quality improves because testing starts day one, visibility improves through collaboration and increased visibility, and risk is reduced through continuous feedback and prioritization of work.

GTSC: You’ve been through some of the best agile coaching training out there – for those who aren’t coaches what does “being a good mirror” mean?

Josh: Yes. They are able to point out to the team what is engrained that they are doing and can’t see for themselves, and get them to question, “is there a better way” versus accepting “we’ve always done it this way”. That takes a special relationship – one built on trust, honesty but without being a snitch, not judging but helping and not being oversight.

GTSC: So how are coaches typically different than scrum masters?

Josh: Again, really good scrum masters can be agile coaches, as long as they’ve had experience helping teams grow and get better. It’s a really small number of people that can do that though – be scrum masters AND agile coaches. Biggest differences between scrum masters and agile coaches is their area of engagement – scrum masters focus on team, coaches focus on project or program, and multiple teams of developers, scrum masters and stakeholders. At USCIS we have agile coaches that focus on divisions and entire portfolios of systems.

GTSC: This is somewhat self-serving given my background but how is agile driving culture change in the government?

Josh: Agile is helping the government breakdown silos, slowly. People are talking – maybe not collaborating to the fullest extent but we’re realizing why it’s important to talk to other parts of the organization. Within USCIS the IT people are engaging the business side more than they used to. Speed is also a big driver of change – there’s a new expectation for delivery on the order of months not years. The pace of change in government is increasing – I know it’s been that way in industry – but in government we are really pushing to think about what comes next. Agile is also changing the way we think about quality – we’ve got to deliver quicker, with less resources and keep focused on quality while maintaining that pace. Next, we’ve got to focus on understanding MVP (minimum viable product) on the business side – that’s coming.

GTSC: It’s a consistent pain point – how do you procure agile services?

Josh: We’ve got to focus on agile acquisition, not acquisition for agile. What I mean is we need look at what we need to change in the acquisition process. We’ve also got to keep contractual requirements in contracts and leave business requirements out of them. Come to Agile 2016 to hear me talk about this – I have a lot to say on this topic!

GTSC: As you know, GTSC’s “tag line” is, It’s All About Mission. How do you think agile impacts the mission of USCIS?

Josh: Agile impacts the mission of USCIS by providing more immediate responses to changes in direction, both large and small. When the executive order for Deferred Action for Parents of Americans and Lawful Permanent Residents (DAPA) came down, we were able to start working on the changes much faster than history would indicate. And when the court stayed the order, we were able to switch back very rapidly as well. Or on the small level, we are fixing and changing items on a rapid basis because of user feedback. This enables the officers to be much more responsive to the applicants rather than having to deal with a long wait and many work arounds.

GTSC: So last question, how do we work together (government and industry) to continue to bring things like agile, to the government to improve government?

Josh: Neither can do it alone – agile, devops, etc. – it has to be a partnership. We’re going to put out RFPs for agile delivery, and we’re going to expect that those bidding can do things like test driven development (TDD). If companies bidding don’t have the skills they won’t win. It’s a different world. Companies need to keep the skills of their teams up to date and growing; we’ve all got to focus on the work and the mission.

JOIN US to hear Josh in person discussing best practices in agile at USCIS, March 10, 2016. REGISTER here.

Sara Kindsfater-Yerkes, leader of GTSC’s DHS Business Development Exchange and member since 2012, is an Organizational Change Strategist with expertise in guiding large-scale transformations, Sara is passionate about helping individuals and teams to become high performing and creating cultures in which all can thrive. She currently supports Josh and USCIS in the cultural adoption of lean/agile practices.

Part I: Implementing Agile at USCIS with Josh Seckel, Chief, ATD, USCIS

We’ve also got to create a culture of partnership. We recognize companies are in business to make money, but we’ve got to create alignment towards a bigger purpose – like changing the way federal IT works.

Sara Kindsfater-Yerkes, Chair of the GTSC Business Development Exchange, was able to sit down with Josh Seckel, Chief of the Applied Technology Division (ATD) at USCIS. In this two-part interview, they discuss the agile transformation at U.S. Citizenship & Immigration Services at the U.S. Department of Homeland Security. Among ATD’s chief responsibilities are driving the adoption of agile across the USCIS enterprise, brought about in part by providing agile coaching services – experts across the technical, process and organizational change domains who help clients shift their culture and mindset to lean/agile thinking. This is a sea change in Federal IT – moving away from the lengthy, and staged waterfall methods to continuous activities for developing software. By doing them continuously quality improves because testing starts day one, visibility improves through collaboration and increased visibility, and risk is reduced through continuous feedback and prioritization of work.

GTSC: So Josh, we’ve known each other for a while now, but I’d like to give people insight into your background. Where should we start?

Josh: Where to start? So the dinosaurs roamed. No, just kidding! The short version is that after getting my Computer Science degree I went to work for IBM and got to participate in all aspects of the software development process – but come 2001 I was still programming in Cobol. I decided to go back to school and get my MBA which obviously taught be a great deal about the business-side of organizations. I get accounting, P&L, all that good stuff. After that, I came to DC and worked for a few federal contractors, which gave me the experience to support programs with the United States Marine Corps, the Joint Strike Fighter, the Domestic Nuclear Detection Office where I was part of a team introducing agile concepts and then to the Homeland Security Information Network coaching on agile. Then I came to USCIS, as a government employee. I’ve been around DHS since it’s inception and working with agile concepts like rapid application development before agile became mainstream.

GTSC: What has your role been at USCIS?

Josh: I came to USCIS to help CIO Mark Schwartz advise the organization on the adoption of agile and to be a federal coaching leading contractor coaches.

GTSC: What made the job as a “Govie” appealing to you?

Josh: The ability to say “yes” enticed me. I’d worked as a contractor and was told “great idea, but no” and wanted to listen to great ideas from both government and industry and be able to say “yes – let’s try that.” I also wanted the opportunity to really execute on this idea of agile adoption and improving federal IT more fully.

GTSC: You’ve been very mission focused from that perspective. Very cool. Your response made me think, and this a bit tangential, about the fed/contractor relationship. How do we change and improve that dynamic?

Josh: Good question. The government needs to do its part – we need to improve federal employee education and what I mean by that is putting someone in charge of overseeing an agile program with skills and experience in agile. We hire contractors because they have specific expertise that we don’t, but then we get unfriendly because they know things we don’t. The flipside of that is the perceptions that contractors think the government employees don’t know anything and that too causes tension.

GTSC: It’s definitely a vicious cycle that we’ve got to collectively break. There’s nothing more gratifying as a consultant then to work with a customer who needs your expertise and allows you to work with them to solve real problems.

Josh: Yes, so we’ve also got to create a culture of partnership. We recognize companies are in business to make money, but we’ve got to create alignment towards a bigger purpose – like changing the way federal IT works.

GTSC: You’ve been spearheading agile coaching internally at USCIS, what’s the value agile coaches provide? How are they different from Scrum Masters?

Josh: Well, I would start by saying that they don’t necessarily have to be different then scrum masters; really good, experienced scrum masters can be coaches. Agile coaches provide knowledge on how to do this new thing through their experiences not a 2-day course. Good coaches offer a broader perspective and are a good mirror – they are a reflection of the team back to itself, an objective 3^rd party reflection. And they not only coach the development team, they coach management too.

STAY TUNED to next week when Sara and Josh discuss being a good “mirror,” coaches versus scrum masters, and how agile is driving culture change in the government.

Leon Rodriguez Sworn in as USCIS Director

Leon Rodriguez was sworn in on July 9, 2014 as the fourth director to the world’s largest immigration service.

Rodriguez was sworn in as the director of U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) during a ceremony at USCIS headquarters. Rodriguez, born in Brooklyn, and raised in Miami, comes to USCIS with a broad legal background and will lead the nearly 18,000 employee agency charged with administering the nation’s immigration and naturalization system.

“This is both an exciting and challenging time for USCIS,” Rodriguez said. “Our role in administering our nation’s immigration and naturalization laws has never been more important. I look forward to working with the entire USCIS family, including our partners and constituents, to ensure that our mission is carried out with fairness and integrity.”

Leon Rodriguez was confirmed by the Senate in June 2014 as the director of USCIS. He previously served as the director of the Office for Civil Rights at the Department of Health and Human Services, a position he held from 2011 to 2014. From 2010 to 2011, he served as chief of staff and deputy assistant attorney general for civil rights at the Department of Justice (DOJ). Previously, Mr. Rodriguez was county attorney for Montgomery County, Maryland from 2007 to 2010. He was a principal at Ober, Kaler, Grimes & Shriver in Washington, D.C. from 2001 to 2007.

He served in the United States Attorney’s Office for the Western District of Pennsylvania from 1997 to 2001, first as chief of the White Collar Crimes Section from 1998 to 1999 and then as first assistant U.S. Attorney until his departure. Prior to joining the U.S. Attorney’s Office, Mr. Rodriguez was a trial attorney in the Civil Rights Division at DOJ from 1994 to 1997 and a senior assistant district attorney at the Kings County District Attorney’s Office in New York from 1988 to 1994. He received a B.A. from Brown University and a J.D. from Boston College Law School.

Read the release here.

5/1 Federal Biometrics: Understanding USCIS with Leslie Hope

Biometrics is changing the way law enforcement and agencies that must track, identifiy and authenticate users aproach security. The Department of Homeland Security’s Homeland Security Department’s U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services biometric capture services at over 130 application support centers across the country. Biometrics are used to process U.S. citizenship applications and immigration benefits applications.

USCIS collects photographs, digital fingerprints, passport scans, driver’s license scans, signatures, and other biometrics data from applicants. This information is used by the USCIS to determine qualifications for immigration benefits. The data is also used to conduct criminal background checks, which are required for the processing of many immigration benefits.

Leslie Hope
Chief
DHS/UCCIS/ESD/Biometrics Division

About Leslie Hope
Leslie Hope is Chief of the Biometrics Division at U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS), a component of the Department of Homeland Security. Ms. Hope serves as program manager and business owner for all biometric systems at USCIS and manages 137 Application Support Centers (ASCs) across the United States. ASCs allow applicants seeking an immigration benefit to submit biometrics to establish identity and to assist USCIS in determining eligibility with a background check. The results of background checks are disseminated for adjudication to USCIS operational directorates across the United States. Ms. Hope has over 20 years’ experience supporting DHS in a variety of roles; to include acting CIO and Deputy CIO for many years. Prior to joining the government Ms. Hope spent 15 years managing technology in the banking and airline industries.