Federal CIO Steven VanRoekel, in one of his first public appearances since May, urged government and industry IT officials on Tuesday to look beyond the tactical elements of IT projects and embrace a more strategic and modular approach. VanRoekel also outlined the Obama administration's IT priorities for fiscal year 2014 and responded to criticisms of the problem-plagued Healthcare.gov launch, urging the IT community to view what went wrong as a "teachable moment" for government.

VanRoekel's priorities for fiscal 2014 -- innovating, delivering federal IT systems that meet agency needs, and protecting those systems -- carry over themes from 2013, but he placed new emphasis on people as a fourth pillar of his agenda.

Following furloughs of federal workers during the partial government shutdown and amid continued sequestration and budget uncertainty, VanRoekel acknowledged that "it's really hard to attract and retain talent." But he also said the opportunity for government IT pros to make a difference on a large scale remains a compelling reason to consider public service. He said the administration plans to devote more attention to training and redeploying IT workers, such as email administrators whose jobs are being eliminated as agencies consolidate email systems.