Public (digital) printer quits

In the midst of an effort to bring the Government Printing Office into the digital age, Public Printer Bruce James announced he is quitting. He has been in office three and a half years, although he promised to stay in the job for five, Federal Computer Week reports.

James told FCW that he imagined a future in which GPO will distribute video footage of actions that take place inside congressional chambers. (Click here for a multimedia tour of the new digital GPO from FCW.)

In a letter to GPO employees that James sent this morning, he wrote, “I want to assure you that I will work hard to make a smooth transition of leadership so that GPO does not miss a step going forward. But at the end of the day it is up to you. Just as you have helped build the new, 21st-century GPO, it is you who must continue to move the agency forward, every day. I wouldn't leave if I was not sure you could do it.”

In a Washington Post profile just a month ago, James said, "We are determined that we are going to put every single [government] document on the Web." It doesn't seem like that particular goal is quite there, but James has certainly managed to transform the department of "ink-stained wretches" to an agency with information technology at its heart. James created the Future Digital System to put all govt. docs online, the Secure and Intelligent Documents division to handle authentication and security issues, and was the technical driver of the new RFID-based passports.