In November, I wrote that the new administration might call upon the tech community to help improve government, and that if they gave us the opportunity, we would have to make good on it. That opportunity is here.

Rod Beckstrom, director of the Department of Homeland Security's National Cyber Security Center, resigned on Friday. He'd held the position for just under a year.

What is A-Space? It has been the most publicized government IT project in a long time, but media coverage simply describes it as "Facebook for Spies." Yes, it's a social network that will finally let intelligence analysts network and collaborate. But I think it has much larger implications beyond just giving analysts a new tool. I've been developing a pilot A-Space tool for the past year, and from my vantage point, it's clear that independent Web developers will play a crucial role in A-Space's success--and, by extension, U.S. national security. In the process, I think those same developers can change the way the entire government acquires software. Unfortunately, A-Space managers have not yet reached out to the developer community. I'm going to try to do it for them, starting with this brief column.

Matt Asay in CNET asks, "Where will all the Techies go?" Silicon Valley is just now feeling the effects of the economic downturn. With fewer jobs for all those programmers, where will they land after their layoff?

Let's hope it's DC.

One of the most profound changes that developers can bring to democracy is election reform. The need for open source election software hit home when I saw Hacking Democracy on HBO in 2007. (The full movie is not online, but the first segment, available on YouTube, is extremely powerful.)

If you're a developer, you could have a quick, tangible impact on elections by helping to establish open source voting system standards and by contributing or reviewing code for such a system. If you live in the Portland, Oregon area, you'll have an opportunity to do this next Wednesday...

In June, I wrote an essay about the need for geeks to work directly with their government in order to improve it. Admittedly, it is difficult for industry stars to leap into a government job that fits their career trajectory: an appointment by the president or a cabinet secretary is a long shot, and you deserve better than a desk job at an agency.

There is one other option, and you have until Sunday to apply. The White House Fellowship is an extremely competitive program for mid-career professionals to work at the highest levels of government.

"Tech geeks are tickled that come January, one of their kind will be in the White House."

Very true. But what are we gonna do about it?