Federal City Digest

Obama Picks Health IT Guru

The Obama administration has picked Boston physician David Blumenthal as national coordinator for health information technology at the Department of Health and Human Services, making him a critical part of the effort to overhaul the U.S. health-care system. In the short term, Blumenthal will oversee distribution of about $19 billion of stimulus act funds for getting doctors and hospitals to computerize their records.

WHAT TO WATCH

-- President Obama will meet in the morning with NATO Secretary General Jaap de Hoop Scheffer, and later he will discuss his budget with Senate Democrats.

-- Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton will depart on a two-day trip to Mexico City and Monterrey, Mexico. On the agenda: security cooperation under the three-year Merida Initiative to fight drug trafficking, now in its second year.

-- The Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee will hold a 9:30 a.m. hearing on "Southern Border Violence: Homeland Security Threats, Vulnerabilities, and Responsibilities." Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano, Deputy Secretary of State James Steinberg and Deputy Attorney General David Ogden testify. The hearing comes a day after the trio announced, via the Justice Department, that the United States will invest $700 million this year in enhancing Mexican law enforcement and judicial capacity, as well increasing domestic border security efforts as part of a coordinated cross-border operation targeting drug cartels. [Story, A3,]

-- Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates is giving Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd, above, special treatment this morning at the Pentagon. Rudd will be greeted not just with an honor cordon (standard for visiting dignitaries) but also with the playing of both nations' anthems -- the first time in years that such an honor has been accorded. Gates ordered the extra tribute in appreciation of Australia's contributions on the battlefields of Afghanistan.

-- FBI Director Robert S. Mueller III testifies before the Senate Judiciary Committee, which is holding an oversight hearing on the agency.

-- The Senate Foreign Relations Committee will hold a 9:30 a.m. hearing on the nomination of Christopher R. Hill to be U.S. ambassador to Iraq.

-- George Soros, chairman of Soros Fund Management and the Open Society Institute, will speak to the Senate Foreign Relations Committee at 2:30 p.m. during a hearing on "Foreign Policy and the Global Economic Crisis."

-- Garance Franke-Ruta federalcity@washpost.com