President Barack Obama’s administration has proposed a 1.3% increase in IT spending next fiscal year, raising the government’s total IT budget to $89.9 billion. The overall proposed federal budget is $4.1 trillion.

This budget includes a 35% increase in cybersecurity spending, to $19 billion, and the appointment of the first chief information security officer.

White House officials used the budget unveiling Tuesday to make a point about the Obama administration’s IT direction.

Tony Scott, a former top executive at VMware until taking the White House CIO post in last February, said from 2001, to 2009 — during the administration of former President George W. Bush — the annual growth in IT spending was about 7.1%. That rate has been slowed to 1.8% annually, he said.

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