From: InformationWeek/Government
Three initiatives meant to improve government IT security are languishing from funding challenges, yet CIOs are asked to deliver on the promise of shared services.
The Obama administration has made an unprecedented commitment to making government data driven. It has also made cybersecurity a centerpiece of its IT strategy. But it now finds itself mired in controversy on both fronts.
The less-than-stellar rollout of the website designed to support the Affordable Care Act was a major embarrassment, while the revelations surrounding NSA surveillance methods has cast doubts on the administration’s commitment to privacy as a keystone of national policy.
These two story lines symbolize some of the many challenges the administration faces in balancing the federal government’s IT investments: It must maintain public support for a strong cyberdefense without losing focus on the civilian agency systems that are the public interface with “e-government,” but which also need to be made more secure.
They also show the role funding plays in managing the outcomes of those IT investments.
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