Can government harness IT?

The Obama administration is working on a number of important information technology initiatives to improve government operations.

On one front, the administration is trying to bring transparency to the public by making more information about government policy and spending available online, and in an accessible way and usable formats.

On a second front, it is seeking to tighten security and prevent the kind of IT breaches that have caused embarrassment, such as theft of sensitive data. On a third front, the White House wants to use technology to improve the way government does business and provide the public with better service.

We report this week that Federal CIO Vivek Kundra is planning a cybersecurity dashboard, much like the IT dashboard that has been implemented, to scrutinize the progress, costs and problems of major IT projects. Kundra said the new dashboard will provide the government with "a real-time view of threats facing us and our vulnerabilities." It will document how long it is taking agencies to patch vulnerabilities, how much they are spending on cybersecurity and exactly for what purpose.

There is much more that needs to be done in this arena, including the long-awaited appointment of a White House cybersecurity coordinator, but the dashboard sounds like a good idea and one that definitely needs to be tested out to see if it makes a difference.

In another policy change, the Obama administration wants agencies to rethink the IT processes, make decisions on problems, and take initiatives to provide better customer service within a 90-day time frame. Re-thinking and speeding up the traditional processes used to solve problems must become a larger priority for the government, according to Aneesh Chopra, the federal chief technology officer.

He argues that technology has often been viewed as a separate sector unrelated to the missions of agencies, and different functions of government have been placed in silos instead of integrated. He also says that new technologies must be brought into the mix and be integral to government operations.

These ideas and initiatives are being driven by President Obama who clearly defined his administration as one that will use technology to make government work better, and one that will use the web to give the public the more information about what government is doing in real time.

Hopefully, the federal agencies will take on the challenges and come up with innovative solutions in a timely way. And hopefully the White House soon will name a cybersecurity coordinator, and begin to establish some additional government-wide polices that will increase the capacity of the federal agencies to protect their IT systems from attacks.

Real charge already has taken place in less than a year, but there is much to be done and a long way to go. - Judi