The Coast Guard has yet to fully implement a 2006 modernization plan that would move all information technology personnel under the chief information officer and give the CIO oversight of IT spending by field units, says the Homeland Security Department office of inspector general.

In a report dated Sept. 7 that wasn't released publically until Sept. 28, the DHS OIG says some centralization in military service's historically decentralized IT environment  has occurred, such as unification of three operations and maintenance centers.

But, 165 personnel working in IT functions within several Coast Guard divisions are not part of the CIO organization, the report says, and some Coast Guard centers have independent IT operations. For example, the Finance Center maintains its own data center.

Although Coast Guard divisions with IT personnel coordinate with the CIO, "creating a standardized IT environment without direct control remains a challenge," the report says.

Filed units can--and do--purchase IT without CIO review and approval, the report says, noting that under the modernization plan, IT acquisition was to have been consolidated under the CIO in fiscal 2009.

Lack of CIO control coupled with after-the-fact field units' requests for permission to connect machines to the network results in additional work. For example, one Coast Guard division bought functionality that contained thousands of security vulnerabilities, the report says, all of which had to be resolved before leave to connect was granted.

Although the Coast Guard is attempting to slough off its legacy of stovepiped systems, command centers still commonly use between five and 10 different systems, many of which are not integrated. The system used to locate distress signals does not communicate with the system that tracks vessel information. Neither is the maritime search planning tool integrated with the vessel information tracking system. As a result, Coast Guard personnel must write down information and rekey it back into various systems, the report says, leading to potential accuracy problems and reduced efficiency.

When it comes to IT integration with the rest of DHS, the Coast Guard is hampered by its status as a .mil domain entity, "which is not conducive to working with other DHS entities that operate on a ‘.gov' domain," the report says.

Despite the service's .mil status, the Coast Guard is unable to use the DHS network to share sensitive but unclassified information with the Defense Department. Neither is the service's IT infrastructure integrated with other DHS components, meaning that Coast Guard intelligence personnel can't access all DHS databases, and not all Coast Guard databases are available to other DHS components.

At one interagency operational center location, Customs and Border Protection couldn't send staff because the center only had access to the Coast Guard network, the report says.

The Coast Guard has implemented "WatchKeeper," an integrated common operating picture, but Coast Guard officials told auditors they're skeptical that Congress will appropriate adequate funding to maintain the system.

For more:
- download the report, OIG-11-108 (.pdf)

Related Articles:
Senate appropriators vote $10.35B for Coast Guard 
Senate appropriators milder to DHS IT than House 
New Coast Guard building still on track but DHS headquarters project needs more funding