For the last eight years, IT security has topped the list of concerns among federal CIOs who were surveyed by the industry group TechAmerica, formerly called the Information Technology Association of America.
And it’ll likely be the top concern for CIOs for years to come, said Paul Wohlleben, a partner with Grant Thornton, which helped conduct the annual survey.
“It’s a challenge where there has been progress made, but it is also a challenge where the threat is a dynamic one and continues to grow,” Wohlleben said yesterday. “The IT security response needs to include a broad strategy and have government-wide scope and cover the full range of threats.”
The survey polled 53 CIOs and information resource managers at 46 federal executive, judicial and legislative branch agencies between August and December. Results were released yesterday.
Although CIOs are busy complying with the Federal Information Security Management Act (FISMA) — by certifying their IT security systems, encrypting their data and the like — CIOs say that security of federal systems is not markedly improved. In some cases, they say, security has only gotten worse.
That’s because the cybersecurity threat has grown far more complex in recent years, outmaneuvering traditional federal security approaches. At a panel discussion on the results of the CIO survey, Jacquelyn Patillo, deputy chief information officer for the Transportation Department, defended the FISMA approach to federal cybersecurity, saying it helps set standard responsibilities and expectations among all departments and subagencies and serves as a foundation for a secure IT environment.
Understaffing is another big concern among federal CIOs. A slow hiring process, insufficient training budgets, a more competitive hiring system in the private sector, and a lack of retention tools to keep valued employees have depleted staffs, the CIOs said in the survey.
CIOs, however, expressed hope the new administration and the downturn in the economy might make the federal government a more attractive employer for IT professionals, said Wohlleben.
The National Institute of Standards and Technology already has hired a laid-off Fannie Mae employee to fill an opening, said Simon Szykman, NIST’s CIO.
“There are a lot of good people out there looking for work; and for people looking to fill positions and supplement skill gaps, it really does help,’’ he said during a panel discussion of survey results.
There were also concerns about e-government initiatives. Many CIOs said the projects were worthy, but the “pass the hat” funding style of the Bush administration meant the programs were not adequately funded. When asked to cite top barriers to IT effectiveness, CIOs pointed to conflicts among priority programs as the biggest. Inadequate planning time and budgets also were among their biggest impediments.
Two new barriers emerged this year: keeping pace with technology change and disconnects with other agency executives.
In addition, CIOs appear to be getting more clout within their agencies. Some CIOs said they had to report to their agencies’ chief financial officers — this year no CIOs said they reported to their CFOs; instead more than 50 percent said they reported to their deputy secretaries while 38 percent said they reported to their agency or bureau heads. The remainder said they reported to another official not identified in the report.
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Autor(en)/Author(s): Elise Castelli
Quelle/Source: Federal Times, 25.02.2009
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