Government Executive - Authors - Caroline Broder

Federal e-government efforts lagging, officials say

Caroline Broder — Tue, 23 May 2000 00:00:00 -0400

As the federal government moves toward increasingly paperless operations, it must do a better job keeping up with the private sector, both in Web site design and employee compensation, industry and government representatives said Monday.

George Molaski, the Transportation Department's chief information officer, told House lawmakers that the government needs to provide more leadership; maintain better security, privacy, and infrastructure; and encourage more skilled tech workers to work for the government if an "e-government" is ever going to be possible.

He also suggested that federal agencies give techies working for the government more power to take the wheel on these initiatives and to look at revamping government pay scales to keep pace with the private sector.

"Not only is government being hurt by the inability to attract and retain people, government is not getting the new blood it needs to challenge with new ideas," Molaski told the House Government Management, Information and Technology Subcommittee during a field hearing at the Center for Innovative Technology in Herndon, VA.

Rep. Tom Davis, R-Va., who represents Northern Virginia's growing technology corridor, pointed to the government's delay in addressing the "Love Bug" virus, saying the federal government must also beef up its cyber security. Davis also called on the government to address digital divide issues, by making sure it is not just those who can afford a computer and Internet access who gain the benefits of online government services, such as contacting lawmakers by e-mail.

Donald Upson, Virginia's secretary of technology, told House lawmakers that while the federal government is making progress, it's still moving at old economy speed. He pointed to a plan by Gov. Jim Gilmore, R-Va., that would force all state agencies to submit plans to provide online government services, as something the federal government could do. Upson also said the government needs to make these services more "user friendly."

"Today's Web-savvy user knows that one-stop shopping based on the customer's needs is the de facto standard of service in commercial Web sites," he said. "Tomorrow's Web-savvy citizen will accept nothing less from government sites."

Congress has passed legislation that would require federal government Web sites to offer their services online by 2003.

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Agencies must 'leap' one more Y2K hurdle

Caroline Broder — Fri, 25 Feb 2000 00:00:00 -0500

Y2K czar John Koskinen said Thursday that the leap year rollover may only cause minor headaches, a disappointment for doomsayers who predicted Feb. 29 as one of the last chances for technological disaster brought on by the 2000 date change.

"We do not expect any significant problems," Koskinen said.

Leap year problems, like glitches caused by the 2000 date change, stem from programming errors and would mostly affect software. Because there are different ways to determine what constitutes a leap year, some programmers might have forgotten to write code to account for the additional day. This could cause problems for banking and payroll systems, as well as businesses calculating interest if computers cannot read the Feb. 29 date, Koskinen explained.

Because most businesses and government agencies already fixed possible leap year glitches while they dealt with other Y2K problems, any snags would be marginal, he added.

Still, the Y2K's Council's Information Coordination Center will begin monitoring the rollover on Monday, although efforts will be significantly scaled down compared to the Jan. 1 date change. Koskinen also will have regular conference calls with Y2K coordinators in countries such as Japan, Chile and the United Kingdom.

Just as with January rollover, Koskinen said he expects that the federal government will publicly acknowledge the most glitches because the private sector and other countries aren't as willing to report their problems.

Koskinen added that he did not think the leap year would invite hacking attacks since most systems will be monitored during the date change.

The Information Coordination Center is expected to shut its doors at the end of March. But before the last person goes home, Koskinen said he hopes to leave a detailed report on the outcome of both date changes.

"I'm a big believer in beginnings, middles and ends," he said.

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Agencies are 99.9 percent ready for year 2000

Caroline Broder — Wed, 15 Dec 1999 00:00:00 -0500

With just over two weeks left before the year 2000, the federal government scored near perfect on its Y2K preparedness, an Office of Management and Budget report released Tuesday said.

OMB reported that 99.9 percent of the government's mission critical systems are prepared to pre-empt any problems that could be caused by the year 2000 computer bug. OMB estimates that the Y2K bug will end up costing the government $8.4 billion from 1996 to 2000.

"We have met the challenge of making sure that the federal government can continue to serve the American people as we enter the next century," President Clinton said in a statement. Clinton also thanked federal employees for their work on the Y2K problem. "I want to thank the thousands of dedicated men and women of the federal government, who spent long hours, late nights, and many weekends, getting us ready for the New Year. Many of these same people will be mobilized and working throughout the New Year's weekend. Thanks to them, we have every reason to approach the change-over with confidence about the operations of the federal government."

Y2K czar John Koskinen, during a speech Tuesday, said that most industries are also ready for the big day.

But he warned that the New Year won't be snag-free, saying some problems are expected in health care, education, small businesses, local governments and other countries. He cautioned that some developing countries could slip further into the digital divide-the gap between information haves and have nots-if year 2000 problems compound their existing technological deficiencies.

"If we are truly to move into the 21st century on the wings of electronic commerce, we need to focus our energies on finding ways to bring others along with us," he said.

Koskinen touted bipartisan efforts in Congress and The Year 2000 Information and Readiness and Disclosure Act, passed in 1998, as helping the government and business share information and remove what he called "information bottlenecks" over Y2K in the private sector.

But he added that there are lessons to be learned from Y2K, noting that just because the United States might make it through the date change unscathed does not mean Y2K challenges are over on New Year's Day.

He cautioned that business' top leaders need to get more involved in information technology and should better monitor "sloppy software development and inconsistent or nonexistent standards" in their computer systems. He said Y2K also showed government, business and members on both sides of the aisle can work together to solve problems.

"The challenge for all of us is to build on these partnerships after January 1 as we deal with important challenges to our information technology infrastructure," he said.

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FBI demonstrates Y2K readiness

Caroline Broder — Fri, 05 Nov 1999 00:00:00 -0500

Never fear America, the FBI will still be able to arrest criminals after December 31-and their cell doors won't swing open when Y2K rolls around, either, the Justice Department said Thursday.

The FBI ran a simulation for the media claiming that its National Crime Information Center computer systems will be ready for Y2K. The NCIC, among other uses, allows law enforcement access to criminal records.

Although the system has been Y2K-compliant since July, the FBI used the event as an opportunity to reassure the public that 99 percent of the Justice Department's mission critical systems are ready for the date change.

"We don't have to worry about (prison) cell doors sliding open at the stroke of midnight," said Attorney General Janet Reno, who was flanked by White House Y2K czar John Koskinen and Stephen Colgate, the Justice Department's chief information officer.

In the meantime, Colgate said DOJ will continue to monitor its systems to make sure they're ready for Y2K while the Office of Management a Budget review's the agencies day-one contingency plans.

Justice department officials reassured that even if Y2K glitches occur, police on state and local levels will still be able to track criminals, although Colgate said at small police stations, Y2K problems could thwart law enforcement efforts. In light of this, he encouraged local police units to have contingency plans in place.

Still, even if law enforcement is ready for Y2K, some have worried that the date change will leave police departments vulnerable, giving an opportunity for criminals and cyberterrorists. But Reno warned that law enforcement is ready and said she has no "specific information" that a cyberterrorist attack could be planned.

In addition, Colgate said the department is monitoring concerns that contractors making Y2K fixes to government computers could have purposefully sabotaged the systems. "We want to be vigilant," he said. "We are sensitive to it."

Colgate also said the department has in place a plan should criminals use Y2K as a time to strike, but would not give details of the plan.

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State Department issues no Y2K travel warnings

Caroline Broder — Wed, 15 Sep 1999 00:00:00 -0400

After months of data gathering and a three-month international review period, the U.S. State Department issued not a single Y2K-related travel warning to U.S. citizens on Tuesday.

While the State Department made much-anticipated updates to its consular information sheets to include country-specific Y2K information, the agency assiduously avoided making any country or regional comparisons or analysis during a press conference Tuesday. The State Department said it updated the information "in the interest of protecting U.S. citizens" and did not intend to "impede travel or hinder tourism."

A British report released today, by contrast, warned its citizens not to travel to the Ukraine because of Y2K readiness questions, but State Department spokesman John O'Keefe said the U.S. did not come to the same conclusions.

O'Keefe said that the government cannot predict with certainty what will happen in these countries and stressed that the information sheets were "just one tool in the decision making process" for U.S. citizens traveling abroad.

The Y2K information on mission critical systems, assembled after months of collecting information from U.S. embassies and private sector surveys, was added to the information sheets that the Department maintains on 196 countries. The data-covering Y2K systems involved in health care, water, communications and other infrastructure systems-has been in the government's hands since June, but countries were permitted to examine the data before they were posted to the Internet.

O'Keefe said there has been an upward trend in the past few months in Y2K remediation in many countries, and the State Department didn't want to release information early and possibly create panic. If it becomes necessary in the next three months to issue a travel warning the State Department said it wouldn't hesitate to do so.

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