Magazine

It's not Italian for goodbye

September 1, 1998

AO is the newest wrinkle in agency administration. Under a presidential directive issued in May, every department and agency is supposed to appoint a chief infrastructure assurance officer, although CIAO could simply be a new hat for the chief information officer. Presidential Decision Directive 63 also requires agencies to develop by late November plans for protecting not only information systems but also electrical systems, telephone systems and other critical infrastructure elements.

The directive, accompanied by a 12-page white paper, calls for many actions on the part of individual agencies, a Critical Infrastructure Coordination Group, a National Infrastructure Assurance Council and others. Richard Clarke, a former National Security Council aide who is the first national coordinator for security, infrastructure protection and counterterrorism in the new Critical Infrastructure Assurance Office, will ride herd on the agencies and on development of a National Infrastructure Assurance Plan.

Among other provisions, the directive orders agencies to "make clear designations regarding who may authorize access to their computer systems," and it orders the Office of Management and Budget to include agencies' infrastructure assurance responsibilities "within the Government Performance and Results Act strategic planning and performance measurement framework."

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