IT security a top CIO priority

Information technology security ranks highest on federal chief information officers' list of priorities, according to a survey from the Information Technology Association of America.

In addressing security issues, CIOs said they are moving toward an agencywide perspective for risk management and that as key systems are certified, smaller systems are being examined for vulnerabilities.

With increased scrutiny on government spending, the survey reported that there is continued emphasis on meeting objectives of the President's Management Agenda through greater levels of efficiency and efforts to lower costs. The 15th annual survey, Issues in Leadership, was prepared by Grant Thornton and included 44 CIO and information resources management officials from 29 civilian agencies, nine Defense Department agencies and six individuals from oversight organizations, such as the Government Accountability Office. The interviews were conducted from August to December 2004.

While improving IT security is the top issue for CIOs, they also believe that major progress has been made, particularly with the implementation of security measures intended to protect networks and applications.

Paul Wohlleben, chairman of the CIO Survey Task Group and partner with Grant Thornton's Global Public Sector, said that CIOs credited Congress and the administration for pushing the policies and funding for increasing IT security, but despite that, "they all admit there's still significant work to be done in this area," he said

There has been major progress in consolidating IT within the agencies, according to the CIOs. The Office of Management and Budget has given strong support to the consolidation projects, a popular strategy for addressing security challenges and for saving money.

CIOs are concerned about a future wave of retirements in the federal IT workforce and fear that gaps in the experience levels among workers could make transitions difficult. Tight budget constraints and an inflexible personnel system make it difficult for agencies to maintain a trained staff. Some CIOs called the personnel system "broken."

The CIOs reported that electronic government initiatives have built a solid foundation for future initiatives and that the 25 e-government projects helped develop a new model of collaboration among agencies. The report showed that most CIOs are involved in at least one of the e-government initiatives and that the government's customers are receiving better service because of them.

The funding mechanism for e-government initiatives is less than ideal, the CIOs charged. The OMB method of "passing the hat" in an attempt to get agencies to give money did not adequately fund the projects because some agencies would give little or nothing, the group reported. They also said that 25 initiatives might have been too many, and a more focused approach would have been more successful.

Cost savings was the primary reason for IT consolidation, according to the CIOs, including consolidating e-mail, print and file servers across an agency.