The key to successful information sharing is IT infrastructure integration, another of Cooper's priorities. By December, the department plans to consolidate its six WANs down to one network for both classified and unclassified information. To illustrate the condition of today's networking setup, Cooper pointed out that his department's E-mail system isn't configured so that Homeland Security employees can exchange classified E-mail messages, even though other federal intelligence agencies have this capability. The inspector general's report states that Cooper's goal is to unify the department's 100 disparate, redundant, and nonintegrated systems by the end of next year.
Another priority is information security, which requires biometric and smart-card technology rather than reliance on passwords alone, Cooper said. The inspector general's report stated that Homeland Security has made some progress in establishing a framework for an IT systems security program, including establishing IT security policies and procedures and creating an organizational unit headed by a chief information security officer to govern information security departmentwide.
But the report also pointed out that a number of key security areas need attention. While 42% of the department's systems have security plans, only 37% are certified and accredited and only 39% have been assessed for risk. In addition, just 21% of the department's system controls had been tested and evaluated, and only 11% of its systems have contingency plans. To address these and other security concerns, the department has developed a five-year plan to create a unified information security infrastructure.
Still another of Cooper's priorities is the development of a system of formal portfolio management before year's end to help the department get an inventory of its technology and decide where to invest its IT budget. "We're not trying to change the federal budgeting process," Cooper said, "but we can streamline our own internal process for investment of IT dollars."
