An overlying theme of The Obama administration has been to reform government to better meet the needs of its citizens. Recently, the Federal government has stayed true to this strategy by welcoming a remodeling of its IT system. Currently, the Federal government spends 75 billion a year on private servers for its workers (Sutter). Under a new design issued by the administration, a government app store will be exclusively available to federal workers. Google will operate the servers under a “government cloud” concept. This new plan is hoping to cut down 75 billion American tax dollars and streamline the process of completing government business.
The news of the White House working out a deal with a third party (Google) to run it servers does not surprise me. President Obama is a large advocate of the technological communication created by the private sector. During his campaign, we saw Barack Obama tied to his Blackberry Smart-phone. Once elected, Obama was told that he must drop his Blackberry due to potential privacy breeches. The president however was not so fast to give up his mobile email and Internet capabilities. Instead, the federal tech department found a way to maintain the privacy restrictions that disallow anyone to monitor the presidents blackberry activity. This small battle won by President Obama has catapulted into a larger issue of government technology infrastructure. The government is now considering leaving information in the hands of Google’s online servers. I do not question the performance power of these new digital servers, but I am concerned with their security. Vital information is exchanged each day amongst government officials that is directly tied to the well being of the United States and it’s allies. Can we be sure this information will be safe from the world’s best hackers? This is a question that the Obama administration must answer yes with the utmost certainty. As we have all seen during the War on Terror, our enemy is technologically savvy. The terrorists’ computer capabilities should not be underestimated. If there is any threat of information being leaked to our enemies, this plan of an online “app store” should be scrapped all together.
Assuming the security concerns of an “online app store” can be met, I am a big proponent of this plan. Our government officials need to communicate in the most efficient manner possible. The US is the most technological advanced society in the world today. Our superiority should be reflected in our government IT. After all, if the major American financial institutions can have access to the best technology, why shouldn’t our government agencies? I respect President Obama for taking on this lofty task of upgrading government IT. Looking to reduce red tape and at the same time limit American tax dollars is by all means and honorable task. In this circumstance, Obama is delivering on claims that he made to voters. Our government is in need of face lift. A great place to start is the IT systems. Although this devised plan is well intended, I hope Obama listens to the critics concerns on security before any contract is signed with Google.
Works Cited
Sutter, John D. "U.S. government sets up online 'app store'" Cnn.com. Cable News Network, 16 Sept. 2009. Web. 21 Sept. 2009.
I think it is interesting that the government is looking towards IT improvements to try and save money in this economy. From my understanding of this issue, the government is attempting to house data and applications centrally so they will be accessible anywhere, anytime by various devices. This would be a great improvement from the current system where data is housed on individual devices that are not widely accessible. Storing governmental data in one place will make it easier to search and analyze current information. Also, by consolidating these IT services, Apps.gov will now be a central source for all cloud services. Essentially this "one size fits all system" will save taxpayer dollars in the process because it is streamlining the process of gathering, organizing and analyzing data and government applications.
ReplyDeleteI agree that it would be beneficial for the government to spend some time and money on improving their IT systems, however,if the government chooses to partner with google and trust them as their primary online server of confidential legal documents, I am also concerned about google's ability to secure important information. I think that turning to IT improvements is a great way to try and save some money in this economy but I'd hope this is a well thought out plan with extremely high secure ethic standards in place.