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Page 54
5—
The Broader Context:
Information Technology in Government
The federal government depends on information technology (IT) to
carry out the various missions of the federal agencies and to
provide services to the public. Programs have been launched to
"reinvent government," with a particular focus in the 1990s on
leveraging information technology.1 IT can enhance productivity for
existing missions and services, and it can also enable entirely new
approaches to services. Effective deployment of new technology
holds the potential for vastly enhancing citizen access to
government information and for significantly streamlining current
government operations. The rapid spread of the Internet and the
ease of use offered by the World Wide Web have afforded particular
opportunities for extending electronic access to government
resources. As a result, the number of computers and communications
networks in government has grown steadily in recent years.
Executive Order 13011 (July 16, 1996) established agency
responsibilities and government-wide mechanisms to improve the
acquisition and management of information technology. The executive
order created the Chief Information Officers Council as the
principal interagency forum for more effective management of IT
investments, a Government Information Technology Services Board to
ensure implementation of the information technology recommendations
of the National Performance Review
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OCR for page 54
Page 54
5—
The Broader Context:
Information Technology in Government
The federal government depends on information technology (IT) to
carry out the various missions of the federal agencies and to
provide services to the public. Programs have been launched to
"reinvent government," with a particular focus in the 1990s on
leveraging information technology.1 IT can enhance productivity for
existing missions and services, and it can also enable entirely new
approaches to services. Effective deployment of new technology
holds the potential for vastly enhancing citizen access to
government information and for significantly streamlining current
government operations. The rapid spread of the Internet and the
ease of use offered by the World Wide Web have afforded particular
opportunities for extending electronic access to government
resources. As a result, the number of computers and communications
networks in government has grown steadily in recent years.
Executive Order 13011 (July 16, 1996) established agency
responsibilities and government-wide mechanisms to improve the
acquisition and management of information technology. The executive
order created the Chief Information Officers Council as the
principal interagency forum for more effective management of IT
investments, a Government Information Technology Services Board to
ensure implementation of the information technology recommendations
of the National Performance Review
1For example,
Vice President Gore launched the National Performance Review, later
renamed the National Partnership for Reinventing Government, with
the intent of making government work better and cost less.
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Page 55
(now the National Partnership for Reinventing Government) and to
develop shared approaches and services across agencies, and the
Information Technology Resources Board to provide independent
assessment to assist in development of selected major information
systems.
Despite substantial investments, agencies still face many
problems where today's information technology does not meet their
needs, including in such areas as information integration,
management, and retrieval; human-computer interfaces; collaboration
and computer-mediated interaction; authentication, privacy,
security, and reliability; network infrastructure, survivability,
and adaptability; software assurance; wearable and portable
computing; and modeling and simulation.
IT researchers are actively working on questions that fall into
these areas. However, historically there has been relatively little
interaction between the IT research community and those who operate
and develop government information systems or who run agency
programs. Agencies tend to rely on what is available from vendors
in the marketplace or to use internal staff to build customized
systems to meet their needs. By promoting dialog between end users
in government and those performing computing and communications
research, it may be possible both to accelerate innovation in
pertinent technical areas and to hasten the adoption of those
innovations into agency infrastructure.
The recent President's Information Technology Advisory Committee
(PITAC) report2 found that the
federal government has underemphasized fundamental research in IT
and has allowed research priorities to shift to near-term
applications and problem solving motivated by immediate needs faced
in mission agencies. A number of government application areas,
including crisis management, were cited as significant areas for
longer-term information technology research (Box 5.1).
A key to addressing the needs and interests of both communities
is the establishment of appropriate mechanisms for collaboration
between the research community and government information
technology managers. Such mutual gain is an objective, for example,
of the Federal Information Services and Applications Council
(FISAC) of the National Science and Technology Council's National
Coordination Office for Computing, Information, and Communications
R&D. One major challenge is the definition of mechanisms for
transition, such as testbed systems, that respect agency concerns
over investment in legacy systems and risk. Federal IT
2President's
Information Technology Advisory Committee (PITAC). February 1999.
Information Technology Research: Investing in Our Future.
PITAC Report to the President, National Coordination Office for
Computing, Information, and Communications, Arlington, Va.
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Page 56
BOX 5.1 Crisis Management and the President's
Information Technology Advisory Committee
In a February 1999 report, the President's Information
Technology Advisory Committee (PITAC) expressed concern that no
agency claimed the strategic advancement of IT as a core mission,
and that, in a budget squeeze, longer-term IT research might be cut
if it seems generic or ancillary to an agency's core mission. More
specifically, there was concern that the Defense Advanced Research
Projects Agency (DARPA) had been squeezed by budgetary pressure to
respond to specific near-term goals in a readily demonstrable way,
and that fundamental and basic research, traditionally carried out
mostly by DARPA and the National Science Foundation (NSF), had been
reduced in recent years.
In the area of crisis management, this underinvestment in
fundamental and basic research has meant, for example, that the
fundamental understanding required to build tools of interest to
the crisis management community, such as those that would enhance,
measure, or characterize the utility of software components in
disasters, have not been developed. In his keynote address at the
workshop, Henry Kelly related crisis management to the broader
challenges of IT, as articulated in the PITAC report. Kelly pointed
out that "this is a problem that absolutely goes to the core of
society's ability to use IT. It certainly goes to the core of the
problem of whether you can use it effectively in a crisis. This is
not something that will be solved in someone's spare timer. . . .
It needs to be a core mission of somebody's, and it is a 20-year
challenge." As an example, Kelly expressed the need to develop
software that is self-healing, fails gracefully, models its own
defects, and can update itself.
A second PITAC concern that is related to crisis management is the
design of effective human-machine interfaces. How do human beings
get the information they need, when they need it, and in the form
they need it? In a crisis, users are stressed. They have less time
and patience to express precisely what information is needed; they
will not be able to read manuals to learn new features, and they
will have difficulty understanding data that are displayed in a
manner that is not absolutely clear. Although, ideally, they will
have had day-to-day experience with many of the systems they will
be using in a crisis, in some instances they will be using a system
for the first time and will need to be trained to use it on the
spot.
A third major concern outlined by PITAC relates to the scalable
infrastructure of computing and communications. The fundamental
nature and role of computing in the working environment has been
changing. Kelly noted that computer processors will be embedded
everywhere—there are already 25 microprocessors in a Cadillac,
10,000 microprocessors in an offshore drilling rig, and a million
microprocessors in an aircraft carrier. These processors are linked
together in complex networks and interact with other processors on
a potentially global scale. Few engineers understand their failure
modes and how they relate to the systems in which they are
contained. How can this type of network be managed, and how do
these networks perform in a crisis when they are subject to extreme
or unusual loads? Do they adapt gracefully, or do they manifest
catastrophic emergent behaviors?These infrastructures and the
software that runs on top of them will drive many systems that are
important during a crisis—the financial system; police, fire,
and safety teams; air traffic control; and emergency communications
systems. These systems are also responsible for the physical
operation of equipment such as forklifts or helicopters that may be
used in an emergency. Explicit attention to critical infrastructure
is an emerging national concern—what technology developments
can help make this infrastructure predictable, robust, and
reliable, as well as scalable and affordable?
A fourth issue raised in the PITAC report is how to make the
transition from a Cold War management paradigm, in which IT was
supported was an adjunct to space technology or weapons production
and development, to a new paradigm in which IT research encompasses
a wide range of socioeconomic goals, and is explicitly managed for
risk, sustainment of funding, and balance of fundamental work and
applications. For example, it has been a challenge for NSF to be
able to invest in larger and riskier projects that require
sustained funding for 3 or 4 years, involve substantial
experimentation and engineering, and entail extensive collaboration
and teaming. PITAC was also apprehensive about how to manage the
interface between basic and applied research, given the difficulty
of managing long-term research and measuring its impact.1
PITAC recommended, among other things, a series of
"exploration centers" that locus on particular applications, with a
long-term emphasis. The Administration has been considering how to
link interesting technology-related applications into the IT
research community without diverting resources from fundamental
research. In this context, Henry Kelly suggested that exploration
of IT applications to crisis management could offer valuable
learning experiences to the IT research community.
____________
1This issue was discussed in the Brooks-Sutherland report.
Computer Science and Telecommunications Board, National Research
Council. 1995. Evolving the High Performance Computing and
Communications Initiative to Support the Nation's Information
Infrastructure. National Academy Press, Washington, D.C.
acquisition managers need mechanisms by which they can interact
with the research community without exposing operational users to
unnecessary risk. Whatever the specific mechanism, the process of
incorporating new research ideas and technology requires spanning
the cultural gulf between the practices of commercial systems
integration and the work styles of the research community.
Recognizing these needs and opportu-
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nities, the National Science Foundation (NSF) launched a new
Digital Government program in June 1998.
To complement the workshop panels and breakout sessions that
explored specific requirements of crisis management, several
speakers were asked to describe what they saw as more generic
challenges—what are the critical IT research challenges and by
what process can IT innovation be better directed to fulfill
long-term government application needs?
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Information Technology Challenges
across Government
Crisis management is characterized as posing some of the
toughest information technology challenges in the area of digital
government. Because of the many analogies between the needs of
crisis management and the sorts of capabilities that might be
needed for other government efforts, a perception exists that if
the research community can help in effectively addressing
challenges of crisis management, these results will also contribute
toward solutions to many other major, generic challenges faced by
government agencies. Some of these challenges are listed below:
• Many diverse players throughout government and the
private sector. A major challenge in crisis management that is
mirrored in many other government applications is the multitude of
different entities—state, local, and federal agencies, as well
as lots of private players. Each has its own information systems,
data standards, operating procedures, and the like, so bringing
these different organizations together to provide an integrated
response to a crisis, or other government function, becomes
difficult.
• Wide range of capabilities of players. Crisis
management activities in California, for example, must take into
account differences in IT capabilities between urban Los Angeles
County and rural Lake County. In some locations, a 5-year-old
computer is deemed acceptable; however, in some counties, states,
and federal agencies, the technology is at the leading edge. How
can systems be built and procedures established that permit all
these organizations and systems to work together effectively?
• Validation, integration, search, and retrieval of
large and diverse data sets. In the government arena, large
amounts of data are collected, and these data are often of varying
quality. Challenges include how to validate data sets; combine
data, sometimes of different quality; and get a handle on the flood
of information that is now available on the Internet, on CD, and in
many other forms.
• Heterogeneity of systems used by different
organizations. Existing not only in crisis management but also
across government, this challenge arises at all levels, from
computing platforms to database systems to higher-level semantic
issues that make integrating information that spans multiple
agencies or organizations difficult.
• Resource constraints. In crisis management, as
well as in IT efforts throughout government, resources for
investment in new technologies are limited. This constraint makes
investing in new capabilities more difficult, even where the
long-term payback may be significant. How can payback be better
measured to justify commitment of resources?
• Inflexible rules that interfere with exploitation of
opportunities offered by
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advances in IT. Many outdated, inflexible processes and
rules are in place that were written in an era when systems were
solely paper based. How can government take advantage of the new
electronic media and revise obsolete rules?
• Organizational structures that do not reflect changes
in IT. For example, how can a response team be organized in an
IT-rich response environment? Understanding such questions can
require the involvement of people with other kinds of expertise,
such as sociologists, anthropologists, and organization and
management specialists.
• Increasing public demands for information and
responses. Citizens' expectations for responsive government
greatly increase when they have new, more interactive channels for
communicating with government. Michael Nelson noted, for example,
that after the White House Web site was established, 1,000 e-mails
a day were sent to President Clinton and Vice President
Gore—not just "glad you're online" messages, but also
substantive queries. Once easy-to-use, instantaneous communication
channels have been established, responding accordingly becomes a
major challenge.
• Authentication. The lack of an authentication
infrastructure poses challenges in government. For example, in the
e-mail example above, replies to the e-mails were not sent
electronically because authenticating that they in fact came from
the President was impossible. Similarly, when the Social Security
Administration launched a program to permit people to request their
social security record via the Internet, there were concerns that
requests could not be properly authenticated.3
• Unreliability of new technologies. Crisis managers
will be reluctant to rely on a technology, such as a network, for
mission-critical applications if they know that there is a
significant chance that it might fail during a major disaster.
Likewise, citizens will be reluctant to depend on a system that is
perceived as unreliable. Similar challenges hold true throughout
government.
Achieving Innovation
How to support IT research related to government missions and
successfully transition the fruits of this research into government
operations
3In 1997, the
Social Security Administration launched a program to permit people
to retrieve their Personal Earnings and Benefit Statement (PEBES)
through an online, interactive system. Following expressions of
concern that people's privacy could be violated using this system,
the Social Security Administration suspended the interactive PEBES
system. The PEBES system currently allows people to make online
requests through a Web browser (using encryption) but the
statements are delivered by U.S. mail.
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was a prominent theme throughout the workshop. Some ideas
considered by workshop participants follow:
• Making support of R&D by mission agencies a
priority. Successful collaboration between government agencies
and the IT research community will require not only the support of
NSF and other research agencies, but also the engagement of mission
agencies.
• Providing incentives for excellence and innovation in
IT. In the crisis management context, a major challenge to
innovation is that if an organization is successful in improving
its systems and thus its ability to respond to a crisis, no one
will notice. On the other hand, when a major crisis inevitably
causes significant harm, blame may be placed on an inadequate
response. The IT sector throughout government faces a similar
challenge: When IT and other infrastructure systems are working
properly, the people responsible tend not to receive much credit,
but, when they fail, there may be serious repercussions.
• Ensuring sufficient investment in IT to support
innovation. Upper management does not necessarily know much
about IT, and may not provide sufficient resources or other support
to succeed. Another dimension of underinvestment is in compensation
and career paths for people who run government IT systems,
affecting government's ability to attract the best
people—which often means shifting responsibility for
innovation to contractors.
• Establishing incentives and motivation for activity
and collaboration. In order to introduce new technologies, one
must be willing to take some risks and be in a position to
understand the level of risk assumed. When a manager has a
reasonable assessment of those risks, undertaking more experimental
activities becomes easier. This issue applies particularly in
contractual relationships with IT contractors.
• Building communities committed to innovation.
Although many individuals find ways to overcome organizational
barriers to change, finding ways to build communities is
particularly valuable—in effect creating an infrastructure of
people and institutions committed to new ideas. An example of a
group working to build a community is the National Coordination
Office for Computing, Information, and Communications, which was
formed to facilitate agencies working collaboratively.
• Identifying the appropriate testbeds or skunkwork
mechanisms. These mechanisms offer managers a way to deal with
risks. Managers may not want to spend money on what is perceived as
a risky endeavor; however, testbeds can be valuable as a means of
obtaining insight into the future, which can help with decisions on
whether to make investments in new technology. In addition to
having a good technology or even a good testbed in which the
technology has been tried, it is important to establish
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long-term relationships between those developing the new
technology and the people who ultimately have to evaluate and adopt
it for operational use. In particular, it is important to set the
scale of such activities appropriately. The scale of a testbed
activity can be difficult to get right. On the one hand testbeds
must to be of sufficient scale to fully test the technology and
stress its capabilities. On the other hand, there is a danger that
testbeds will become self-perpetuating. However, it can be argued
that this is how the Internet evolved: A testbed was experimentally
put into operational context and people would not let go of it. In
the crisis management community, the goals should be to establish a
dynamic approach that permits people to move in and out of testbed
activities, and to set flexible goals for what people are to
accomplish.
• Finding ways of measuring success. An
understanding of how success is measured, how these decisions are
made at the various levels of government, and how those values can
be fed back into the research community is critical. A related and
ongoing question is how the effect of new technology or improved
system design can be evaluated in the absence of a full baseline of
information about how things work today.
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Representative terms from entire chapter:
government information
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