The military information-technology industry did not take kindly to the recent abolition of a number of IT posts and departments, such as the office of the assistant secretary for networks and information integration; the Business Transformation Agency; the Command, Control, Communications and Computer Systems Directorate of the Joint Staff, known as J-6; as well as U.S. Joint Forces Command, which also oversees IT programs.
The industry felt that these agencies were easy targets for elimination because they employed a lot of outside contractors. The industry also felt that the action will deny the U.S. Defense Department the ability to aquire 21st century capabilities.
The Department of Defense does not agree. Instead, they feel that by eliminating the confusing scenario of a hodgepodge of technologies used by the different vendors, the department will actually be eliminating many vulnerabilities and be able to really tap the promise of information technology.
According to one of the agencies being abolished, the reason for the current situation can be attributed to legacy systems, which the department was unwilling to let go. The department still clung to the old “sacred cow” networks such as those of a circuit-based phone-line world.
Read the news at National Defense.
