Editorial: Opportunities abound

The Bush administration’s pandemic plan, released earlier this month, is rife with opportunities for the government information technology community. Unfortunately, it is also rife with potential pitfalls.

The plan largely relies on cross-government information sharing and effective telework plans — two areas that have not been the government’s forte. Furthermore, the administration does not seem to be taking the necessary steps to implement the plan in a meaningful way.

Some health officials quoted by Federal Computer Week last week warned that the administration is not providing the necessary funds that would allow them to develop such an information-sharing system and that the timetable the administration has set is overly ambitious.

The federal government has a real opportunity to shine as the entity that can bring together officials at all levels. But it does not have a good track record in this area.

Several news stories should remind us of the important work that is still on the agenda for government agencies. Certainly one is the ongoing debate about the government’s response to Hurricane Katrina last year, a debate that becomes increasingly critical as we near the start of yet another Atlantic hurricane season.

Then there was the recent testimony by FBI Director Robert Mueller before a Senate committee in which he said that the FBI still does not have an accurate terrorist watch list and that it will be “some time” before it does. In fact, according to one report, the watch list seems to have a tendency to mistake government employees and U.S. service members for foreign terrorists.

The watch list was one part of the post-Sept. 11 efforts to share information among federal, state and local governments. Yet more than four years later, it apparently still does not effectively carry out its mission of helping identify potential terrorists.

We all understand that sharing information across various organizations is not easy. On the contrary, it is quite difficult. It can only happen if there is a clear mandate — and money — that gives it a chance of success.

Opportunities abound.