House gives DOD IT boost

House Defense appropriations bill

The Defense Department would spend more money on information technology as it steps up the war against terrorism, according to the fiscal 2002 Defense authorization bill passed by the House last week.

Much of the money would go to intelligence organizations to improve the ability to detect possible attacks, such as those on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon, federal budget experts said. And while some money will surely go to hire needed personnel, IT will also see increases.

"IT is going to run through each and every one of the government's efforts [to fight terrorism], both domestically and internationally," said Dave Nadler, a partner with the law firm Dickstein, Shapiro, Morin and Oshinsky.

DOD has moved to a war footing. President Bush has signed a $40 billion emergency appropriations bill. At least half of the total will pay for clean-up efforts in New York City and Arlington, Va., and some is earmarked for the war on terrorism and homeland defense, said Payton Smith, manager of strategic research at Input, a market research firm.

DOD chief information officer John Stenbit said some projects—especially those involving security—that otherwise may have been stalled, could now be put on the front burner. "There were some plans dusted off," he said.

"My suspicion is that a lot of it will go into intelligence systems, processing and interpretation," said Ray Bjorklund, a vice president at market research firm Federal Sources Inc. "We have to be a lot more skilled in how those things are interpreted for the decision-makers."

Although great strides have been made in recent years, leaders need to have the best possible information, and "we're talking about an enemy that is very difficult to pin down," he said.

Nadler said he expects there will be spending on crossagency systems that will enable agencies to communicate with one other more effectively and reduce some of the traditional turf battles.

The House's Defense authorization bill includes a $33 billion increase over fiscal 2001's $343 billion. The Senate is expected to act on the bill in early October.

The House version of the bill includes the provision to remove the Marine Corps from the Navy Marine Corps Intranet program, a provision opposed by the Marines. The Senate version instead has language that incorporates the agreement on testing reached between the Navy and the Pentagon. The differences will have to be resolved in a House/Senate conference committee.