tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33596609.post790162737935851123..comments2024-03-17T14:11:23.145-05:00Comments on Digital Eccentric: technology transition at the white houseLeslie Johnstonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02214388320207490977noreply@blogger.comBlogger1125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33596609.post-9289568365987963882009-01-24T12:28:00.000-05:002009-01-24T12:28:00.000-05:00In my own experience with federal IT, it seemed li...In my own experience with federal IT, it seemed like the root of many problems was the pervasive requirement for security theater that infected so much of the public sector post-9/11. Every IT decision was driven by how much it gave the appearance of addressing security (relevant and irrelevant), rather than how much it met requirements or even how it actually addressed the real security needs related to the decision. In that sort of culture, given how complicated real computer security actually is, becomes all too easy for vendors and others to take advantage of a lack of technical understanding on the part of the decision-makers; unsurprisingly, the result is a chaos of nonsensical rules, budget constraints, tied hands, and technical atrophy.<BR/><BR/> I don't think it's fair to describe the current state of public IT as having been ever thus – it was a sort of perfect storm of political and technological change during the last several years. In a different climate in which security theater had not been elevated to the center stage, things might have ended up differently.<BR/><BR/>The contrast between the sort of theater I saw in federal IT, and the actual security measures taken where I am now (one of the most famously secretive and security-conscious technology companies), are frequently astounding, both what is prohibited and what is not.adbhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07252801445754528102noreply@blogger.com