E-Government, a view from the front lines
A panel discussion on 28 November in Washington, DC gave a chilling reminder of what happens when agencies charged with airport security cannot communicate with each other. Department of Transportation chief of staff John Flaherty, one of the panel members, recounted an incident earlier in November where a National Guardsman patrolling an airport spotted an individual making repeated attempts to penetrate the facility’s security. The guardsman reported the incident to his superiors, but because of different agency protocols, the incident never got reported to the Federal Aviation Administration, the agency currently responsible for airport security.
This incident and others point out the need to break down traditional organizational barriers to enable the reporting of security breaches in real-time. Flaherty said transportation security requires immediate reporting every threat, no matter how serious or frivolous.
Senior executives not IT geeks
The airport incident gave one example of the day-to-day work of public agencies that highlighted both the need for and challenges in applying the tools and techniques of e-business to government. Since 11 September, Federal agencies are on a wartime footing, yet they still face demands for effective and efficient public services. The panel discussion, conducted by the Council for Excellence in Government, consisted of five current or previous senior government managers, not the chief information officers or IT whizzes who often talk about e-government.
The events of 11 September quickly changed the focus of all government activities and e-government was no exception. As a result, the discussion focused on those civilian functions most affected by the war effort: law enforcement, public health, transportation, and diplomacy.
Panel participants included:
-- Mark Forman. Associate Director for Information Management and E-Government, Office of Management and Budget, the agency tasked with carrying out management reform over all agencies
-- George Hardy, MD. Executive Director of the Association for State and Territorial Health Officials, who previously served as assistant director of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Assistant Surgeon General
-- E. Anthony Wayne. Assistant Secretary of State for Economic and Business Affairs, and formerly on the National Security Council staff in the Clinton White House.
-- Steve Pomerantz, Executive Director of the Mitretek Systems’ Center for Criminal Justice Technology, and formerly chief of counter-terrorism for the FBI
-- John Flaherty, Chief of Staff for the Department of Transportation, and who had served on the staff of Norman Mineta while Mineta was a member of Congress before joining the Bush cabinet.
Government to government
Patricia McGinnis, the Council’s president who moderated the panel, noted that the group had originally planned the session for September, but the events of that month caused the Council to move it to the end of November. She asked participants to particularly discuss government-to-government interactions that technology can address.
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