Thread: Agency paralyzed by old technology

http://www.washtimes.com/national/20070 ... -6151r.htm

Agency paralyzed by old technology
UNITED PRESS INTERNATIONAL
January 4, 2007

The agency that processes requests from foreigners to live in the U.S. and become citizens is crippled by antiquated technology, and its modernization efforts have largely stalled because of poor planning and management failures.

The Department of Homeland Security inspector general reviewed information-technology modernization efforts at U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (CIS) in a report issued last month.

"Because of repeated changes in focus and direction, [the agency] has tended to duplicate previous modernization initiatives and has not demonstrated the ability to execute its planned strategy," the report said
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For instance, because information-technology staff and assets were not centralized under the control of the agency's chief information officer, staff in field offices "continue to develop non-standard systems that may not integrate with the enterprise-wide infrastructure." As a result, some offices could not be upgraded to Windows XP, because locally developed software programs were not compatible with the new system, investigators found.

They added that work to transfer management of the staff and assets to the chief information officer had stalled. They also noted that neither risk-management nor security plans were in place for the modernization process, meaning that security professionals have not made a serious assessment of vulnerabilities that the proposed changes might create.

Michael Maxwell, the former head of the agency's office of security and investigations, who sought whistleblower protection after revealing security problems at the agency to Congress, told United Press International that he had been "concerned that foreign agencies might be able to hack into our computer systems."

"Because the system wasn't modernized, it was vulnerable," he said. "We know that the Departments of Defense and Commerce were penetrated last year [by suspected Chinese military hackers]. Who's to say that [CIS] isn't on that list?"

Mr. Maxwell said hackers would be able to obtain immigration benefits for foreign agents or even terrorists if they could penetrate and manipulate the agency's systems.

The inspector general's report paints a picture of repeated, overlapping efforts to develop a modernization strategy but says that the agency often failed to implement its own plans.

If Congress enacts any immigration-reform legislation, the agency will face two huge tasks: It will be responsible for administering the "path to earned citizenship" -- derided by opponents as an amnesty -- for undocumented workers who want to regularize their status; and will have to handle any new verification process the law mandates to get employers to check the immigration status of workers they hire.

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