The Foreign Service Journal, December 2005

Diplomatic Security Bureau in Washington. Northrop Grumman’s contract for the current developmental phase has been extended until Jan. 31, 2006. The project office is guarded on next steps, but it appears to be preparing alternatives in case Northrop Grumman’s product cannot pass muster by that date. Why is it so hard to install a system that might appear to be nothing more than souped-up e-mail? The new pro- gram also has to include all command-and-control fea- tures of cables, including automatic distribution to responsible offices. It must tag each message on the fly (supplementing existing TAGS indicators with new cate- gories) and deliver it to an archive open to all with the proper clearance, thereby enabling a decision to move from a concept of “need-to-know” to one of “need-to- share.” Finally, the vision requires communication between unclassified and classified systems, e-mail access to employees away from their offices, and access to instant messaging and collaborative workspaces. Charles Wisecarver, who heads the SMART project office, says State recently updated its earlier study of alter- native systems. “None satisfies the State Department vision of a system that is simple, secure and user-driven,” he says. Newly installed Under Secretary for Manage- ment Henrietta Fore has endorsed the SMART concept. At a more senior level, the Office of Management and Budget has a say. According to an OMB official, “OMB continues to closely monitor the SMART project and State’s internal IT governance process as the department works through the continued development of, and alter- natives for, a modernized messaging system.” Crossing Lines If Northrop Grumman cannot deliver a working sys- tem, the original vision will face hard questions. One option for State would be to continue the project on its own. Any new attempt would have to consider delaying or eliminating one or more of the advanced features called for in the original design. Even if it eventually works, SMART messaging will not solve the problem of agency computer systems that do not link to each other. By opening its unclassified network to the Internet, State enabled routine e-mail to most other foreign affairs agencies. However, without security pro- tection for information going across the Internet, or com- prehensive address lists, Internet e-mail cannot meet the burgeoning needs for cross-agency business. Current acting CIO Jay Anania wants to fully utilize protected channels to other agencies that are already in place: two interagency networks operated by Intelink, an office of the Central Intelligence Agency. The Open Source Information System is a governmentwide intra- net, cleared for Sensitive-But-Unclassified information. The SIPRNet allows multiple agencies to share informa- tion through the secret classification. Both networks are expanding to cover all foreign affairs agencies, and they offer up-to-date features like Google search, weblog soft- ware and automated information updates. State employ- ees can access OSIS from any OpenNet workstation, and SIPRNet from any ClassNet computer. In fact, some 180 embassies already maintain Web pages on SIPRNet, featuring staff lists and political and economic reporting; cumulatively, those pages were draw- ing more than a million visitors per month at the end of 2004. In addition, State’s OSIS page offers an e-mail directory of State and USAID personnel. In a speech to Intelink’s annual conference last September, Anania laid out the vision that every foreign affairs employee should have access to all relevant U.S. government information from any U.S. government com- puter, proposing Intelink as the carrier. No funding has yet been announced to support the concept, however. Many agency offices overseas already pay for OpenNet terminals, and some — citing difficulties in accessing OSIS, in particular — believe State should simply make it easier for other agencies to access its own networks. State hosts occasional meetings of foreign affairs agency CIOs to discuss these problems. An Interagency Collaboration Working Group, chaired by Deputy CIO Christine Liu, convenes senior information managers from all foreign affairs agencies to discuss these matters. Paul Christy, the Commerce Department deputy CIO, stresses the value of this: “It doesn’t take a lot of funds to keep people talking and collaborating.” The Two Cultures New technology projects are involving workers from throughout the organization as information processing requires less technical intervention and maintenance but pervades everyone’s daily business. In a 1959 lecture titled “The Two Cultures,” the British novelist, scientist and government administrator C.P. Snow argued that the crumbling of intellectual connec- tions between scientists and humanists (the “two cul- F O C U S 26 F O R E I G N S E R V I C E J O U R N A L / D E C E M B E R 2 0 0 5