NSA plan may face political hurdles

[William Knowles <wk () C4I ORG>]

http://www.fcw.com/fcw/articles/2000/0605/web-nsa-06-08-00.asp

BY Dan Verton
06/08/2000

The National Security Agencys plan to hand over the bulk of its
information technology support systems to industry may face hurdles on
Capitol Hill, where lawmakers have shown reluctance to approve
large-scale outsourcing contracts that take away thousands of
government jobs.

NSAs "Project Groundbreaker," officially announced Wednesday, has been
designed to help the intelligence agency become more efficient by
tapping into the technology expertise in the private sector.

The decision to move forward on the project comes six months after
NSAs director, Air Force Lt. Gen. Michael Hayden, received a scathing
report from a group of NSA managers that depicted NSA as being mired
in bureaucratic conflict, suffering from poor leadership and losing
touch with the government clients it serves [FCW, Dec. 6, 1999].

"In order to remain successful in our foreign signals intelligence and
information assurance missions, we must immediately begin to invest in
our IT infrastructure to secure NSAs agility and adaptability in the
Information Age," Hayden said in a written statement. "It is critical
that we have a robust and reliable infrastructure capable of
supporting our missions."

However, sources on Capitol Hill and in industry expressed concern
this week that NSA may not have prepared itself for the political
battles that may come as a result of the thousands of government jobs
that would be transferred to the private sector as a result of the
10-year, $5 billion contract.

"Im afraid NSA may not have covered all of its bases on the Hill,"
said an industry source who requested anonymity. NSA may be moving too
fast on a contract that will require special attention be given to
employee benefits, the reactions of federal unions and the impact the
contract will have on small businesses, the source said.

Congress has already proven its desire to protect the jobs of federal
employees by placing hurdles in the way of large outsourcing pacts,
such as the Navys 10-year, $16 billion Navy/Marine Corps Intranet
proposal. The Navy plans to use the N/MCI contract to outsource its
entire IT infrastructure to a single contractor.

One dissenter is Steven Aftergood, an intelligence specialist with the
Federation of American Scientists. "I would expect the plan to be
well-received in Congress," Aftergood said. "It demonstrates an
awareness by NSA that the Agency needs a new way of doing business.
And it may even save some money."

When asked how the effort might play out in Congress, a former NSA
official said "probably badly and almost certainly not coherently or
comprehensively."

"If government is not the solution, congressional committees are even
less so," he said.


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"Communications without intelligence is noise;
Intelligence without communications is irrelevant."
Gen. Alfred. M. Gray, USMC
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