Policy orders must be combined with funding – MeriTalk

Federal cloud experts from the Department of Justice (DoJ) said this week that the government’s policy mandate on transitioning to zero trust and cloud adoption is key to advancing IT modernization and security while keeping government agencies on the job. said it needs to be combined with funding to help get end.

At the ATARC Federal Cloud and Infrastructure Summit on October 20, Michael Cassidy, chief technology officer for the DoJ’s US Trustees Program, said the policy directive could serve as a benchmark for government agencies.

“I think policy is actually good,” Cassidy said. “It puts a benchmark out there for you to push.” Read it, share it with your team, and discuss what it means to us.”

“I think so,” he continued. Regarding log retention requirements, he said: So I think it’s positive and it pushes you forward. ”

But while federal policy mandates can be positive, Heather Kowalski, chief information officer for the U.S. National Central Office for INTERPOL within the DoJ, argued that they also come with challenges.

According to Kowalski, one of the key challenges is when agencies don’t have enough money to implement the requirements set out in Executive Orders (EOs) and Office of Management and Budget (OMB) memos.

“When they come unfunded and we’re expected to deliver, you’re paying Paul to rob Peter of whatever the flavor of the month is,” she explained. “And the second part of that is if you’re focusing on the latest issue, have you actually read the final issue?”

Kowalski and Cassidy both represent the DoJ, and Kowalski explained that it is a huge organization. But she said larger components like the FBI and other agencies make up about 80 to 90 percent of her DoJ.

“That means 35 components in the noise on the side. We don’t have the budget, we don’t get the attention,” she said. “So am I close to actually being able to achieve what these EOs and policies are asking me to do? I have an issue.”

Kowalski says there are “too many uncertainties in budgeting,” but her goal is to focus on getting the most out of her workforce and “getting the right people into training.” increase.