Dozens of overlapping IT systems could prevent the US
government from responding properly to a bioterrrorist
attack.
A US General Accounting Office (GAO) study has found flaws in
the government's implementation of bioterrorism-related information
systems and recommended better co-ordination of information
technology programs to improve the nation's preparedness for
bioterrorist attacks or new disease outbreaks.
The report, "Bioterrorism: Information Technology Strategy Could
Strengthen Federal Agencies' Abilities to Respond to Public Health
Emergencies", reviewed six federal agencies' efforts to use IT to
prepare for and respond to bioterrorist attacks, ranging from the
US Department of Agriculture (USDA) to the Department of Defense
(DOD).
The GAO found a plethora of existing and planned systems for
tracking bioterrorist threats, but little co-ordination or data
sharing between the systems or the agencies that relied on
them.
In all, GAO counted 72 information systems and technology
programs in use across the six agencies, including 34 for
collecting and analysing disease data, 10 for communications and
reporting systems, 10 for detection of bioterrorist threats and 18
for tools and systems to support disease detection and
analysis.
Only 30% of the systems or programs were co-ordinated or jointly
developed with other agencies. The level of co-ordination between
the different government agencies ranged from a total lack of
contact between agencies to jointly developed projects.
The GAO has recommended that the government exert leadership on
the issue and adopt health care data standards to encourage sharing
between public health systems.
There are a number of data standards initiatives under way at
the Centers for Disease Control (CDC), the DOD and other agencies,
but there has been little effort to co-ordinate those initiatives
across the government or develop milestones for their
implementation, the GAO said.
The government seems to recognise the problem, however, and is
encouraging agencies to take an "enterprise" approach - thinking
about the federal government as one entity rather than a collection
of separate agencies - when it comes to purchasing and
planning.
Still, a certain level of tolerance for redundancy is probably
necessary, and the federal government instead should focus on
connecting the agencies with capable networks and resources said
Jim Lewis, a senior fellow at the centre for strategic and
international studies, a US publich policy think tank.
Paul Roberts writes for IDG News Service