Role of IT and Leadership: Impact on New Federal Security Clearance Program

IT and leadership roles have to be crisp and clear for the success

Success of New Federal Security Clearance Program relies on Role of IT

IT and Leadership have a deep impact on success of new federal security clearance program

The new federal security clearance program is highly dependent on the role of IT and leadership. The impact of IT and leadership can go positive or negative depending on how the two function. The implementation will demand clear cut drivers from both these streams. Leadership has to be clear in defining the right direction and IT has to be effective in its implementation as per the defined timelines. The administration has begun implementation of its new federal security clearance program.

IT systems have to be well in place to make it a success. The role of IT people has to be well defined in order to achieve the best results from them. Project timelines have to be monitored and any deviations in terms of people, resources or financial have to be captured timely. The respective alarms have to be raised proactively so as to mitigate any kind of risk arising out of the defined project tasks. Leadership has to act as a smart controlling agency to achieve the desired results. Overall, the success of the new Federal Security Clearance Program vastly depend on two factors – IT and leadership. As the implementation has already started by the administration agencies, it is important to keep a close watch on the progress. The building of relevant integrated IT systems is as important as its upkeep. The defense leadership has to imbibe the capabilities for the same. Legacy systems have to be examined and ascertained in terms of their necessity and further usage. Managing people is not a tough task as compared to the management of IT systems. Cybersecurity related risks have to be evaluated and relevant systems have to be in place.

Project scoping has to be properly done, executed and monitored. If it is not so, it will be difficult to build right teams and cyber security systems. This is the prime concern as of now. As there are multiple stakeholders involved in the implementation process, it is important to align all to move ahead in the right direction in a collaborative manner. The engaged agencies are Federal Investigative Service (FIS), Department of Defense (DoD), National Background Investigation Bureau (NBIB), and Defense Information Systems (DIS). There are certain sub-agencies also involved in the process. For alignment, there is going to be a sequence of reorganization in the whole system. The legacy systems, as stated above, have to be examined and evaluated for taking a final call. It is always good to drop the least required systems so as to avoid chaos in management, support and upkeep. NBIB is a newly created agency with well-defined roles and responsibilities. Most of these roles were being performed by FIS till recent changes happened in terms of reorganization.

Overall, it is the impact of IT and Leadership that will define the success of the new Federal Security Clearance Program. IT, IT systems and leadership will be spearheading the show in defining its success.

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