Steven Cooper: A Chief Who Lacks Clout?

Steven Cooper, the first CIO of the Department of Homeland Security, is responsible for the IT assets used by 190,000 federal employees, but he's in a position that doesn't wield a lot of power.

October 01, 2004 — CSO — DHS Steven Cooper, the first CIO of the Department of Homeland Security, is responsible for the IT assets used by 190,000 federal employees, but he's in a position that doesn't wield a lot of power. In fact, a July 2004 report from the DHS Office of the Inspector General (OIG) found that the CIO lacks the authority to manage the department's technology assets and programs.

The report, titled "Improvements Needed to DHS's Information Technology Management Structure," says the CIO is responsible for the creation of the department's communications infrastructureconsolidating disparate networks, data centers and systems inherited from member agencies. He oversees eight of the top 25 IT projects being implemented by civilian federal agencies, including the controversial US-VISIT visa program and the Integrated Wireless Network project that involves the Departments of Justice, Treasury and Homeland Security. (Then there's the matter of IT security: A 2003 Inspector General report found that none of DHS's constituent parts had fully functioning IT security programs.)

Despite these challenges, Cooper's office has been allotted limited resourcesfewer than 65 employees to support a 180,000-person department. CIOs for member organizations within DHS have larger staffs than that.

To make matters worse, the report noted that the CIO doesn't report to either the DHS secretary or deputy secretary, but to the undersecretary of management. That means the CIO has no authority over the CIOs for DHS member organizations, whom he is charged with overseeing. Furthermore, there is no written policy to formalize the DHS CIO's role toward CIOs of member organizations.

But there's always a positive side. The report noted the creation of an Enterprise Infrastructure Board, which meets periodically to discuss IT integration strategies. And Cooper published an enterprise architecture and implementation plan.

Still, changes are needed. OIG recommended that the CIO report to the Deputy Secretary.

DHS also needs to make it clear that CIOs in DHS member agencies report to Cooper's office along with the head of their agencies. And the DHS CIO should be given a staff that can carry out its enormous responsibilities.