-Caveat Lector-

GCN May 24, 1999


DOE pumps up CIO job
Secretary Richardson gives cybersecurity duty to Gilligan
By Frank Tiboni
GCN Staff


The Energy Department�s security reforms, developed in the wake of the Los
Alamos espionage scandal, place the burden of safeguarding classified and
unclassified computing on the chief information officer.

Energy CIO John Gilligan said he will share the duty with department and
bureau line managers.

Gilligan�s office and its increased systems security responsibilities will
fall under the new Office of Security and Emergency Operations, which will
include the Office of Security Affairs and the Office of Emergency
Management and Response.

�There was a realization that there were security weaknesses in the
department,� said Gilligan, who gave input to Secretary Bill Richardson on
the reform package. �We thought a restructuring would be helpful.�

Energy had been treating computer se-curity as a support function, and some
of the functions became highly fragmented, Gilligan said.

The new structure centralizes policy, reinforcing the need to integrate DOE�
s cybersecurity, he said.

Gilligan�s added computer security responsibilities include providing policy
and guidance, and participating in the oversight of Energy�s cybersecurity
program. But, he said, responsibility for security remains mostly with
frontline managers.

�The primary responsibility for security will lie at the field levels, such
as the laboratory directors,� he said. �We want to reinforce line
management.�

Richardson two weeks ago unveiled the largest security reforms in Energy�s
history. The changes include the creation of a security czar who will
oversee personnel, physical and cybersecurity, cyberthreat training and
increased nuclear materials inventory accountability.

The Los Alamos National Laboratory in Los Alamos, N.M., on March 8 fired Wen
Ho Lee, a scientist in the Theoretics Division, for security infractions
[GCN, March 29, Page 1]. That incident, which is believed to involve the
movement of highly sensitive nuclear data from classified systems to
unclassified systems, prompted the reforms.

Gilligan�s new responsibilities take effect immediately, and he has begun
reviewing Energy�s computer security measures, he said. �I want to
strengthen our policies. Our unclassified computing environment was
outdated,� Gilligan said. �We will also undertake a major security upgrade.�

Gilligan wants all Energy computer systems to have warning banners and
intrusion detection capabilities to alert employees and managers of security
threats. Richardson will also ask Congress for an additional $50 million
over the next two fiscal years to support additional improvements, he said.

Since coming from an Air Force acquisition post at the Pentagon seven months
ago, Gilligan has also restructured the Energy CIO�s office. He created a
year 2000 problem office and an information security office, which will take
on more responsibility under the new reforms, and tweaked the architecture
standards and planning, information records and resource management, and
operations organization offices.

Under the restructuring, the operations organization office will remain
under Richard Farrell�s Management and Administration Office, under which
the CIO�s office previously fell.

Gilligan said his most sweeping reorganization measure involved
strengthening the CIO�s office supervisor capability.

When he came aboard, the office had a 20-to-1 employee-to-supervisor ratio.
He has reduced that ratio to 10-to-1, creating a clearer, more direct line
of authority, he said.
--
The mass of men lead lives of quiet desperation and go to the grave with the
song still in them. - Henry David Thoreau

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