Information technology shakeup sends shockwaves.

• Author: Erwin, Sandra I.
• Position: DEFENSEINSIDER

* The military information-technology world is still trying to get over the shocking developments at the Pentagon this month, where in one fell swoop, a number of IT bureaucracies were obliterated.

As part of a broad cost-cutting effort, Defense Secretary Robert Gates is eliminating the office of the assistant secretary for networks and information integration; the Business Transformation Agency; the Command, Control, Communications and Computer Systems Directorate of the Joint Staff, known as J-6; as well as U.S. Joint Forces Command, which also oversees IT programs.

The IT industry suspects that these agencies are being shut down because they employ lots of contractors and thus became easy targets. "It's important to note that developing and implementing technology solutions has never been a core competency of the federal government," said TechAmerica CEO Phil Bond. "On first blush, the technology industry is concerned that some of the planned measures could undermine the government's own ability to acquire the 21st century capabilities our war fighters need."

Gates disagrees. The proliferation of IT agencies has resulted in a "patchwork of capabilities that create cybervulnerabilities and limit our ability to capitalize on the promise of information technology," he said.

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"We're still organized for what some would call a circuit-based phone-line world," said...