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NASCIO: As Chair of the Information Security and Privacy Committee, what are the high-priority issues for states regarding the protection of state IT assets and citizen's personal information? What are some steps that states might consider taking to enhance the state enterprise's overall IT security posture?
Decker: One of our major challenges is working with agencies to ensure that each of them has evaluated the sensitivity and confidentiality of its data. We are working together to ensure that appropriate safeguards have been put in place to properly protect and secure that data, whether at rest or in transit to appropriate partners. One of the first steps in this effort is to have a solid understanding of our legal responsibilities relative to privacy down the employee. Additionally, we need to be sure our organizations understand the traffic patterns of the information flowing in and out of the environment - unless you know the nature of legitimate data movement and traffic, it is very difficult to know if you face any sort of compromising situation.
NASCIO: Please describe some of the major IT projects and initiatives that your state plans to undertake over the next 1-3 years.
Decker: Like most of our colleagues around the country, we face a myriad of projects on a nearly daily basis. There are three major efforts we are addressing now, though, that warrant special attention - the implementation of a statewide public safety communications system; the implementation of a new, statewide network to deliver digital education; and the implementation of a new medicaid claims processing system.
NASCIO: As CIO, what initiatives have you undertaken to promote cross-boundary collaboration and coordination with local governments in your state?
Decker: We have several initiatives underway that involve not only local government, but also our colleagues in the higher education community. We share a number of enterprise-level contracts and agreements for both hardware and software that benefit state and local government; we have a standing, operational partnership with our university system for purposes of increased resiliency in the face of potential disasters; we conduct annual conferences on general e-government issues and on specifics of security - both available to local government and higher education; and we provide and support network and computing capacity that is made available to each of our 93 counties in support of state business requirements, while at the same time being available as a resource for local county use.
NASCIO: As CIO, how have you optimized your state's IT assets and delivery of services using a shared enterprise infrastructure model, especially as they relate to consolidation and shared services, and data center consolidation strategies and business justification?
Decker: Through the wisdom of our legislators, Nebraska has enjoyed a centralized large scale computing environment and a centralized telecommunications organization for many years. In the last few years, we have been identifying and implementing other shared services among some of the newer areas such as Blackberry, virtual servers, and storage networks. We are privileged to work for Governor Dave Heineman - a governor who "gets it" about the benefits that technology can bring to bear on state government.
We are working to establish a technology strategy for the state as a whole, eliminate duplication of expenditures and services, unify technology policy and operations, and expand citizen access to government. Nebraska's technology strategy will help Governor Heineman deal with his priorities of education, economic development, efficiency in government, and safe communities.
