The Interior Department will be completely connected to the Internet in a couple of months, a top official told Federal Computer Week.

Interior will connect the Bureau of Indian Affairs, the Office of Special Trustee, the Office of Historical Trust Accounting, the Office of Hearing Appeals and the Office of the Solicitor. in phases, chief information officer Michael Howell said. Once the plan is complete, about 10,000 BIA and OST employees will finally have Internet connectivity at their desktops.

The agencies were kicked offline in December 2001 after a court investigator in the Cobell v. Kempthorne case found security vulnerabilities that put billions of dollars of Indian trust funds at risk. Some of the vulnerabilities remain, but a federal judge said it wasn't his place to monitor Interior's compliance with the Federal Information Security Management Act of 2002.

Interior was given an "F" by the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee for its FISMA compliance.

Get the Story:
BIA begins phased reconnection to the Internet (Federal Computer Week 5/20)
Computer security grades improve slightly (Federal Computer Week 5/20)

Relevant Documents:
Information Technology Court Order (May 14, 2008)

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