http://www.fcw.com/fcw/articles/2001/0416/web-draft-04-19-01.asp
BY Diane Frank
04/19/2001
The Office of Management and Budget is circulating draft guidance on
what agencies should include in the annual reports they must produce
under the Government Information Security Reform Act.
The act, passed in October 2000 as part of the fiscal 2001 Defense
Authorization Act, is intended to foster good security practices
within civilian and national security agencies. It requires chief
information officers and inspectors general to perform vulnerability
assessments on their agencies security programs and practices.
OMB issued general guidance in January on the approach that agency
program managers and IGs should take on the assessments. But now, OMB
is providing a draft of guidance that details exactly what information
should be included in the reports. In the draft guidance, which is not
available online, OMB asks agencies for:
* An executive summary from the agency head on how the agency is
implementing GISRA. The summary should combine information from the
agency CIO and the agency IG, and it will form the basis of OMBs
summary to Congress.
* Details about the agencies annual program reviews and
evaluations. Agencies will provide details on every program and
system by answering 11 questions that range from identifying funding
to describing the performance measures used by program managers and
CIOs.
Agencies reports on their security evaluations are due to OMB by
September. OMB will compile the reports and submit a governmentwide
report to Congress. Congress in turn will use the reports to determine
whether an agency is adequately protecting the systems that support
its services to employees and citizens.
By Oct. 30, agencies must report to OMB the strategies, milestones and
obstacles involved in addressing any security weaknesses found in the
assessments.
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Received on Fri Apr 20 05:47 CDT 2001