When the Federal Aviation Administration launched a test program for tablet computers in December, Administrator Randy Babbitt was the first in line.
Babbitt traded in his hefty three-ring binder of briefing notes for an ultrathin iPad loaded with pages of reference points for meetings and international trips. The small pilot with Babbitt and a few executives has grown to include dozens of test teams and more than 300 tablet devices ? mainly iPads ? throughout FAA and even in the cockpit, said Chief Information Officer Dave Bowen.
The agency plans to adopt security and acquisition standards for iPads by Oct. 1 so they can be bought throughout the agency, Bowen said. "We want to make sure that we have processes in place to make sure that people don't willy-nilly go out and buy these things," he said.
The fear of government data being swiped from the devices or employees leaving them in the backseat of a taxi has forced CIOs and their security officers to find secure ways for using the hand-held tablets. Software embedded in the technology can allow administrators to remotely wipe a device clean of all government data, control what employees download, and separate personal email and Internet browsing from government business.
Bowen has met with senior executives at Apple to hash out potential risks and security of the device. As early as September, FAA could have an approved policy mandating security standards for the iPad before the tablets are in more FAA users' hands.
The Veterans Affairs Department is also working the problem. It has also set an Oct. 1 deadline for making tablet computers, likely to include the iPad, available for use on the department's network.
VA CIO Roger Baker said users will be able to view information through VA applications like its electronic health record system VistA and from external sources, but the information cannot be stored on the device. Users must be authenticated before gaining access.
There were mixed feelings in government when the federal chief information officer, Vivek Kundra, proposed giving federal workers a $2,000 subsidy to buy their own laptops and smartphones.
Some balked at the idea and raised concerns that security would be at stake. But Kundra's proposal isn't far-fetched.
Baker said, over the long term, he would like workers to use their personal computing tablets for government business, but monitoring software would have to be embedded on the device first and the data encrypted.
"VA is looking at the policies that have to be in place before turning the devices loose," he said.
Acquisition is the next hurdle.
Whether the tablets will be procured through large-scale acquisitions or purchased by feds is still under consideration.
The iPad and other Apple products are available through contracts such as NASA's Solutions for Enterprise-Wide Procurement (SEWP), National Institutes of Health Information Technology Acquisition and Assessment Center's Electronic Commodity Store (ECS) 3 and others. As with other devices offered through NASA SEWP, agencies can create a request for a quote for the iPad.
But FAA is grappling with the acquisition of applications for the iPads, Bowen said.
"If someone wants to buy Angry Birds for $4.99, should we allow them to use their government credit card to do that? Probably not," Bowen said.
iPhones and iPads, however, are not available on the General Services Administration's Federal Supply Schedules, which are contracts available for use by any federal agency, because of a special legal quirk. Those products are manufactured in China, which is not in compliance with the Trade Agreement Act, and so not on the schedules, said David Peters, program manager for GSA's Network Programs. There are, however, other tablet computing devices available through the supply schedules, Peters said, and there are talks about putting computer tablets on GSA's primary telecommunication contract, Networx.
At a July 7 House Oversight and Government Reform Committee hearing, Rep. Jason Chaffetz, R-Utah, raised concerns about security risks with hardware and software imported from foreign countries.
Although no specific device was mentioned, Greg Schaffer, with the Department of Homeland Security's National Protection and Programs Directorate, said he is aware of instances where technology manufactured abroad has significant risks.
The National Institute of Standards and Technology, through the Cryptographic Module Validation Program, authenticates hardware, software and firmware used to encrypt data on mobile devices used in government. Apple is awaiting NIST's approval for its cryptographic module for the iPhone and iPad. Meantime, agencies are using non-Apple products. NIST does not approve personal devices for agency use, but the agency is testing mobile applications for known vulnerabilities that could put them at risk of hacking.
The Energy Department is exploring technologies that will separate government and personal email on iPhones, iPads, Android and Xoom tablets and provide safeguards in case the tablets are lost or stolen.
The department is working with a company called Good Technology to deploy these tools this fiscal year.
The California-based IT company has a feature called the Good Mobile Access Secure Browser that separates the Internet portal for personal and business use. For example, feds can watch YouTube videos through the Safari Web browser and use a separate browser to access government applications.
"The users themselves are actually the biggest security risk," said John Herrema, senior vice president of the Good Technology's corporate strategy.
Even with the rise of the iPad, Bowen sees it as a supplement to the BlackBerry.
"In the government market, I don't think that we're second to any device that is being looked at," said Scott Totzke, senior vice president of BlackBerry security for maker Research in Motion. "We have a strong heritage for security in providing these features that the customers want."
Government sales have remained strong and RIM continues to innovate, Totzke said. With BlackBerry comes a "certain expectation that there is security embedded" in both the smartphones and tablets.
"Government still has to provide secure networks, we still have to protect information and that doesn't stop because there are new devices," said Gwynne Kostin, director of mobile for GSA's Office of Citizen Services.
Kostin is part of a small pilot that launched last summer at GSA and provides a group of employees with iPads and iPhones.
She has four devices: an iPad, an iPhone, a BlackBerry and a feature phone that doesn't operate as a smartphone. She carries three at a time and can access her government Gmail account on her iPad.
"You get in the habit of making sure that you're available," Kostin said.
Within the next year, most security-conscious agencies will likely be using tablet devices because of user demand, said Michael Donovan, chief technologist at Hewlett-Packard. Rather than being direct providers of IT, CIOs are becoming brokers of these new technologies.
Bowen agrees.
"We're going to be faced with people using these devices whether we like it or not."
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