Obama at Risk? Secret Service Disputes Own Tech Worries

[BlueJessamine]

Source: ABC News

The technology the U.S. Secret Service depends on to protect the president and carry out other vital missions is woefully out of date, and could put the life of President Obama or other White House protectees at risk, the service said in a new document. But that's not the case at all, according to a Secret Service spokesman.

First, the document – a 2010 budget request: Without upgrades costing an estimated $33 million, it says, the Secret Service faces the threat of a "near-term mission failure."

In particular, the document claims, Secret Service communications systems aren't compatible with the White House's own, leaving a "dangerous gap" that, (it states in dire but carefully-worded bureaucratese) could ultimately "prevent the attainment of the performance target of 100 percent protection."

Moreover, the request – delivered to Congress earlier this month -- says Secret Service servers, networking technology and software are in "a degraded state" and are "adversely impacting critical operational missions." The service's IT systems "cannot sustain the tempo of current operations," it claims. Without the millions in upgrades, the Secret Service could be unable to communicate during a crisis, or hacked by foreign intruders.



Read more: http://abcnews.go.com/Blotter/story?id=7644369&page=1

[arcadian]

1. Whithouse Military Office and Homeland Security aren't in sync.

[madmax]

2. I fear for our President every day. n/t

[Wizard777]

4. More people than him depend on our Security Services.

Even if we were willing to risk our President on obsolete technology AND WE'RE NOT. We can't place foreign dignitaries at risk with outdated technology. So this needs to be given high priority. Especially if Obama is going to get the world moving in the right direction also.

[bushmeister0]

3. First black president = the SS not letting a good crisis go to waste.

Show us the money!

[Bolo Boffin]

5. "The last guy hardly did anything and we could deal with deficiencies."

"This one is a mover and a shaker, and we can't keep up."

Money well spent.