NUCLEAR MAINFRAMES FROM THE 70s
A new report from the U.S. Government Accountability Office says the Pentagon is still using floppy disks for its nuclear program.
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The GAO report says that U.S. government departments spend upwards of $60 billion a year on operating and maintaining out-of-date technologies. That's three times the investment on modern IT systems.
GAO said it found problems across the government, not just in a few agencies. Among those highlighted in the report:
— The Defense Department's Strategic Automated Command and Control System, which is used to send and receive emergency action messages to U.S. nuclear forces. The system is running on a 1970s IBM computing platform, and still uses 8-inch floppy disks to store data. 'Replacement parts for the system are difficult to find because they are now obsolete,' GAO said. The Pentagon is initiating a full replacement and says the floppy disks should be gone by the end of next year. The entire upgrade will take longer.
— Treasury's individual and business master files, the authoritative data sources for taxpayer information. The systems are about 56 years old, and use an outdated computer language that is difficult to write and maintain. Treasury plans to replace the systems, but has no firm dates.
— Social Security systems that are used to determine eligibility and estimate benefits, about 31 years old. Some use a programming language called COBOL, dating to the late 1950s and early 1960s. 'Most of the employees who developed these systems are ready to retire and the agency will lose their collective knowledge,' the report said. 'Training new employees to maintain the older systems takes a lot of time.' Social Security has no plans to replace the entire system, but is eliminating and upgrading older and costlier components. It is also rehiring retirees who know the technology.
— Medicare's Appeals System, which is only 11 years old, but facing challenges keeping up with a growing number of appeals, as well as questions from congressional offices following up on constituent concerns. The report says the agency has general plans to keep updating the system, depending on the availability of funds.
— The Transportation Department's Hazardous Materials Information System, used to track incidents and keep information relied on by regulators. The system is about 41 years old, and some of its software is no longer supported by vendors, which can create security risks. The department plans to complete its modernization program in 2018.
TRUMP CAN CHANGE THE CULTURE
Taxpayers Protection Alliance President David Williams on wasteful government spending on outdated technology. I've set this clip to play the last 45 seconds where discussion of Trump begins.