America's nuclear weapons system still uses FLOPPY DISKS to store data: Government spends billions maintaining computer systems more than 50 years old
- A new report says government computer systems are becoming obsolete
- Three-quarters of federal tech budget spent maintaining aging systems
- Agencies including Defense Department and Social Security use old tech
- A nuclear command system still stores data on floppy disks, report says
The government is spending about three-quarters of its technology budget maintaining aging computer systems, including platforms more than 50 years old in vital areas from nuclear weapons to Social Security.
One such network, which is used to send vital messages to the country's nuclear forces, still uses floppy disks.
In a report to be released Wednesday, nonpartisan congressional investigators say the increasing cost of maintaining museum-ready equipment devours money better spent on modernization.
Despite a White House push to replace aging workhorse systems, the budget for modernization has fallen, and will be $7 billion less in 2017 than in 2010, said the Government Accountability Office.
The report was provided to The Associated Press ahead of a House oversight committee hearing.
A new report finds government technology is becoming obsolete. Pictured, president Barack Obama holds up his Blackberry. Though out-of-fashion, the device is far more modern than some other tech in federal use
Congressional investigators say the government spends about three-fourths of its technology budget maintaining aging computer systems. Pictured, a man holds an obsolete floppy disk in London
GAO estimates that the government spent at least $80 billion on information technology, or IT, in 2015. However, the total could be significantly higher. Not counted in the report are certain Pentagon systems, as well as those run by independent agencies, among them the CIA. Major systems are known as 'IT investments' in government jargon.
'Legacy federal IT investments are becoming obsolete,' GAO concluded. 'The federal government runs the risk of continuing to maintain investments that have outlived their effectiveness and are consuming resources that outweigh their benefits.'
The report also profiled aging systems operated by the departments of Agriculture, Commerce, Energy, Homeland Security, Justice, State, and Veterans Affairs.
The White House has been nudging agencies to identify obsolete systems and start replacing them, but GAO said that clearer, more specific goals and timetables are needed. A starting point could be recent legislation supported by the White House to create a revolving fund of $3 billion for replacing or upgrading older technology. It seems certain that President Barack Obama's successor will have to grapple with the issue.
'The federal government is years and in some cases decades behind the private sector,' Rep. Jason Chaffetz, R-Utah, chairman of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, said in a statement. 'Taxpayers deserve a government that leverages technology to serve them, rather than one that deploys insecure, decades-old technology that places their sensitive and personal information at risk.'
Rep. Jason Chaffetz, R-Utah, said the government is 'years and in some cases decades behind the private sector' when it comes to technology
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