This paper provides priority recommendations for the incoming Administration to address weaknesses of critical federal information technology (IT) systems that provide vital support to agencies’ missions.
Recommendations to Modernize Archaic and Insecure Legacy Systems
Download Resources
Significant numbers of older critical federal information technology (IT) systems that provide vital support to agencies’ missions are operating with known security vulnerabilities and unsupported hardware and software. These legacy systems support important missions like wartime readiness and the operation of dams and power plants. Some legacy systems are more than 60 years old and, in addition to their security risks, are not meeting mission needs and each year have increased maintenance costs.
This paper provides priority recommendations for the incoming Administration, namely that the Office of Management and Budget (OMB):
- Provides guidance to agencies that requires a prioritized inventory of legacy systems and an IT modernization plan.
- Ensures that there is a reporting/transparency mechanism to monitor progress on new acquisitions and the decommissioning of these legacy systems.
- Establishes a program under the Federal Chief Information Officer that includes public private partnerships with key industry partners to quicken the pace of these modernization plans.
What’s the issue? Significant numbers of older critical federal IT systems that provide vital support to agencies’ missions are operating with known security vulnerabilities, are not meeting mission needs, and each year have increased maintenance costs.
What did we do? MITRE’s Center for Data-Driven Policy has been a leading voice on how to address these aging systems. We have issued policy papers with recommendations for the Administration and Congress, testified before Congress, and conducted independent research on using large language models to facilitate modernization.
What did we find? Having the Office of Management and Budget issue guidance that requires detailed IT modernization plans and the decommissioning of legacy systems will put agencies on a path to success. Likewise, agencies should partner with industry and federally funded research and development centers (FFRDCs) to find ways to use artificial intelligence and machine learning to better understand these systems and facilitate the pace of modernization.