The White House this week honored NASA for its
successful completion of a program to ensure the security of
federal e-government initiatives.
NASA was honored at a Cross-Certification Ceremony sponsored
by the Federal Public Key Infrastructure Bridge Certification
Authority (FBCA). By “cross certifying,” NASA and three other
agencies — the Department of Agriculture’s National Finance
Center, the Department of Treasury and the Department of
Defense — will be able to send and receive secure e-mail
across organizations. Secure government-wide information
systems, and the secure exchange of information within the
government, are essential elements of homeland security, said
Paul Strassmann, NASA’s Acting Chief Information Officer.
The cross-certification is one part of the Administration’s
eAuthentication Initiative, which in turn is part of the
Electronic Government Initiatives of the President’s 2002
Management Agenda. The eAuthentication Initiative provides
authentication services to the other 24 initiatives, which
are designed to better link the federal government to
citizens, businesses, and state and local governments, as
well as improve the federal government’s internal efficiency.
For NASA, recognition by FBCA culminates the Agency’s four-
year effort to build a public key infrastructure to
strengthen and secure its information systems. The event
clearly demonstrated NASA’s success in implementing multiple
pieces of information technology-related legislation, said
Strassmann.
