Pentagon has the worst IT helpdesk in the US government::DoD is dead last for tech support, equipment, communication, and function, say staff
You’d think the DoD’s astronomical budget would cover this.
From what I’ve seen, a lot of the money goes to multiple layers of mid-level managers who don’t actually do anything.
They are there to document in excruciating detail how their budget is NOT being misspent, because we can’t abide waste and mismanagement!
This is the one. Has anyone here seen the dod acquisitions chart?
Heres a copy: https://www.wired.com/images_blogs/dangerroom/2010/09/atl_wall_chart.jpg
Not even that, theres lots of DoD employees (non-managers) that get paid pretty well just to sit on their asses and do not much of anything all day. It’s the biggest social welfare program in the US.
The problem is two fold, the first is that any change in process or procedure has to be approved by a committee that probably has nothing to do with IT at all; and the second is that the DoD is full of higher ranking officers that if you have a 3 day turn around for a repair – for example, they will threaten your very existence unless they are not done immediately.
The only solution I can think off is that the IT has to be removed from the DoD, and assigned its own budget and director.
If there’s one place I’d expect to have trouble hiring, it’s the Pentagon’s IT team. They regularly deal with the most sensitive information about the US military, and need to have clearance to see all of it. That gives them an incredibly slim hiring pool, so it’s no surprise their IT team sucks
I’m guessing not too many people join the army or the air force to do IT support.
I can fix that
I did IT support for DOD as a contractor years ago. I wasn’t at the Pentagon, but from where I was, It’s primarily a funding problem, with a bit of corruption sitting in the purchasing side.
I can fix a lot of s*** on the cheap, but when they continually buy hardware below minimum spec for software there’s only so much you can do.
