Poor IT support hurting military operations: internal review

An internal Defence Department report has warned that Canadian Armed Forces operations and security may be at risk due to major problems with how the military’s computer networks are built and supported.

The report follows a review of the Defence Department’s information management and technology systems, which are described as “critical” to the success of Canadian military operations and training.

That review uncovered a patchwork of IT systems across the Defence Department and Armed Forces that was not only inefficient and expensive to maintain, but also often out-of-date and poorly supported.

The brunt of the report’s criticism is directed at the technical support provided to the military by another federal entity, Shared Services Canada, the agency that took over management of most federal networks in August 2011.

Nearly all defence and military officials who participated in the review were upset by the amount of time it took Shared Services to respond to requests for help, according to the report. In some instances, those delays harmed operations.

The report cited one instance in which an email server that went down during an unspecified domestic mission couldn’t be fixed right away because it was a weekend and Shared Services did not have staff on call.

The reviewers also found that a quarter of requests for assistance made to Shared Services remained unresolved after six months, and the agency did not have anybody in Europe to help the hundreds of Canadian troops posted there.

While the problems were partly attributed to a lack of appropriate IT resources and staff, the report also flagged the lack of an agreement between the Defence Department and Shared Services establishing clear expectations for network support.

Without such an agreement, the report, defence and military officials believed Shared Services not only didn’t understand their needs but also wasn’t required to respond quickly, “which led to putting clients at great risk on a number of fronts, including security.”

Delays in tech support weren’t the only point of contention between the Defence Department and Shared Services, with the latter upsetting the navy by requiring the removal of equipment that had increased bandwidth on warships.

Shared Services also stopped supporting some older intelligence systems while they were still being used by the air force, army and navy, according to the report recently published on the Defence Department website.

The Defence Department did not immediately respond to requests for comment on Monday, and the report does not say what efforts are being made to address the problems.