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Celebrating 25 Years

GCN Home > 10/07/02 issue

Where are they now...

Bruce W. McConnell

By Nancy Ferris, Special to GCN

As chief of information and technology policy at OMB from 1985 to 1999, Bruce McConnell tackled tough issues such as encryption export policy, information security, IT procurement and management, and public access to government information.

He also was a key leader in preparations for the year 2000 rollover, and during 1999 he established and directed the International Y2K Cooperation Center under United Nations and World Bank auspices. The center coordinated the efforts of more than 170 national governments and countless private businesses and organizations in a unique global human and electronic network that soundly defeated the Y2K bug.

Today, McConnell is president of McConnell International, a global technology policy and management consulting firm in Washington that helps IT companies develop government business. McConnell is a member of the board of visitors of the University of Maryland’s R.H. Smith School of Business and serves on the Policy Group on Network-Enabled Services and Government at Harvard University’s Kennedy School of Government. He is the author of numerous papers and articles on governance in the networked century.

McConnell’s thoughts: “Today’s increased attention to information security is long overdue. But security requires cooperation, and, therefore, two important caveats apply.

“First, without trust between business and government, critical information about threats and vulnerabilities will not be available to the people who need it. Both parties must work hard at this.

“Second, security must always be balanced with usability, access and other basic American values. For example, if information flow is unduly restricted for security reasons, markets will not operate efficiently, nor will citizens be able to exercise their responsibilities in a democracy. Likewise, if citizens perceive that ‘big brother’ is looking over their shoulders, or if business believes big government intends to exercise the heavy hand of regulation, the appetite for cooperation will vanish. In today’s distributed environment, security requires everyone to work together.”
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