Brian Dunbar
Headquarters, Washington       September 20, 2002
(Phone: 202/358-0873)

RELEASE 02-181

NASA HONORED FOR COMPLETING E-GOVERNMENT SECURITY PROGRAM

     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.

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