Letter to the editor

This is in response to the letter regarding turning over the "keys to the kingdom" of the Navy/Marine Corps Intranet to a contractor and the resulting extremist risks to security mentioned in "Contracting with Big Brother" [Federal Computer Week, April 24, 2000].

Does this "government worker" believe that contractors, working for our government, are any less patriotic or security-cleared than actual workers on the government payroll?

Certainly having cleared personnel would be prudent for any such systems administration, and whether a person is paid directly by a government bureaucracy — with all the excessive costs associated with that — or paid on a contract basis does not reflect their ability to support sensitive systems with good security. It's called clearance, and it works as well for contractors as it does for direct civil servants.

This typical attitude that work can only be done by government-payrolled workers and their renowned sloth and attitude for noncompetitiveness is what is holding our country back. And that, my friend, poses a great security risk for us all — and not just job security either.

Yours truly,

A busy contractor-type person.

Name withheld upon request