This would require employees to swipe a computerized credential through a card reader and enter a personal identification number. Now, only proper credentials are needed. Department security officials also are considering reorganizing the main building so that classified information is kept only on the upper floors, the senior official said. Like many of the efforts to modernize State, these security improvements depend in large measure on finding the money to add and upgrade computers. As an example, the department runs four separate, incompatible computer systems that cannot access the Internet.
Some officials have to keep three computers on their desk so they can use all the systems.
There's some modernization being rolled out, but the constraint is money. Department officials said they have put a high priority on extending a classified e-mail system to all embassies. A senior official said there will also be an effort to ensure that new computer equipment and programs are designed so that State employees will become able to communicate with their embassy colleagues from other departments, such as Commerce, Treasury, Justice and Defense.