Government officials have warned of the potential for a cyber Pearl Harbor that paralyzes one or more critical components of the country’s public and private infrastructures. In April 2011, a cyber attack crashed 30 servers at a South Korean bank, destroying data and eliminating financial services for several days. If North Korea was responsible for the attack, as South Korean officials have asserted, it demonstrates how one of the world’s most impoverished nation-states can use cyber to successfully attack one of the world’s most prosperous.

Ms. Letitia A. Long was appointed Director of the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency on August 9, 2010.

Our aim is to produce research and analysis that helps government leaders more effectively respond to their mission and management challenges.The IBM Center is named "The Business of Government" because its focus is the management and operation of government, not the policies of government. Public sector leaders and managers need the best, most practical advice available when it comes to delivering the business of government. We seek to “bridge the gap” between research and practice by helping to stimulate and accelerate the production of actionable research.

In this issue of The Business of Government magazine, we survey the intersection where leadership, complex challenges, and the need for transformation meet.

  Security and privacy are often viewed as competing values, where more security means more surveillance and intrusion on individual freedoms. But in fact this is a false dichotomy; when security and privacy are designed into systems up front, they can serve both to protect people against unwarranted intrusions and also guard against other risks.

Most government employees and agencies protect their computers by installing and updating reliable anti-virus software.  Managers, IT staff and front-line workers understand the threats posed by malicious software, and they know that they have to take steps to counter that threat.  But as more agencies take advantage of social media, new risks emerge that may take people by surprise and may leave individuals, groups, and computer networks vulnerable to attack or data breach.

Leaders are responsible for envisioning, shaping, and safeguarding the future, creating clarity amidst uncertainty. This is no small feat and it is made increasingly difficult in the 21st century where rapid, unforeseen change seems to be the only constant.