White House: E-mail was early problem

WASHINGTON, March 15 (UPI) -- E-mail breakdowns caused by aging technology plagued the Obama administration's first days in office, the chief information officer for the White House says.

During the president's first 40 days in office the system was down 23 percent of the time, Brook Colangelo said in an interview with Computerworld published Tuesday.

The chief information officer said he and his staff logged more than one 80-hour week to bring the White House's technology up to date.

More than 80 percent of the White House's information technology had reached the end of its service life when Obama entered office, and just six days into his presidency the e-mail servers went down for 21 hours, Colangelo said.

"In my professional career, there has not been a worse day since or ever," Colangelo said.

The e-mail crashed three or four times after that and in February 2011 Colangelo said the e-mail was so iffy he had to use the fax to update the president.

In the most powerful nation on earth, federal employees often have outdated equipment on the job and have better computers at home.

"Twenty years ago, people who came to work in the federal government had better technology at work than at home," former budget director Peter Orszag said in 2010 comments before a group of CEOs meeting with the president.

"Now that's no longer the case. The American people deserve better service from their government and better return for their tax dollars," he said.