Midterm Elections Influence on Homeland Security IT Spending

Last week's congressional midterm election means that the Homeland Security Department will be assembled fast--and that's the best news the technology market has heard since Netscape went public.The power shift in Congress means that IT and outsourcing budgets that had been . . . Last week's congressional midterm election means that the Homeland Security Department will be assembled fast--and that's the best news the technology market has heard since Netscape went public.The power shift in Congress means that IT and outsourcing budgets that had been on ice since the dot-com implosion will be thawed and spent. The fact is that war is good for technologists, and Homeland Security will transform Silicon Valley and the Silicon Beltway into one big, fat geek wedding.

Of course, there are those among us who will worry about the erosion of civil liberties that inevitably flows from tightened security. But it takes only one experience with the terror and frustration of a denial-of-service e-mail attack on your business computers to flush away any concerns about creating Big Brother.