AKMA’s Random Thoughts

Spaf’s “First Principle of Security Administration”

“If you have responsibility for security but have no authority to set rules or punish violators, your own role in the organization is to take the blame when something big goes wrong.” (from Technology Review)

This applies, mutatis mutandis, to so many other aspects of technology administration (though especially for security). About a year ago, I blogged my institutional slogan No Accountability Without Power; I’ve been trying to live it out here at Seabury, which has entailed explaining dozens of times over that the Tech Committee has the authority to think up good ideas, but none to implement them; we have the authority to suggest solutions, but no budget to maintain our proposals. So far, we’re getting some good work done by out-sourcing decision-making to other logical committees, but we still get pushback when anything goes wrong (I should say, Micah and Mark Moore mostly get the pushback; I get only a little). Our role is often to take the blame for circumstances we could have prevented, if we had the authority or budgetary resources so to do.