Will DOD Catch Flu?

12:35 PM -- There has been some skepticism about the likelihood of avian flu decimating U.S. businesses, despite warnings from experts and IT managers. (See Suppliers Prep for Pandemic and Panel Ponders Preparedness.)

Depending on whom you listen to, comparisons with the 1918 influenza epidemic, which killed 20 million people around the world, are either media hysteria (as if!) or a chilling reminder of the need to be well prepared. (See CIOs Ponder Potential Pandemic.)

That said, it is telling that the U.S. government has been quietly making its own plans to deal with a possible influenza pandemic. After the fiasco of Hurricane Katrina, federal agencies and departments clearly do not want to be caught off-guard again.

Yesterday, the Government Accountability Office (GAO) published a report on Department of Defense (DOD) efforts to prepare for an influenza pandemic. Apparently, the DOD has been planning for an influenza pandemic since September 2004, although auditors found significant areas for improvement.

Here's some of what surfaced in the report: At the time of the GAO's review, neither the secretary of defense nor the deputy secretary of defense had yet issued guidance defining roles, responsibilities, goals, and performance measures for the Department's pandemic planning."The lack of these accountability mechanisms over time may hamper the leadership's ability to ensure that planning efforts across the department are progressing as intended," explains the report.

The DOD's other big problem is communication. "[The Department] has not yet fully developed its communications strategy or communicated information to its personnel department-wide on what actions to take in the event of an influenza pandemic," warns the GAO.

Defense officials also have set up staff Websites containing some pandemic information, but this is not enough to keep its employees up to speed with the information they need, according to auditors.

The fact that one of the largest departments in the U.S. government is still thrashing out the details of its avian flu plans is clearly worrying. But the situtation underlines the need for firms to think seriously about their own strategies.

Does your staff have any idea of the potential impact of a pandemic? Do you have the IT infrastructure that will enable them to work from home? Who will look after your data center if key staff are out sick or caring for their families?Hopefully, these scenarios will never present themselves, although, like the Defense Department, now may be the perfect time to consider the worst case.

James Rogers, Senior Editor, Byte and Switch