Obama has plenty to consider before hitting the 'send' button

Will Barack Obama become the first president to use e-mail? It seems likely that Pres. Obama will use e-mail, and he will use a BlackBerry to send it.

In fact, one of Mr. Obama's top advisors, John Podesta, co-chairman of the transition team, wrote an op-ed piece Jan. 20 in the Los Angeles Times calling for Mr. Obama to keep his mobile device.

Podesta writes that without the device to connect with his trusted friends and confidants, it would be like a "caged lion padding restlessly around the West Wing, wondering what's happening on the other side of the iron bars that surround the People's House."

Pres. Obama even confirmed to CNN that he would take his BlackBerry with him.

But what are some things he must consider before hitting the send button?

"The key question is regarding use," says Josh Mulloy, a mobility specialist for CDW-G. "BlackBerry use in the federal government space is for sensitive but unclassified messaging. For higher offices such as the president, how much information is being sent back and forth that is not classified? So it begs the question to whether mobile devices should even be used at all."

Mulloy, who works a lot with the Defense Department and other high security agencies, says many mobile devices meet the federal cybersecurity standards, such as Federal Information Processing Standard 140-2, and can use encryption technologies to secure the messages.

Pres. Obama could use it for personal messages only-about his kids or catching up with old friends, and that would not be subject to the Presidential Records Act and other federal laws.

"The question is whether President Obama or any other high level political official would want to go down the path of picking out which e-mails were personal and which ones were business?" Mulloy says. "That is something previous users have not wanted to go down that path to avoid the auditing headache."

Mulloy adds that many of the new mobile devices have technology that may have to be disabled or removed. He says global positioning system (GPS) technology, short range wireless or Bluetooth technology and other functions that could raise security concerns.

"Those types of technologies can be controlled at the network level so that is good news," he says. "I find it somewhat ironic that the Bluetooth module used currently in BlackBerry framework to achieve a higher level of security. It has gotten a reputation that it is not secure. We've seen especially in BlackBerry platform an enabler for smart card readers to enable to send digitally signed messages."

Mulloy says another consideration is that an electronic message is easily transferred from one person to another. All other presidents have found the risk to be too much.

"When you are using technology it always comes down to knowing how it works and being accountable," he says. "President Obama is going to be a person who has that level of awareness and realizes that anything that can be sent from a device" can easily be shared.

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On the Web:

FederalNewsRadio - Obama, security aides, still debating BlackBerry

FederalNewsRadio - BlackBerry of Doom?

Los Angeles Times Obama's link to America: his BlackBerry

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