USDA spends $2 million on internship program for one full-time intern
(Caroline May) The United States Department of Agriculture spent $2 million on an internship program that only hired one full-time intern, a recent audit of the USDA’s Office of the Chief Information Officer reveals.
A USDA Inspector General’s report detailing the mismanagement of the agency’s multi-million dollar attempt to beef up the USDA’s information technology security found that after an infusion of millions, “[b]ecause these projects were not effectively managed, the Department’s information systems are still at risk, even after expending $63.4 million of funding increases received in FY 2010 and 2011.”
Among the most striking findings in the IG’s report was the fact that OCIO had spent $2 million on an internship program that ended up hiring just one full-time intern.
“OCIO funded an intern program for a total of $2 million which, while funded as a security enhancement project, only resulted in one intern being hired full-time for ASOC [Agriculture Security Operations Center],” the report reads.
