State Plans to Hike Cloud Spending, Scale Back Digital Diplomacy

The State Department wants to invest about $22 million more in information technology this year, according to justification documents accompanying President Obama's proposed fiscal 2013 budget.

By far the largest share of that increase would go to cloud computing initiatives, including building a "private cloud" for internal use and a "community cloud" for interagency and external collaboration. The increase in cloud funding totals about $26 million, which would be offset by cuts elsewhere in the department's IT budget.

Funding for digital diplomacy initiatives, which includes major internal IT systems as well as outreach programs involving social media and other technologies, would dip about $7.3 million.