FLOPPY DISKS AT THE PENTAGON: Feds spending billions on antique computer systems, watchdog finds

WASHINGTON – The government is squandering its technology budget maintaining museum-ready computer systems in critical areas from nuclear weapons to Social Security. In a report released Wednesday, nonpartisan congressional investigators found that about three-fourths of the 80 billion budget goes to keep aging technology running, and the increasing cost is shortchanging modernization. The White House has been pushing to replace workhorse systems that date back more than 50 years in some cases. But the government is expected to spend 7 billion less on modernization in 2017 than in 2010, said the Government Accountability Office. "Clearly, there are billions wasted," GAO information technology expert David Powner told the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee at a hearing.