Washington (CNN) The White House says it's working to increase the security of the federal government's computer and data systems after high-profile hacks at various agencies, including a recent breach at the Justice Department.

President Barack Obama Tuesday signed an executive order establishing a federal privacy council to ensure all of the administration's branches are using the best, most secure practices when safeguarding individual employees' information, as well as government data.

He also convened a meeting of his national security team, supplemented by top cybersecurity advisers, on Tuesday morning to discuss his new initiative.

"One of the biggest gaps between the public sector and the private sector is in our IT space. And it makes everyone's information vulnerable," Obama said, describing the systems providing the technological underpinning for Social Security and other programs "archaic."

"This is not ideological issue. It doesn't matter if there's a Democratic president or a Republican president. If you've got broken, old systems -- computers, mainframes, software -- that doesn't work anymore, then you can keep on putting a bunch of patch on it but it's not going to make it safe," Obama said.

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