Our shop has identified several reasons why releasing our software solutions to the open source community would be a good idea. However, there are several reasons from a business stand point why converting our shop to open source would be questioned. I need help from anyone out there who has gone through this transition, or is in the process. Specifically a government entity.

About our shop: - We develop and support web and client applications for the local law enforcement community. - We are NOT a private company, rather a public sector entity

Some questions that tend to come about when we have this discussion are:

1. We're a government agency, so isn't our code already public?
2. How do we protect ourselves from being 'hacked' if someone looks into our code? (There are obvious answers to this question like making sure you don't hard code passwords, etc. However, the discussion needs to consider an audience of executives who are very security conscience.)