Intercepts

Staying The Disn Course. Lt. Gen. Al Edmonds Does Not Buy The Central Argument Of At&T's Disn Protest That It Be Allowed To Submit An Integrated Bid For One Simple Reason: He Never Again Wants To Face The Possibility Of "Turning Dod Upside Down" When Faced With The Expiration Of A Single Mega-Contract, Such As At&T's Dctn.

Edmonds, In A Candid Interview, Added That He Believes Disa's Multiple-Contract Strategy Will Result In The Kind Of Competition That Will "Drive The Price Down." Disa, Edmonds Said, Is On "The Right Track [With] The Right Strategy."

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Distance Learning To Fts 2000? Disa Intends To Move Its Distance Learning Network, Which Serves About 350 Sites, From At&T Dctn To Fts 2000, Edmonds Said. He Added That The Move Reflects New Pricing On Fts 2000, Not Ire Over The Disn Protest.

According To Traffic Picked Up By My Tysons Corner, Va., Antenna Site, Diana Gowen, Director Of Dod Sales And Marketing At Mci Government Markets, Might Make Edmonds An Even Better Offer For The Distance Learning Traffic.

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Disa Wins Gbs System Manager Role. Look For Top Pentagon Management To Issue Soon A Policy On The Global Broadcast System, With Disa Singled Out As The System Manager And The Air Force Tapped As The Program Manager.

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New Navy Info Org. My Crystal City Receive Site Has Picked Up A 5X5 Signal That The Navy Has Set Up A New Information Project Office, Reporting To John W. Douglass, Assistant Secretary Of The Navy For Rd&A.

The New Office Will First Work On Developing A Common Navy E-Mail And File Transmission System For The Pentagon And Then Roll It Out To Units Within 65 Miles Of The Pentagon. The Final Stage Calls For A Navywide System.

Somehow This Sounds Like An End Run Around The Army-Managed Pentagon Single Area Manager, Which Is Tasked With Putting In Place A Local-Area Network That Would Allow Everyone In The Building To Communicate.

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Pssst...Wanna Buy A C-Band Dish? I'm Told A Large, Multinational Telecommunications Company (You Figure Out Which One) Thought It Locked Up A Dod Commercial Communications Contract To Bosnia By Buying Outright Five Of The Only Fly-Away C-Band Terminals Available On Short Notice.

But Disa Changed Specs Midstream And Decided To Go With Ku-Band, Sticking The Above Company With A Lot Of Expensive C-Band Hardware, Probably For Sale Now Real Cheap.

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Seagoing Voice Mail. Thanks To The Wonders Of Technology, You Can Dial Direct Via Navy Satellite The Uss Lasalle, The Sixth Fleet Command Ship, Which Is Under Way In The Adriatic Sea, Using Just A Norfolk, Va., Area Code. The Bad News, Is Once You Reach The Lasalle, You Get Stuck In Voice Mail. You Can Bet Arthur C. Clarke Never Imagined Such A Scenario.

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Outbiked By Secaf. The Interceptor Recently Interviewed The Secretary Of The Air Force, Sheila Widnall, And Briefly Discussed Bicycling—A Mutual Passion. The Interceptor Bragged That He Did 1, 500 Miles Last Year. Widnall Replied That She Did 3, 000 But Quickly Added, "You Mountain Bike, Which Is Much Harder."

That's Graceful.