Intercepts

Latham rides again?

My wide-ranging Beltway mobile unit keeps picking up signals that Don Latham has a good chance of returning as ASD/C3I with OMB's Bruce McConnell (an ardent ASD/C3I wanna-be) slotted as Pentagon CIO and a DASD. To those out there in C3-land who find this preposterous please remember this is among other things a gossip column.

* Dis-CONCERT-ed. MCI has put all but the final touches on the separate company that will handle its federal business once it completes its merger with British Telecom. The company which will have a separate board and structure to satisfy Pentagon security requirements will go by the red white and blue name of MCI America.

One well-placed source told the Interceptor that MCI had asked former veep Dan Quayle to serve on the MCI board a tip strongly denied by an MCI image therapist. Look for retired Lt. Gen. John Myers former head of DCA to take a seat on the board along with other prominent retired three-stars.

* Forbes away. My Courthouse Road cell site has picked up strong signals that Army Col. Marlin Forbes DISA's DISN project manager has decided to pull the pin and retire early this summer. Look for Peter Paulson a longtime DISA employee to take over shepherding programs such as DISN-PAC and DISN-Eur.

* Early Edmonds exit? At a press conference announcing the award of the DISN DTS-C contract to AT&T DISA director Lt. Gen. Al Edmonds indicated he could leave the agency within "several weeks." That's so fast that insiders expect Maj. Gen. David Kelley to run the agency for months until the Chiefs select a new boss - with Kelley a strong candidate for director. An Army guy is a good choice for the next director as DISA may have to set up machine gun nests to defend its megacenters from continued attacks from the outsourcers.

* Reorg No. 12. That's how one source dubbed the latest shuffle within the AT&T government markets unit headed by Dick Lombardi. My K Street outpost has picked up strong signals that Cree Dawson a Bell Labs vet will run an "operations" group that will handle the day-to-day operation of core businesses such as DTS-C while Harry Goodall will head the defense "new markets" group. Despite this division of labor sources say there could be a turf battle over control of DTS-C between the groups.

* Pssst ... wanna buy a bunker cheap? Dr. Strangelove fans will weep but AT&T did not offer its famed Dranes-ville Va. DCTN control bunker - a key feature of the more-than-decade-old Cold War DCTN contract - on its winning DTS-C bid. All of us at Intercept Central will miss our annual bunker tour and picnic.

Let's help AT&T decide what to do with the nuke-hardened Dranes-ville facility. Send your suggestions slugged "Bunker" to the Interceptor at brewin@access.digex.net.