Intercepts

€You've got Meyerriecks'

The Defense Information Systems Agency's chief technology officer will join the country's leading online service.Stacie Findon, a DISA spokeswoman, confirmed that Dawn Meyerriecks will join America Online Inc. Rumors circulated throughout DISA and the Pentagon for weeks that Meyerriecks would leave the agency by month's end for AOL.

No NCW in OIF

The military did not achieve the goal of waging network-centric warfare during last year's invasion of Iraq, according to an Army report.

"The services made strides both in the ability to move information and translate information into knowledge, but they did not attain the goal or capacity to wage network-centric warfare," states the report, "On Point: The United States Army in Operation Iraqi Freedom," compiled by the Center for Army Lessons Learned, at Fort Leavenworth, Kan.

QSS hires Army 3-Star

QSS Group Inc. officials want John Caldwell to manage the company's existing Defense Department contracts and use his 36 years of Army experience and connections to attract more business.

Company officials announced last week that they had hired Caldwell as senior vice president of defense IT solutions. He retired last year as a lieutenant general, serving as the Army's top acquisition officer in his last position.

Relay sites closing

DOD officials will close microwave radio relay sites in the United Kingdom Dec. 10 to save money, according to a department statement.

DISA officials determined that the military could save $1 million annually by using commercial communications instead of maintaining and updating the sites, according to a July 9 DOD statement.

Data flights over Washington

On the day of former President Reagan's funeral cortege, the state of Kentucky almost lost its governor when fighter jets were scrambled to intercept his plane. Gov. Ernie Fletcher's small private plane was given permission by Federal Aviation Administration officials to fly inside the capital's strict no-fly zone. But somebody forgot to tell DOD and the Homeland Security Department.

Earlier this month, DOD officials conducted a series of data-collecting flights using similar aircraft to determine radar signatures of small planes and potential responses if such an aircraft were to be used for nefarious purposes.

"The purpose of these flights is to obtain radar data from a variety of aircraft in and around the national capital region," according to a statement issued by DOD officials.

A department spokesman said officials had been planning these flights for six months and they were not a reaction to Fletcher's June 9 flight.

Computer engineers as counselors

First, DOD officials used information technology contracts to buy interrogation services from the private sector. Now, it seems a high-tech company that was tapped for that unusual service was also selected to provide counseling services to military personnel and their families. DOD officials awarded Titan Corp. the contract through the General Services Administration last August to provide the services. GSA officials said they would not renew the contract when its base one-year period expires.

iPod phobia

First, U.S. military officials temporarily banned Coca-Cola cans from some military bases earlier this month because of a new promotion by the company that features Global Positioning System wireless telephones in 120 cans.

Now, U.K. military officials have banned Apple Computer Inc. iPods at all facilities because they fear the loss of sensitive data, according to a media report.

Officials at Britain's Ministry of Defense believe the pocket-sized digital music players, equipped with a USB connection, can bypass passwords and directly access a network when plugged into a system, according to a July 13 story by the Reuters news agency.

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