Digital Government

Can virtual worlds create better spies?

The Office of the Director of National intelligence wants to harness virtual worlds to create better trained intell officers.

Digital Government

Does playing video games really make you smarter?

The Intelligence Advanced Research Projects Agency wants quantitative research on how immersion in virtual worlds affects real world performance.

Modernization

Information handcuffs: Counterterrorism IT needs support from the top, Congress told

Intelligence agencies face policy and privacy questions as they look to harness IT to fix problems identified after the failed Christmas Day bombing attempt.

Cybersecurity

U.S. would lose a cyber war, former intell chief warns

The country needs to make a national commitment to securing cyberspace before a catastropic attack occurs.

Digital Government

Former intell chief to talk cybersecurity

Former director of national intelligence Michael McConnell is scheduled to testify before the Senate Commerce, Science, and Transportation Committee about what is needed to protect the country's critical infrastructure from cyberthreats.

Cybersecurity

Cyber threat growing at unprecedented rate, intell chief says

Director of National Intelligence Dennis Blair today gave a blunt assessment of the many cyber threats faced by U.S. government and private-sector networks.

Cybersecurity

Better integrated intell could save lives

National security agencies want to make the various databases that hold terrorism information more searchable after the failed Christmas Day airplane bombing.

Cybersecurity

Analysis, not info sharing, blamed for intell failure

Officials failed to search all available databases to uncover data on the would-be airplane bomber, a preliminary White House review has found.

Digital Government

New classification system to tackle challenges of electronic information

President Barack Obama has called for research in technologies and standardized electronic protocols as part of an overhaul of the government's classification system.

Cybersecurity

Government to build $1.5B cybersecurity data center

Officials plan to build a $1.5 billion data center to bolster the cybersecurity capabilities of intelligence agencies, the Defense Department, and the Homeland Security Department.

Cybersecurity

DOD opens some classified information to non-federal officials

Some officials working at state and local intelligence fusion centers will have limited access to data on the Defense Department's classified network.

Cybersecurity

Intell agencies plan to beef up cybersecurity

Stopping cyber threats is a top priority for intelligence agencies during the next four years, according to a new national strategy.

Cybersecurity

Hathaway's departure renews worries about cyberczar vacancy

The resignation of Melissa Hathaway, the Obama administration’s acting senior director for cyberspace, has brought renewed scrutiny on the administration's effort to secure the online world.

Cybersecurity

McNamara: Give info-sharing office more authority

Thomas McNamara said the Program Manager for the Information Sharing Environment should have budgetary authority and the ability to direct policy changes.

Modernization

Security risks evolve alongside social media

Facebook and Twitter make it possible for government agencies to communicate and interact with the public in ways not possible just two years ago. But these social media tools also create new types of security risks that agencies must anticipate and plan for.

Cybersecurity

Panel OKs bill that would increase cybersecurity oversight

A Senate committee has approved a bill that would require the president to notify Congress about existing and new cybersecurity programs that involve personally identifiable information.

Modernization

Intelligence community gets its own app store

The intelligence community's Bridge program provides a way for innovators to develop new technology, officials say.

Cybersecurity

Intell chief: Source of cyberattacks still unknown

The director of national intelligence said today federal officials aren't sure who was behind recent cyberattacks that knocked some government sites off-line.

Cybersecurity

Feds need help hiring cyber workforce

The government has problems hiring enough cybersecurity workers and needs to ratchet up recruiting, a study released today says.

Cybersecurity

Sensitive information protection remains tough

The government is exploring policy and technology solutions to improve the way it shares sensitive but unclassified terrorism-related information with state, local and industry officials.