Digital Government

What's So Wrong with MUMPS?

I'm not talking about the disease -- although some folks treat it as such - but the software that is the heart of the Veterans Health Information Systems and Technology Architecture, the electronic health record system at the Veterans Affairs Department.

Digital Government

Dick Tracy Inspired

The Army continues to push into the <a href=http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Buck_Rogers>Buck Rogers</a> Age.

Digital Government

Shinseki's Call to IBM CEO

Veterans Affairs Secretary Eric Shinseki personally called the chairman and chief IBM, Samuel Palmisano, this summer to express his dissatisfaction with the company's progress on development of a <a href=http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/193853.php>computer system</a> to process veterans' claims for ailments associated with Agent Orange, VA Chief Information Officer Roger Baker told the Senate VA Committee on Wednesday.

Digital Government

Air Force Base Amnesia

When you lobby for an Air Force base, you end up with airplanes, a fact that the New Mexico congressional delegation has forgotten since 2005 when it pushed the Pentagon to keep Cannon Air Force Base in Clovis open when facing an early BRAC decision to close it.

Digital Government

Canada's VA Investigates Vet Critics

Veterans Affairs Canada has found a nifty way to try and derail high-profile veterans who complain about its failure to deliver services: investigate them in a manner reminiscent of how long time FBI director J. Edgar Hoover went after folks he did not like.

Digital Government

Gates on Leadership and Irreverence

Defense Department Secretary Robert Gates gave a talk leadership to ROTC cadets at Duke University on Wednesday in which he said good leaders need both integrity and a sense of humor about themselves.

Digital Government

What Will Takai Do?

President Obama <a href=http://www.nextgov.com/nextgov/ng_20100930_1811.php?oref=topnews>withdrew</a> on Wednesday the nomination of California Chief Information Officer Teresa "Teri" Takai for the Defense assistant secretary for networks and information integration, a job that currently includes the Defense CIO title.

Digital Government

McCain Fesses Up

The Defense Department would like to whittle down the number of reports it has to provide Congress every year as part of a project to cut $100 billion from its overhead during the next five years, Ashton Carter, Under Secretary of Defense for Acquisition, Technology and Logistics, <a href=http://armed-services.senate.gov/statemnt/2010/09%20September/Carter%2009-28-10.pdf>told</a> the Senate Armed Services Committee on Tuesday.

Digital Government

Cyber Command To Gobble Up DISA?

That's the word I'm picking up based on a combination of some good intel and speculation by more than a handful of knowledgeable gadget and gizmo graybeards.

Digital Government

Twitter Uses NSA PR Playbook

At first glance there's no similarity between the oh-so-hip-microblogging service Twitter and the staid and secretive National Security Agency.

Digital Government

Honoring the Chosin Few

On Dec. 6, 1950, the 5th and 7th Marine regiments started their famed advance to the rear (Marines never retreat) from Chosin Reservoir in northeast Korea near the Chinese border to Hungnam, South Korea. They carried their dead and wounded in temperatures that hovered around 35 degrees below zero. The feat is celebrated in the Corps to this day, but it's an otherwise little known event in a widely ignored war.

Digital Government

How the iPad Informs Cyber Command

In his <a href=http://armedservices.house.gov/pdfs/FC092310/AlexanderStatement.pdf>testimony</a> given before the House Armed Services Committee on Thursday, Gen. Keith B. Alexander, commander of the U.S. Cyber Command, cited Apple's iPad, which costs $499 and up, as an example of the challenges the nation faces as it attempts to operate in a global and amorphous cyber space.

Digital Government

Shinseki, IBM and Agent Orange Claims

In July, the Veterans Affairs Department <a href=http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/193853.php>awarded</a> IBM a $9.1 million contract to develop within three months a system to process claims for Vietnam veterans suffering from diseases stemming from exposure to the Agent Orange defoliant sprayed in that country by the Air Force. (The service's units had the motto: "Only you can prevent forests.")

Digital Government

Coast Guard's Approach to EHRs

If everything goes to plan, by the end of September the Coast Guard will award a <a href=https://www.fbo.gov/index?s=opportunity&mode=form&tab=core&id=02e709e7aefc828619352eacd7ae3247&_cview=0>contract</a> for a spanking new commercial electronic health record system that will replace a network based on an ancient version of the Defense Department's electronic medical system.

Digital Government

An Army Smart Phone Webinar

Be forewarned: This is a shameless plug.

Digital Government

Army Testing Combat Gizmos

White Sands Missile Range, N.M. -- The Army is conducting pass-or-fail tests here of <a href=http://www.nextgov.com/nextgov/ng_20100409_1179.php>battlefield communications systems</a>, including wideband versions of the Joint Tactical Radio System, and robots and sensors, said Paul Mehney, a spokesman for the service's integration operation.

Digital Government

Afghanistan in Your Hand

The Program for Culture and Conflict Studies at the Naval Postgraduate School in Monterey, Calif., has developed a database on Afghanistan to help in managing aid and development projects.

Digital Government

First Define the Terms

The Defense Department forks over about half its annual budget -- about $200 billion -- on acquisition of services such as information technology, transportation and upkeep of bases. It's track record of managing these buys is even worse than its record on the procurement of weapons systems, Ashton Carter, Under Secretary of Defense for Acquisition, Technology, and Logistics, told a Pentagon press briefing on Tuesday.