Digital Government
DISA's Star Trek Communicators
One of the most tantalizing lines buried in the <a href=http://comptroller.defense.gov/defbudget/fy2011/budget_justification/pdfs/01_Operation_and_Maintenance/O_M_VOL_1_PARTS/DISA_FY11.pdf>fiscal 2011 budget request for the Defense Information Systems Agency</a> is a $102.8 million single item for a Senior Leadership Enterprise communications system.
Digital Government
Takai Update, with Pal Aneesh
Yesterday I <a href=http://whatsbrewin.nextgov.com/2010/02/california_cio_next_defense_cio.php?oref=latest_posts>reported</a> that the White House plans to tap Teri Takai, chief information officer for California, as the new Defense Department CIO.
Digital Government
Yes, It Snows in Washington
I interviewed about 10 people Inside The Beltway on Wednesday and Thursday from my office here in The Original Las Vegas, N.M., and before we addressed the topic I wanted to discuss, each and every one of my interviewees felt the need to tell me a tale of woe about snows, past, present and future.
Digital Government
California CIO Next Defense CIO?
I'm picking up very strong signals that the White House has started to vet <a href=http://www.cio.ca.gov/About/takai.html>Teri Takai</a>, who has served as the California's chief information officer for the past two years, as the next CIO of the Defense Department.
Digital Government
That Brit Report On Chinese Cyber Spying
The <em>New York Times</em> rather breathlessly <a href=http://www.nytimes.com/2010/02/01/world/europe/01spy.html>reported</a> during the past weekend that in 2007 the head of British intelligence warned businesses in England that Chinese intelligence agencies were engaged in a wide ranging effort to hack into their computers.
Digital Government
Oops, Missed the VA Approps Bill
As more than one kind reader pointed out, <a href=http://whatsbrewin.nextgov.com/2010/02/vas_66_billion_man.php?oref=latest_posts>I erred on Monday when I said Congress has yet to pass the 2010 VA Appropriations Bill.
Digital Government
VA's $6.6 Billion Man
President Obama has proposed a $3.3 billion information technology budget for the Veterans Affairs Department in fiscal 2011, the same as the record VA IT budget in fiscal 2010. This must make Roger Baker, the department's chief information officer, the most sought after <a href=http://whatsbrewin.nextgov.com/2009/05/the_good_news_and_bad_news.php>canasta partner</a> in all of Washington.
Digital Government
Wildfire Radios Sent to Haiti
When the U.S. Southern Command needed a whole mess of radios to support folks engaged in Haitian relief operations, it turned to the <a href=http://www.nifc.gov/communications_radios.htm>National Interagency Fire Center</a> in Boise, Idaho.
Digital Government
Before iPad, There was Newton
By now, practically everyone on the planet knows that Steve Jobs and Apple introduced on Wednesday the iPad tablet, the machine That Will Change The World As We Know It Forever.
Digital Government
Who's in Charge at MHS?
That's a good question, since <a href=http://mhs.osd.mil/bioDetail.aspx?ID=19>Ellen Embry</a>, who has been performing the duties of the assistant secretary of Defense for Health Affairs since Dr. S. Ward Casscells <a href=http://www.nextgov.com/slideshows/casscells-slideshow.php>resigned</a> in April 2009, announced at the kick off of the Military Health System Conference on Monday that she too plans to retire. Folks in the know tell me she will leave in a matter of days.
Digital Government
The Army's Five Year Afghanistan Plan
The United States has operated in Afghanistan for nine years and based on a FedBizOpps notice last week, at least one part of the Army plans for another five years.
Digital Government
A Call Center That Doesn't Take Calls?
The answer to that question is the Veterans Affairs Department's Education Call Center in Muskogee, Okla., which no longer takes calls from veterans on Thursdays or Fridays.
Digital Government
Strike Two?
I'm picking up five-by-five signals - that's "loud and clear" in radio speak -- that the Veterans Affairs Department's $600 million financial and asset management system may never take wing.
Digital Government
U.S. Behind Haiti Earthquake?
Some truly off-the-wall comments on a story on the Haitian relief operations <a href=http://www.nextgov.com/nextgov/ng_20100115_9940.php>I wrote last week</a> suggest that Haiti was not hit by an earthquake but some sort of a planned attack by the United States.
Digital Government
Is Boeing's New 747 Hackable?
Boeing's newest version of its largest commercial aircraft, the 747-8, could be hacked, according to a little noticed <a href=http://edocket.access.gpo.gov/2010/2010-661.htm>item</a> published in the Federal Register by the Federal Aviation Administration on Jan. 15.
Digital Government
Disaster is the Common Enemy
Some hard working soul has put together a mind-boggling <a href=http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Response_to_the_2010_Haiti_earthquake>Wikipedia list</a> of more than 70 countries that have joined together to provide millions of Haitian people battered by Tuesday's earthquake with the basics of life: food, water and shelter.
Digital Government
Virginia Task Force 1 to Haiti
One of the first outfits to respond to the disaster in Haiti was the all volunteer Fairfax Co., Va., Fire and Rescue Department -sponsored urban search and rescue team, known as Virginia Task Force 1.
Digital Government
A Suicide Averted
The Defense and the Veterans Affairs departments offer a wide range of tools to help soldiers and veterans on the brink of suicide, including counseling centers and 800 number help lines.
Digital Government
St. Damien and the Bureaucrats
I spent eight out of 12 days of my Hawaii Christmas vacation on the island of Molokai and decided it made sense to read a biography of <a href=http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Father_Damien>St. Damien</a>, the Belgian priest who volunteered to care for lepers banned to that island.
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