Digital Government

VA Watchdog Hacked

One of the best resources for veterans who have problems with the Veterans Affairs Department is the <a href=http://www.vawatchdog.org/>VA Watchdog Web site</a> founded and edited by Larry Scott.

Digital Government

Giving Some Thanks on Thanksgiving

Tomorrow is Thanksgiving, so I'm going to doff my grump hat and thank the folks who make this column possible, starting with some really fine military public affairs officers.

Digital Government

Googling Iraq

Want a positive sign that security in Iraq is improving?

Digital Government

VA's Spiffy New Web Site, But . . .

I really, really wanted to praise the slick design of the redone <a href=http://www.va.gov/>Web site</a> operated by the Veterans Affairs Department, which it launched on Monday. But, alas, I instead need to put on, once again, my grump hat.

Digital Government

Health Data Security CSI

The last place you would expect to find Hollywood-based TV producers is at a policy wonk-fest held at a Holiday Inn in Southwest Washington.

Digital Government

UK Eyes Selling Off Its Weather Service

The <a href= http://www.metoffice.gov.uk/>Met Office,</a> the United Kingdom's version of the National Weather Service is on the sales block, the Times of London <a href= http://business.timesonline.co.uk/tol/business/industry_sectors/support_services/article6920675.ece>reported</a> yesterday.

Digital Government

Treating 419,000

That figure -- 419,000 vets form the Afghanistan and Iraq wars -- staggers the mind, especially when you consider that this is 61 percent above the number the Veterans Affairs Department treated in its 153 hospitals and more than 1,110 outpatient clinics in 2008, according to the report on the Senate version of the VA fiscal 2010 appropriations bill passed on Tuesday.

Digital Government

GPS-Equipped Critters Map Sea

I consider GPS, along with the Internet, the Defense Department's two greatest gifts to the planet, and I continue to be amazed at the uses folks way outside Defense find for it. That includes a <a href=http://www.wcs.org/new-and-noteworthy/new-atlas-of-the-patagonian-sea.aspx>project</a> by the Wildlife Conservation Society to map South America's Patagonian Sea.

Digital Government

The Checks Aren't in the Mail

The claims are part of an even larger pile of all GI bill claims, which includes the older and less generous Montgomery GI bill, which stood at 211,327, down about 7 percent from the 226,817 claims a week ago.

Digital Government

Army Afghanistan Tele-Shrinks

The Army has added about 2,700 behavioral health specialists to treat combat stress during the past two years, with just under 300 deployed to Afghanistan and Iraq.

Digital Government

10 Security Tips for Cyber Wingmen

Everyone who wears Air Force blue has a role in defending cyberspace, Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. Norton Schwartz said in a service wide message.

Digital Government

Memories for Remembrance Day

I have always preferred Remembrance Day as a better name for the Nov. 11 holiday than Veterans Day, as the former requires me to pause, think and reflect on those who served and still serve.

Digital Government

Those Who Serve

Tomorrow is Veterans Day, and it's fitting to pause and honor those who have answered the nation's call for service. Those who serve include not only the men and women in uniform, but State Department folks such as my friend of nearly 30 years Abigail Friedman, a foreign service officer who traded in her diplomat threads for Army fatigues this summer.

Digital Government

Job Offers from the Heart

Last Friday, I asked your help in finding a Web design job for Erick Gonzalez, a former Navy corpsman who served two tours with the Marines in Iraq who ended up homeless in Washington, one of the 130,000 homeless veterans in this country.

Digital Government

Homeless Vet Needs Web Design Job

Sometimes I have one of those human encounters that takes my breath away. It had just one of those encounters on Nov. 3 when I met Erick Gonzalez, a former Navy corpsman who served two tours with the Marines in Iraq. He now calls his car home.

Digital Government

It's Getting Crowded Up There

The U.S.. Strategic Command oversees a lot of operations and assets, including the country's nuclear strike force, missile defense, satellites and cyberspace operations. But the STRATCOM commander views a midspace collision of two satellites this February as the "seminal event" of the year.

Digital Government

Mullen on Social Network, Flash Drives

Adm. Mike Mullen told me that the Defense Department is in the process of modifying its bans on the use of social networks and flash drives during a brief conversation at a Government Executive Leadership Breakfast at the National Press Club on Wednesday. But he did not give me a timeline in when this would happen.

Digital Government

A Virtual World for Amputees

Three virtual reality companies have started to develop an <a href=http://www.businesswire.com/portal/site/google/?ndmViewId=news_view&newsId=20091102005423&newsLang=en>online world for amputees</a> with funding from the Army's Telemedicine and Advanced Technology Research Center.

Digital Government

No, This is The Intel Budget

The United States spent $49.8 billion on the National Intelligence Program for fiscal 2009, according to a <a href=http://www.dni.gov/press_releases/20091030_release.pdf>press release</a> issued on Oct. 30 by Dennis Blair, director of National Intelligence.

Digital Government

Army Technology Live

The U.S. Army Research, Development and Engineering Command plans to launch a blog on Nov. 2, the latest entry into the Army Live/Defense Department Live blogosphere.