Digital Government
An Earmark Windbag Called MARIAH
Sen. John McCain spent a good bit of time on the Senate floor this week battling earmarks that his colleagues want to stuff into the 2010 Defense appropriations bill. One such earmark included this: a Montana project called the Magnetohydrodynamics Accelerator Research Into Advanced Hypersonics wind tunnel, or MARIAH.
Digital Government
GI Bill Payments Offered Online
Veterans Affairs Secretary Eric Shinseki <a href=http://www1.va.gov/opa/pressrel/pressrelease.cfm?id=1790>announced</a> that starting on Friday veterans who have not yet received their GI bill payments for school tuition and housing will be able to apply online off the <a href=http://www.va.gov/>VA's Web site</a>, which also has further details on the emergency payment program.
Digital Government
The Social Networking Draft Directive
As I <a href=http://www.nextgov.com/nextgov/ng_20090929_3750.php?oref=topstory>reported yesterday</a>, a draft of a new Defense Department social network policy that made its way to the Whats HQ in Las Vegas, N.M., will allow troops to Twitter away on Defense networks almost unfettered as long as they follow a few simple rules.
Digital Government
Filippi to Run Data Exchange?
I've picked up low to medium strength signals that <a href=http://wid.ndia.org/PDF/9WI3_Filippi_Debra_OSD_BIO.pdf>Debra Filippi</a>, the Defense Department's information sharing executive, has emerged as a likely candidate to run the joint interagency program office in charge of sharing information -- including <a href=http://whatsbrewin.nextgov.com/2009/09/interoperability_deadline_looms.php>electronic health information</a> -- between the Defense and the Veterans Affairs Department.
Digital Government
Interoperability Deadline Looms
The Defense and the Veterans Affairs departments are supposed to achieve full interoperability of their electronic health record systems come Wednesday. The meshing of the systems was mandated by the 2008 National Defense Authorization Act. I hear the joint Defense/VA interagency program office is working right up to the deadline.
Digital Government
The Tip of the 9/11 GI Bill Iceberg
Top officials of the Veterans Affairs Department revised the figures they <a href=http://www.nextgov.com/nextgov/ng_20090923_3317.php>put out yesterday</a> on payments it has made to veterans under the post-9/11 GI bill, and said that of today, only 24,186 vets have received checks, or roughly 12 percent of the 200,000 claims it expected to receive by the end of the summer.
Digital Government
A Paging System In a Library?
Remember when libraries were cathedrals of quiet, a bygone era when even a whispered conversation resulted in a stern look from a no-nonsense librarian?
Digital Government
A Warm Farewell to Rob Kolodner
After 31 years of service, Dr. Rob Kolodner, National Health IT coordinator from 2006 until this year -- and before that a 28 year stint at the Veterans Affairs Department capped by a tour as chief health informatics officer in Veterans Health Administration -- retires from the federal nest today.
Digital Government
Hospital Exec Tapped for VA Health Job?
Well-informed folks have told me that <a href=http://www.ssmhc.com/internet/home/ssmcorp.nsf/46a13372d66f8fe8862569f50053bbaa/777fc0898ff3324a862573cd007b92f4?OpenDocument>William Schoenhard</a>, who until this August served as executive vice president and chief operating officer of St. Louis-based SSN Health Care has the inside track as the new head of the Veterans Health Administration.
Digital Government
Will Schools Go Easy on Vets?
I'm picking up strong signals that the Veterans Affairs Department has started contacting colleges and universities around the country to determine whether or not they will throw veterans off campus if the schools do not receive timely tuition payments as promised under the post-9/11 GI bill.
Digital Government
Meyerriecks Intel Acquisition Director
Dennis Blair, director of national intelligence, <a href=http://www.dni.gov/press_releases/20090917_release.pdf>announced</a> on Thursday that he selected Dawn Meyerriecks, a former AOL executive and former chief technology officer at the Defense Information Systems Agency, as the new deputy director of national intelligence for acquisition and technology.
Digital Government
Ft. Huachuca Does It Manually
Most technologically advanced organizations monitor and log traffic on network servers automatically. That's not the case at the Army's <a href=http://www.huachuca.army.mil/site/Visitor/index.asp>Fort Huachuca</a> in Arizona.
Digital Government
The $75B Intelligence Budget
Talking to reporters yesterday about the new <a href="http://www.nextgov.com/nextgov/ng_20090915_2113.php">National Intelligence Strategy</a>, Director of National Intelligence Dennis Blair <a href="http://www.dni.gov/interviews/20090915_interview.pdf">said</a> the strategy would serve as a blueprint for a 200,000 person strong, $75 billion national intelligence enterprise.
Digital Government
The FOUO Debate
Some readers took exception to my posting last week of a high-level <a href=http://whatsbrewin.nextgov.com/2009/09/us_cyber_command_-_the_wiring_diagram.php>wiring diagram for the U.S. Cyber Command</a>, which was labeled "For Official Use Only," a.k.a. FOUO.
Digital Government
The VA's Fort Monmouth Outpost
In 2011 Fort Monmouth, N.J., will be history, with folks from the Army Communications-Electronic Command (CECOM) either moved to Fort Belvoir, Va., or the Aberdeen Proving Ground in Maryland. But CECOM contracting skills will live on in the new Veterans Affairs Department Technology Acquisition Center.
Digital Government
U.S. Cyber Command - The Wiring Diagram
A benevolent reader sent along a a high level organizational diagram for the U.S. Cyber Command, which I am going to share with everyone out there in Whats-land.
Digital Government
VA Kicks Off Innovation Competition
Last month, President Obama <a href="http://whatsbrewin.nextgov.com/2009/08/obama_and_the_911_gi_bill.php">suggested</a> the Veterans Affairs Department tap its employees for ideas on how to cut the claims backlog at the Veterans Benefit Administration. Today, VA Secretary Eric Shinseki kicked off the "Innovation Competition," open to VA employees on an internal Web site.
Digital Government
Cyber War Gets Its Own Museum Show
We still don't have a White House <a href="http://www.nextgov.com/nextgov/ng_20090206_8235.php">cyber czar</a> and the Pentagon is still <a href="http://www.nextgov.com/nextgov/ng_20090624_6400.php">fine-tuning the details</a> of the Cyber Command, but the International Spy Museum in Washington plans will launch a cyber war show dubbed Weapons of Mass Disruption next month.
Digital Government
The Federal Virtual World Challenge
The Army Research and Development Engineering Command is looking for more than a few good virtual worlds, and has kicked of a <a href=http://www.fvwc.army.mil/>real world challenge</a> to find the best for itself, the Homeland Security Department, NASA and other federal agencies.
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