Digital Government

Demonizing Veterans, DHS' Deja vu

In July 1975, I wrote an <a href=http://digital.lib.lehigh.edu/trial/vietnam/r1/1975/>article</a> for TV Guide that started:

Digital Government

Gulf War Vet for Top VA Health Post?

I'm picking up strong signals that the Obama administration may tap <a href=http://www.iwu.edu/ondra.shtml>Dr. Stephen Ondra</a>, professor of neurological surgery at the Feinberg School of Medicine at Northwestern University in Chicago, as the new under secretary for health at the Veterans Health Administration.

Digital Government

No Worries About Chinese Hackers

While the intelligence community has uncovered evidence of Chinese penetration of U.S. banking networks, Joel Brenner, national counterintelligence executive, said he's not worried "that the Chinese government wants to bring down our banking system."

Digital Government

No More 'Off the Cuff' Budgets

Households and businesses run on rigorous budgets, but the Defense Department doesn't. During the past six years, Defense Secretary Robert Gates said the department follows what he described on Monday as an "off the cuff" budget approach, to fund essential stuff such as intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance systems, mine-resistant vehicles and medical care for wounded soldiers.

Digital Government

Coming: A Bigger NMCI Mailbox

Navy Marine Corps Intranet users have repeatedly complained about the storage limitations of the intranet's e-mail system ever since the Navy and EDS (now owned by Hewlett-Packard) started to roll it out nine years ago.

Digital Government

An Embarrassing AHLTA Outage

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Digital Government

VA Logo Upgrade On Schedule

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Digital Government

The Rise of the Cyber Warriors

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Digital Government

Bad Budget News for FCS?

The Senate Budget Committee squirreled away $2.37 billion in the $3.5 trillion fiscal 2010 federal budget for the next generation Air Force aerial refueling tanker -- the only Defense Department project that the Senate allocated a separate funding line to in the entire bill.

Digital Government

Qwest Network Up for Grabs?

The Wall Street Journal <a href=http://online.wsj.com/article/SB123861451489479349.html>reported</a> on Thursday that Qwest wants to sell its long-distance network, which the company uses to carry traffic for its traffic for the General Services Administration's Networx contract and for the Defense Department.

Digital Government

Nuke Simulation on the 'Net?

Because the United Sates no longer sets off nuclear bombs to test their powers (it's not environmentally green at all), the National Nuclear Security Administration uses supercomputers at its national laboratories to simulate a really big bang.

Digital Government

VA IT Problems: How Many More?

I reported today on the suspension of a botched, eight-year effort to develop a new patient appointment scheduling application at the Veterans Affairs Department, and I have a hunch that is just one of potentially many VA IT projects in real trouble.

Digital Government

The Army Got It Right

WHITE SANDS MISSILE RANGE, N.M. - Reporters are known as cynics and cranks (that's what my friends in the public affairs shops in the Pentagon tell me) so I'm going to run against the trend. The folks from the White Sands Missile Range, the New Mexico National Guard and the Reserve Officer Training Corps who ran the Bataan Memorial Death March at the Missile Range did the Army proud.

Digital Government

One Tough Hike for Bataan

I'm headed down to the White Sands Missile Range this weekend for the annual <a href=http://www.bataanmarch.com/>Bataan Memorial Death March</a>, which commemorates the 1942 event in the Philippines when 10,000 U.S. and Filipino troops were literally marched to death by the Japanese Army en route to Prisoner of War camps. Another 10,000 escaped and 50,000 barely survived the 70 mile jungle slog.

Digital Government

A Sneak Preview of an AHLTA Interface

Military clinicians really hate the interface for the Defense Department's AHLTA (<a href=http://whatsbrewin.nextgov.com/2009/03/ahlta_maybe_not_a_noun.php>maybe not a noun</a>) electronic health record system.

Digital Government

The NGEN Feeding Frenzy Begins

The Navy will hold an Industry Day on March 31 to discuss how it plans to transition from the Navy Marine Corps Intranet run by EDS to its <a href=http://whatsbrewin.nextgov.com/2009/03/gauss_to_run_navy_ngen_acquisi.php>Next Generation Enterprise Network</a>, a <a href=http://www.govexec.com/story_page.cfm?articleid=39351&ref=rellink>massive deal</a> potentially worth as much as $10 billion.

Digital Government

AHLTA, Maybe Not a Noun

Rep. Vic Snyder, D-Ark., seems as confused as I am on how AHLTA, the name for the Defense Department's electronic health record system, has morphed from an acronym into a noun.