Digital Government

Intercepts

Y2K SHUFFLE: Deputy CIO Marv Langston has assumed overall managment of Y2K within the Pentagon. This indicates the increased seriousness with which top DOD leaders, including SecDef William Cohen, view the problem. Where does that leave the Pentagon's ''Y2K czar'' Bill Curtis, who reportedly found

  • By Bob Brewin
Digital Government

Army uses quick-buy method for large satcom pact

The Army's satellite communications program office has embraced the principles of acquisition reform, proving that the same methodology that speeds the purchase of small, lowcost products such as PCs can work with larger, more expensive satellite Earth stations. The Commercial Satcom Terminal Prog

  • By Bob Brewin
Digital Government

Australian firm eyes DOD telecom pact

In what observers say is a first for the Defense Department, an Australian carrier plans to compete as a prime contractor against large U.S. telecommunications companies for DOD's $2 billion Pacific, South American and Caribbean telecommunications network. Telstra, which is partially owned by the A

  • By Bob Brewin and Laura Mason
Digital Government

House bills take aim at DOD IT programs

When Congress returns to session this September, it will conduct conferences on Defense Department Authorization and Appropriations bills which could realign funding for a number of key DOD information technology programs. This includes a $298.1 million slash in funding in the House Appropriations

  • By Bob Brewin
Digital Government

War College embarks on 'golden age'

Vice Adm. Arthur Cebrowski officially took over as president of the Naval War College last month, amid plans to take on new missions to develop warfare concepts and doctrine as well as to place more emphasis on networkcentric warfare. At a changeofcommand ceremony, Adm. Jay Johnson, chief of nav

  • By Bob Brewin
Digital Government

GPS Plots the Public Sector

During the Age of Exploration, the difference between a good map and a bad one often meant the difference between a successful voyage and ending up feeding the fishes.

  • By Bob Brewin
Digital Government

DISA unveils new plans for DMS

The Defense Information Systems Agency last week confirmed two changes to the Defense Message System that respond to concerns voiced by the nuclear community and to directions from the Joint Chiefs of Staff to insert commercial products. DISA will operate three Defense Message Transition Centers to

  • By Bob Brewin and Heather Harreld
Digital Government

Intercepts

ATM ATTACK. I'm picking up reports of yet another DISA vs. The World turf battle, this one over the agency's desire to install its own ATM switches on Army, Navy, Air Force and Marine bases and stations. This seems a bit redundant because all the services have longrange projects the Army's CUITN

  • By Bob Brewin
Digital Government

GAO: Rogue networks thwart DISN

The continued operation of separate telecommunications networks by the Army, the Navy, the Air Force, the Marine Corps and other Defense Department agencies threatens the viability of the Defense Information Systems Network (DISN) to provide a global commonuser network for DOD users worldwide, acc

  • By Bob Brewin
Digital Government

Intercepts

Dumping DISA? My sniffer satellite has picked up a number of signals that Lt. Gen. David Kelley and his crew on Courthouse Road face defections by unhappy customers on both the telecom and data processing sides of DISA's house. I have picked up mediumstrength signals that one of the uniformed serv

  • By Bob Brewin
Digital Government

Anti-piracy bill threatens security tests

A bill designed primarily to protect digital copyright laws contains a provision that could make illegal the network security testing often used by federal agencies to gauge how safe their networks are from hacker attacks or other unauthorized uses. The legislation, called the Digital Millennium Co

  • By Bob Brewin, L. Scott Tillett and Heather Harreld
Digital Government

Intercepts

The Interceptor's antennas are folded again this week while he's off taking in the sights in foreign lands. The FCW staff who remain stateside, however, have set up dishes to intercept the latest IT scuttlebutt at DOD and civilian agencies. VIVE NIMA. For weeks, the buzz in geospatial circles has b

  • By Bob Brewin
Digital Government

Intercepts

The Interceptor has folded his antennas for the month to take some muchneeded R&R overseas. In the interim, the FCW staff has erected new dishes to intercept the latest talk on the street at the Defense Department and civilian agencies. SETTING A NEW COURSE. Rear Adm. J.J. Dantone has held positio

  • By Bob Brewin
Digital Government

Intercepts

The Interceptor has folded his antennas for the next month to take some muchneeded R&R overseas. In the interim, the FCW staff has erected new dishes to intercept the latest talk on the street at the Defense Department and civilian agencies. Y2K TAR BABY. If you haven't heard all the Republican ja

  • By Bob Brewin
Digital Government

Civilian links the fleet's users

Civil engineers as a rule do not glamorize the tools of their trade. Bulldozers, for example, hold a fascination for small boys but are simply very large machines that are capable of moving large amounts of earth more efficiently than a shovel. Similarly, Monica Shepherd, who worked as a Navy civil

  • By Bob Brewin
Digital Government

Drop anchor at Navy's Y2K site

Anyone wrestling with the Year 2000 problem in the federal government would do well to drop by the Navy Department's Year 2000 World Wide Web site (www.doncio.navy.mil/y2k/year2000.htm). The site offers a cornucopia of general links to Year 2000 information as well as links specifically related to

  • By Bob Brewin
Digital Government

Intercepts

FIRST, BUILD AN INFRASTRUCTURE. That seems to be the motto of all the folks involved in the Critical Infrastructure Protection (CIP) game. The nascent federal CIP effort already has spawned a highly complex bureaucracy and a new alphabet soup of acronyms, reaching from the National Security Council

  • By Bob Brewin
Digital Government

Visiting Naval Observatory page is time well spent

To synchronize your watch to official U.S. time, visit the home page of the Time Service Department at the U.S. Naval Observatory in Washington, D.C.

  • By Bob Brewin
Digital Government

Cyberattacks leave feds chasing 'vapor'

Top administration officials last week warned that the United States lacks the capability to quickly identify the nature and scope of a continuing series of cyberattacks against both federal and private systems that support the country's telecommunications, financial and energy critical infrastruc

  • By Bob Brewin
Digital Government

Satcom price war brews

Government will pay 'the most favorable rates in the world' for phone calls placed over the $5 billion Iridium LLC mobile satellite system (MSS) that starts operation this September, according to the company's top government and industrial marketing manager. Meanwhile, a top executive of Qualcomm I

  • By Bob Brewin
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