Digital Government

Intercepts

HONOLULU Thanks but no thanks. The Interceptor flyaway rig has touched down here en route to WesPac with heavy traffic coming in from my Courthouse Road stealth site. Despite strong signals earlier this month that Maj. Gen. David Kelley had been all but fitted for the DISA honcho official unifor

Digital Government

Marines upgrade 386s to Pentiums, save money

Just as the famous Parris Island S.C. Marine boot camp instills guts in its recruits the base's computer division installed more powerful guts in the base's computers. The Depot Computer and Telecommunications Division (DCTD) at the Marine Corps' Recruit Depot Parris Island recently installed high

Digital Government

Intercepts

DISA goes green. 'Tis fitting to report on St. Patrick's Day that Army Maj. Gen. David Kelley a truly lucky Irishman who gets to wear green all year will take over as DISA's director from Air Force Lt. Gen. Al Edmonds. According to tidbits picked up by my wee folk on the Ering Kelley currently D

Digital Government

1108th wears many hats serving as DSCS gatekeeper

Combine the functions of a worldwide satellite communications company with a local telephone company throw in a bunch of Spanish linguist radio operators and stir in the operation of the mythical WashingtonMoscow 'hot line ' and you begin to get a sense of the mission of the Army's 1108th Signal B

Digital Government

DOD, DOT join forces to expand civilian use of GPS

The Defense and Transportation departments reached an agreement last month that ensures civilian users continued access to a second frequency from the Global Positioning System (GPS). DOT officials called the agreement 'essential' for applications such as the nextgeneration GPSbased air traffic c

Digital Government

IT spending remains flat

Total federal spending on information technology systems and services will hit $24.8 billion in fiscal 1998 up slightly from $24.7 billion in the current fiscal year according to Bruce McConnell director of the information policy branch of the Office of Management and Budget. McConnell said that wh

Digital Government

Defense spending on C4I to hit $40B

Defense Department spending on command control communications computers and intelligence (C4I) will hit $40 billion in fiscal 1998 a $3 billion jump from fiscal 1997 a top DOD official said last month. Fiscal 1998 spending for C4I will remain 'robust' to support battlefield 'information dominance '

Digital Government

Sutten leads the evolution of the Army Signal Command

FORT HUACHUCA Ariz. To paraphrase Winston Churchill Maj. Gen. Charles Sutten did not intend to preside over the demise of the Army Signal Command (ASC) here when he took over as commanding general of its predecessor the Information Systems Command (ISC) in July 1995. But Sutten faced a situation

Digital Government

DISA discloses secret NSA pact with Sprint

The Defense Information Systems Agency late last month publicly acknowledged a contract awarded to Sprint last fall for a classified global telecommunications network designed primarily to serve the supersecret National Security Agency according to industry analysts. Sources said last week that Sp

Digital Government

Nuts-and-bolts FAA site provides wealth of data

Despite the increased use of tools and technologies to add superficial glitz and pizazz to federal Web sites the public still pounces on those providing timely relevant or valuable information. Take a look at the Federal Aviation Administration's Aviation Safety Data site which opened for business

Digital Government

Intercepts

Gauss far from gone. The DISA GCCS and GCSS czar Rear Adm. John Gauss finds rumors of his imminent departure laughable. To those who believe or wish he would retire Gauss pointed out that he has not yet spent three years in grade as an 07 and he plans to hang around at least long enough for th

Digital Government

AT&T outbids GTE for DOD pact

It is hard to outdo a local telephone company in its own market but AT&T Government Markets did exactly that when it beat GTE Hawaiian Telephone Co. for a 10year contract to develop and operate an advanced digital network to serve 70 000 Defense Department users in Hawaii. Although billed by the D

Digital Government

GTSI reports FY '96 loss

Government Technology Services Inc. reported a loss of $17.6 million for its 1996 fiscal year that company executives said was caused by onetime writeoffs. Chief executive officer Dendy Young said the writeoffs will allow the company to straighten up its balance sheet going into the new fiscal y

Digital Government

ASC loses staff, gains power

FORT HUACHUCA Ariz. The Army's worldwide communications supplier will have lost more than half its peak strength of 40 000 civilian and military personnel by the end of fiscal 1998 but its commanding officer Maj. Gen. Charles Sutten believes this amounts to 'a move for the better.' The Army Signa

Digital Government

AT&T grabs third DISN award

The Defense Information Systems Agency last week completed the last in its initial series of acquisitions for the nextgeneration Defense Information Systems Network with the award of a $125 million video teleconferencing contract to AT&T Government Markets. The Defense Video ServicesGlobal (DVSG

Digital Government

Intercepts

The ASD/C3I hunt again. The search for a new ASD/C3I has almost become long enough for a soap opera. I continue to pick up signals that SecDef William Cohen still likes the bifurcated approach to the job with a deputy assistantship for a CIO (reserved for OMB IT guru Bruce McConnell) and an ASD s

Digital Government

Web tracks budget bloat

Before reading the 2 384 pages that make up the fiscal 1998 Budget of the United States which President Clinton submitted to Congress this month drop in at the Bureau of the Public Debt home page (www.publicdebt.treas.gov) to put everything in perspective. The debtminders at Treasury have a tothe

Digital Government

Intercepts

The ASD/C3I sweepstakes continued. Chris Mellon a former Senate intell committee staffer for Defense Secretary William Cohen with excellent credentials (great family name and soninlaw of Sen. John Warner) has emerged as the latest possibility to succeed Emmett Paige Jr. Mellon's getting a lot of

Digital Government

Putting government on a high-tech diet

President Clinton plans to rely on information technology to help manage a government that thinks smarter and works harder on a leaner funding diet in fiscal 1998. But he and top agency officials want to ensure that agencies think equally smart and work hard for the billions in IT dollars they plan

Digital Government

AT&T snares billion-dollar DISN pact

AT&T captured the premiere Defense Department network contract of the decade with a bid of $970 million over a nineyear period a figure far below earlier DOD estimates and roughly half the rate of competing bids. The Defense Information Systems Network Transmission ServicesContinental United Stat