Digital Government

HHS system flushes out 1M deadbeat parents

A Department of Health and Human Services computer system to track down 'deadbeat' parents is still several weeks from being fully completed, yet it already has identified more than 1 million parents who owe child support. In September 1996, HHS awarded a contract to Lockheed Martin Information Sup

Digital Government

OMB seeks better Y2K cost tally

In an effort to calculate a more accurate cost of fixing federal computers for the Year 2000 problem, the Office of Management and Budget this month asked agencies to prepare more detailed reports on Year 2000 costs. OMB issued a memorandum Aug. 13 that directed agencies to submit by Sept. 1 with t

Digital Government

CSC nabs NSA outsourcing pact

The National Security Agency last week awarded an outsourcing contract for the maintenance and operation of several of its topsecret computer systems that for the first time involves the transition of NSA employees to the private sector. Computer Sciences Corp. last week announced that it had won

People

Schools Should Use Caution When Spending E-Rate Money

Experts last week warned school districts that are waiting on E-Rate money to think twice before moving forward on any technology purchasing decisions

Digital Government

NASA to put Net in the stars

NASA last week announced plans for a new initiative to extend its research efforts to the stars by developing an Internetlike network in space for future missions and potential human colonization on other planets. Researchers soon will begin exploring ways that commercial Internet research can com

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

Digital Government

Defense mulls securing comm with vendors

The Defense Department last week released a request for information for technology that would allow defense contractors and suppliers to encrypt their communications with the department. DOD is interested in using a publickey infrastructure (PKI), which uses digital signature and encryption techni

Digital Government

Industry balks at Clinton critical protection plan

The Clinton administration took its first step last week to form partnerships with companies and privatesector groups to protect the nation's critical infrastructures from electronic and physical threats, but the effort is already drawing criticism from the telecommunications industry. The Commerc

Digital Government

NASA PC cluster on IT crime trail

NASA has designed a lowcost, highperformance computing cluster of PCs to analyze evidence gathered from network intrusions and other computer crime investigations. The space agency's Computer Crimes Division (CCD) is using a Beowulfclass highperformance computing cluster to process evidence gat

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

Digital Government

CIOs float plan for federal IT architecture

A committee of the Chief Information Officers Council has issued a draft plan for a governmentwide information technology architecture designed to help agencies meet a mandate to align computer systems with agency business and mission needs. While the plan does not provide a detailed overview of a

Digital Government

HHS Web sites focus on minority health, cancer

The Department of Health and Human Services this summer launched two intriguing World Wide Web sites. Most recently, HHS launched a new Web site to make information available about its Initiative to Eliminate Racial and Ethnic Disparities in Health, a new program President Clinton unveiled earlier

Digital Government

DOD ignores security policy

Despite a growing awareness of security threats and hacker attacks, many Defense Department agencies are ignoring a policy that requires the use of certified secure operating systems and are choosing instead to use commercial operating systems, such as Microsoft Corp.'s Windows NT, for critical app

Digital Government

OAG unveils intranet-based travel planning software

OAG Worldwide has expanded its government business unit and launched a product to meet the growing federal demand for employee travel planning software to replace traditional paperbased methods. The government business unit of the firm, which boasts customers from almost every federal agency, has

Digital Government

The security champ

Richard Guida returned to his computer science roots three months ago when he took over the post of champion for security of the Government Information Technology Services Board. Although he spent the last 25 years working in the Navy's nuclear propulsion program, Guida simultaneously earned a bach

Digital Government

White House: E-forms bill impedes Y2K fix

The Clinton administration last week voiced concern that a bill calling for the government to distribute and accept forms electronically would delay agencies from completing Year 2000 fixes. The bill, called the Government Paperwork Elimination Act, would require the Commerce Department to create w

Digital Government

DOJ site shows you the scenes of the crimes

The Justice Department's Crime Mapping Research Center has launched a new World Wide Web page to provide access to the latest information on crime mapping, which uses computer systems to show trends in crime incidents by regions. Point your browser to www.ojp.usdoj.gov/cmrc to learn more about high

Digital Government

Public-key committee to meet with CIOs

The Federal Public Key Infrastructure Steering Committee has approved its action plan to develop an interoperable publickey infrastructure (PKI) for governmentwide use. Members of the committee, which is composed of representatives from all federal agencies either using or considering the use of p

Digital Government

GSA: Protect Web users' privacy

The General Services Administration last week signed off on a governmentwide memo urging agencies to place a high priority on protecting the public's privacy on federal World Wide Web sites. The July 9 memo from Joan Steyaert, GSA's deputy associate administrator for information technology, outline

Digital Government

Treasury tests smart cards

The Treasury Department and eight vendors last week launched a pilot to test the use of a smart card security application for World Wide Webbased financial transactions. The new pilot, announced last week at the EGov 98 conference in Washington, D.C., is the first joint Secure Electronic Transact