TECHNOLOGY AND THE BUSINESS OF GOVERNMENT

David Mihelcic, chief technology officer for the Defense Information Systems Agency, uses the Web-hosting company GoDaddy.com to work on personal projects at home. He told me he believes it serves as a model for how DISA will provide service for the Defense Department in the future.

Comment on this article in The Forum.Mihelcic said he can remotely rent a Web server from GoDaddy for $3.99 per month, and the company has his server up and running in about 25 minutes. That's a model Mihelcic would like to see emulated at DISA's data centers, run by the agency's Center for Computing Services and managed by Alfred Rivera.

Mihelcic said he has urged Rivera to try to match GoDaddy in speed and price in a service he has dubbed "GoAlfred." And John Garing, DISA's chief information officer, said the agency has started to accomplish those goals.

GoAlfred now provides Web hosting services for the Navy for $88 per month and can turn on a server in one day -- not bad for an agency once excoriated by its Defense customers for sluggish, yet pricey, service.

Of OnStar and DIADS

Mihelcic and Garing, along with other top DISA officials, have been visiting with tech-savvy companies — including Amazon, Google, FedEx and UPS — to learn how Defense can adapt their technology.

The OnStar vehicle emergency service and diagnostic system developed by General Motors caught Garing's eye. OnStar, equipped with a Global Positioning System receiver and a cellular telephone, can locate vehicles and can monitor engine performance through built-in computer systems.

Such a system would allow tracking and diagnostics for every vehicle deployed by Defense, with a call center easily accessible at the push of a button, Garing said. It also would improve maintenance and communications, based on a proven commercial model in use since 1996, Garing said.

Garing also sees potential in Defense adoption of the Delivery Information Acquisition Device technology behind the handheld computers UPS drivers use. The device allows the company to track every driver in its 96,000-vehicle fleet with GPS technology and instantly relay package and delivery information to data centers.

Garing and Mihelcic want to keep any Defense version of these technologies simple. For example, the OnStar system is operated by just three buttons -- phone, roadside assistance and emergency. There is no need for a contractor to "improve" on that by developing a 56-button model, they said.

Five Years Behind the Curve

Garing told me that Defense and DISA are "extraordinarly good at deploying technology that is five years out of date." He put some of the blame on an oversight process that leads to delays that would be unacceptable in the commercial sector.

DISA has been studying myriad commercial systems that officials say could be adopted in six months. But unless the oversight system is fixed, it will take years, Garing said. He did not provide any insights into how the system, which frustrates innovation, could be changed though.

The Cyber Command Power Play?

Last week I reported the Air Force has put formation of its Cyber Command on hold, pending top level review.

At the time, some sources speculated that Adm. Mike Mullen, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, put the kibosh on the Air Force's efforts because he wanted to see a larger role for the Navy in cyberspace.

But a well-placed Air Force insider told me that the Office of the Director of National Intelligence was behind the abrupt halt. The intelligence community, this source told me, "wants all the cyber money, all the cyber toys and the cyber mission."

There would be one serious problem with the intelligence folks taking over the cyber mission, this source told me. ODNI does not have a warfighting mission, "they only want to milk the cow," the source said. "They don't ever want to kill the cow."

I don't know for sure whether the Navy, JCS, ODNI or little green men are behind the Air Force's decision to put Cyber Command on hold. But I do know the Air Force is really paranoid right now — and sometimes there is a good reason for paranoia.

American Airlines Has Change of Heart

Last week I reported in this space that American Airlines had decided to hit troops — many of whom are headed to or from Afghanistan or Iraq — with a $100 fee for a third checked bag.

George Lisicki, commander of the Veterans of Foreign Wars, made a public plea to American to drop the extra bag fee, and on Aug. 13 the carrier did so.

There's nothing like bad publicity to help reverse a policy change.