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Bob Brewin

Editor at Large

Bob Brewin joined Government Executive in April 2007, bringing with him more than 20 years of experience as a journalist focusing on defense issues and technology. Bob covers the world of defense and information technology for Nextgov, and is the author of the “What’s Brewin” blog.

Results 2341-2350 of 2545

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New Air Force satellites protect, improve space-based communications

April 21, 2008 The Air Force launched two programs last week that it hopes will protect and greatly improve satellite communications for civilian and military use. On April 16, the Air Force launched a satellite carrying instruments that, among other things, can measure disturbances, called scintillations, in the Earth's ionosphere. The scintillations can ...

What's Brewin: Building a deep leadership bench

April 18, 2008 Baby boomers who populate the top federal management ranks have started to retire, and to fill the leadership gap the Army's Office of the Chief Information Officer kicked off a unique program in 2001 to ensure that it has new leaders ready to step in. It's called the Army Knowledge ...

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Nation faces billions in long-term care costs for wounded troops

April 18, 2008 The United States must prepare to provide lifetime care for troops severely wounded in combat operations in Afghanistan and Iraq, the Navy's top doctor warned this week. And an independent study released on Thursday concluded that the country also faces a steep mental health care bill for dealing with combat ...

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Top military doctors say six- to nine-month combat tours would reduce stress

April 17, 2008 The surgeon generals of the Army, Navy and Air Force told senators on Wednesday that the optimal tour in Afghanistan and Iraq to reduce combat stress should be six to nine months with 18 months at home, far shorter than the cut in tours from 15 to 12 months ordered ...

Caution needed for new software process for travel system, says Defense official

April 16, 2008 A top Pentagon official overseeing the development of the troubled Defense Travel System indicated Wednesday that he would take a cautious approach to using a relatively new software development process despite recommendations from other Defense executives to rely on it. Comment on this article in The Forum.At issue is service-oriented ...

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VA in midst of huge project to rewrite regulations in plain language

April 15, 2008 The Veterans Affairs Department is engaged in a massive project to rewrite benefit claims regulations using plain language with the goal to make them clearer and more consistent. For example, VA used its plain language policy on April 12, when it issued a proposed rule for claims dealing with disability ...

VA issues final rule on handling lost personal data

April 14, 2008 The Veterans Affairs Department adopted a final rule on April 11 that details steps the department must take in case it loses sensitive personal information. Those actions include promptly notifying veterans affected by the loss and providing credit protection. Comment on this article in The Forum.VA developed the rule in ...

What's Brewin: Tanker Wars on the Web

April 11, 2008 A decade ago, when a company won a major contract, it would issue a press release and maybe take out a full-page ad in some trade magazines and The Washington Post. If a competitor decided to protest that award, it would hire some high-priced lawyers, issue a press release and ...

Army awards contract for long-range wireless system

April 10, 2008 The Army recently awarded a multimillion -dollar contract for a far-reaching secure wireless communication system using the same, but stronger, Wi-Fi technology found in neighborhood coffee shop to link support units on the front lines with supply depots miles away, according to a top official with the winning bidder. Comment ...

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Hack steered Coast Guard e-learning users to al Jazeera site

April 8, 2008 Last summer, hackers manipulated the Coast Guard's E-Learning system so that users were redirected to a Web site operated by al Jazeera, an Arab news organization, said the service's chief information officer. Field information systems security officers informed the Coast Guard Computer Incident Response Team of the problem, and the ...