Digital Government
NSA emerges from the shadows
For many years, the National Security Agency has specialized in developing security solutions with ultrasecret requirements for its users, far removed from the services required by the vast majority of government applications. But that is beginning to change. With commercial products and services
Digital Government
Federal Bytes
NOT TOO INVENTIVE. During the opening debate of the 2000 presidential campaign season, Vice President Al Gore was asked what he thought was the biggest mistake of his political career. His reply certainly wasn't debatable. 'If I was going to pick one right off the bat,' Gore replied, 'I would say t
Digital Government
Industry Watch
Northrop wins JSTARS pact Northrop Grumman Corp. last month won a $199 million contract from the Air Force for 10 retrofit kits under the Computer Replacement Program for Joint Surveillance Target Attack Radar System aircraft. The program will replace and upgrade servers, operator workstations, sel
Digital Government
Feds say funds needed for security
A group of federal technology managers last week said one of the biggest obstacles to making the government's computer systems more secure is lack of money and that Congress should fund security efforts in much the same way it funded the effort to fix federal computers for the Year 2000 problem. Do
Digital Government
FileMaker good for small workgroups
There are times when you want to have a desktop or small workgrouplevel database on hand. Perhaps you need to quickly construct a report from a small amount of data or test an interagency data transfer procedure. In these instances, it does not make sense to contact your enterprise database admini
Digital Government
Hill threatens to cut IT funds
Congress may cut off funding for some of the Defense Department's missioncritical information systems after March 31 unless the Pentagon's chief information officer can prove the department is managing the systems in compliance with the 1996 ClingerCohen Act. That legislation was written to force
Digital Government
On the Virtual Campaign Trail
Many political pundits believe that Jesse Ventura did for the Internet what John F. Kennedy did for TV almost 40 years earlier. In 1960, as he began his first presidential debate, Kennedy appeared the perfect picture of good health. The Massachusetts senator was battling to win one of the closestm
Digital Government
OPM drafts vision for work force
Hoping that it can help ease the squeeze of a tight information technology labor market on agencies, the Office of Personnel Management last month moved a step closer to revising the way the government structures and defines the work performed by its IT work force. OPM last month released a draft l
Digital Government
USDA announces rural tech grants
U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Dan Glickman last week announced the USDA Rural Utilities Service Distance Learning and Telemedicine Grant Awards, with four each going to Alaska, Alabama and Texas, while California garnered funds for three institutions.
Digital Government
A Vote for Ingenuity
Information technology, historically, has focused on automation: using computersand human ingenuityto take the grunt work out of extensive calculations, document design and other daily labors. But technology also has become part of the life stream of our communities, creating a new class of skill
Digital Government
IT Shops Weigh the Pros and Cons of Linux
The Linux operating system, once virtually unknown outside a small community of loyal users and developers, is making a lot of people take a second look at their information technology strategy. The operating system has been around for about a decade and has been quietly gaining popularity among IT
Digital Government
DOD selects MCI for $4B telecom pact
MCI WorldCom last week captured one of the biggest federal telecommunications prizes, a Defense Department contract that could be worth up to $4 billion to provide service to U.S. forces operating over 52 million square miles in the Pacific, Indian and Caribbean oceans. Industry sources speculated
Digital Government
Agenda
NOVEMBER 2 Creating Customer Value for Sustained Success. Ritz Carlton Tysons Corner. McLean, Va. This breakfast presentation will highlight the practices of today's marketplace innovators and will feature Fred Wiersema as the keynote speaker. For more information, call (703) 7160413. 2 SpeechRec
Digital Government
Integration Broadens Appeal of GIS Data
State and local government users are on the leading edge when it comes to integrating geographic information systems.
Digital Government
Set-Asides
FAR change hurtful, some say A proposed regulation that aims to protect the government from unreliable contractors is too vague and would hurt small businesses, senior government leaders told Congress last month. The proposed rule, issued by the Office of Management and Budget on July 9, would amen
Digital Government
NSF funds innovative IT research
The Digital Government program, a relatively new and innovative arm of the National Science Foundation, has awarded about $7 million in grants for 16 research projects designed to improve government services using cuttingedge information technology. The proposals range from an application that let
Digital Government
Info security tops VA's list
The Department of Veterans Affairs, which has faced information security challenges, has taken a series of steps in the past year to safeguard its computer systems, according to a General Accounting Office report released last month. GAO concluded that VA has made progress in tightening the securit
Digital Government
Letters to the Editor
Feds not miffed While we welcome your interest in the reimbursable records center program of the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA), corrections are needed of a major...error and a misleading implication in your recent article about it ['NARA fees miff feds,' FCW, Oct. 18]. It is
Digital Government
The fire next time
For weeks this fall the U.S. Forest Service battled a fire across California terrain so rugged that firefighters could do little more than keep its raging flames from spreading. Ultimately, firefighters held back the blaze, using for the first time technology, rather than hoses, as their weapon of
Digital Government