Digital Government
Intercepts
New info war ops center. DISA has created a Global Operations and Security Center to provide centralized management for all IWD (information warfaredefend) operations for DOD. Air Force Col. James Sweeder who previously headed NSA's Customer Engineering Support Division will run the new center. S
Digital Government
Agencies Secure Intranets with Firewalls
Although Internet security awareness is growing the security of internal networks has been 'abysmal " according to Richard Power an analyst with the Computer Security Institute San Francisco. This shortcoming is more serious than it used to be because organizations 'are now conducting missioncrit
Digital Government
DES set for overhaul
The National Institute of Standards and Technology is preparing to change for the first time in almost 20 years the required federal standard for the protection of all encrypted government data characterized as sensitive but unclassified. NIST is preparing a Federal Register request for an algorith
Digital Government
Virus prompts partial EPA shutdown
last week a computer virus wiped out files in an estimated 600 workstations in the midAtlantic region of the Environmental Protection Agency and disabled up to two dozen other computers causing the agency to shut down its network operations in the region on Thursday. Jim Newsom deputy associate re
Digital Government
A Glossary of Intranet Terms
BOOTP Bootstrap Protocol A protocol that allows a machine to get its IP address dynamically. DHCP Dynamic Host Configuration System. Based on BOOTP this protocol also provides for dynamic address allocation in assigning IP address to workstations on a network. DNS Domain Naming System. This
Digital Government
NIST taps private sector for testing
The National Institute of Standards and Technology is preparing to release a request for information to expand privatesector participation in a pilot program testing methods to decode encrypted data. The Emergency Access Demonstration Project is testing socalled keyrecovery systems that make up
Digital Government
Report suggests DOD limit Ada use
The National Research Council has recommended that the Defense Department roll back its longstanding often unpopular mandate requiring the Ada programming language and reserve it for use only in weapons systems and other warfighting software. The recommendations are part of 'Ada and Beyond: Softwar
Digital Government
Signal, Garcia Consulting land $30M award to simplify patent process
The Patent and Trademark Office awarded last month a $30 million contract to Signal Corp. and Garcia Consulting Inc. to provide information research and system development support for patent examiners. Signal and Garcia Consulting will compete for task orders under the Information Research and Faci
Digital Government
Setting an agenda for the 2nd term
Despite the departure from Congress of several strong champions of procurement reform vendors and government managers believe that the new leaders of congressional oversight committees will continue on the path of the last several years and will push for agencies to adopt commercial business practi
Digital Government
BC2S gets ATM technology boost
To cover the Defense Department's ongoing withdrawal of U.S. forces from Bosnia to Germany Pentagon communicators have upgraded the Bosnian Command and Control System (BC2S) to handle huge multigigabyte data files from platforms such as spy satellites and Predator Unmanned Aerial Vehicles. Air Forc
Digital Government
Agencies fail to embrace incentives
Two years after enactment of the Federal Acquisition Streamlining Act federal agencies have not complied with provisions of the law that demand they offer performance incentives to their acquisition staffs according to a report by the General Accounting Office. Agencies have made more progress sett
Digital Government
FEDERAL BYTES
Hysterical GAO testimony? The elections are over well at least some of them are. An online publication known as Crypt Newsletter began a vote this month via the Internet for the 1996 Computer Virus Hysteria Awards. The awards are based on the premise that the media and industry have been propaga
Digital Government
FEDWIRE
Brubaker heads for private sector P aul Brubaker who spearheaded information technology management and acquisition reform for his boss Sen. William Cohen (RMaine) will become vice president of business development for Federal Data Corp. in December. Cohen will retire from Congress when his term en
Digital Government
Bringing computers into the courtroom
If you think a federal judge who deals with highprofile cases involving terrorists and government skullduggery wouldn't have much of an interest in computers think again. Royce C. Lamberth U.S. District Judge for the District of Columbia talks as enthusiastically about plans to build the courtroom
Digital Government
AGENDA
NOVEMBER 5 8 MultiMedia Telecommunications Association's UNICOM '96: Driving the Convergence of Communications and Computing. Washington Convention Center. Washington D.C. Call (617) 4331650 Web www.comdex.com.67 IntraNetworking Summit '96. Washington Convention Center. Washington D.C. Call (508
Digital Government
AWARDS
Systems Research and Applications. A $42 million award for information process technical support services. Defense Supply ServiceWashington Attn: Michelle Bailey 5200 Army Pentagon Washington D.C. 203105200.Fuentez Systems Concepts Inc. A $40 million contract to provide information resources mana
Digital Government
NIMA launches $600 million digital mapping project
The National Imagery and Mapping Agency (NIMA) last month kicked off the development of a $600 million eightyear effort to build a digital mapping infrastructure that will provide mapping capabilities to not only the Defense Department but also to civilian agencies. NIMA formerly the Defense Mappi
Digital Government
NIH ousts De Vera from contract helm
The National Institutes of Health has reorganized the management of three highprofile information technology acquisition programs replacing Manny De Vera as director of the office that runs the governmentwide contracts. Leamon Lee associate director for administration at NIH said he will lead the
Digital Government
Video-based training headed to health care workers' desktops
The Department of Veterans Affairs will soon install a distributed computerbased video training system to teach health care personnel how to use a new distributed application. The training course is designed to teach VA staff members how to use the agency's Primary Care Management Module a client/
Digital Government