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RATB: Independent or an Agency?
Officials at the board overseeing stimulus spending and Recovery.gov have stressed to Nextgov that they are part of an independent body, not the White House. Ever since Congress established the Recovery Accountability and Transparency Board last winter, officials have said they should not be described in print as White House officials or government agency officials.
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Mashups Finger Stimulus Fishiness
A federal mashup tool has generated tips for investigations into stimulus fraud and fingered ineligible people who are receiving funds, the independent watchdog overseeing stimulus spending told lawmakers on Thursday.
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DHS: Former 'whipping boy' of Congress
The Homeland Security Department served as "the whipping boy" of Congress during the Bush administration, which only magnified challenges faced by the young organization, said the former cyber chief of DHS during a roundtable discussion Thursday.
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Air Force Needs More PS3s?
Part of my job involves searching through , the online home for almost all procurement-related federal notices. The vast majority of the technology-related notices in <a href="http://www.fedbizopps.gov/">FedBizOps</a> are pretty standard: hardware purchases and requests for information for new security software. Occasionally you'll see a notice about a bigger upcoming project.
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Commitee Passes Cybersecurity Bill
The House Committee on Science and Technology approved a bill Wednesday to support cybersecurity research and training, and the development of clear cybersecurity standards for federal agencies to follow.
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Recovery.gov Won't Warn Users
The independent board overseeing Recovery.gov is rejecting calls for a disclaimer on the stimulus-tracking Web site to indicate that some job creation figures are inaccurate.
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Data.gov: Where's the Beef?
Considering the amount of resistance the White House has faced recently on everything from health care reform to the ballooning deficit, it would appear that President Obama's honeymoon is officially over. That means it may be time to start questioning how successful his administration has been in terms of delivering on promises to bring unprecedented transparency to the executive branch by publishing government data online.
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A Cold '11 Budget, But Warmth for IT
The Office of Management and Budget has <a href="http://www.nextgov.com/nextgov/ng_20091113_3188.php?oref=topnews">asked</a> civilian agencies to ready themselves for fiscal 2011 budgets to be frozen at fiscal 2010 levels or, even worse, to be cut by 5 percent because the Obama administration is facing record deficits, which could become a drag on Democrats in elections next year.
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Social Media Rx for Drug Safety
An industry group representing pharmaceutical companies is proposing that the Food and Drug Administration require a FDA-certified emblem - akin to a Good Housekeeping seal - on Web content that contains medication information.
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Y2K's Legacy: Not a Waste
Writer Farhad Manjoo has an <a href=http://www.slate.com/id/2235357/>article</a> on Slate about the government's victory over the Year 2000 computer bug. In brief, computers didn't crash as date fields clicked over from 99 (for 1999) to 00 (for 2000) as was widely feared because the federal government, working in concert with companies and other countries, worked to rewrite software code to show four digits for years instead of two.
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We Want Your Comments
You'll notice a new feature on Nextgov today. You now can submit a comment on a Nextgov article using the Disqus platform, which you will find at the bottom of each article. The application replaces the site's Forum section, with the expectation that if readers see comments at the bottom of an article it will encourage a dialogue.
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TSA Nominee Doesn't Check Out
My <em>Government Executive</em> colleague Alyssa Rosenberg has some <a href="http://blogs.govexec.com/fedblog/2009/11/vetting_gone_wrong.php">harsh but fair words</a> about he Obama administration's vetting process:
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Cybersecurity Goes Mainstream
Sunday night, the CBS news program <em>60 Minutes</em> devoted its first <a href=http://www.cbsnews.com/video/watch/?id=5578986n&tag=contentMain;cbsCarousel>15-minute (or so)</a> segment to cyber espionage, quoting such experts in the space as Jim Lewis, director of the technology and public policy program at the Center for Strategic and International Studies; Mike McConnell, former director of National Intelligence; and Rep. Jim Langevin, D-R.I., co-founder and co-chair of the House Cybersecurity Caucus.
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FDA on Pharma Ads 2.0
This week the Food and Drug Administration is holding <a href="http://www.fda.gov/aboutfda/centersoffices/cder/ucm184250.htm">hearings</a> on the promotional use of social media by the pharmaceutical industry. Consumers, advertisers and the health care industry are anxious to know how FDA will advise drug companies on harnessing the viral power of social networking while protecting consumers from bogus medical advice.
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(Mail)Man Vs. Machine
Federal auditors on Thursday reported that workforce costs at the U.S. Postal Service decreased only slightly this year, despite automation at USPS.
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A HIPAA Twist That Can Hurt
Today at the TechAmerica panel discussion on identity management, Rick Kam of ID Experts brought up an interesting anecdote that illustrates the importance of using precise language when crafting information security legislation. Kam said confusion over the wording of the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HIPAA">Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act</a> (HIPAA) has led to some victims of medical identity theft being locked out of their own medical records.
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Will Androids Land on Networx?
The trade press has been all abuzz about Google's Linux-based mobile operating system, dubbed Android: Which manufacturers will offer the application? Will it give the proprietary iPhone system a run for its money?
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Promoting Plain Language
You can have the most gorgeous Web site with the most amazing interactive functionality, but if the words on the site don't work for the site's users, you don't have a good Web site. That's why GSA's Office of Citizen Services decided to focus on plain language for <a href="http://www.usa.gov/webcontent/usability/world_usability_day2009.shtml">World Usability Day 2009,</a> according to Nicole Burton, a usability specialist at GSA.
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The Unreported White House Logs
The White House has been attracting attention recently for posting <a href="http://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/disclosures/visitor-records">visitor logs</a> online in an attempt to demonstrate the unprecedented level of transparency that President Obama has promised since his campaign began. This is the first time such information has been posted online.
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