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No Need for IT in Cabinet
Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano shot down the prospect of a cabinet-level information technology position during an online video address on Tuesday.
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Feds Offer 38,484 Budget Cuts
Federal employees conceived 38,484 ways to cut the federal budget during a month-long contest that ended last week, Office of Management and Budget officials said on Monday.
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Be an Analysis Ninja
Google Analytics Evangelist Avinash Kaushik detailed how to measure the success of a government Web site on Google's <a href="http://googlepublicsector.blogspot.com/">Public Sector Blog</a> last week. And his first instruction was <em>not</em> to turn to any of the tools Google offers in its analytics toolset.
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Recovery.gov Enhances Downloads
The board overseeing stimulus spending has provided Internet users with a bulk download of all federal contract results, after transparency activists griped that Recovery.gov's data was hard to analyze. The new <a href="http://www.recovery.gov/FAQ/Pages/DLCenter.aspx">data set</a>, labeled "AllNationwideContracts.zip," is a single spreadsheet listing the status, location, funds awarded and jobs created for projects across all 50 states.
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Workin' the Recovery.gov Stats
On Thursday, the Recovery Board <a href="http://www.nextgov.com/nextgov/ng_20091015_8475.php?oref=topstory">published the first spending reports</a> on Recovery.gov from companies that received stimulus contracts before Sept. 30. The resulting media <a href="http://www.star-telegram.com/local/story/1689639.html">attention</a> has the White House <a href="http://blogs.wsj.com/washwire/2009/10/14/new-math-counting-stimulus-jobs/">scrambling to explain</a> why so few jobs have been created after spending so much taxpayer money.
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White House Blogs Cybersecurity
The Obama administration has posted three blogs to WhiteHouse.gov on cybersecurity since the sixth annual National Cybersecurity Awareness Month officially kicked off Oct. 1. The <a href=http://www.whitehouse.gov/blog/National-Cybersecurity-Awareness-Month/>first post</a>, by John Brennan, read more like a marketing letter, emphasizing that "government, industry and the individual computer user must all play a role in securing our information networks and data."
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A Short Route to Gov 2.0
<a href="http://www.nextgov.com/nextgov/ng_20091015_3756.php?oref=topnews">My story</a> on Thursday about the creation of <a href="http://go.usa.gov/">go.usa.gov</a>, the official government link shortener, is probably not going to dominate the headlines on the day when Recovery.gov is rolling out the first wave of recipient-reported data. But it's a small example of the type of innovation that can only help the government increase its ability to serve the American public online.
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Whoops, Where Sweden's Web Sites?
We hear a lot about cyberattacks, but here's an "oops" moment that hurts:
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Millions More for Cargo Screening
The Homeland Security Department will spend $88 million in Recovery Act funds on scanning technology that will be used to inspect commercial goods crossing U.S. borders.
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House Kisses Mainframe Goodbye
While our focus at Nextgov is mainly on information technology in the executive branch, I'd like to take a moment to mark the end of an era in the legislative branch's IT saga. On Friday, the House of Representatives <a href="http://www.networkworld.com/news/2009/100909-congress-mainframes.html">decommissioned its last mainframe</a>, which had been in place at the Ford Office Building since 1997.
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Whose Voice Will We Hear?
In my story today on the State Department's grant program to increase the availability of social media and online learning tools in the Middle East, George Washington University professor Henry Farrell calls the program a "sophisticated and interesting approach" to 21st century diplomacy and democracy-building. Given how the events following the Iranian election in June captured the world's attention online, I think most can agree that there is a great deal of untapped potential in social networking tools like Twitter and Facebook, particularly when it comes to increasing citizen engagement.
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Experiencing Technical Difficulties
Hey, this could be a great idea: Congressional committees could post links on their Web sites to something called live webcasts of Hill hearings, allowing the press and public alike to watch and listen virtually from their homes or offices -- without spending time fighting traffic or contributing to greenhouse emissions.
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Intellipedia on the Block?
Colleague Marc Armbinder <a href="http://politics.theatlantic.com/2009/10/shutdown_of_intelligence_community_e-mail_network_raises_concerns.php">posted</a> yesterday an item on his Atlantic Politics blog that the intelligence community is pulling the plug on <a href="https://www.ugov.gov/">uGov</a>, "one of its earliest efforts at cross-agency collaboration," Armbinder wrote.
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Contractors Should 'Refrain' from 'Txts'
<em>The Federal Register</em> is out with an <a href="http://edocket.access.gpo.gov/2009/pdf/E9-24203.pdf">executive order</a>, first announced last week, that prohibits federal employees from text messaging while driving. It pressures companies with government business to "refrain" from distracted driving, too.
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What IT Means to Leaders
Just how much should leaders know about technology? Plenty, according to retired Marine Gen. Anthony Zinni, president of UCLA's Center for Middle East Development and author of "Leading the Charge: Lessons from the Battlefield to the Boardroom." Zinni, who gave one of the keynote presentations at Government Executive's Excellence in Government conference in Washington on Monday, said: "IT has changed the way we lead. ... If you don't grasp the technology and how to use it ... you will be left behind.
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Whole Lot of IT Spending Coming
Yesterday market research firm INPUT released their list of the Top 20 Federal Contracting Opportunities for 2010 and the company's senior vice president of research and analysis services, Kevin Plexico, was kind enough to give us a preview of the list ahead of a Tuesday <a href="http://www.input.com/corp/events_webinar/20091006_Top-20-Federal-Contracts.cfm">webinar</a> introducing the list.
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OMB Pedometers Budget Health
To kick off the fiscal year, the Office of Management and Budget on Thursday is prodding its employees to become fiscally fit inside and out. All OMB staffers were given the option of receiving a pedometer for recording their physical activity online and virtually racing with their colleagues. The top pacer each month earns a free lunch with OMB Director Peter Orszag -- and the most athletic OMB division receives a healthy happy hour.
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Emergency Alert System Not Wired
President Obama on Wednesday declared American Samoa a major disaster after the territory was struck by an earthquake and tsunami. But if the president wanted to spread that message nationwide, today, it wouldn't get very far.
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Transparency, Free Speech, Privacy
The civil liberties group Center for Democracy and Technology on Tuesday highlighted an interesting question facing the administration as it promotes technology as a tool for increasing transparency: Is there such a thing as too much transparency?
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