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Public CIOs: Optimistic or Conservative?
It was great to <a href="http://www.nextgov.com/nextgov/ng_20090630_2193.php">see</a> that U.S. Chief Information Officer Vivek Kundra was able to get the new federal government <a href="http://it.usaspending.gov/#">IT dashboard</a> up and running as promised by the end of June. Score one for a government group meeting an IT promise on schedule.
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Cyber Town Hall Falls Back To Earth
President Obama on Wednesday fought for his health care agenda and <a href="http://www.nextgov.com/nextgov/ng_20090623_2200.php">electronic medical records</a> during an online town hall that was streamed from Annandale, Va. But those in the room may have had the biggest impact on the conversation.
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Why Government's Cool Again
We've heard working for government has become cool again. Here's some anecdotal evidence.
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OMB's IT Dashboard is Live
As promised, federal CIO Vivek Kundra unveiled OMB's dashboard application for monitoring federal IT projects this morning at the Personal Democracy Forum Conference in New York City.
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Web Managers Drowning in Data
Our colleagues at the Tech Daily Dose blog report that Sheila Campbell, manager for government Web best practices and co-chairwoman of the Federal Web Managers Council in the General Services Administration's Office of Citizen Services, pegs the number of federal Web sites at about 24,000, the same number that's been used for years, although some have said it's higher than 25,000.
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White House Extends Collaboration
The White House apparently has listened to the public's request for more collaboration in drafting recommendations for an open government directive after <a href="http://www.nextgov.com/nextgov/ng_20090529_2525.php">drawing flack</a> for a short brainstorming session in May. The administration this week began the third and final phase of a <a href="http://www.nextgov.com/nextgov/ng_20090521_4542.php">public process</a> aimed at creating a more transparent, collaborative and participatory government.
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Checking Citizenship Online
During his remarks this afternoon following a meeting with congressional leaders to discuss immigration, President Obama announced a new initiative that will allow applicants for U.S. citizenship to check their application status online:
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Open The Fed
Rep. Ron Paul, R-Texas, who ran for president in 2008, has a different take on transparency than <a href="http://www.nextgov.com/nextgov/ng_20090521_4542.php">open government guru</a> President Barack Obama.
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Update: Davis Doesn't Want Cyber Job
My colleague at <a href="http://techdailydose.nationaljournal.com/2009/06/tom-davis-doesnt-want-cyber-cz.php#more">TechDailyDose reports</a> that Davis isn't interested in being cyber czar after all:<blockquote>Former Rep. Tom Davis, R-Va., said Tuesday that he does not want the job of President Obama's cybersecurity coordinator despite recent rumblings that he was one of the top contenders for the position.
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Tom Davis, Cyber Czar?
Time magazine <a href="http://www.time.com/time/printout/0,8816,1905822,00.html">reported on Friday</a> that former Republican congressman Tom Davis of Virginia is the White House's leading candidate to be <a href="http://www.nextgov.com/nextgov/ng_20090529_1893.php?oref=search">the nation's first cybersecurity czar</a>:
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Pentagon Stops Sharing
One of the fascinating things about government IT is the extent to which the government's investments in technology and research benefit society as a whole. The government has always provided much of the funding for the type of basic scientific research that has led to development of technologies like personal computers or the Internet. The scientific community relies heavily on the government to provide resources that would otherwise be unavailable.
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Air Force Slow to Process
The Air Force failed to keep track of requests for government records under the Freedom of Information Act, three years after a federal court found a pattern of not processing FOIA requests, according to an agency <a href="http://www.gwu.edu/~nsarchiv/news/20090618/USAF_audit_report.pdf">audit</a> released to the National Security Archive.
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Former Cyber Chief Takes to the Stage
Ever wonder what federal officials do once they retire from government? In the case of Greg Garcia, the DHS cyber chief appointed by Bush, he takes to the stage.
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Financial Reform Transparency
The White House on Wednesday released a plan for protecting consumers from deceptive financial practices that calls for greater disclosure, or, "transparency," as President Obama likes to say.
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One More Makes Three
The General Services Administration announced today that Verizon Business Services will offer secure Internet connections to agencies via the Networx Universal contract. Verizon joins AT&T and Qwest Government Services in offering managed trusted Internet protocol service on Networx Universal.
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IG: DHS Intel folks need cyber education
The Department of Homeland Security's inspector general released a <a href="http://www.dhs.gov/xoig/assets/mgmtrpts/OIG_08-87_Aug08.pdf">report</a> Friday on the security program for DHS' Intelligence systems. Since it relates to weaknesses in top secret and sensitive systems, the report is predictably short in length and vague in its recommendations.
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No Tweets in Iranian Election
A twitter outage in Iran on Friday reportedly foiled some supporters of a leading reformist candidate in the country's presidential election.
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Has Hathaway's Star Fallen?
A lot of names are being floated around as possible picks for the position of cyber czar, and interestingly enough, none seem to be Melissa Hathaway.
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Recovery RFQ Only for Alliant Vendors
As my colleague Robert Brodsky <a href="http://www.nextgov.com/nextgov/ng_20090602_5138.php?oref=search">reported last week</a>, the Recovery Board <a href="https://www.fbo.gov/index?s=opportunity&mode=form&id=1b3ec144c7c80e70622d6600cf519697&tab=core&_cview=0">issued an RFQ this morning</a> for the redesign of the <a href="http://www.recovery.gov">Recovery.gov</a> Web site.
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