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Online Town Hall the First Step
For those of you who missed <a href="http://www.nextgov.com/nextgov/ng_20090325_2084.php">this</a>, President Obama held his first online town hall meeting today and it was broadcast live on whitehouse.gov. According to the <a href=http://www.whitehouse.gov/openforquestions/>White House</a>, almost 93,000 people submitted more than 104,000 questions, which the public voted on.
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DeSeve's Tech Savvy a Plus
As Government Executive Staff Correspondent Robert Brodsky points out in an <a href="http://www.govexec.com/story_page.cfm?articleid=42344&dcn=todaysnews">article</a> on the appointment of Edward DeSeve to implement the recently enacted economic stimulus package, DeSeve's technology experience will come in handy.
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Alliant Awards Coming March 30
A General Services Administration spokesman just told Nextgov that the agency is expecting to make the Alliant awards on March 30 and issue a press release the same day.
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Times Tickin' for Transparency Directive
This week marks the halfway point to a self-imposed deadline for the Obama administration to issue a directive outlining what agencies will need to do to make government more transparent, participatory and collaborative.
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DeSeve Named to Recovery Act Post
Edward DeSeve, the deputy director for the Office of Management and Budget for about two years in the Clinton administration, has been named special adviser to the president, assistant to the vice president and special adviser to the OMB director for implementation of the Recovery Act. According to the press release sent out Monday evening:
Ideas
Guthrie Named ODNI CIO
In case you missed <a href="http://twitter.com/Nextgov/status/1362927917">this</a> on Friday afternoon, President Obama nominated <strong>Priscilla Guthrie</strong> to be chief information officer at the Office of Director of National Intelligence. Guthrie, currently director of the Information Technology and Systems Division at the nonprofit Institute for Defense Analyses, was previously deputy assistant secretary of Defense and deputy CIO in the Defense Department from 2001 to 2006.
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In Search of IT Workers
Agencies routinely say it needs information technology specialists, and with initiatives to follow stimulus spending and to make government more transparent, the need for technologists will only increase. Earl Devaney, Obama's stimulus watchdog, <a href="http://www.nextgov.com/nextgov/ng_20090319_7366.php">lamented</a> on Thursday while testifying on the Hill about the IT challenges he faces.
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Avoiding a Space Arms Race
Bob Brewin reported on a House Armed Services Committee hearing held on Wednesday during which a consultant with the Council on Foreign Relations said the United States should pursue anti-satellite weapons that could disable foreign-operated satellites.
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Obama Likes UNC as Hoops Champ
President Obama posted his <a href="http://www.whitehouse.gov/blog/09/03/18/March-Madness-At-the-White-House/">NCAA bracket</a> on whitehouse.gov.
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VA Gov Went to Bat for Kundra
For those of us wondering why the White House did an <a href="http://techinsider.nextgov.com/2009/03/vivek_kundra_back_on_the_job.php">about-face</a> on Vivek Kundra over the weekend, reinstating him after <a href="http://www.nextgov.com/nextgov/ng_20090313_9027.php">putting him on leave</a> last week, we may have our answer.
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Follow the Bonuses
I am greatly heartened to see all the moral outrage that the AIG bonuses are bringing out in our politicians.
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More Questions About Health IT
Two doctors in a <em>Washington Post</em> <a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/03/16/AR2009031602618.html">Op-Ed</a> today called into question President Obama's huge $50 billion investment in electronic health records for every American, which was part of the economic stimulus plan.
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Confirmed: Kundra Back on the Job
<a href="http://personaldemocracy.com/about-us/#micah">Micah L. Sifry</a> at techPresident is <a href="http://techpresident.com/blog-entry/breaking-news-cio-vivek-kundra-back-job">reporting</a> that recently appointed federal CIO Vivek Kundra was seen at his desk today -- apparently back on the job after <a href="http://www.nextgov.com/nextgov/ng_20090313_9027.php">taking a leave of absence</a> last week after former work colleagues were arrested for a contract kickback scheme. Nextgov is still waiting for the White House to confirm this information.
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Grants.gov Upgrade 90 Days Away
For those of you who saw <a href="http://www.nextgov.com/nextgov/ng_20090311_8266.php">my story</a> about the Office of Management and Budget directing agencies to update their grant management systems in preparation for a spike of stimulus-related applications, Jason Miller over at Federal News Radio has an <a href="http://federalnewsradio.com/?nid=35&sid=1625260">update</a>:
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Questions for FBI and Kundra Vetting
One of the odd things about the FBI raid on the chief technology officer's office in the District of Columbia on Thursday -- and there are a lot of odd things -- is where was the FBI's communication with the White House?
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'The Crappiest Generation'
Something light for Friday (and Friday the 13th, for that matter). A look at how the younger generation just doesn't understand how good technology has made their lives.
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What Does Transparency Look Like?
Obama has made <a href="http://www.nextgov.com/nextgov/ng_20090122_6430.php">transparency</a> a "touchstone" (his word) of his administration and promises to apply it to tracking stimulus spending. But more and more people are asking questions like, "Exactly what is it?" And, "How do you define it?"
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FBI Raids Kundra's Former DC Office
Ben Smith of Politico.com <a href="http://www.politico.com/blogs/bensmith/0309/FBI_raids_office_of_DC_CTO_Obama_appointee.html?showall">reports in his blog</a> tat the FBI has raided the Obama federal CIO's Vivek Kundra's old chief technology officer office in the District of Columbia.
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It's Here: The Security Comic Strip
How funny can data theft, data loss, fraud and identity theft be? Pretty funny, according to portable storage device (read flash drives) <a href="http://www.cososys.com/">CoSoSys</a>. IN a press release sent out this morning, the company said it launched "a series of comic strips intended to educate the public regarding the embedded threats of portable and lifestyle devices."
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