Digital Government

VA chief pledges acquisition streamlining

Eric Shinseki seeks authority to centralize purchasing and to create new senior-level positions to oversee acquisition.

Digital Government

FDA: Airport scanners are safe

Commissioner says level of radiation is "minimal."

Digital Government

Legal issues hamper government intelligence database searches

Law prohibits agencies responsible for foreign intelligence gathering from domestic spying.

Digital Government

FDA to regulate online drug promotions

Pharmaceutical industry suggests letting companies Twitter about scientific news, creating an FDA seal of approval and linking to risk information.

Cybersecurity

Time to Get Going

Robert Rodriguez, founder of the Security Innovation Network, talks about the imperative to for government and business to collaborate in speeding innovative cybersecurity technology to market.

Digital Government

City of Miami takes citizen services to the cloud

Decreasing resources force creative approaches to meet needs.

Ideas

FBI's Most Wanted in Your Pocket

The Federal Bureau of Investigation is one of many agencies to embrace social networking, but its use of technology has a greater practical purpose than simple information dissemination.

Ideas

Orszag Hints at Flat Budgets

Office of Management and Budget Director Peter Orszag spoke at a Government Executive leadership breakfast on Tuesday and talked about the Obama administration's effort to close the federal government's "IT gap," a situation in which many agencies work on computer systems -- or on no systems at all -- that are woefully behind what the private sector has.

Ideas

Real vs. Robotic Mules

On Afghanistan's mountainous terrain, there are places where <a href="http://www.militaryspot.com/resources/item/humvee/">Humvees</a>, the military's four-wheeled and diesel-powered beast, can't go. But mules can. Armed with a knack for survival and "entirely nonpartisan about the contents of its load," writes Susan Orlean in a <em>New Yorker</em> article, the mule has proved a valued trooper in the military.<p>

Digital Government

Sign Up for the Bataan March

Last year, I hiked in the <a href=http://www.bataanmarch.com/>Bataan Memorial Death March</a> and <a href=http://whatsbrewin.nextgov.com/2009/03/the_army_got_it_right.php>considered it one of the top 10 events of my life</a>, a day where those old fashioned words comradeship and camaraderie rang true.

Cybersecurity

Kicking It Off

Welcome to the Cybersecurity Report, a joint effort from the SANS Institute and Nextgov. This blog will become a source of information to different kinds of computer users. Policy, breaking news, and emerging attack vectors will be a few of the many areas touched here.

People

White House memo: Public contests can drive innovation

The Obama administration plans to provide agencies with a Web platform for conducting public challenges.

Cybersecurity

Customs at odds with DHS IG over report on small-biz goals

Officials at Customs and Border Protection say a draft report by the inspector general contains 'misstatements of fact and inaccuracies that are misleading.'

Digital Government

VA and DOD expand health data exchange pilot

The Veterans Affairs and Defense departments are beginning a health data exchange pilot project in Virginia as the next phase of their virtual lifetime electronic record development.

Digital Government

Agencies Join Forces to Recruit

Federal agencies will need to fill more than 11,500 mission-critical information technology jobs during the next three years, and they must be prepared to meet the high demand for the talent, particularly given the increasing eligibility for retirement among federal workers and insufficient IT talent pipelines, according to a new <a href="http://www.ourpublicservice.org/OPS/documents/IT%20Issue%20Brief%20Final.pdf">report</a> by the Partnership for Public Service.

People

GSA loses senior official to retirement

A top GSA official plans the next phase of his professional life.

Acquisition

Federal court gives HUBZone program priority

The Small Business Act makes it mandatory, not optional, to give HUBZone companies a preference over other small businesses, a judge rules.