Ideas

No New Networx Extension

In response to a <a href="http://federalnewsradio.com/index.php?nid=35&sid=1744646">confusing report</a> published this week, I would like to take a moment and pass on a clarification I just received from GSA regarding the deadline for agencies to transition to the Networx telecommunications contract.

Cybersecurity

Time for a national ID card?

Smart-card industry executive Neville Pattinson and the Cato Institute's Jim Harper debate the value and wisdom of a biometrics-based national identity card.

Modernization

Social media and DOD: To be or not to be?

The Defense Department continues to send mixed signals about the use of social-media tools.

Digital Government

Ask The Chairman - On YouTube

Adm. Mike Mullen, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, <a href="http://whatsbrewin.nextgov.com/2009/07/jcs_chair_on_facebook_with_lot.php">a well known Twitter and Facebook fan,</a> has now added YouTube to his social media arsenal. He's invited troops to join him for a YouTube-driven virtual town hall between now and the end of the month.

Digital Government

Goodbye XYZ. Hello, Generation C

There are countless studies, articles and blog posts out on the <a href="http://wiredworkplace.nextgov.com/generational_divide/">differences among different generations</a> in the workplace and their perceptions and uses of new technology. Steve Ressler, founder of Young Government Leaders and GovLoop, a social networking site for federal employees, told Wired Workplace on Tuesday that while there is a generational divide between older federal workers and younger ones who simply grew up digital, the Generation Content, or Generation C, concept, which characterizes people of any age who actively uses social media and engages others on the Internet, is taking hold.

Cybersecurity

Do we need a U.N. cybersecurity council?

The cyberattacks that plagued Georgia's online communications infrastructure in August 2008 have prompted some observers to call for an international body to deal with cybersecurity.

Digital Government

Data, communications dominate LandWarNet conference

The 2009 LandWarNet conference in Fort Lauderdale, Fla., brought together government and industry leaders to discuss pressing issues affecting the military's combat operations. Below are some highlights from the conference.

Acquisition

NIH revamps acquisition center's image

The agency's IT acquisition center has shed its assisted-acquisition services and will instead focus on GWACs.

People

Stimulus funding recipients register for transparency site

Recipients of stimulus funding have begun registering with a new federal Web site where they will submit reports on their spending.

People

VA responds to IG reports of misconduct in IT office

The Veterans Affairs Department responds to the VA inspector general's findings of misconduct by people while working in the department's information technology office.

Acquisition

GSA reaches all small-business contracting goals

As a whole, the federal government missed its goal of awarding 23 percent of its contracting dollars to small businesses by 1.5 percent, a score card says.

Modernization

Microsoft technology targets Internet anonymity

Microsoft researchers have unveiled an anti-hacking concept that can help track hackers or malicious content to origin servers.

Cybersecurity

House members to TSA: Don't destroy Registered Traveler data

Two senior House members hit TSA for plans to delete personal data collected by the Registered Traveler program vendor that shut down.

People

HHS to industry: Help assess health IT networks

HHS has asked industry to help conduct a nationwide analysis of health information exchange infrastructures.