Digital Government
GAO investigators find State, FAA computer systems easy to hack
The State Department and the Federal Aviation Administration have pervasive computer security weaknesses that hackers could use to access international financial and travel information and to interrupt the nation's air traffic control (ATC) systems, according to reports released last week. The Gene
Digital Government
NARA joins document management test bed
The National Archives and Records Administration plans to take part in an advanced computer networking project that could point the way to how it will manage future federal government document handling and storage. The Distributed Object Computation Testbed (DOCT) brings together supercomputers, la
Digital Government
School district extravagance jeopardizes E-Rate program
The Clinton administration's plan to offer discounted telecommunications services to school districts so they can connect students to the Internet may be jeopardized by school districts abusing the program and by too little oversight on the part of the federal government.
Digital Government
IBM rolls out clustering for low, midrange users
IBM Corp. last week made a big push into the highavailability computing market with a new Unix server solution for small and midsize organizations and with new cluster management technology. Clustering, which is designed for organizations that cannot afford to have their servers crash and disrupt
Digital Government
Roster
Vice President Al Gore this month handed out Presidential Rank Awards for Meritorious Service to six employees at the General Services Administration. The winners were William Gormley, assistant commissioner for acquisition, for streamlining the acquisition process; Ida Ustad, deputy associate admi
Digital Government
Marketplace
CACI to acquire QuesTech CACI International Inc. has announced plans to acquire QuesTech Inc. through the purchase of outstanding common stock in a cash deal valued at $42 million. The acquisition is designed to position CACI, an Arlington, Va.based systems integrator, in the information warfare a
Digital Government
Clinton crafts new line of defense against cyberattacks
President Clinton today unveiled a new national security program that would requir
Digital Government
Commerce tapped to lead effort to protect national private infrastructure
A new national program would tap the Commerce Department as the lead agency in a massive interagency effort to take inventory of the federal government's critical assets and to coordinate with industry in efforts to protect of the nation's private infrastructures.
Digital Government
Koskinen: Proposed Year 2000 funding 'more than enough'
John Koskinen, chairman of the President's Council on Year 2000 Conversion, said today that the federal government should have more than enough money earmarked in fiscal 1999 to fix the millennium bug.
Digital Government
Navy's high-tech research ship to be named 'Heezen' or 'Coriolis'
As part of a year-long effort to show students the "towering grandeur" of the oceans, the Oceanographer of the Navy has chosen two finalists in a nationwide contest to name its new high-tech research shi
Digital Government
Reports reveal weaknesses in systems security at State, FAA
A test of computer systems security at the State Department and the Federal Aviation Administration revealed pervasive weaknesses that could threaten the operation of the agencies, according to reports released today during hearings before the Senate Governmental Affairs Committee.
Digital Government
DOD awards $200M pact to create information assurance center
The Defense Department ratcheted up its commitment to information assurance yesterday when the Defense Technical Information Center awarded a 10year, $200 million contract to BoozAllen?#038;Hamilton Inc. to man and operate an information assurance center.
Digital Government
Pentagon plans expansion of cyberthreat alert system
The Joint Chiefs of Staff is crafting a plan to require all military commands to create a new alert system that will track cyberthreats to Defense Department information systems. Similar to the wellknown Defense Conditions, or DEFCONs, that mark the military's status in response to traditional for
Digital Government
Roster
Roster Fernando Fernandez was appointed last week as the director of the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency. He previously served as president and chairman of the board at AETC Inc., a small applied research organization that specializes in advanced processing technologies that improve the d
Digital Government
Robbins-Gioia tweaks earned-value method of assessment
Program management specialist RobbinsGioia Inc. is giving a new twist to the socalled earnedvalue method of assessing contract management, which is already used on various government projects. EVM, which has its roots in the Defense Department, basically integrates three components of project ma
Digital Government
Agencies, vendors comply with security standard
Agencies and vendors slowly are beginning to comply with a federal standard that has been in effect for almost two years and that governs the purchase of hardware and software security products. A standard that was issued by the National Institute of Standards and Technology required agencies after
Digital Government
Workgroup storage users find option-rich solutions
Options abound for agencies that need storage for small to midsize groups of networked PC users as vendors enrich the different storage media with new technology and features. Magnetic disk storage remains the predominant solution for workgroup storage because the response time is superior and the
Digital Government
Gore calls for top-down electronic privacy review
The Clinton administration last week announced a new plan that requires federal agencies to conduct a topdown review of their organizations' handling of electronic information that is protected by the Privacy Act. Vice President Al Gore, speaking at New York University's commencement ceremony, unv
Digital Government
GSA will offer agencies acquisition training pacts
Looking to help agencies better educate their procurement personnel, the General Services Administration plans to issue a solicitation next month for the government's first series of interagency contracts for acquisition training courses. Ida Ustad, GSA's deputy associate administrator for acquisit
Digital Government