People
Circuit
Security finalistsThe International Information Systems Security Certification Consortium, a nonprofit group for information security professionals, announced the finalists of its 4th annual Government Information Security Leadership Awards. (ISC)2 is giving three awards in three different categories. The 2007 final nominees are: Category: Nonmanagerial IT Security Professional Anthony Celata, designated approving authority, Trojan Network Control Center, Army Information Security Command. Cheri Gatland-Lightner, project manager, Office of the Chief Information Security Officer, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Health and…
People
GAO analysts vote to form union
‘Ecstatic’ employees turn their focus to setting bargaining priorities
People
The Buzz Contenders
#2: Karen Evans on securityCan the federal government be shooting itself in the foot by publishing its secure Windows desktop configuration standard and the protocol for automatically monitoring that configuration? Some folks attending the Annual Security Automation Conference and Workshop last week in Gaithersburg, Md., said they were worried about that possibility. But Karen Evans, administrator for e-government and information technology at the Office of Management and Budget, said she had bigger worries. "It is…
People
Managing human capital
Management isn't easy, and management in the government is even more complex. The latest example of that is the Government Accountability Office. Last week, GAO analysts voted 897 to 445 to unionize, joining the International Federation of Professional and Technical Engineers. Of course, that comes on the heels of GAO being named as the second best place to work in government by the Partnership for Public Service and American University's Institute for the Study of Public…
People
John Stein Monroe | Telework’s digital tether
FCW Forum blog generates a lively exchange about what it means to work outside the office
People
Ethics: Rules vs. common sense?
Industry executives worry that heightened ethics sensitivity will stymie productive and necessary relations between government and industry
People
Planners describe disaster strategies
Disaster preparedness leaders say they face crises expecting their best-laid plans will go awry
People
General asks for shakeup in DOD’s C2 programs
Officials spearheading an experimental effort to streamline management of the military's information technology capabilities want more than $1 billion in adjustments to the fiscal 2009 budget request for command-and-control (C2) systems. Air Force Maj. Gen. Michael Hostage, who leads the requirements and integration directorate at the Joint Forces Command, said he submitted seven program change requests to senior Defense Department officials at the end of August. Hostage submitted his recommendations to the high-powered Deputy's Advisory Working…
People
OMB to explore Government 2.0
A deal with New Paradigm will help agencies craft e-gov strategies
People
DOD launches workforce study of contracting skills
Effort will study the skills and competencies of 26,000 DOD acquisition employees
People
Agencies can rehire retired experts
OFPP urges agencies to take advantage of a provision in GSA Modernization Act
People
DARPA leads new AI research
Computer scientists have long sought to develop computers that can match the subject expertise that humans acquire during a career or a lifetime. Despite intensive work with expert systems and other forms of artificial intelligence, researchers have discovered that building a computer that can learn like a person is more difficult that they expected. Now, with a Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) program called Bootstrapped Learning, the agency wants to generate renewed interest in achieving…
Modernization
OPM posts alert on USAJobs
Experts assessing fallout from USAJobs breach warn users to beware of scams
Modernization
Life in the pretelework days
“I’m a dinosaur,” said Rita Franklin, the Energy Department’s deputy chief human capital officer, reflecting on what working life was like when she began her civil-service career in the late 1970s. At the beginning, the notion of telework was unimaginable.
Modernization
GSA’s 50 percent solution: How to get there
How can the General Services Administration reach its goal of having 50 percent of eligible employees teleworking at least one day a week within three years?
Modernization
Questions and more questions
As an increasing number of federal employees work from home, more administrative and legal questions concerning responsibility and oversight are likely to arise. Michael Castagna, chief information security officer at the Commerce Department, shared a few of those questions at a conference sponsored by the Telework Exchange. How does an agency's help desk support teleworkers who are using home PCs? If an employee does something illegal on a home PC during work hours when…
Modernization
GSA hopes other agencies will follow suit
In addition to its responsibility for meeting internal telework goals, the General Services Administration, with the Office of Personnel Management, is responsible for leading federal telework efforts. In that role, GSA runs 14 telework centers in the Washington metropolitan area where approved federal employees can use government-issued computers. Officials are discussing the possibility of running a line into a GSA center that would enable employees to access the Defense Department's secure Secret Internet Protocol Router Network.…
Modernization
Telework and the boomers’ coming retirement tsunami
Federal agencies are bracing for a massive exit of experience and talent in the next few years as baby boomers, who make up a large share of the federal workforce, begin to retire. Managers hope that at least some of them will forgo the golf course for the telework option and will stick around to teach younger employees the tricks of the trade. Many managers who will be eligible for retirement in the next five…
Modernization