Digital Government
First Texting, Now GPS
According to New York State Gov. David Paterson, it's time to add truckers, who might be following GPS-enabled map systems, to texting drivers as the latest high-tech road hazard.
Digital Government
Mullen, CBS' Couric Share a Barber?
Well, if not the same barber, definitely the same haircut. Adm. Mike Mullen, chairman of the Joint Chefs of Staff, joked during a speech last night at the annual Alfred E. Smith Foundation dinner in New York, where CBS News anchor Katie Couric was one of the guests.
Digital Government
Military retiree launches virtual Army Family Support Center
Virtual world offers links to information and a chat room for relatives of service members.
Digital Government
Contractors Wag Defense Watchdog
Want some outrage today? Take out your pay stub, look at the gaping hole the Internal Revenue Service has made in your income and then read this Government Accountability Office <a href=http://www.gao.gov/new.items/d10163t.pdf>testimony</a>. It details how contractors have managed to defang the Defense Contract Audit Agency, the outfit that's supposed to protect the public purse from looters called federal contractors.
Digital Government
The Information Dominance Corps
Navy meteorologists and oceanographers might not consider themselves cyber warriors, but they are going to be lumped into a new Navy Information Dominance Corps established by Adm. Gary Roughead, chief of naval operations, on Oct. 6.
Modernization
Industry group meets to consider upgrading VA patient record system
Part of the agenda includes possibility of making the aging but popular electronic health record system for veterans and their families a platform for a national network.
Digital Government
Petzel for Top Doc at VA
By default, it sure looks like <a href=http://www.visn23.va.gov/Leadership/Network_Director.asp>Dr. Robert (Randy) Petzel</a>, director of the Veterans Affairs Department's Midwest Health Care Network, has all but landed the job as VA's new undersecretary for health.
Digital Government
Congress guts Army's tactical radio program funding for fiscal 2010
Senate and House conferees alarmed that the service has not developed a disciplined acquisition strategy to buy the communications equipment.
Digital Government
No More 'i' This and '2.0' That
In Australia, Vegemite, a dark brown sandwich spread with a salty and bitter taste made from used brewers yeast extract, has an iconic status and brand recognition that any company would lust after. It's loved by Aussies with the kind of passion they have for rugby.
Digital Government
A Transition Council - That's the Ticket
The Defense Department has spent almost $1 billion to develop as new personnel and pay system called the Defense Integrated Military Human Resources System, or DIMHRS. And what has it got? Bubkes, said Congress in its final version of the <a href=http://armedservices.house.gov/>fiscal 2010 Defense authorization act</a>, which a Senate-House conference approved on Wednesday.
Digital Government
Hill outlines new acquisition IT practices for Defense
Congress also cuts Military Health Systems' technology budget until it can improve its project management.
Digital Government
Yep, Computers for Offensive Ops
The Defense Department shies away from talking about its cyberattack plans, but a <a href=https://www.fbo.gov/index?s=opportunity&mode=form&id=8e86b740b9f47bbc28dff0d8af72e5ce&tab=core&_cview=>solicitation</a> released by the Air Force Electronic Systems Center yesterday indicates that the service definitely plans to have the capability to attack adversaries using computers.
Digital Government
131,000 Homeless Vets
That's the <a href=http://www1.va.gov/opa/pressrel/pressrelease.cfm?id=1795>stark and depressing news</a> the Veterans Affairs Department released on Tuesday, while VA said the goods news is that the number is down 15 percent from last year.
Digital Government
A Must Read: Inside MI5
This year marks the 100th anniversary of the United Kingdom's Security Service, MI5. To mark the occasion, a Manhattan-phone-book-sized (1,032 pages) authorized history of the secret agency was released on Monday and has drawn some rave reviews for its candor and historical insights from the British press.
Modernization
DISA puts cloud computing applications into production
The Rapid Access Computing Environment is no longer a resource just for developers; Defense agencies can use the service now to quickly access tools.
Digital Government
Student Vets Get Pay -- and Pizza
Here's a real "<a href=http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hooah>Hooah</a>" for the top leadership at the Veterans Affairs Department, who decided early on Friday to keep all 57 of the department's 57 regional offices open until every veteran waiting in line picked up an <a href=http://www.nextgov.com/nextgov/ng_20090925_9070.php>emergency GI bill check</a> valued at up to $3,000.
Digital Government
Schoenhard Tapped as Health Ops Deputy
Late last month I <a href=http://whatsbrewin.nextgov.com/2009/09/hospital_exec_tapped_for_va_health_job.php>reported</a> that St. Louis hospital executive <a href=http://www.ssmhc.com/internet/home/ssmcorp.nsf/46a13372d66f8fe8862569f50053bbaa/777fc0898ff3324a862573cd007b92f4?OpenDocument>William Schoenhard</a> appeared to have the inside track for appointment as the new undersecretary for health at the Veterans Affairs Department.
Digital Government
Hill doesn't give Obama all the Ag tech spending he asked for
Programs coming up short in fiscal 2010 funding include expanded broadband service for rural areas, IT modernization and a system to track diseased animals.
Digital Government
An Earmark Windbag Called MARIAH
Sen. John McCain spent a good bit of time on the Senate floor this week battling earmarks that his colleagues want to stuff into the 2010 Defense appropriations bill. One such earmark included this: a Montana project called the Magnetohydrodynamics Accelerator Research Into Advanced Hypersonics wind tunnel, or MARIAH.
Modernization