Digital Government
IT-rich USS Belleau Wood heads to East Timor
The Navy's 7th Fleet has deployed the USS Belleau Wood, a flatdecked amphibious assault ship equipped with one of the service's most advanced shipboard information technology systems, to support U.S. forces assisting U.N. peacekeeping operations in East Timor.
Digital Government
A new reality
Visit soldiers at any Army infantry division outside Washington, D.C., and they will relate a universal complaint: The people who designed their gear and computer systems typically do not build equipment that can survive the rough terrain, choking dust and thundering vibrations of the battlefield.
Digital Government
Army studying IT recruitment
The Army has kicked off a yearlong study to help determine how to better recruit and maintain its information technology work force, with an emphasis on how the service can use financial inducements to attract workers.
Digital Government
Calculating costs, cautions from war
The hightech information systems that U.S. and NATO forces employed against Yugoslavia this year ended up contributing confusion, according to a toplevel draft briefing prepared for the commander of U.S. forces in Operation Allied Force. Draft briefing slides prepared for Adm. James Ellis in an a
Digital Government
Intercepts
NAVSAT SETBACK. Stratos Mobile Networks prevailed in its legal protest against the award of an $112 million contract to Communications Satellite Corp. for 64 kilobits/sec satellite service to Navy ships worldwide, a key component of the Navy's Information Technology for the 21st Century project. Th
Digital Government
Draft documents signal kickoff for N/MCI
The Navy intends to outsource almost all of its information technology infrastructure for Navy and Marine Corps units and bases in a mammoth undertaking that industry sources value at more than $2 billion.
Digital Government
Navy, Marines throw early Y2K New Year's party
Sailors and Marines from the U.S. 7th Fleet and the 31st Marine Expeditionary Unit last week threw an early New Year's party festooned with streamers and balloons to celebrate the successful completion of a 10day test to validate that all of its computer code is free from Year 2000 bugs.
Digital Government
Funding sought for satellite navigation
Top Federal Aviation Administration and industry officials say the FAA needs an assurance for multiyear funding to enhance the Global Positioning System so that the agency can proceed with a revolutionary navigational system for aircraft.
Digital Government
Kosovo ushered in cyberwar
The United States formally established a team of information warriors to support its bombing campaign against Serbia this year, a move that has convinced some military experts that the Defense Department already has engaged in its firstever cyberwar, electronically attacking critical networks and command and control systems.
People
Intercepts
RAISING THE CYBERWAR ANTE. Deputy Secretary of Defense John Hamre has repeatedly forecast that DOD and the United States' critical infrastructure will sooner or later face
Digital Government
DOD may have waged first cyberwar in Serbia
The United States put together its first small group of information warriors, a move that has convinced some Defense experts that the military waged a cyberwar against Serbia this year.
Digital Government
Navy Seventh Fleet undertakes Y2K landing exercise
The Navy's Seventh Fleet has kicked off an operational Year 2000 exercise on and around Okinawa with eleven ships and thousands of Marines from the 31st Marine Expeditionary Unit, which will conduct an amphibious landing with their clocks rolled forward to the new year.
Digital Government
GPS satellites live longer than expected
Nashville, Tenn. The Air Force Navstar Global Positioning System Joint Program Office has a problem rarely encountered in a society that treats many products as disposable items: The GPS satellites have a longer life span than anticipated, so the office will have to come up with a plan to take a
Digital Government
FAA plans to expand GPS use
Nashville, Tenn. The Federal Aviation Administration has forged a series of agreements that will widen the use of enhanced Global Positioning System navigation aids into Central and South America as well as a vast swath of North Atlantic airspace extending to Iceland. Dave Peterson, director of
Digital Government
Intercepts
RETIRING WITH STYLE. Adm. Archie Clemins, who changed the face of Navy computing with unprecedented commander in chief support for the Information Technology for the 21st Century project, will complete his naval service in a retirement ceremony on the USS Missouri, moored at pier Foxtrot5, on Ford
Digital Government
Navy deploys mobile HQ to support East Timor peacekeeping
The Navy has deployed a mobile command post packed with computers and equipped with longhaul communications systems to Darwin, Australia, in support of the United Nations peacekeeping operation in East Timor.
Digital Government
DOD commercializes Kosovo comm
The Defense Department has begun rapidly commercializing the communications infrastructure for U.S. peacekeeping troops in Kosovo, with satellite links, localarea networks and voice and data communications in forward base camps. The Army also wants to quickly install commercially based cellular t
Digital Government
FAA pushes back GPS
The Federal Aviation Administration has delayed by 15 years its ambitious plan to begin phasing out its last ground navigation systems and to leave the satellitebased Global Positioning System as its sole means of air navigation, according to a forthcoming Transportation Department report. The FAA
Digital Government