Digital Government
MCI gets call for pay phones in Albania
MCI Worldcom next week plans to install a satellitebased pay telephone facility to serve 2,000 troops stationed at a base in Tirana, Albania.
Digital Government
Captive soldiers lacked critical GPS radios
The Army last week acknowledged that the three U.S. soldiers captured by the Yugoslav army were not outfitted with a specially designed radio that could have provided their rescuers with accurate information on their location. A spokesman for the Army confirmed that the three soldiers patrolling in
Digital Government
Intercepts
ABOARD THE USS KITTY HAWK IT21 ON THE BRIDGE. Sitting high above the complex ballet of aircraft and crew on this aircraft carrier's flight deck, Capt. Matt Touhy's eyes do not stop moving as he guides the ship through the flight operations off the coast of Saipan (the largest of the Marianas Is
Digital Government
'Cruel' budget pinches pilots' IT on aircraft carrier
Faced with not enough funds to upgrade systems in older aircraft, pilots aboard this aircraft carrier must rely on commercial handheld Global Positioning System receivers to help navigate their older Tomcat fighters, which are not equipped with builtin military systems.
Digital Government
U.S. Army failed to issue systems that may have aided captured soldiers
The Defense Information Systems Agency today awarded Motorola Inc.'s Government Systems Operation a $219 million contract for equipment and accessories to support Defense Department communications through the Iridium LLC satellite network.
Digital Government
United States, Australia create WAN during exercise
Innovative use of satellite technology has tied four Royal Australian Navy ships into a widearea network that spans the Western Pacific Ocean, allowing the ships to exchange essential data with the joint Australian/U.S. staff aboard this command ship.
Digital Government
Melissa virus stows away aboard Navy ship
The wildly proliferating computer virus Melissa, which has infected email servers across government and the private sector, has made its way to email accounts on this command ship of the U.S. 7th Fleet, operating 20 miles of the coast of Guam in the western Pacific Ocean.
Digital Government
Commanding by computer
Col. David Fulton, commander of the Okinawa, Japanbased 31st Marine Expeditionary Unit (MEU), summed up the unit's recent fivemonth deployment to the Persian Gulf by borrowing a phrase from the TV show 'Star Trek': 'The 31st MEU has truly gone boldly where [it has] never gone before,'' Fulton sai
Digital Government
Eucom offers window on its operations
If you want a quick snapshot of deployed U.S. forces engaged in everything from peacekeeping missions to air strikes, check out the home page of the U.S. European Command (www.eucom.mil), whose 13millionmile area of operations extends from Bosnia and Kosovo to the northern nofly zone over Iraq.
Digital Government
Old IT risks pilots over Kosovo
Air Force and Navy pilots flying missions over lethal antiaircraft sites in Yugoslavia this month lack advanced technology systems that could better ensure their safety, including a new survival radio for downed air crews that the Pentagon rushed into development. A mix of political decisions, Def
Digital Government
Intercepts
URBAN ENVY? The Air Force has decided to imitate the Marine Corps' highly touted Urban Warrior exercise, which was held this month, with its own urban warfare exercise next year, to be called the Expeditionary Force Experiment. The Marines and their commandant, Gen. Charles Krulak, garnered a lot o
Digital Government
Report: Allow cyberwar response
The Pentagon's policy of prohibiting the Defense Department from mounting a counter cyberattack if its computers are attacked puts the military at risk, according to a report released last week. DOD's 'purely passive' approach to protecting its information systems from cyberattacks could result in
Digital Government
Sprint wins bulk of DOD low-speed network services
Sprint captured the largest initial order on a new $600 million, multiple vendor, 10year Defense Department contract to provide relatively lowspeed network services departmentwide across the United States. The Defense Information System Agency created the program to meet the needs of DOD organiza
Digital Government
DOD scales back GPS feature
Citing security reaspons, the U.S. Space Command this month stopped issuing important supplemental data on it
Digital Government
DISA picks three for DISN pact
The Pentagon awarded contracts to AT?#038; T Government Markets, MCI WorldCom and Sprint Communications Co. as part of a $600 million program to provide lowspeed network services throughout the United States.
Digital Government
Intercepts
SPECTRUM WARS. Vice President Al Gore announced with great fanfare this year the administration's financial and policy backing for two new civilian frequencies on Global Positioning System satellites scheduled for launch early in the next century. But according to reports I picked up last week at t
Digital Government
DOD to step up defense of GPS signals
The Defense Department plans to add a new set of military antijam frequencies to the next series of military Global Positioning System (GPS) satellites to protect its users in what a top DOD official called 'navwar,' or navigation warfare. New generations of precision munitions as well as U.S. att
Digital Government
Coast Guard to expand enhanced GPS system
The Coast Guard last week announced plans to double the coverage provided by its enhanced Global Positioning Satellite system that serves marine users navigating coastal and inland waterways.
Digital Government
Report: DOD needs cyberattack authority
The Pentagon should consider changes to policies that currently prohibit the Defense Department from mounting a counter cyberattack if its computers are attacked, the National Research Council recommended in a report released today.
Digital Government