Digital Government
Peacekeeping battalion crafts comm support
EAGLE BASE, Tuzla, Bosnia No one has written the manual on how to provide communications support to a longterm peacekeeping mission, but the 141st Signal Battalion headquarters here at the main base camp of U.S. forces in the former Yugoslavia has enough experience to write at least a rough draf
Digital Government
Satellite launch marks 'new era for warfighter'
The Defense Department entered a new age of communications this week with the successful launch of a widebandwidth satellite that can zap a total of 96 megabits per second (megabits/sec) of data to small, deployable terminals that are part of a system modeled after commercial, directbroadcast TV systems.
Digital Government
DOD envisions 'system of systems'
The Defense Information Systems Agency's architectural responsibilities would be enhanced and solidified in a draft plan for the reorganization of the Defense Department's command and control and its information technology management and oversight. The draft, which is under evaluation by Secretary
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Army launches $1 billion wholesale logistics project
The Army last week kicked off a billiondollarplus project to modernize and eventually privatize key elements of its wholesale logistics system, which supplies troops with everything from helmets to helicopters. The Wholesale Logistics Modernization Program (WLMP), which includes a $9 billion inve
Digital Government
Army to award leasing, peripherals pacts
The Army this month is expected to refresh its PC offerings with two new contracts: one for leasing and the other for a broad range of peripherals. Lt. Col. Mary Fuller, product manager of the Army's Small Computer Program (SCP) at Fort Monmouth, N.J., said Army Leasing1 (AL1) has the potential t
Digital Government
DISA chief says GCCS to shift to Windows NT
The Defense Information Systems Agency plans to fundamentally shift clients for the Global Command and Control System (GCCS) from the Unix operating system to Microsoft Corp. Windows NT running on PCs in order to reduce costs, according to DISA director Lt. Gen. David Kelley.
Digital Government
Intercepts
* Schmoozing Hamre. According to my Ering antenna site, Microsoft Corp.'s chief information officer, John Connors, dropped in last week for a highlevel sales call on Deputy Secretary of Defense John Hamre, and topping his list of conversation topics was the Defense Department's Medium Assurance P
Digital Government
Plan blends C3 office with intelligence, recon
The Pentagon's central command, control, communications and intelligence (C3I) office will have its mission dramatically widened under a draft plan awaiting final approval from top Pentagon management. Defense Reform Initiative (DRI) plans released last week for the Office of the Assistant Secretar
Digital Government
DOD taps Netscape for security
In a dramatic change of direction, the Defense Department next month plans to turn to commercial products from Netscape Communications Corp. to provide many of the advanced security features slated for the muchdelayed, billiondollar Defense Message System. The Defense Information Systems Agency,
Digital Government
Curtis tapped for Y2K post
The Defense Department has set up a highlevel Year 2000 oversight office and last week named William Curtis, a former deputy director for procurement and logistics at the Defense Information Systems Agency, to head it. Curtis, with 33 years of federal service, including a tour in Vietnam as an Arm
Digital Government
DOD pushes ahead with PKI pilot
The Defense Information Systems Agency plans to roll out a pilot digital signature program based on commercial products this spring for anywhere from 250,000 users to as many as half a million users. The pilot will serve as the test bed for the development of all types of paperless processes throug
People
DOD taps DISA's Curtis as Y2K czar
The Defense Department has set up a highlevel Year 2000 oversight office and named William Curtis
Digital Government
DOD bolsters its Bosnia comm setup
EAGLE BASE, TUZLA, Bosnia The fiberoptic communications cables that snake their way alongside the rough, plank walkways that serve as the sidewalks here at the headquarters of the U.S. force in the former Yugoslavia not only provide highspeed voice, data and Internet connections but also repres
Digital Government
LOC's overhauled site tells America's story
A recent trip to the Library of Congress on the World Wide Web (www.loc.gov) to check out the new online release of some 8,000 pages of correspondence to and from George Washington turned into a serendipitous adventure that provided sheer delight at every mouse click. LOC has completely revamped it
Digital Government
Intercepts
* Byebye base comm. The Navy plans to outsource the operation of 100 base communications offices as part of an overall plan to slash $2.5 billion from its budget by turning over nonessential functions to outside providers. Chuck Trigger, assistant chief of staff for the Naval Computer and Telecomm
Digital Government
DOD, GSA unveil dueling nets
The Defense Department and the General Services Administration unveiled plans last week to build stateoftheart telecommunications networks to serve the vast pool of more than 300,000 DOD and civilian employees in the Washington, D.C., area. GSA made it clear that it intends to develop a Washingt
Digital Government
DOD adds attack capability to infowar
The latest Pentagon reorganization plan creates for the first time an offensive information warfare (infowar) operation within top echelons of the Defense Department and gives information warfare both offensive and defensive increased visibility and clout. The proposed plan, which is part of a
Digital Government
Intercepts
* No deLight at NSA. My Fort Meade antenna site has picked up strong signals that the Hill has taken an interest in the followon to the National Security Agency's Light Core contract that was awarded last year to Cisco Systems at a bluelightspecial price of $34 million and then shelved followin
Digital Government
Navy, AF outsourcing to save billions
The Navy and the Air Force hope to save about $2.5 billion each in their fiscal 1999 budgets by outsourcing or privatizing selected tasks, including information technology functions, according to internal documents. In a Jan. 15 Navywide message from Chief of Naval Operations Adm. Jay Johnson, the
Digital Government