AFCEA

Enterprise Services Streamline DHS IT Infrastructure

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Like the rest of the federal government, the Department of Homeland Security is facing a future of tighter budgets while trying to modernize its IT systems. As the third largest cabinet department, the DHS has struggled since its inception to seamlessly tie together the computer systems of all of its constituent agencies.

But recently, DHS has made some headway in streamlining its infrastructure through the use of enterprise-wide service bundles, trimming data centers and launching a host of pilot programs aimed at getting more bang for the buck. Keep reading →

Published November 7, 2012 at 9:00 AM

Joint DOD-VA Health Record Program Regains Traction

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Dr. Barclay Butler, Director, DOD/VA Interagency Program Office

Since rebooting efforts nearly a year ago to merge their electronic health care management and record keeping systems, the Defense Department and the Department of Veterans Affairs have made what top officials described as considerable progress after the program was in danger of slipping its schedule. Keep reading →

Published September 6, 2012 at 7:05 AM

Spectrum, Mobility, Security Remain Top Issues For DOD Networks

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Army Maj.Gen. Mark Bowman, Joint Chiefs of Staff CIO.

The U.S. military operates many of the world’s largest and most complex computer and communications networks, giving the Defense Department extraordinary capability and flexibility to conduct a vast assortment of global operations, from direct combat to humanitarian missions. Keep reading →

Published August 30, 2012 at 2:30 PM

NSA Pushes For Fully Commercial Mobile Technology

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A senior National Security Agency official today said the agency is racing to embrace an approach to mobile technology that once would have been unthinkable for one of the government’s most secretive agencies, by moving toward 100% end-to-end reliance on commercial communications technology.

NSA Director of Information Assurance Deborah Plunkett told an industry group today in Washington that, “Unless we do this, we will not be able to meet the demand signals from our customers.” Keep reading →

Published July 20, 2012 at 12:42 PM

Hackers Pose Costly Future For Military Jets Warns Cartwright

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The Pentagon’s most expensive program, the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter, might prove to be as vulnerable to enemy hackers as inadequately armored Humvees were to roadside bombs, and could prove even more costly to remedy, warned former vice-chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Gen. James Cartwright, USMC (Ret.)

“We built the F-35 with absolutely no protection for it from a cyber standpoint,” he said, speaking at the annual Joint Warfighting Conference hosted by the US Naval Institute and the industry group AFCEA, according to a report on Breaking Defense, an affiliate of Breaking Gov. Keep reading →

Published May 16, 2012 at 11:28 AM