ATF

If federal CIO’s are judged by how well they lead by example in the social media revolution, then a new study suggests not enough of them are walking the talk.

An analysis of 31 federal chief information officers, just released by MeriTalk, reports that certain federal CIOs are much more engaged than others on Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn. Keep reading →

The race to meet a series of milestones for advancing federal mobility continues to encounter differing expectations and the underlying need for better methods for managing data, according to a group of federal IT leaders in the throes of delivering the Obama Administration’s Digital Government Strategy.

In a White House report issued last month, Administration officials listed a variety of accomplishments in the first 90 days of a year-long set of initiatives, declaring “agencies are making great strides towards putting a solid foundation for a 21st Century Digital Government in place.” Keep reading →

While iPhone aficionados may have to wait three to four more weeks to get their hands on the new iPhone 5, Apple officially released it latest mobile operating system, iOS 6, today. And that meant federal IT executives had yet another new mobile issue to contend with as they began in earnest to evaluate how the new operating system, which boasts 200 enhancements, might impact the growing use of Apple devices across the federal government.

“I think it’s safe to say that these continually improving and expanding features are a key reason why government workers find consumer mobile devices in general – and iOS devices in particular – so compelling for use in accomplishing their missions,” said Dr. Rick Holgate, assistant director for science and technology and chief information officer for the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms & Explosives (ATF). Keep reading →

In order to provide access to news updates and other agency information on mobile devices, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives created the ATF App. Keep reading →

Federal information technology officials are on a mission to hammer out a new, more coherent strategy for using mobile technology in government by the end of next month. But already, they are beginning to conclude that parallel efforts focused on outward-facing citizen services and inward-focused workforce productivity opportunities must be viewed increasingly from a larger, more integrated perspective, according to Richard Holgate.

Holgate, CIO and assistant director for science and technology for the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF), is playing a lead role in developing a new “federal mobility strategyannounced last month by U.S. CIO Steven VanRoekel during the Consumer Electronics Show. Keep reading →


Every year, armed criminals commit hundreds of thousands of violent crimes, sometimes leaving their guns behind and providing potentially significant clues for law enforcement.

That’s where the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) National Tracing Center (NTC) comes into play, a small federal agency that in fiscal 2010 traced nearly 337,000 recovered firearms for U.S. law enforcement agencies and international partners. Keep reading →