Red Hat Government Symposium

The use of open source software might seem paradoxical inside the Defense Department or at best, a relatively recent development.

It would be a mistake, however, to assume that the government has only recently discovered open source software, said Dan Risacher, associate director for information enterprise strategy and policy in the DOD Chief Information Officer’s office. Keep reading →

Open source software has long been touted as the antidote to monolithic, buggy, and security-challenged software packages developed by the industry’s 800-pound gorillas.

But a presentation from the National Security Agency (NSA) during a technology symposium last week presented a stark warning for the proponents of open source software: Get your house in order because sooner or later government and industry customers are going to demand verifiable information about where your software came from, who developed it, who had access to the code, and whether or not you can vouch for its security. Keep reading →


In a move toward a more efficient National Reconnaissance Office, analysts for the agency operating the nation’s spy satellites are on the verge of getting their information through a top-secret open-source cloud environment housing intelligence data.

Jill Singer, the agency’s chief information officer, offered the latest details on the project at this week’s Red Hat Government Symposium in Washington D.C. Keep reading →