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Cyber Order Puts DHS In Charge Of Oversight, Sets Deadlines

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The Obama administration is getting ready to change the way the government handles cybersecurity.

The White House has drafted an executive order, a draft of which is currently circulating among federal agencies for approval, mirroring cyber legislation that recently failed to get through a Senate vote. Among other things, the order shunts much of the enforcement and management of cybersecurity issues to federal agencies. We understand that, contrary to some earlier news reports, the classified portion of the order does not contain significant new authorities but details those already existing. Keep reading →

 /  Published November 20, 2012 at 12:15 PM

Online Tool Aids Governments In Disaster Recovery

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After two 20-something sisters lived through a tornado and its aftermath in their Massachusetts hometown last year, they vowed to transform a well-intentioned but unorganized disaster-recovery process.

The resulting online tool, recovers.org, is now helping local governments and nonprofits coordinate Hurricane Sandy relief efforts through a concept known as “community-powered” recovery. Keep reading →

 /  Published November 20, 2012 at 7:00 AM

Veterans Fill Technology Workforce Gap Through Private Programs

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American companies and industry organizations are ramping up efforts that began last year to help employ returning veterans and meet growing IT workforce needs.

Private training and mentoring programs are bridging the knowledge and training gaps for veterans as federal agencies begin to process the influx of veterans returning from Afghanistan and Iraq. Private efforts aimed at training for private industry and government jobs are also in response to President Barack Obama’s call last year for American firms and associations to help 100,000 veterans re-enter the workforce by the end of 2013. Keep reading →

 /  Published November 19, 2012 at 12:00 PM

Senate Cyber Bill Halted, Executive Order Imminent

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With attempts to push through comprehensive cybersecurity legislation dead for this year, a pending executive order will likely include many of the features of the failed bill.

A final attempt to pass a cyber bill introduced by Senators Joseph Lieberman (I-CT) and Susan Collins (R-Maine) was defeated this week in a 51-47 vote. The bill was blocked by senate republicans who believe that the legislation would lead to more federal regulation of business. Keep reading →

 /  Published November 15, 2012 at 4:30 PM

Will Post-Election Discussions Lead to ‘Fiscal Cliff’ Compromise?

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With the “fiscal cliff” closely looming on the horizon, the post-election honeymoon is over for President Barack Obama. Both parties must work to avert the pending spending cuts and tax hikes that will take place should a compromise not be reached by December 31.

Reuters recently reported that a compromise is being negotiated between the Obama administration and congressional leaders that would key in on a deficit reduction package in Congress’ January session. This comes after President Obama and House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) discussed the matter last Friday, stating they are ready to work together on an agreement, including the possibility of listening to new ideas to get a deal done. Keep reading →

 /  Published November 15, 2012 at 7:00 AM

Pentagon Launches Latest Effort To Buy Faster, Better, Cheaper

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Once upon a time there was the Packard Commission, convened during the Reagan Administration to find fixes for the Pentagon’s terrible record in buying weapons. They took too long, cost too much and often didn’t do what they were supposed to do. Since then, things have only gotten worse: weapons continue to cost too much, take too long and often don’t do what they are supposed to do.

The Packard Commission, which produced its report in 1986, called for creation of an acquisition czar and recommended an array of other changes to what it then said was not a “rational system” for buying and building America’s weapons. Frank Kendall, who occupies the position of czar (known formally as the undersecretary of defense for acquisition, technology and logistics) today announced the Obama Administration’s second iteration of a rash of reforms he hopes and expects will begin to fix things. Keep reading →

 /  Published November 14, 2012 at 10:33 AM

How Technology Could Save Government $220 Billion, Empower Citizens: New Reports

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Government leaders have a unique opportunity to tackle some of the nation’s most pressing challenges – and reduce the federal deficit by as much as $220 billion – by taking more progressive steps in adopting innovative IT practices and other measures, says a prominent public-private partnership organization.

But to accomplish that, agency leaders will need to more fully align and integrate information technology with their mission and business operations, according to recommendations in a series of policy briefing papers released today by the ACT-IAC Institute for Innovation. Keep reading →

 /  Published November 13, 2012 at 8:31 AM

Big Data Tradeoffs: What Agencies Need To Know – NIST’s Peter Mell

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The power of big data – like cloud computing and mobility – has emerged as a transformational technology force, but one that poses a host of planning questions for senior government agency officials. Peter Mell, a senior computer scientist for the National Institute of Standards and Technology, devoted many months assessing the potential and the pitfalls of big data for NIST. He recently shared what he learned and what executives need to understand about big data in an interview with AOL Government’s Wyatt Kash.

Mell outlined some of the misunderstandings and tradeoffs associated with large scale data sets agencies are likely to encounter as they move beyond classic relational databases. He also talked about the importance cloud computing plays in facilitating big data analytics. And he shared with our readers a comprehensive slide presentation that puts many of the questions about big data and related security implications into perspective. Keep reading →

 /  Published November 12, 2012 at 9:00 AM

No More Copper Wires: Army CIO To Tell Odierno We Gotta Go to Cloud

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While Army forces in Afghanistan have more bandwidth and gadgetry than ever, bases back home still make do with archaic copper-wire telephone switches. As the war winds down and units increasingly operate out of the US, the challenge for the Army’s CIO is to move the whole service to a single set of compatible, cloud-based systems.

“How do we get the network right?” Lt. Gen. Susan Lawrence, the Army’s Chief Information Officer, aka the G-6, asked at an Association of the US Army breakfast. “We’re going to propose that [cloud-based] strategy to [Chief of Staff] Gen. [Ray] Odierno on Saturday the 17th.” Keep reading →

 /  Published November 9, 2012 at 1:45 PM

Cyber Chief Alexander Issues Call For Action; Outlines Who Does What

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The nation’s top military cyber commander offered his version of how government and military agencies are likely to work together when America suffers cyber attacks, and warned that industry needs to take a greater role.

“We have laid out lanes of the road,” Gen. Keith Alexander, commander of Cyber Command and director of the National Security Agency said, sketching them out in broad terms for an audience of security professionals yesterday at a symposium in Washington sponsored by Symantec. Keep reading →

 /  Published November 8, 2012 at 3:00 PM
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