Blowing the whistle on wrongdoing at the Department of Veterans Affairs can mean risking everything from losing a job to losing the respect of co-workers. But in fighting whistleblower retaliation today, the Office of Special Counsel hopes future whistleblowers will come forward without fear of punishment.
Contrary to what you may have heard earlier in the week, Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl has not been charged with desertion. Bergdahl left his post in Afghanistan and was held prisoner by the Taliban for five years. He was returned to the United States in a prisoner exchange last May. Multiple media outlets reported desertion charges had been handed down or were impending. But the Army said no decision has been made. Brian Bouffard is a military defense attorney and former JAG. He joined Tom Temin on the Federal Drive to speculate on what happens next.
The Pentagon led the way for the rest of the government by implementing two-factor authentication across many of its systems. But plenty of important IT infrastructure still relies on a "reckless" system that depends on passwords alone for authentication.
By ANDREW TAYLOR Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — President Barack Obama will ask Congress for a hefty, almost 8 percent boost for the Pentagon, including $5.3 billion to equip and train Iraqi soldiers and moderate…
The Pentagon wants to start the process of cutting 20 percent from its headquarters staff. But it still doesn't know who should stay, who should leave, or how to find that out, according to the Government Accountability Office.
The Veterans Affairs Department's computers and networks get a clean bill of health from third-party experts. The analysis comes about a year and a half after the VA came under intense scrutiny at a House Veterans Affairs Committee hearing for having major cybersecurity vulnerabilities. Federal News Radio Executive Editor Jason Miller tells In Depth with Francis Rose about the report and what it means for veterans' data.
Earlier this month, the Defense Information Systems Agency announced a major reorganization. It says the changes would help drive cybersecurity into everything the agency does. But DISA will never have unlimited resources, so it's now moving toward a "risk management" approach to cybersecurity: Accepting risk in some areas so that it can make sure that what really matters is highly secure. The risk management executive is a new position within the agency's organizational chart. DISA Risk Management Executive Mark Orndorff talked about the new cyber philosophy with Federal News Radio DoD Reporter Jared Serbu.
The Defense Department knows it wants to reduce the size of its headquarters, but it doesn't know exactly how. John Pendleton, director of defense capabilities and management issues at the Government Accountability Office, tells In Depth with Francis Rose how the Pentagon should plan to trim down its management offices.
Mark Orndorff, risk management executive & chief information officer for the Defense Information Systems Agency, joins Federal News Radio for a free online chat to discuss his agency's new risk management organization and DoD's evolving approach to cybersecurity.
The massive reorganization the Veterans Affairs Department has unveiled begins with a simple premise: everyone should work from the same starting point. VA said it has now created a single map made up of five regions that the Veterans Health Administration, the Veterans Benefits Administration, the National Cemetery Administration and several other offices will work from instead of the nine separate regional maps that existed previously.
Defense Information Systems Agency's top cybersecurity official, Mark Orndorff, will join us for both a radio interview and a live online chat this week.
The new Installation and Mission Support Center will be based at Joint Base San Antonio, the Air Force announced this week - disappointing other contenders in the communities around Scott AFB in Illinois, Joint Base Langley-Eustis in Virginia and Wright-Patterson AFB in Ohio.
A new Pentagon report shows a troubling proportion of DoD's IT systems appears to be vulnerable to low- or intermediate-level hackers, leaving aside the advanced persistent threats everyone's worried about.
Mandiant issued a report finding the Veterans Affairs Department network domain controllers had no evidence of data theft, such as the loss of credentials, personal information or personal health information or VA sensitive information. But some congressional sources are skeptical of Mandiant's findings, calling it too narrow to be sure the network and veterans data is safe.
The Defense Information Services Agency has reorganized its services to be more customer focus and have accountability over what technology they provide.