SDFM The Business of Defense
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From digitization of mail to GPS tracking, the Postal Service is investing in new technologies to help it grow revenue. Ellis Burgoyne, the agency's chief information officer, says his department is concentrating on five main projects in 2013 that will help the Postal Service cut costs while improving efficiency and customer service. USPS ended fiscal 2012 with $15.9 billion of debt.
November 21, 2012 -
Ellis Burgoyne was named chief information officer and executive vice president of the U.S. Postal Service in December 2010. Burgoyne oversees all systems and data management to help develop new products quickly and fully leverage…
November 20, 2012 -
Dr. Collins oversees the work of the largest supporter of biomedical research in the world, spanning the spectrum from basic to clinical research. Francis S. Collins, M.D., Ph.D. Director National Institutes of Health (NIH)
November 20, 2012 -
In a powerful reminder of the brutality of the Pinochet military regime in Chile, an official autopsy of the remains of Salvador Allende's vice president, Jose Toha, have determined that he was murdered and did not commit suicide. Almost 40 years ago, Pinochet's government claimed he hung himself in his hospital room from a closet railing, but his family never bought it because he was taller that the railing. His body was re-interred yesterday.
November 20, 2012 -
The military says it doesn't appear a failure of an F-22 fighter's oxygen system caused the $190 million jet to crash in Florida. The Associated Press is reporting, that Air Force Col. David Graff said in a statement Friday that an initial review of Thursday afternoon's crash found the life system did not play a role. The pilot ejected safely before the stealth fighter jet went down in a wooded area of Tyndall Air Force Base in the Florida Panhandle near Panama City. No one on the ground was injured. In 2008, F-22 pilots began reporting high altitude-like problems, forcing the Air Force to acknowledge concerns about the jet's oxygen supply system.
November 19, 2012 -
Miriam Nisbet from the Office of Government Information Services and Rick Blum from the Sunshine in Government Initiative, will talk about a new portal that will help agencies with Freedom of Information Act requests. November 16, 2012
November 16, 2012 -
Gen. Joseph Dunford, the assistant commandant of the Marine Corps, President Barack Obama's choice to be the top commander in Afghanistan said he envisions a U.S. presence in the country after American combat forces leave at the end of 2014. The Associated Press reports, "He also said the two main missions would be counterterrorism and assisting and advising Afghan security forces. Pressed on the size of the residual force, Dunford declined to provide specifics but did say 1,000 troops would be insufficient."
November 16, 2012 -
Charles Prow has compiled a series of insightful essays by leading thinkers and practitioners that offer a long-term strategy to improve national competitiveness.
November 15, 2012 -
The U.S. military says it will station an advanced radar in Australia to help track space junk threatening satellites and is working toward placement of a new, state-of-the-art deep-space telescope developed by the Pentagon's advanced research arm DARPA. Reuters is reporting, "The positioning of the advanced military equipment is another sign of deepening U.S. military ties with Australia and America's widely touted "pivot" to Asia. It follows an agreement last year for a rotating training presence of up to 2,500 Marines in Australia's northern tropical city of Darwin."
November 15, 2012 -
This week on AFGE's "Inside Government" Council of Prison Locals Northeast Regional Vice President Phil Glover talks about the dedication of Bureau of Prisons workers during Superstorm Sandy while AFGE General Counsel David Borer discusses TSA workers' ratification of the first-ever collective bargaining agreement with the agency. Alliance for American Manufacturing Executive Director Scott Paul and AFGE Federal Emergency Management Agency Local 4060 President Robert Autrey also appear.
November 14, 2012 -
Nagisa Manabe hasn't spent her entire career with the Postal Service but, after just six short months, she's making her presence known. Under her direction, the agency has committed to spending 15-20 percent of its marketing dollars on direct mail — the same amount it recommends to its own customers. Her goal — getting the Postal Service out of the red through the development of new innovative products and the use of effective marketing techniques. The new chief marketing and sales officer brings with her a career's worth of experience from the private sector — including jobs with powerhouse companies like Coca-Cola, Campbell's Soup and the liquor industry.
November 14, 2012 -
November 27, 2012 Crowdsourcing describes the various methods and processes for getting a sizeable and distributed group of people to accomplish a task, solve a problem, or make a decision. The Cloud is a platform for delivering vast resources and services over the Internet, accessible to anyone regardless of location. The confluence of the "Crowd" and the Cloud will usher in a powerful new software development model for the public sector.
November 13, 2012 -
Has the CIA been using Benghazi as a base to detain Libyans? An allegation that came to light during a speech by Paul Broadwell, who had an affair with now former CIA director David Petraeus. A CIA spokesperson says, "The CIA has not had detention authority since January 2009, when Executive Order 13491 was issued. Any suggestion that the Agency is still in the detention business is uninformed and baseless."
November 13, 2012 -
Nagisa Manabe was named chief marketing and sales officer and executive vice president of the U.S. Postal Service in May 2012 and reports directly to the Postmaster General. In this role, Manabe is responsible for…
November 12, 2012 -
Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta is setting off on a three-nation tour of Asian nations. He will visit Austrailia, Thailand and Cambodia, the goal is to strengthen alliances with partners in the Asia-Pacific region in order to further advance the U.S. long-term strategy of rebalancing with the Asia-Pacific. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Army Gen. Martin E. Dempsey and Commander of U.S. Pacific Command Navy Adm. Samuel J. Locklear III will join Panetta for a portion of the trip.
November 09, 2012