SDFM The Business of Defense
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The House Homeland Security Oversight & Investigations Subcommittee, and the Counterterrorism & Intelligence Subcommittee are going to conduct a hearing on Iranian terror operations in the United States. Among the topics the hearing will address: Threats from the Iranian government, Iran\'s intentions to carry out attacks inside the United States, Iran\'s ties to the Western Hemisphere and the impact of sanctions against Iran and consideration of more punitive actions.
October 31, 2011 -
It\'s over in Iraq. But now a new beginning is dawning. President Barack Obama has announced the war is over and all troops will be home by the holidays. Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki says a full U.S. troop withdrawal will allow the two countries to start a new strategic relationship in the interests of both governments. After the withdrawal is over al-Maliki says the two countries will begin talking about a \"new phase\" in strategic relations.
October 31, 2011 -
Defense Secretary Leon Panetta and Attorney General Eric Holder are expressing their opposition to a move prevent terror suspects from being tried in Federal Court. The two of them sent a letter to Senate leaders saying the Republican measure would deprive them of a potent weapon in the fight against terrorism. They also claim it could lead increase the risk of terrorists escaping justice and putting other people in danger.
October 31, 2011 -
CIA chief David Petraeus will be among an army of high-level U.S. officials with Secretary of State Hillary Clinton when she arrives in Islamabad on Thursday to ramp up pressure on Pakistan to do more to stop militant infiltration across the border into Afghanistan, several U.S. officials in Washington and the region told The Associated Press. In a muscular show of diplomatic force, the U.S. dispatched most of its senior national security leaders to Pakistan with what several officials described as a combined message of support and pressure.
October 31, 2011 -
Chief Information Officers in the intelligence world are sketching out a technology infrastructure that could eventually serve the entire intelligence community. CIOs think they\'ll save money and improve interagency collaboration by building a single back-office and desktop architecture, moving most IT users to thin client machines, adopting cloud technologies that can interoperate with other clouds, and collapsing their networks and applications.
October 31, 2011 -
The Department of Veterans Affairs is taking another step toward the deployment of tablet computers to its workforce. VA has sent a request for information to industry in the hopes of buying a mobile device management platform that will let it secure and manage tens of thousands of tablets across the enterprise. The plans call for a deployment of 10,000 tablets running Apple\'s iOS, Google\'s Android and Microsoft\'s Windows Mobile to start. They plan to eventually increase that to up to 100,000 tablets.
October 31, 2011 -
The Department of Homeland Security is getting ready to pilot a technology acquisition concept that will bundle several services into one. They call it workplace-as-a-service, and DHS is hoping it will help its components buy IT more efficiently. The concept would bundle technologies like virtual desktop infrastructure, mobile devices and smartphones into a single service contract that parts of Homeland Security could sign up for. DHS has also ordered all of its components to use enterprise services for commodity technology purchases.
October 31, 2011 -
The Department of Veterans Affairs thinks it can squeeze around 50 million dollars from its technology budget by using hardware and software more efficiently. VA is launching what it calls its ruthless reduction project. For example, employees will be given a choice of a laptop or a desktop computer - not both. VA will get rid of printers at individual employee desks and move to multifunction devices. And they\'ll implement more server virtualization, to cut down on the physical IT infrastructure they operate.
October 31, 2011 -
As the intelligence community looks for ways to cut its budget over the coming decade, it\'s turning to IT efficiency to be a big contributor. The director of national intelligence says he intends for agencies to get half of their budget savings by implementing more collaborative and common IT architectures, and migrating more services to cloud computing. DNI James Clapper says the stretch goal will take some up-front investment, but he hopes the IT initiatives will pay big dividends over the next ten years.
October 31, 2011 -
The Defense Department is getting ready to hand out $30 million in grants to test out cutting edge energy technologies. The Pentagon\'s head of installation energy says the department was overwhelmed by the number and quality of proposals it got from industry as it tries to turn military bases into test beds for clean energy technology. The concepts DoD wants to test include smart microgrids and energy storage technology, renewable energy generation and advanced technologies to improve building energy efficiency.
October 31, 2011 -
Federal agencies are being told to start accepting login credentials from outside providers for access to federal websites. Over the next year, agencies will start phasing in support for login credentials from providers like Google, Paypal, and members of the OpenID initiative. Federal CIO Steven VanRoekel says the goal is to get rid of duplicative and expensive backend systems that agencies operate now to manage public access to functions on their websites. OMB wants agencies to start with systems that have lower security needs.
October 31, 2011 -
The Office of Management and Budget is setting a new, more aggressive target for data center consolidation in federal agencies. OMB now thinks agencies will close 472 data centers by the end of 2012, up from a previous estimate the office gave in July of 373 closures. By the end of 2015 the goal is 962 centers. Meanwhile, agencies are being told to tackle IT infrastructure in even smaller spaces. OMB\'s new definition of data centers will include spaces as small as 100 square feet.
October 31, 2011 -
The Army is preparing to publish a new set of standards that will dictate what technology is allowed to operate on its network. Officials say the integrated network baseline will let the service do a better job of keeping up with the technology cycle by adopting, common, open standards, without dictating precisely what technologies they\'ll allow. The Army also plans to require any vendors who want to participate in its huge Network Integration Evaluation to comply with the baseline.
October 31, 2011 -
Dr. Woodson administers the more than $50 billion Military Health System (MHS) budget and serves as principal advisor to the Secretary of Defense for health issues.
October 31, 2011 -
The General Services Administration will announce a new policy that expands its telework and mobility options for employees.
October 30, 2011