Defense
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Hits on infrastructure such as electricity grids and water supplies increased 17-fold between 2009 and 2011.
July 27, 2012 -
The Veterans Affairs Department will award a $5 billion IT hardware contract in the next two months. GSA will release a request for information for cybersecurity tools in the coming days. Both are examples of a healthy and busy fourth quarter for acquisition.
July 27, 2012 -
Pentagon hiring freeze for civilian employees will last several more years, although Defense Department leaders say they'll grant exemptions to give the department flexibility.
July 27, 2012 -
The secretaries of the departments of Defense and Veterans Affairs testified about how the two agencies are collaborating to make it easier for military members to return to civilian life. Members of the Armed Services and Veterans Affairs House committees questioned them about various programs designed to help the process.
July 26, 2012 -
AFGE's Public Policy Director Jacque Simon and Stephen Losey and Sean Reilly of the Federal Times will talk about the big issues affecting federal workers. July 25, 2012
July 25, 2012 -
A government cyber initiative has funded a project to scan smart phones. The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency or DARPA paid for start-up Duo Security to develop an app to scan smart phones for vulnerable…
July 25, 2012 -
Lt. Gen. Michael Flynn, who took the "unheard-of" step of going public with his concerns about ineffective wartime intelligence in Afghanistan two years ago, is the new director of the Defense Intelligence Agency.
July 25, 2012 -
The Air Force has concluded that insufficient oxygen supply caused some F-22 fighter pilots to get dizzy and disoriented when flying it. Pentagon spokesman George Little said an Air Force analysis had concluded that symptoms of oxygen deprivation among some pilots of the F-22, were caused by problems with the oxygen supply delivered to pilots, not oxygen contamination. Restrictions placed on F-22 flights would gradually be lifted.
July 24, 2012 -
The Navy's chief information officer released an abbreviated business case analysis template in an effort to encourage IT industry personnel to propose ideas focused on cost savings. The CIO must continue to decrease IT spending by 25 percent over the next four years.
July 24, 2012 -
Defense Secretary Leon Panetta told industry leaders he keeps urging Congress to pass a new law to avoid those automatic program cuts.
July 24, 2012 -
HUD is one of five agencies piloting a performance management system, called GEAR. The new approach aims to eliminate a disconnect between organizational goals and employee performance.
July 24, 2012 -
All four active services and the six reserve components met or exceeded their recruiting goals through the third quarter of fiscal 2012, according to recently released Defense Department data.
July 23, 2012 -
A civilian employee of the Navy faces up to life in prison for allegedly setting fire to the USS Miami, a nuclear-powered attack submarine while it was dry docked in Maine. The fire caused more than $400 million in damages, mostly to the torpedo room and command area inside the submarine's forward compartment. The Miami was dry docked at the Portsmouth Naval Shipyard in Maine for a complete overhaul.
July 23, 2012 -
Several U.S. Osprey military transport aircraft were slated to arrive in Japan today despite opposition from residents over safety issues following two recent crashes. 12 of the tilt-rotor aircraft will be assembled at a Marine base in Iwakuni in western Japan before being deployed to the southern island of Okinawa for use by U.S. forces there. Last month, a U.S. Air Force Osprey crashed in Florida, injuring all five airmen aboard. Another crash in Morocco in April left two Marines dead.
July 23, 2012 -
A new report details mixed progress on a law requiring agencies to write using plain language when dealing with the public. The Center for Plain Language awarded the Agriculture Department an "A" for its efforts, the highest score of 12 large agencies and departments it surveyed. The Veterans Affairs Department, however, earned an "F" for its mostly incomplete progress.
July 20, 2012