National & World Headlines
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Carl Conetta, co-director of the Project on Defense Alternatives, discusses the Sustainable Defense Task Force\'s report on how to cut defense spending.
December 06, 2010 -
The U.S. Army has awarded Oshkosh $255 million to build 250 Mine Resistant Ambush Protected All-Terrain Vehicle (M-ATV) ambulances for Afghanistan.
December 06, 2010 -
Computer networks and social networks depend on interaction between individuals -- whether it\'s individual machines or human beings. The science of these complex interactions shares some common underlying themes, and a team of Army researchers hopes that examining these networks will provide feasible solutions.
December 06, 2010 -
Several of the most promising technological research projects at University System of Maryland-related labs are getting a strategic infusion of federal cash to help them through the most difficult phase of development, and toward the commercial market. Maryland\'s Jacques Gansler explains.
December 06, 2010 -
MACE program taking commercial technology and modifying it to make it more secure and rugged. The Army is asking for vendor ideas on how to do this and what apps are possible in theater.
December 06, 2010 -
Iran says nuclear issues are not even up for discussion when it meets major powers in Geneva on Today. So it\'s not clear how productive the first the first talks in a year will be. But even if Iran and the five permanent members of the U.N. Security Council plus Germany do agree to meet again, the process is expected to be long in terms of pomp and circumstance, but may be short on productivity. The United States is urging Iran to enter the talks in good faith and warned of more pressure and isolation if Tehran doesn\'t.
December 03, 2010 -
The Army is developing technology for soldiers to use smart phones on the battlefield.
December 03, 2010 -
The National Defense University has two primary campuses: North Campus in Washington, DC and the South Campus located in Norfolk, Va. But their students are all around the world, and thanks to the NDU iCollege, they don\'t miss out on anything, from guest speakers to special lectures. From U.S. DoD Combatant Commands (COCOMS) stationed around the world, and students from Hawaii to Sweden, the NDU iCollege\'s video teleconferencing capabilities allow NDU to share their resources and courses more broadly. Installed in July 2009, the NDU iCollege maintains a telepresence room equipped with a speaker lectern with interactive capabilities and 18 separate workstations with video teleconferencing screens. \"When we decided to purchase the system, it took several months to get approval and to work through security issues,\" Jolly Sienda, Outreach Professional at the NDU iCollege said. \"Now, we can see the benefits of video teleconferencing usage with our students and stakeholders.\" In the past year and a half, NDU iCollege has continued to incorporate their telepresence capabilities into various areas of the university, and seen the benefit not only to their mission, but also to their bottom line. \"For example, the capability of having a guest speaker from Washington, D.C., talk to students in Sweden without travel costs is a tremendous cost savings,\" Sienda said in an e-mail to Federal News Radio. \"We\'ve done this twice this year and we are planning other video teleconferences next year.\" It also allows the college to provide expert faculty speakers in off-site courses, Sienda said, without having to send faculty off campus. In early 2010, the college conducted meetings with academic partners in Singapore to plan a cybersecurity conference. Even basic coordination and planning between the university\'s two campuses is made easier. The NDU iCollege uses a Polycom RPX HD system, Sienda says, which further diminishes the sense of distance. \"When we are able to connect two teleconference systems, the result is very high quality, almost like you are together in person,\" Sienda said. The iCollege continues to find new uses for its telepresence room, most recently adding students in Hawaii. \"Our use of telepresence continues to grow as the adoption of the technology grows throughout the Federal government and particularly within the Department of Defense,\" Sienda said. \"This is a powerful tool for information sharing and networking with the college\'s students and stakeholders.\"
December 03, 2010 -
How can a Defense Department analyst hold a last-minute meeting with three other analysts in three different locations around the world? Well, if they\'re one of the over 380,000 Defense employees using Defense Connect Online, it\'s as simple as turning on a video camera and starting a session. Defense Connect Online (DCO) is the Defense Information Systems Agency\'s second video teleconferencing system by which users web conference using video cameras at their desk or laptop. DCO is available DoD-wide. The technology is being applied by senior-level leaders, agency employees, and service members alike, according to Colonel Brian Hermann, chief of the Net-Centric Enterprise Services branch. Managed in conjunction by Carahsoft Technology Corp. and Adobe Systems Incorp., DCO consists of a multiuser text chat and instant messaging, as well as web conferencing using Adobe Connect. DISA first awarded the contract in 1997. Aside from allowing program leaders and employees in different locations to hold discussions from their desks, DCO has also been incorporated into DISA\'s telework strategy. \"DCO has enabled our telework program to thrive, allowing DISA employees to fully participate in meetings, no matter where they are located,\" Hermann said. It allows off-site employees to \"participate fully in small-group meetings, including the use of whiteboarding and sharing presentations.\" Last year, DISA extended the service to non-DoD agencies and federal partners who work with the DoD. \"The greatest challenge online is balancing security with sharing,\" Hermann said. \"We solve that by allowing other federal government members to have accounts on our DCO services.\" With the expansion, federal employees with .gov email addresses can also create DCO accounts to further collaborate with DoD mission partners. The system has been widely incorporated across the DoD, and is adding approximately 4,500 new users each week, Hermann said. \"DCO is also currently being used by DoD service members to hold impromptu meetings for situational awareness,\" Hermann said. \"We have moved from simply cost benefits to command and control and operational capabilities.\"
December 03, 2010 -
The rationale behind the site was to serve as a place where professionals in the Acquisition workforce could go to play games that were related to the \"core competencies\" that are central to Acquisition.
December 03, 2010 -
The Department of Defense is stepping up its fight against the overuse of acronyms.
December 03, 2010 -
The defense budget for the U.S. is going to recede, but it\'s not clear exactly when or by how much. Defense Secretary Robert Gates wants the military to find $100 billion in savings in overhead over the next five years to put back into troop costs and weapons programs and he wants to do it while keeping the overall Pentagon budget growing at about 1 percent a year. Marine Corps General James Cartwright, vice chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said yesterday other parts of the government might have a problem with that.
December 02, 2010 -
President Barack Obama is looking for help from former Secretary of State Colin Powell to jump start the short-circuited nuclear treaty with the Russians. Powell, a retired four-star Army general and former Joint Chiefs of Staff chairman, said, \"We\'re not exactly sure what\'s going on in the Russian Federation, and they\'re not exactly sure what\'s going on in the United States.\" The START treaty would reduce how many strategic warheads the United States and Russia could hold and set up a system so each could inspect and verify the other\'s arsenal.
December 02, 2010 -
The Washington Real Estate Investment Trust buys a big shopping center in Columbia, Maryland head of BRAC moves.
December 02, 2010 -
The VA launches online tools to allow vets to compare VA hospitals.
December 01, 2010