National & World Headlines

• VA pushes hiring reforms through program managers

  The agency is using service level agreements to help ensure hiring managers are involved in all parts of the process. VA cut the amount of time it takes to hire a new employee by 20 days. VA hopes to get the average time down below the governmentwide goal of 80 days in 2011.

  Budget

  December 27, 2010
• 2011 – the year of cloud computing?

  Cloud computing began to take center stage in the federal IT community during the last few months of 2010. And Ed Meagher thinks that trend will continue in 2011. Meagher is the former deputy chief information officer at the Veterans Affairs Department and the Interior Department. He’s now vice president of health care strategy at [...]

  Defense

  December 26, 2010
• Congress orders DoD to study Mark Center traffic

  Language in the defense authorization bill passed this week will require the Army to submit a transportation plan to Congress in the next 90 days, addressing how 6,400 new Pentagon workers will commute to a new office with no access to Metro.

  Defense

  December 24, 2010
• Stop loss pay application deadline extended

  The deadline for servicemembers and veterans seeking stop loss pay from September 11th, 2001 and September 30th, 2009 now have until March 4, 2011.

  Federal Drive

  December 23, 2010
• VA struggles to balance cloud apps, security

  Assistant secretary Baker said he can\'t let doctors store veterans\' data on unsecured systems in the cloud. But Baker said he wants to figure out how to solve this problem because the ability to access data anywhere, anytime is necessary. VA shutdown facilities usage of common commercial cloud applications.

  Defense

  December 23, 2010
• DoD contracting cuts less painful than expected

  In a meeting with members of Congress and industry association leaders this week, DoD officials said proposed cuts to Defense contracting will only impact a small subset of the department\'s service contracting budget. DoD officials said they are looking at contracts that support staff augmentation and other similar support service contracts.

  Defense

  December 23, 2010
• DoD stop loss pay deadline extended

  March 4, 2011, is the new deadline to apply for Retroactive Stop Loss Pay.

  Defense

  December 22, 2010
• VA battles unsecured systems in cloud

  The Veterans Affairs Department continues to find rogue instances of data storage on unapproved systems in the cloud. Roger Baker, VA’s assistant secretary in the Office of Information and Technology and chief information officer, said…

  Defense

  December 22, 2010
• 2010 and Beyond: Cloud computing to be ‘game-changer’

  Former deputy CIO of Interior and VA Ed Meagher said his top story of the year is cloud computing.

  Defense

  December 22, 2010
• DoD: Job losses in Virginia less than expected

  At a recent meeting with lawmakers and industry representatives to review the Pentagon\'s cut-cutting measures, Deputy Defense Secretary William Lynn explained what the state can expect.

  Federal Drive

  December 22, 2010
• Southcom moves into new South Beach digs

  The new facility in Miami has more than 39 football fields worth of office space

  Federal Drive

  December 22, 2010
• DADT repealed — now what?

  Jeremy Johnson, formerly of the Navy, discussed some of the steps the military must take now that DADT will be repealed.

  Defense

  December 21, 2010
• DoD experts: civilian agencies critical to national security

  The changes under way at the Pentagon under the direction of Defense Secretary Robert Gates are in part bourne out of the fiscal reality the country is facing today. But there is an underlying element…

  Federal Drive

  December 21, 2010
• Can biology lessons help in cybersecurity?

  DARPA Deputy Director Ken Gabriel explains how a new security program came out of a workshop with infectious disease biologists.

  Defense

  December 21, 2010