Two brigades of the Army's 10th Mountain Division are training on a ready-to-go set of networking capabilities as they prepare to deploy to Afghanistan. The IT comes out of the Network Integration Evaluation process.
Computer Sciences Corporation's David Rohret explains what federal networks look like from a would-be hacker's point of view. Plus, Federal Drive broadcasts live from the AUSA Conference in Washington.
Warren Suss of Suss Consulting discusses Sprint's acquisition by Japanese company Softbank. Harl Sanderson, the "mayor of Beale Air Force Base," is honored as manager of the year. Roger Baker, the CIO at the VA, talks about the benefits of electronic health records. Technology reporter Ed Scannell reviews Windows 8.
Active-duty and reserve soldiers with between 15 and 20 years of service could be eligible for early retirement, the Army announced this week. The service is offering temporary early retirement authority (TERA) to military officers who have not been selected to move on to the next grade as well as noncommissioned officers identified by selection boards for involuntary separation. The service aims to shed 80,000 soldiers from its active component by the end of 2017.
The Defense Information Systems Agency sees itself as a safety valve for increasing pressure on military services' IT budgets. At a meeting of CIOs last week, DISA told the military services they could offload commodity IT services to their data centers.
Chairman of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee Darrel Issa (R-Calif.), wrote to the heads of 10 defense companies seeking information about the legal justification for not issuing notices of potential layoffs due to the across-the-board defense cuts set to go into effect Jan. 2. If contractors don't issue the notices and contracts are, in fact, terminated or modified, then agencies will pick up the contract-termination and employee compensation costs, the Office of Management and Budget stated in guidance issued late last month. But Republican lawmakers have argued the White House doesn't have the legal authority to ask companies to not comply with the law.
Current definitions of cyberspace have led to confusion about roles, responsibilities, lanes in the road, a top Air Force general said Thursday. Senior leaders will convene a summit in November to zero-in on a common understanding of cyber.
If your bathroom at work is only cleaned three times a week, instead of daily, does that constitute cruel and unusual punishment? Shore-based Navy civilian and military personnel are about to find out, Senior Correspondent Mike Causey says.
Rudy Mazariegos, ARL's acting chief information officer, said he's implementing the ITIL framework to help bring more discipline to the organization's processes. October 4, 2012
Former astronaut and Lockheed executive Rick Hieb describes the logistics involved in supporting missions in Antarctica. And a former State Department official the security situation at the consulate in Libya.
As service transitions to Air Force and DoD enterprise IT models, defining what technology services should be shared is still on the to-do list. The service's AFNet program is the umbrella effort to centrally-manage many commodity IT functions.
A massive contract awarded to Lockheed Martin in June to manage the Defense Information Systems Agency's Global Information Grid remains in place after the Government Accountability Office denied a bid protest from fellow contractor SAIC. Despite SAIC's allegations, GAO found DISA had reasonably evaluated Lockheed's proposal as well as claims of an organization conflict of interest.
As of Monday, active-duty members of the Army, Navy and Air Force can now participate in the Roth Thrift Savings Plan option.
Lockheed Martin will not issue layoff notices — known as Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification (WARN) notices — if the automatic, across-the-board cuts known as sequestration take effect Jan. 2.
Sarkis Tatigian enlisted in the Navy as a 17-year-old sailor in 1942. After the war, he continued his service to the department in various jobs in and out of uniform. Now, he is being recognized for his seven decades of dedication to the Navy.