Technology

• Should we be worried about a cyber war?

  Seymour Hersh writes in the New Yorker about the EP-3E debacle that has fueled a debate on whether the military or civilians should take the lead in cybersecurity.

  Defense

  October 26, 2010
• Cyber common sense trails Down Under

  Mobile security has become a growing concern among Australian consumers and companies.

  Federal Drive

  October 26, 2010
• DorobekINSIDER: It’s officially official: Takai named DOD CIO

  In a town that has become accustom to long and tangled appointments, this one may go down in the books, but it is officially official this morning: Defense Secretary Robert Gates named Teri Takai to be the Defense Department’s chief information officer, ostensibly replacing John Grimes, who retired in April 2009. Takai will start her [...]

  Budget

  October 26, 2010
• DorobekINSIDER: It’s officially official: Takai named DOD CIO

  In a town that has become accustom to long and tangled appointments, this one may go down in the books, but it is officially official this morning: Defense Secretary Robert Gates named Teri Takai to be the Defense Department’s chief information officer, ostensibly replacing John Grimes, who retired in April 2009. Takai is widely respected [...]

  Budget

  October 26, 2010
• Sen. Webb puts hold on DoD nominations

  Sen. Jim Webb (D-Va.) said he will place a hold on all Defense Department nominations for civilian and flag or general officers, saying the Pentagon has not been forthcoming with information about its decision to close the Joint Forces Command in Norfolk, Va.

  Open Data/Transparency

  October 26, 2010
• ELC 2010: How the RAT Board tags rogue recipients

  How the Board keeps tabs on the money and described the tools it uses to identify rogue recipients is explained by Doug Hassebrock, the assistant director of investigations for the Recovery Accountability and Transparency Board.

  Federal Drive

  October 26, 2010
• Cyberflaw found in DOT stimulus system

  While Transportation officials say they haven\'t detected any incidents, but it isn\'t clear whether DOT\'s security problems could impact Recovery.gov or FederalReporting.gov.

  Federal Drive

  October 26, 2010
• Army expects saving by moving e-mail

  In the name of efficiency, the Army is making what it calls a big change in the way that it manages e-mail. The service said the move is designed to save millions of dollars at a time when the secretary of Defense is mandating significant savings.

  Defense

  October 26, 2010
• GSA’s next cloud offering: e-mail-as-a-service

  GSA is ramping up cloud computing, preparing the next two governmentwide contracts for cloud computing. Agency issues notice that a RFP could be issued by early 2011. GSA also considering geospatial platform-as-a-service offering later next year.

  Technology

  October 26, 2010
• Data.gov moving into implementation stage

  Federal CIO Kundra said an upcoming conference will help agencies share and find best practices for prioritizing data sets. Departments are struggling to meet stake holder demands for opening up data. Kundra said more and more these data sets are leading to third party applications.

  Defense

  October 26, 2010
• DARPA Kicks off Development of Flying Cars

  When the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency says it\'s ramping up a new Transformer program, they\'re not talking about transferring AC to DC.... They mean transformers, like the toys, turned movie heroes. Only in the case of DARPA, it\'s flying cars. DARPA says their Transformer program will attempt to combine the advantages of ground vehicles and helicopters into a single vehicle. Six vendors will participate in a 12-month effort to develop a robust ground vehicle that can transform into an air vehicle that can take-off and land vertically. It should be able to efficiently travel 250 nautical miles on land and in the air, or any combination, without a dedicated pilot, while carrying up to 1,000 pounds. The benefits to warfighters would be numerous, including better resupply operations and quicker medical evacuations.

  Defense

  October 25, 2010
• U.S. Forests Sequestering More Carbon

  Through recently developed advanced methods of measuring carbon sequestration, the U.S. Forest Service now estimates 41-point-four billion metric tons of carbon is currently stored in the nation\'s forests, while an additional 192 million metric tons is sequestered each year. They report the increase is due to both increases in the total area of forest land, and in the amount of carbon stored per acre. The new information highlights the important role America\'s forests play in the fight against climate change. The additional carbon sequestered offsets roughly 11-percent of the country\'s industrial greenhouse gas emissions every year. National forests contain an average of 77-point-8 metric tons of carbon per acre: a greater density than on private or other public forest lands, due to differing management priorities in national forest than on private lands.

  Technology

  October 25, 2010
• Air Force to Expand Solar Capabilities

  For years, the biggest renewable-energy project in the Air Force was a 140-acre solar array at Nellis Air Force Base in Nevada. It produces about 14-point-2 megawatts of electricity annually. Air Force engineers are now set to outdo that project with plans to build three new larger solar arrays by the year 2013.Officials at the Davis Monthan and Luke Air Force Bases in Arizona are planning even larger solar arrays to be constructed, owned, and operated by SunEdison Company. The Davis Monthan project is expected to generate 14-and-a-half megawatts of solar energy, delivering 35-percent of that bases energy needs. Meantime, officials at Luke have teamed up with the Arizona Public Service Company to build a 15-megawatt solar array on 100 acres of under-utilized base property. That project could produce enough energy to satisfy half of the base\'s energy needs, potentially saving up to 10 million dollars on utility bills over the next quarter-century.

  Defense

  October 25, 2010
• To Improve Cybersecurity the Federal Government Must Enhance Its Partnership with the Private Sector

  Cybersecurity is a shared responsibility. During National Cybersecurity Awareness Month, the Administration has educated the general public about the evolving risk of cyber threats through its \"Stop. Think. Connect.\" campaign and reminded the American people, government agencies, and industry that everyone has a role to play in guarding against cyber attacks. At the same time, Administration officials have leveraged the momentum of National Cybersecurity Awareness Month to announce changes in government organizational relationships designed to enhance the security of federal information assets and networks in cyberspace, such as the Memorandum of Agreement between the U.S. Department of Defense (DoD) and the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) formalizing agency roles and responsibilities for coordinating cybersecurity. One area that has received less public attention is the need for government to enhance its partnership with the private sector. Building this partnership and clarifying these roles and responsibilities is critical. The private sector\'s resources are inextricably linked to our government\'s efforts to successfully secure federal information in cyberspace for several key reasons, most notably: Much of the nation\'s cyber infrastructure is owned and operated by the private sector. Because the public, government, educational institutions, and industry rely on cyberspace, an attack against a major player in the Information Technology (IT) infrastructure sector may not be just an attack against a company. Instead, it may result in an attack against the Internet itself and may impact citizens, governments, and companies across the globe. The federal cybersecurity community must clarify the degree to which government and industry should partner to prevent, detect, and defend against these challenges Each key sector of the nation\'s Critical Infrastructure and Key Resources (CIKR) leverages cyberspace to perform mission-critical tasks.Cyberspace minimizes and, in some instances, eliminates jurisdictional, organizational, and technical boundaries of CIKR sectors (e.g., emergency services, defense industrial base, communications, government facilities, etc.). While the increased capability to share information across sectors enables private sector and government CIKR stakeholders to perform more efficiently and effectively, it also creates additional vulnerabilities in cyberspace. In order to truly be prepared to meet the challenges posed by cyber attacks that could threaten the security of multiple CIKR sectors, the federal government must enhance its partnership with private sector CIKR stakeholders There is a shortage of cybersecurity talent in government. While the Cyberspace Policy Review included the need to expand and train its workforce as a key priority, and efforts are underway toward that end, the reality is…the government can\'t do it alone. Cyber attacks are a constantly evolving, significant threat to our national security and the federal government. In the short-term, the federal government has an immediate need for a qualified, seasoned cybersecurity workforce (e.g., Information System Security Officers (ISSO), cyber strategists, security operations specialists, and program managers, etc.) and must fill these gaps by augmenting its existing workforce with the resources available in the private sector. Long-term, the federal government must assess its broader cyber workforce strategy and the role that the private sector plays in meeting mission-critical cyber requirements As September came to a close, DHS hosted Cyber Storm III- an exercise designed to test the government\'s cyber preparedness, which included participants from throughout the federal government, 11 states, 12 international partners, and 60 private sector companies. Cyber Storm III provided the opportunity to test the updated National Cyber Incident Response Plan (Interim Version, September 2010), including the roles and responsibilities of the private sector in cyber incident management. With more than 20 additional private sector participants than its preceding exercise, it also provided an unprecedented opportunity for government and the private sector to work together to solve a (fictional) cyber threat scenario. We look forward to viewing the exercise\'s after-action report and the recommendations for government to enhance its partnership with the private sector in the cybersecurity arena.

  Defense

  October 25, 2010