Department of Homeland Security
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The Defense and Homeland Security departments are pushing project managers to test technology or weapons systems earlier in the acquisition lifecycle to understand and solve potential roadblocks sooner. DoD submitted recommendations to Senate leaders for how to better integrate testing and evaluation into the acquisition lifecycle.
July 23, 2014 -
The TSA Office of Inspection Accountability Act of 2014, sponsored by Rep. Mark Sanford (R-S.C.), would no longer classify some Transportation Security Administration agents in the Office of Inspection as law enforcement officers.
July 23, 2014 -
Larry Zelvin is stepping down as the director of DHS's National Cyber and Communications Integration Center (NCIC) next month after almost 30 years of government service.
July 22, 2014 -
Two congressional leaders want to know whether USIS' history was considered when awarding a $190 million Homeland Security Department contract.
July 17, 2014 -
Despite steps forward, agencies fell short of their 2014 targets for cybersecurity. The Obama administration is pushing chief information officers to focus on priorities of continuous monitoring, phishing and malware, and authorization processes for 2015, according to the newly released cross-agency priority goals on Performance.gov.
July 14, 2014 -
Chinese hackers broke into OPM computer networks earlier this year with the intention of accessing the files of tens of thousands of federal employees who had applied for top-secret security clearances, according to a media report. OPM tells Federal News Radio, "neither OPM nor US-CERT have identified any loss of personally identifiable information."
July 10, 2014 -
For the Department of Homeland Security, making its 22 components' radio systems interoperable with one another has been an objective since the department was created in 2003. But today, DHS still can't account for all of its communications assets -- let alone get them to talk to each other. Last night, the House passed legislation designed to get things moving. Rep. Donald Payne (D-NJ) is the ranking member of the House Subcommittee on Emergency Preparedness and the prime sponsor of the DHS Interoperable Communications Act. He explained the details of the bill on In Depth with Francis Rose.
July 09, 2014 -
Legislation passed by the House creates a social media working group for the Department of Homeland Security, and adds in requirements and accountability processes to improve interoperability across the agency.
July 09, 2014 -
The Department of Health and Human Services isn't following in the footsteps of the Oscar winning movie, Dallas Buyers Club. Rather, HHS is trying to help contracting officers recognize agile and iterative approaches to buying and managing technology programs.
July 03, 2014 -
The General Services Administration and the Homeland Security Department are putting the final touches on the next set of contracts that will truly kickstart the federal move toward dynamic cybersecurity protections of agency networks and computers. The two agencies will release six task orders under the $6 billion CDM program in the coming year to implement tools and services across more than 40 agencies.
July 02, 2014 -
The Science and Technology Directorate issued a Broad Agency Announcement and four specific solicitations to get industry, academia and others thinking about how to improve cybersecurity. Over the next nine months, the agency will review white papers, proposals and make awards, with expectations of the development of commercial or open source projects in the next year or two.
June 27, 2014 -
The Homeland Security Department is putting up almost $100 million to fund the next generation of cybersecurity technologies. DHS issued a broad agency announcement that lists the first four areas in which DHS wants to know the art of the possible. Doug Maughan, director of the DHS Science and Technology Directorate's cybersecurity division, tells Federal News Radio Executive Editor Jason Miller about the initial set of cybersecurity research areas. Read Jason's related article.
June 26, 2014 -
The Homeland Security Department fires more of its employees than any other agency. Last year DHS dropped almost 1 percent of its workforce. The Federal Times reports the government-wide average is about half that. Jeff Neal is senior vice president of ICF International and former Chief Human Capital Officer at the Department of Homeland Security. He tells In Depth with Francis Rose those numbers might sound low, but they're actually pretty normal for the federal government. Read Neal's related column.
June 26, 2014 -
The Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee members will introduce and markup the Federal Information Security Modernization Act of 2014 Wednesday. The bill would require OMB to rescind a major section of Circular A-130 in order to fix long-standing complaints with FISMA's reauthorization requirements.
June 24, 2014 -
The Homeland Security Department's contract dollars declined for a second year in a row as sequestration set in. The impact of budget cuts is spread unevenly across its components.
June 18, 2014