Terry Halvorsen

The Defense Department has started testing one potential technology to replace the Common Access Card. This one purports to identify users by the ways in which they manipulate their mouse and type on their keyboards.

The Defense Information Systems Agency is trying to stay ahead of the technology curve. That means putting investments in mobility and the security of mobile devices.

Acting Defense Department Chief Information Officer John Zangardi said he is taking a “risk-aware” approach when it comes to meeting his priorities, some of which include improving effectiveness and efficiency, learning to “speak warfighter,” and defining cyber responsibilities.

As agencies begin to implement the EO over the next eight months, the potential elimination of various carve-outs is going to be the most interesting thing to watch — and the thing that most worries the folks who pay close attention to Defense technology procurement.

Alfred Rivera, DISA’s director of the Development and Business Center, said the agency is moving toward multi-factor authentication, including biometrics and other “patterns of life” type of technologies.

Terry Halvorsen left DoD at the end of February after spending the last two-plus years as its chief information officer.

Terry Halvorsen retired Feb. 19 after spending the last two-plus years as the Department of Defense chief information officer.

IT leaders at the Office of Personnel Management say the agency has one major database left to encrypt, which contains some high-value assets and personally identifiable information for security clearance holders and federal employees.

Terry Halvorsen, who has been the Defense Department’s chief information officer since the summer of 2014, said Wednesday that he will retire from government service on Feb. 28, but that the department’s current IT policies and priorities are unlikely to undergo significant changes during the transition to a new administration.

In today’s Top Federal Headlines, the Homeland Security Department’s inspector General points out many glaring problems with the agency’s process in distributing Green Cards.