President Obama recently signed two appropriations bills that fund agencies throughout the entire 2012 fiscal year. This is a stark contrast from the last several months when federal agencies operated under a series of short-term continuing resolutions. Despite operating without set budgets, agencies awarded more than $45 million in contracts in the first quarter of [...]
The Obama administration’s design to cut down “wasteful” spending is lurching toward reality. In a bid to curb wasteful spending, Undersecretary of Defense for Acquisition Ashton Carter is making good on Secretary of Defense Robert Gates’ call to tighten the defense spending budget, while President Barack Obama’s budget and technology braintrust has put at least [...]
Bill Bodie resigned from KBR. GSA Administrator Martha Johnson wants a carbon-neutral government. President Obama signed the Veterans Omnibus Health Services Act. This French cyber expert says he “lives in a world of nightmares.” Non-latin characters are coming to the internet as ICANN opens up its registration. Brunei needs better cybersecurity. Raytheon, Wyle and Alion [...]
According to an open letter from last Tuesday signed by Neil Armstrong, Commander of Apollo 11; James Lovell, Commander of Apollo 13 and Eugene Cernan, Commander of Apollo 17, President Obama’s proposed overhaul of NASA is “devastating” to U.S. space exploration efforts. The letter echoed sentiments voiced last year by the Augustine Commission on Space [...]
Cybersecurity threats are “just the beginning of the beginning.” Melissa Hathaway recently drew that assessment in accepting Information Security Magazine’s 5th annual Security 7 Awards. The biggest casualty on the cybersecurity front is theft of corporate intellectual property and other proprietary data. That loss, writes Hathaway in Information Security’s Oct. issue, will ensure that America [...]
He’s been called a nebbish with a heart. Now Dan Gordon, GAO’s currently acting general counsel, has been nominated by President Obama to serve as Office of Federal Policy Procurement administrator. It’s been a little over a year since the office of OFPP has been without a permanent leader (Paul A. Denett resigned as administrator [...]
CYBERSECURITY | The other day, industry experts weighed in here about the consequences of the White House delaying announcement of the cyber security coordinator. Some, like Amit Yoran, have argued that it’s best the White House take its time. (“Speed of search is a factor, but much less so in the long run …” said [...]
