TSP's G Fund Helps Delay Debt Ceiling
Sequester Hits Disaster Relief
Feds Respond to Oklahoma Tornadoes
Making Government 'Simpler'
OK Senator Wants Aid Offset by Budget Cuts
Boldly Go Where No Fed's Gone Before
AUTHOR ARCHIVES
Bob Brewin
Editor at Large
Bob Brewin joined Government Executive in April 2007, bringing with him more than 20 years of experience as a journalist focusing on defense issues and technology. Bob covers the world of defense and information technology for Nextgov, and is the author of the “What’s Brewin” blog.
No Existing Technology Can Ensure Drone Safety, GAO Official Says
February 19, 2013
FROM NEXTGOV
No suitable technology currently exists to ensure that drones will “sense and avoid” other aircraft, Gerald Dillingham of the Government Accountability Office recently told lawmakers, adding that the Federal Aviation Administration lacks sufficient dedicated frequency spectrum to operate unmanned aircraft systems in domestic airspace. Additionally, non-encrypted GPS navigation signals leave ...
How Rubber Cement Brought Down a $4.6 Million Drone
February 19, 2013
FROM NEXTGOV
That’s the rather weird approach to technology insertion used by the Air Force with a Predator drone that crashed in Afghanistan on May 8, 2009, according to the Air Force aerospace mishaps data base. Some unknown soul “tacked into place” a software chip that controlled an aileron on the wings ...
FAA Seeks Operators for Six Domestic Drone Test Sites
February 15, 2013
FROM NEXTGOV
The Federal Aviation Administration is pushing forward toward widespread drone use in domestic airspace, inviting state and local governments, universities, and other public entities to submit proposals for operating six unmanned aircraft system test sites. The agency also called for public comments on the privacy impllications of drone use. Rep. ...
Veterans Affairs CIO Roger Baker Plans to Resign
February 15, 2013
FROM NEXTGOV
This story has been updated. Veterans Affairs Chief Information Officer Roger Baker said he plans to resign in an internal memo provided to Nextgov. In a memo sent to the VA information technology staff, Baker said, “My friends and colleagues in VA IT, this email is to announce that I ...
VA Processes Some Post-9/11 GI Bill Claims Manually Despite $263 Million IT Investment
February 15, 2013
FROM NEXTGOV
Despite spending double the projected cost for an automated end-to-end claims processing system for veterans covered by the Post-9/11 GI Bill, the Veterans Affairs Department still handles many claims manually, Roger Baker, the department’s chief information officer, told lawmakers on a House Veterans Affairs subcommittee panel on Thursday. Baker also ...
Lawmakers Set to Grill Defense, VA on Health Records U-Turn
February 15, 2013
FROM NEXTGOV
The House Veterans’ Affairs Committee plans to hold a hearing on Wednesday, Feb. 27, on the Defense and Veterans Affairs departments’ Feb. 6 decision to drop plans to develop a $4 billion integrated electronic health record and instead pursue less expensive technologies to make their respective systems more interoperable. The ...
VA kicks off massive study of veterans’ deaths
February 1, 2013
FROM NEXTGOV
The Veterans Affairs Department has kicked off a massive study in cooperation with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the Defense Department to determine the cause of veterans’ deaths since 1979, an effort that requires matching records of 34 million service personnel with death certificates. Aaron Schneiderman, acting ...
Tech Roundup
February 1, 2013 Radio Static The Homeland Security Department spent $430 million on a fruitless plan to enable radio users departmentwide to communicate on the same frequency, according to an internal audit released in November 2012. Of 479 radio users the DHS inspector general tested, only one knew how to tune in to ...
Veterans disability claims system and customer service tool work better apart
January 31, 2013
FROM NEXTGOV
Conflicts with another application are to blame for the sluggish performance of the Veterans Affairs Department’s $491 million disability claims processing system in December, VA Chief Information Officer Roger Baker said in a call with the media Thursday. Nextgov reported Jan. 4 that the Veterans Benefits Management System had slowed ...
Navy’s $5 billion network award slips to May
January 31, 2013
FROM NEXTGOV
The Navy said it will delay awarding its Next-Generation Enterprise Network (NGEN) contract, originally planned for February, so it can take more time to review bids from vendors, with an award now planned in May. NGEN will replace the Navy Marine Corps Intranet (NMCI) , which HP Enterprise Services has ...
