Is Your Privacy Worth 50 Foiled Terror Plots?
Postal Service Eyes Cuba
Tangherlini As GSA's Mr. Fix-It?
Lew Cleans Up Signature for the Nation's Currency
The Plan to Open More Military Jobs to Women
Should Leaders Ever Lie?
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.
Defense Still Mulling Next Steps on Electronic Health Record
June 4, 2013
FROM NEXTGOV
Last Wednesday I asked the Pentagon and the Defense/Veterans Affairs Interagency Program Office charged with integrated electronic health record development when they plan to start the contracting process for commercial systems announced by Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel on May 21, and who would run them. I also asked for ...
China Has Repeatedly Hacked Veterans Affairs Databases Since 2010, Lawmaker Says
June 4, 2013
FROM NEXTGOV
This story has been updated. Since 2010, foreign actors have repeatedly compromised an unencrypted database maintained by the Veterans Affairs Department that contains personally identifiable information on roughly 20 million veterans, a House lawmaker said Tuesday. Speaking at a House Veterans Affairs Committee hearing, Rep. Michael Coffman, R-Colo., said China ...
Four Key Firefighting Airtankers Grounded Due to Bid Protests
June 4, 2013
FROM NEXTGOV
The Forest Service can deploy only three out of seven new tankers to replace Korean War vintage aircraft as the summer fire season heats up, due to a contract protest. Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore, told a hearing of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee Tuesday that he wants to ...
Santa Fe Forest Fire Highlights Extreme Danger This Season
June 3, 2013
FROM NEXTGOV
Pecos, N.M. – Florentino Gonzales has not returned to his home southeast of Santa Fe since he fled an encroaching forest blaze last Thursday – among the first of many fires likely to char the Southwest this year. Gonzales, who is confident the two horses he left behind will escape ...
Airborne iThing Insanity
June 3, 2013
FROM NEXTGOV
Folks at the Chadwick Institute for Metropolitan Development at DePaul University in Chicago have determined -- gasp -- that the Federal Aviation Administration’s ban on the use of mobile gadgets during takeoff and landing means the loss of more than 100 million hours of productivity. Their report, “Tablets in Flight,” ...
Today Is the Real Memorial Day
May 30, 2013
FROM NEXTGOV
I choose to honor my fallen Marine comrades with quiet reflection today, May 30, rather than Monday, as I still cannot get behind a solemn holiday transformed into a scheme to enrich retailers and the travel industry by the ludicrous 1968 Uniform Monday Holiday Act. I’m in good company. Daniel ...
Defense Contractors Vastly Outnumber Troops in Afghanistan
May 30, 2013
FROM NEXTGOV
For every U.S. service member serving in Afghanistan, there are 1.6 Defense contractors on the ground (and on the payroll) in supporting roles. Contractors make up 62 percent of the force there -- 108,000 versus 65,700 troops, watchdog agency reports reveal. The Congressional Research Service, in a May 17 report ...
Army Puts Out Casting Call for Spanish Radio Novella
May 29, 2013
FROM NEXTGOV
>The Army’s Military Information Support Team in Colombia is seeking a contractor to produce a radio novella -- a Spanish soap opera series, only it has a finite life with an ending -- to deter guerilla recruitment and to promote family values and respectful treatment of women. In a May ...
Navy Delays Award of $5B Network Contract to June 10
May 29, 2013
FROM NEXTGOV
The Space and Naval Warfare Systems Command on Wednesday announced it pushed back the award of its $5 billion computer network contract by more than a week. Officials now plan to award the Next-Generation Enterprise Network contract on June 10 instead of May 31, as they have “re-entered into discussions ...
Now, For Some Good F-35 Joint Strike Fighter News
May 28, 2013
FROM NEXTGOV
The projected cost of the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter dropped $4.9 billion -- 1.5 percent -- to $326.9 billion at the end of 2012, versus $331.9 billion at the end of 2011, the Pentagon reported last week in its annual account of major programs. This drop, the Pentagon said, reflects ...
