DoD Acquisition Chief Talk Better Buying at Army TACOM Command
The Defense Department’s acquisition chief dropped by the U.S. Army TACOM Life Cycle Management Command as part of his tour of major military acquisition centers to talk about the Pentagon’s “Better Buying†initiatives.
Carter said military procurement officials must be aware of the dictates they hold industry to, according to a report on the Army website.
“So if you ask them to do something unnecessary you will be the one to pay for it,†he explained. “Our message to industry is that we’re changing and they have to change also. Let market forces work but there will be limits to what we will allow. We are the customers, after all, and we want financially efficient contracts.”
Click here for more information.
Cloud Computing Powering DISA’s Transformation
Cloud computing is emerging as the “catalyst†for a full-scale transformation of the Defense Department’s IT arm, the Defense Information Systems Agency.
In a long-form article in Defense Systems, DISA officials explain that by the time federal Chief Information Officer Vivek Kundra kicked off the governmentwide cloud-first policy, cloud computing was already firmly ensconced in the agency’s processes.
“The 25 tenets that Mr. Kundra put out are in total sync with where the department is going,†said Director of DISA’s Computing Services Alfred Rivera. “The department has already been doing a lot of it in some form or fashion.”
Generals Honored for Cyber Efforts
Former director of the National Security Agency and Defense Intelligence Agency Air Force Lt. Gen. Kenneth Minihan and Vice Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. James Cartwright were honored over the weekend for their efforts to advance cybersecurity education and defense.
“Lt. Gen. Minihan and Gen. Cartwright are pioneers in cybersecurity through their efforts, respectively, at the National Security Agency and the U.S. Strategic Command, and have helped pave the way for future cybersecurity specialists,†said University of Maryland University College President Susan C. Aldridge release last week.
Minihan and Cartwright were recognized at UMUC’s “An Evening in Cyberspace†black-tie gala Saturday.
Deputy DNI Gives ‘Insider Threat’ Talk
Deputy Director of National Intelligence John Miller, was scheduled to give a public talk Sunday at the University of Virginia. Miller, a former ABC News correspondent, who famously interviewed Osama bin Laden a few years before 9/11, focused his remarks on the insider threat.
The title of his presentation (in his more colorful parlance) was “‘We Have Met the Enemy, and He Is Us’: New Perspectives on Insider Threat.”
According to UVAToday.com, Miller’s talk would touch on WikiLeaks, the Fort Hood shooting and other high-profile instances of harm by malicious insiders.
Click here for more information.
VA to Begin Open-sourcing VistA EHR System
As the Department of Veterans Affairs begins modernizing its electronic-health-records system, known as VistA, VA is looking to open-source solutions, The Hill reports.
VA Secretary Eric Shinseki said modernizing VistA, one of the oldest and most extensive EHR systems, is a must. And open source may well be the way to go.
“This move toward open source welcomes private-sector partners to work with us to improve VistA,†Shinseki said, “and is an important part of our strategy to ensure that VA clinicians have the best tools possible, and that veterans receive the best healthcare possible.”
