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LAWMAKERS WANT A NATIONAL SECURITY DAMAGE ASSESSMENT ON THE OPM HACK

Relevant links are at the bottom of this post. Several House committees want an unclassified report from President Barack Obama on the damage to U.S. spy operations wrought by the historic breach of federal employee background investigations. The U.S. government has committed to spending $330 million on anti-fraud protections for the 21.5 million victims whose Social […]

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Improving mission planning via the Hanscom MilCloud

Relevant links are at the bottom of this post. 11/18/2015 – HANSCOM AIR FORCE BASE, Mass. — A mission planning team here is using the Hanscom MilCloud as a virtual environment in order to improve their acquisition process, including reducing costs, for an upcoming contract award. The System Engineering Integration Contract II, or SEIC II, will have four main […]

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Army, Air Force Acquisition Chiefs to Step Down

Relevant links are at the bottom of this post. The top acquisition officials from the Air Force and Army announced they will step down in coming weeks, becoming the latest top Pentagon leaders to depart as President Obama begins his final year in the White House. William LaPlante, the Air Force acquisition head, announced his departure in […]

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DoD issues cyber-risk memo for weapons-buying

Relevant links are at the bottom of this post. The Defense Department’s acquisition chief is targeting the integration of cybersecurity into military acquisition, recently issuing new guidance that revises existing policies and emphasizes information assurance and systems resiliency. The new guidance, issued by Under Secretary of Defense for Acquisition, Technology and Logistics Frank Kendall, underscores previous efforts […]

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Securing the future by Bending the Cost Curve

Relevant links are at the bottom of this post. Secretary of the Air Force Public Affairs / Published November 03, 2015 WASHINGTON (AFNS) — Bending the Cost Curve, one of the 13 Make Every Dollar Count cost initiatives launched by the Air Force, includes a growing and evolving set of more than 20 acquisition reform activities. These […]

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Air Force finalizing acquisition process for open architecture

Relevant links are at the bottom of this post. The Air Force will be finalizing an agreement with a consortium of companies in the next two weeks in hopes of doling out rapid awards around open architecture systems. The consortium will be part of a new acquisition process that uses an “other transaction agreement” (OTA) […]

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Halvorsen says ‘Cyber Pearl Harbor’ probable

Relevant links are at the bottom of this post. The idea of a catastrophic IT security event has captured cyber policy wonks’ imaginations through the term “Cyber Pearl Harbor.” And while some have railed against the term’s use as fear mongering, the Defense Department’s IT lead thinks such an event is not only plausible, but […]

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U.S. report highlights positive elements of government open source adoption

Relevant links are at the bottom of this post. I think we’ve all read our fair share of reports about lessons learned and the challenges and opportunities for governments taking up open source software. Frankly, many of them seem a bit dry, and often repetitive. But one study I recently came across (that has not […]

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DOD looks to agile to solve software conundrum

Relevant links are available at the bottom of this post. By Sean Lyngaas Oct 06, 2015 Defense acquisition officials see agile development as a possible lifeline in the Pentagon’s struggle with the monumental challenge of refreshing the software in its weapon systems. “There’s a lot of promise in agile; I think a lot of us […]

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CIA goes live with new cyber directorate, massive internal reorganization

Relevant links are at the bottom of this post. The CIA officially launched its new cyber-focused directorate Thursday, capping a massive internal reorganization that intelligence officials say will also include the agency’s first ever creation of six regional command centers aimed at streamlining U.S. spying activities across the globe. The establishment of the new Directorate for Digital […]

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