Jim Flyzik, former senior adviser to homeland security director Tom Ridge, was named chairman of the Homeland Security Task Group of the Information Technology Association of America, officials of the Arlington, Va., organization announced today.
The National Strategy to Secure Cyberspace details dozens of steps for industry and government to take to fend off and recover from assaults on the nation's critical systems.<br>
The National Institute of Standards and Technology is recommending a dual biometric system of fingerprint and facial recognition, possibly stored on smart cards, to identify visa holders at the nation's borders.
The Transportation Security Administration is mismanaging its contracts and faces a $3 billion funding shortfall over the next two years, according the Department of Transportation's inspector general.
<FONT SIZE=2>When his phone rang after midnight Saturday, Jan. 25, Brian Dunphy knew it was trouble. On the phone was the night crew at Symantec Corp.'s Security Operations Center in Alexandria, Va., giving Dunphy, a senior manager at the center, a heads-up that the Slammer worm had begun to attack servers around the world.
<FONT SIZE=2>The White House is asking for significant funding increases in fiscal 2004 for Defense Department transformation efforts, such as satellite communications, space-based radar and cryptology, that are rich in information technology, a senior defense official said at a briefing last week. </FONT>
<FONT SIZE=2>Information technology services firms with significant work in the Defense Department and the Department of Homeland Security will be winners under the Bush administration's proposed $59.3 billion federal IT budget for fiscal 2004, industry executives and analysts said. </FONT>
<FONT SIZE=2>The Transportation Security Administration's effort to put federal screeners at every U.S. airport exceeded its contract by nearly $600 million, according to a new report.</FONT>
<FONT SIZE=2>Further easing of competitive</FONT><FONT SIZE=2> procurement requirements were contained in the Homeland Security Act passed in November 2002. Those provisions were implemented by changes to the Federal Acquisition Regulation issued as an immediately effective interim rule Jan. 27. </FONT>
President Bush is making homeland security the top priority in his fiscal 2004 budget request to Congress, and promises intense scrutiny of how the funds are spent.
Richard Clarke, the White House cybersecurity czar, will resign after he finishes the National Strategy to Secure Cyberspace early next month. He said it is essential to the health of the nation's economy and security that the national strategy is implemented.
The National Imagery and Mapping Agency is increasingly relying on contractors to supply both employees and technology, its director, retired Air Force Lt. Gen. James R. Clapper Jr., said today.
The Immigration and Naturalization Service has issued a $2.6 million task order to PEC Solutions Inc. to assist the agency's move to the Homeland Security Department.
In the face of a war and continuing terrorist threats, the U.S. mayors are calling on Congress and the administration to provide direct homeland security funding.
<FONT SIZE=2>In its recent report, the Volcker Commission suggested that personnel flexibilities granted to the Department of Homeland Security could serve as a model for reform across government. The same could be said for the department's procurement policies. </FONT>
