The game of musical chairs at the Federal Communications Commission continued this week as FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski announced key staff changes. First up, Genachowski named Sarah Whitesell to the media bureau as deputy chief. In Whitesell’s new role, she will take the lead in helping to create the bureau’s media policies, including broadcast ownership, [...]

Director of National Intelligence James R. Clapper’s move to assert more authority over the intelligence budget has some observers predicting more changes down the road. Clapper described a few weeks ago a “conceptual agreement” he had reached with Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates to move the intelligence budget, which had been split up and placed [...]

A New York congresswoman says the possibility of cyber attack against the nation’s power grid is 100 percent, and that such an attack would likely do untold harm. Speaking before the SC World Congress Data Security Conference, Rep. Yvette Clark (D-N.Y.), who chairs the Emerging Threats, Cybersecurity, Science, and Technology  Subcommittee, said the United States [...]

Coming the same day as the sweeping proposals of President Barack Obama’s deficit panel, two Washington-area technology gurus took to Politico’s op-ed page to discuss how smarter use of information technology can help trim the deficit. “Smarter use of information technology is one of the best ways to boost productivity and efficiency — getting a [...]

Workers in the Social Security Administration are downloading outside software without permission, which can lead to malware incidents, according to a report by SSA’s inspector general. SSA employees and contractors are only allowed to download software critical to SSA’s function and must receive written permission before doing so. But SSA IG Patrick O’Carroll, whose report [...]

In the wake of the Congressional midterm elections and a dust up over appropriations in September that resulted in a continuing resolution, Democrats are once again seeking to pass a spending bill. The Hill reports that Democrats are looking to pass a compromise omnibus spending bill between $1.106 and $1.108 trillion, which is $20 billion [...]

A familiar face is returning to FBI’s Washington Field Office, amid a series of a staff changes. FBI Director Robert S. Mueller announced his pick of James W. McJunkin, who most recently served in the counterterrorism division, to be assistant director in charge of the Washington Field Office. McJunkin, who first became a field agent [...]

The co-chairmen of President Barack Obama’s deficit commission announced extensive cuts to a variety of programs as part of the panel’s mission to find ways to balance the budget and improve the nation’s economic outlook. Former Clinton White House Chief of Staff Erskine Bowles and former Senate Republican Whip Alan K. Simpson (R-WY) released Nov. [...]

The Office of Personnel Management is likely to provide more information about a federal healthcare claims database in the face of outcry from privacy advocates. OPM was also scheduled to unveil the database Nov. 15, but Computerworld reports the date will also likely be postponed, so the public has more time to evaluate the program. [...]

Some segments of the population are being left behind even as broadband access makes dramatic gains across the United States, according to a report by the National Telecommunications and Information Administration. Minority and low-income people were particularly hard-hit by this newly emerging digital divide, according to the report. In particular, InformationWeek reports, blacks, Latinos and [...]