The Federal Trade Commission announced Nov. 4 it would appoint its first chief technologist to a one-year post. Ed Felten, computer science and public policy professor at Princeton University, will take the helm of the FTC’s top tech position. Felten, who will take over in his new role in January, is also the founding director [...]

Federal Chief Information Officer Vivek Kundra sat down with The New York Times for a far-reaching interview on everything from a team of hackers working with the Department of Homeland Security, the power of Facebook and the geek team at the White House. Kundra told The Times about the governmentwide push to “change the culture [...]

Undersecretary of Defense for Policy Michele Flournoy spoke at the World Affairs council about the changing face of threats and securities Nov. 4. Flournoy said she believes “we are in a uniquely transformative moment: a time in an emergence of new global actors and an unprecedented spread of technology that will fundamentally change the international [...]

A lot of buzz surrounds electronic health records. Many think the adoption of EHRs and other health IT solutions will revolutionize the healthcare system. Adoption of EHRs, which is the cause celebre of National Health IT Coordinator David Blumenthal, is mandated by the healthcare reform bill passed in the spring, and providers are offered incentives to make the [...]

Once the final frontier, space has become “congested, contested and competitive,” Deputy Defense Secretary William J. Lynn III said at the U.S. Strategic Command space symposium in Omaha, Neb. But the United States isn’t ready to get out of the space game just yet, he said, only that we must change the way we think [...]

The U.S. Air Force chief information officer wants the service to use smartphones and mobile applications to begin laying the foundation for a 21st-century fighting force, according to a report on Nextgov. In echoes of the Army’s smartphone plans, the other military services are discovering that yes, there is even an app for revolutionizing the [...]

The Department of Health and Human Services and the National Institutes of Health awarded major grants to nearly 3,000 biotech firms across 47 states and the District of Columbia. The grants to be used for inventive solutions or therapeutic treatment were announced during a teleconference Nov. 3. HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius, NIH Director Francis Collins, [...]

As expected, an uncertain road lies ahead for net neutrality following the congressional midterm elections, which saw Republicans regain the majority in the House of Representatives. The Hill reports Federal Communications Commission Chairman Julius Genachowski, a supporter of net neutrality, still has the option of taking the unilateral move of reclassifying broadband services under a [...]

The U.S. Cyber Command is now fully operational after months of completing essential tasks to reach its “fully operational capability” status, the Defense Department announced Nov. 3. Cyber Command completed a number of tasks to reach FOC status, including establishing a Joint Operations Center and transitioning personnel and functions from two existing organizations tasked with [...]

The head of the National Geospatial Intelligence Agency wants to better equip those working in the Intelligence Community with high-tech tools, such as cutting-edge mobile apps to fundamentally change how NGA does business. Speaking before the National Geospatial Intelligence Symposium in New Orleans, Letitia A. Long said the agency wants to “put the power of [...]