Are you wondering why all the Beltway techies have been so giddy this week? Look no further than the Consumer Electronics Show, which kicked off in Las Vegas yesterday. According to Washington Post technology blog PostTech, the big stories emanating from the Las Vegas showroom this week are tablets and smartphones – all bigger (or [...]

According to new authorities granted to top Defense Department leaders, the Pentagon can ban government contractors if DoD deems them a security risk. DoD is not required to inform companies they are blocked, and firms cannot appeal the decision, according to a Bloomberg News report. The contractor-security provision is part of the Defense Authorization Act, [...]

Defense Secretary Robert Gates briefed lawmakers Thursday about proposed cuts to military spending before publicly announcing cuts to weapons programs, according to various media reports. At a Pentagon briefing, Gates announced the cancellation of the Marine amphibious vehicle Expeditionary Fighting Vehicle. Gates said the need for the EFV can be met with existing systems but [...]

The Health and Human Services Department’s inspector general plans to take a cold, hard look at the department’s privacy and security policies with a particularly close eye on initiatives of the HITECH Act, which enshrined health IT practices into HHS regulation. The IG’s work plan for 2011, as reported by GovInfoSecurity, indicates five areas of [...]

The chief information officer of the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development said HUD made “significant improvements” in managing its IT investments last year. And along with touting his department’s success in a blog post on CIO.gov, HUD CIO Jerry Williams is sharing how HUD did it. “We have made significant improvements in this [...]

The General Services Administration’s inspector general says the agency needs to shore up its cybersecurity. However, the issue is not one of new regulations and policies, but of enforcing the ones already on the books, according to a year-end IG report. The Dec. 8 review, mandated under the Federal Information Security Management Act, found that [...]

The Federal Communications Commission has put out a call for software developers to create “open Internet” applications for wired and mobile devices. The apps contest, one in a long line of innovation challenges initiated by the federal government, seeks apps that will provide Internet users with information about whether their connections and services are adhering [...]

Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates is expected to brief lawmakers Thursday about proposed cuts to military spending before publicly announcing cuts to weapons programs, according to various media reports. According to Agence France-Presse, Gates is expected to cancel the Expeditionary Fighting Vehicle, long under a microscope, and make changes to the F-35 jet program. The [...]

The Office of Management and Budget is giving federal agencies a pop quiz about how it safeguards classified information and is giving them a month to complete it. In a new memo published on its website, OMB is ordering agencies to review how it handles classified information. The new memo, which emphasizes agency safeguards for [...]

The Office of the National Coordinator for Health IT has put the finishing touches on creating a permanent health IT certification program. Going forward, “meaningful use” of electronic health records technology will be a “core requirement” for healthcare providers in order to qualify for Medicare and Medicaid incentives, according to a final rule published by [...]