The National Institute of Standards and Technology has been thinking cloud for a while — but now, NIST is getting serious about hammering out clear security requirements for Web-based computing applications and services. NIST was tasked by federal Chief Information Officer Vivek Kundra with accelerating the formation of security guidelines to fast-track the federal adoption [...]

Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Adm. Mike Mullen said the Defense Department needs to focus more on being a “flexible” workplace. The efforts are underscored by the needs of military families and children, who have been strained by nearly 10 years of war, he said, at a National Press Club news conference, sponsored [...]

When Commerce Secretary Gary Locke and White House Cybersecurity Coordinator Howard Schmidt announced the government’s new plan for large-scale identity management — a secure “identity ecosystem” — for online transactions, they promised the private sector would have a role to play. And, with the recent appointment of Jeremy Grant, who has experience in both the [...]

The Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee held hearings yesterday on the fate and the future of contracting oversight, taking testimony from diametrically opposed sides. On one hand, watchdog groups advocated for a beefed up role for the Defense Contract Audit Agency (which, belying its name, also audits most civilian contracts as well) or [...]

At the annual eHealth Initiative Annual Conference in Washington, D.C., a few weeks ago, national health IT coordinator David Blumenthal hailed the “era of meaningful use,” using the term to describe the significant adoption of electronic health records. In a follow-up interview with FierceEMR, Blumenthal talked building interoperability into EHR systems and why even small [...]

The Obama administration launched a campaign yesterday to leverage the power of technology and the entrepreneurial spirit to build the next generation of tech leaders. The White House event, called “Startup America,” will focus on mentoring the up-and-coming tech workforce, as well as matching investments from the private sector, according to a report in The [...]

When President Barack Obama stood at the lectern in the House chamber last week to deliver his State of the Union address, he struck many familiar campaign-trail themes. But one passage in his speech that quickly piqued the interest of those in and outside government was his call for a major federal reorganization. Obama touted [...]

With a new name-plate freshly nailed to his Senate office, so to speak, Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY.) is proposing  shifting authority over the United States Coast Guard from the Department of Homeland Security to the Defense Department, according to an overview of a proposed bill that aims to cut $500 billion from federal spending. Cutting [...]

In an address last week, Department of Homeland Security Janet Napolitano announced the agency would end the color-coded terrorist alert system later this year. Instead, the department’s new plan can be summed up under the theme: The government can’t do it alone. “This means that the days are numbered for the automated recordings at airports [...]