According to Reuters, a new report by the Energy Department’s inspector general reveals it has recently been hit by cyber attacks. The report also found the department’s computer systems have a variety of weaknesses, which have in turn made it vulnerable to the attacks. Who or where these attacks have come from are not known, [...]

Recycling is spreading far beyond its debut platform of Earth. According to a Defense Department platform released last week, DARPA is working on plan to collect useful parts from dead satellites floating 22,000 miles above the planet in the geosynchronous orbit. The plan, coined Phoenix Program, will be collecting spare satellite parts — mainly antennas [...]

In a time where budgets are flat or declining, Roger Baker, the chief information officer at the Veterans Affairs Department, says giving the agency chief information officers more say in financial decisions could be a way to create savings for the federal technology enterprise. The suggestion comes from the only agency CIO that has been [...]

With the increase of more sophisticated malicious threats against critical systems controlling infrastructure such as those of power plants and financial institutions, a top government official has called for the consideration of a new secure alternate Internet. Shawn Henry, the executive assistant director of the FBI, told attendees at an International Systems Security Association conference that [...]

Federal agencies are struggling to put together mobile applications of substance according to a report released last week from White Horse. NextGov is reporting that several government applications are flawed. The Postal Service’s Tools app is severely flawed in reporting where packages are. The report recommends a website used to track packages rather than an [...]

Senators on the chamber’s Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee recently revealed a proposal for reform of the federal government’s acquisition process. Sponsored by Sens. Scott Brown (R-Mass.), Susan Collins (R-Maine) and Committee Chairman Joe Lieberman (I-Conn.), the Acquisitions Reform Bill requires better use of federal strategic vehicles. This would allow agencies to pursue joint procurements [...]

There seemed to be wide agreement from both sides of the aisle in Congress, plus the Obama administration, on repealing a law requiring the government withhold 3 percent of all contracts. However, the push to repeal the law has hit some stumbling blocks as the two parties disagree on how to make up for the [...]

The Government Accountability Office released a report Thursday laying out broad plans for fixing the finances of the Postal Service. The agency is projecting a 25 percent decrease in mail by the year 2020. The GAO was pointedly critical of the Postal Service’s payment system for retirees health benefits, a model they say is flawed [...]

A top Air Force official, who spoke at the recent AFCEA event, urged the service to embrace social networking communications. Brig. Gen. Bob Ranck, director of warfighter systems integration, Air Force CIO/A6, told FCW.com, that currently, the Air Force designs individual aircraft to communicate with individual aircraft and individual populations. “We ought to be designing [...]

According to the Orlando Sentinel, top NASA officials are working to extend a contract with Moscow that would continue using Russian rockets to fly U.S. astronauts into space until 2016. NASA is reportedly paying Russia $1.5 billion over the next five years to transport its astronauts to and from the International Space Station. The contract [...]