The federal government’s debt has never been more of a hot-button issue than it is now. After threatened government shutdowns and continued wrangling over the deficit, the current political fight hinges on the debt ceiling, a provision of a nearly century-old law that allows Congress to set the allowable limit of public debt the federal [...]

The Defense Department’s  newly released National Security Space Strategy has made it clear –  once known as the final frontier, the race to leverage technology and capabilities in space has opened up to a number of competing nations, making the limitless cosmos feel a little cozier these days. The buzzwords, according to the strategy and [...]

For years, the concept of cybersecurity centered on protecting computer networks from malicious outsiders bent on sneaking past or breaking through firewalls and gaining access to sensitive systems. But recent events in government and the private sector have pointed to the specter of the insider threat, which can be as damaging as traditional threats and [...]

Forget about “doing more with less.” The Defense Department prefers to think of it as “doing more without more.” But, there’s more to the policy than just changing the way defense planners — including procurement chief Ashton Carter — think. In a world where managing the department’s bottom line is a DoD priority, the department [...]

The budget for the nation’s myriad of intelligence activities is bucking the historical trend in three important ways. First, unlike overall defense spending, which is expected to flat-line or decline in the coming years, the intelligence budget, which has doubled in the past 10 years, is growing and will likely continue to do so. The [...]

When President Barack Obama signed the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act into law shortly into his presidency two years ago, the administration and the media touted the “shovel-ready” projects the stimulus act would help to create? But, what about the lab-coat-ready projects? Along with the expansion of unemployment benefits and increased spending on healthcare and [...]

Despite all the talk of cloud computing in the federal sector and, more important, action on cloud computing, security questions have threatened to overwhelm the government’s “cloud-first” policy with question marks. While cloud has promised to “free” data, making it easier to use, share and collaborate, how feasible is cloud computing for federal agencies with [...]

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 [...]

The big news last week for the government-contracting community was the update Defense Secretary Robert Gates provided on the Pentagon efficiencies. But, along with his familiar refrain, voicing support for the $100 billion in cost savings, he also announced an additional $78 billion in budget cuts, including the cancellation of some weapons systems. “Not every [...]

So, it’s another year. You’re back in the office and, soon, a new Congress will get back to work too, taking up all the issues it left on the table before it broke for the holiday recess. And, while there are still a lot of issues to cover, Congress actually did its homework early for [...]