Step up and move forward

You know about blogs, right? Hey, you're reading one. What about Wikis? Well, maybe not so much.

Below you will find a link to a presentation by Chris Rasmussen of the NGA. It's about how the American Imtelligence community is using a wiki, rss,tagging and, dare we say it, living the Web 2.0. Rasmussen's presentation is direct and honest. The positives and the pitfalls are there. These could be the words that inspire you to move your organization forward and, perhaps, streamline some processes at the same time.

Thanks to All News, All about Intellipedia for the heads up.

Kudos to Federal Computer Weekly for posting this presentation. Here it is.

Source: FCW

C2 PC to support COP

Northrop Grumman has been awarded a contract modification to transform the company's Command and Control Personal Computer (C2PC) into a core component of the Joint Tactical Common Operating Picture (COP) Workstation (JTCW).

Under the 18-month $30 million contract modification awarded by U.S. Marine Corps Systems Command, Quantico, Va., Northrop Grumman will begin migrating C2PC to an open, services-oriented architecture required for it to be transformed into the JTCW Client and Gateway.

The Marine Corps expects to begin fielding JTCW in 2010. It will provide ground forces units above battalion level with consistent situational awareness, complementing Force XXI Battle Command Brigade and Below, which provides friendly forces situational awareness at company-level and below for platform-based and handheld systems.

Northrop Grumman's Windows-based C2PC is a mobile, interoperable system capable of operating in a low-bandwidth, intermittent communications environment. It displays the military's common operating picture from a Global Command and Control System-based server or tactical data from other C2PC workstations. Initially developed for the U.S. Marine Corps, C2PC has been adopted by all U.S. military services, U.S. Coast Guard and the Defense Information Systems Agency and has been fielded to military bases around the world.

Source: Northrop Grumman

Vehicle command and control transformation

Eagan, McAllister Associates, Inc., has been awarded a $22,071,517 indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity performance-based contract with hybrid pricing arrangements to provide production engineering, integration product improvement, test and evaluation, and maintenance support as well as the capacity to modernize or introduce transformational technologies into systems and technical support services of various C5ISR (Command, Control, Communications, Computers, Cryptology, Intelligence, Surveillance, Reconnaissance) programs for fielding on platforms such as: Marine Corps Up-Armored HMMWV, Joint Explosive Ordnance Disposal, Rapid Responded Vehicle, Mine Resistant Ambush Protected vehicles, other Department of Defense vehicle platforms, Navy C5ISR tactical vehicles, and Marine Corps C5ISR tactical vehicles, in addition to other tactical vehicles.

This contract includes four one-year options and three-award terms, which if exercised, would bring the cumulative value of this contract to $221,972,342. Work will be performed in Charleston, S.C., and is expected to be completed by May 2009 (May 2016 with all options and award terms exercised). The Space and Naval Warfare Systems Center, Charleston, S.C., is the contracting activity.

Source: DoD

Editor's Note: Eagan, McAllister Associates is wholly owned by SAIC

National cyber security initiative

After years of silence on the issue of cyber security Washington's recent flurry of activity is quite astounding and far reaching. The state of affairs has gone literally from silence to the proposition that government become America's firewall.

How is this to be done? Who is going to do it? How will it be monitored? These questions currently are not clearly addressed or fall under the umbrella label of secrecy.

"A chief concern is that virtually everything about the initiative is highly classified, and most of the information that is not classified is categorized as `For Official Use Only.' These restrictions preclude public education, awareness, and debate about the policy and legal issues, real or imagined, that the initiative poses in the areas of privacy and civil liberties. Without such debate and awareness in such important and sensitive areas, it is likely that the initiative will make slow or modest progress. ... "

"The committee also shares the view of the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence that major elements of the cyber initiative request should be scaled back because policy and legal reviews are not complete, and because the technology is not mature. ..."

"The committee also concludes that some major elements of the cyber initiative are not solely or even primarily intended to support the cyber security mission. Instead, it would be more accurate to say that some of the projects support foreign intelligence collection and analysis generally rather than the cyber security mission particularly. ... That is not to say that the proposed projects are not worthwhile, but rather that what will be achieved for the more than $17.0 billion planned by the administration to secure the government's networks is less than what might be expected."

From: Senate Armed Services Committee, Report 110-335, National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2009

Next gen networks go to trial

The Defense Advanced Projects Research Agency (DARPA) has selected BAE to develop and evaluate new "protocol stacks" - sets of network protocol layers that work together - for military mobile ad-hoc networks, or MANETs.

Under the first phase of the DARPA Control-Based Mobile Ad-Hoc Network program, a BAE Systems-led team developed a new protocol that improves network performance by a factor of five over current practices. The $5 million award for the program's second phase will further develop and field-test these protocols.

In a MANET, each network node operates not only as an end-system, but also as a router capable of forwarding traffic and forming a network free of any fixed infrastructure. Traditional networking approaches have adapted poorly to rapid in-the field network changes, achieving only a fraction of the potential performance. The MANET's flexibility makes it an attractive networking option for tactical operations.

BAE Systems will work with its program teammates, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and CenGen Inc., to develop the next-generation protocols and demonstrate their utility in support of special operations applications. Spring 2009 field demonstrations are planned at Fort A.P. Hill, Virginia.

Source: BAE

Cyberspace carpet bomb?

"The world has abandoned a fortress mentality in the real world, and we need to move beyond it in cyberspace. America needs a network that can project power by building an af.mil robot network (botnet) that can direct such massive amounts of traffic to target computers that they can no longer communicate and become no more useful to our adversaries than hunks of metal and plastic. America needs the ability to carpet bomb in cyberspace to create the deterrent we lack." So writes Col. Charles Williamson III in Armed Forces Journal.

The Colonel's enthusiasm may be admirable but he may also be opening up a huge can of worms that will just lead to escalating botnet activity. Where does that leave everyone else? It's nice to have an attitude that if you're not part of the solution you're part of the problem. The implications for relations with allies, business, and the public are huge.

Source: AFJ

UAE to get deployable tactical internet

After an international competition Thales has been selected to supply the United Arab Emirates with military capable, deployable, multimedia IP services.

The Zagil solution, based on IP standards and Wimax technology, demonstrates Thales' ability to develop solutions from civil products and technologies. This large use of COTS and the development of an active policy of Transfer of Technology, along with a highly performing offer, are the key elements of Thales' international successes in tactical networks. Today, in addition to UAE, clients of Thales' tactical communication solutions include France, Switzerland, the UK, and Austria.

The core of the Di@ne/IP system is the IPS (IP-Services) software suite which comes on top of standard IP equipment and features subscriber mobility, military quality of service, and efficient networking as a perfect answer to operational military communication requirements.

Including a very new secured IEEE 802.16 Wimax technology, this network solution will provide to users a broadband wireless IP access even on the move.

The main transmission media of Di@ne is the TRC 4000 Microwave Radio Relay operating in NATO Band IV (4.4 to 5.0 GHz) and providing secured 34 Mbps high data rate transmission links. Its integrated planel antenna and its split design offers low wind resistance, flexible deployment and quick setup and teardown.

The TRC 4000 radio is fielded in operational service with numerous armed forces, most notably in France, Switzerland, and TRC 4000 34 Mbps is currently under delivery for FALCON in UK, PTPRS in Austria and of course Zagil in the Emirates.

Di@ne also provides Automatic integration of PR4G/Fastnet combat radios offering both radiotelephony and efficient data networking on the battlefield using high secure but sometimes bandwidth constrained military radios.

Source: Thales

Reported malfunction in PayPal Security Key

"When eBay rolled out the PayPal Security Key earlier this year, its executives hailed it as an important measure that would make users more secure. And it was. By generating a random, six-digit number every 30 seconds that users needed to authenticate themselves online, the small electronic token provided an additional layer of protection against phishers and other online criminals."

Source: The Register