DHS News 
Top News
- DoD to pursue commercial alternative to VA's VistA
- FedRAMP achieves another cloud security milestone
- Obama to nominate Tangherlini as GSA administrator
- PHOTOS: Meet the 2013 Service to America Medal Finalists
- House GOP panel moves on deep budget cuts
- OMB fuels the passion, synergy between mobile, open data
- Star witness to stay mum for IRS hearing
- OMB reworking financial system requirements to focus on outcomes, not inputs
- Today, everybody's an Oklahoma Sooner
- Retirement funds temporarily tapped to avoid debt limit default
- VanRoekel to lead OMB management team
- SBA starting new lending program for veterans
- New Apple devices cleared to join DoD IT networks
- Army prioritizes access to data in fight over intelligence IT system
- DoD upends slow approval process for mobile devices
- Wednesday federal headlines - May 22, 2013
US government tells computer users to disable Java
The U.S. Department of Homeland Security is advising people to temporarily disable the Java software on their computers to avoid potential hacking attacks.
FAR Council finalizing nine rules in 2013
The semi-annual regulatory agenda highlights final and proposed changes to the federal acquisition and agency-specific acquisition regulations.
Inside the Reporter's Notebook: GSA FAS, shared services and DHS contract awards
News and buzz in the acquisition and IT communities that you may have missed this week.
Govt probe links DEA agent to prostitute scandal
A Drug Enforcement Administration agent arranged to hire a prostitute for a Secret Service agent in Colombia in advance of a presidential visit last year.
Gov't spent $18 billion on immigration enforcement
The Obama administration spent more money on immigration enforcement in the last fiscal year than all other federal law enforcement agencies combined, according to a report on the government's enforcement efforts from a Washington think tank.
CBP turns inward to modernize IT infrastructure
Charlie Armstrong, the agency's assistant commissioner for the Office of Information and Technology and chief information officer, said a new cloud initiative is the target environment for mission support systems. CBP recently moved all of its employees to email-in-the-cloud.
January 3, 2013
Intelligence agencies faulted for Libya fallout
A Senate report found that changes made by intelligence agencies were the origin of confusing explanations after the attack on U.S. diplomatic facilities in Benghazi, Libya.
DHS issues $6B RFQ for continuous monitoring tools, services
The blanket purchase agreement lists 15 tools and 11 service areas that DHS wants vendors to provide to improve agency cybersecurity.
Online Chat: Charlie Armstrong, CIO, CBP
Federal News Radio hosted an online chat with Charlie Armstrong, assistant commissioner and chief information officer at Customs and Border Protection. If you missed it live, view an archived version of the chat here.
House OKs DHS audit, lightens GAO load
The House this week approved a handful of bills aimed at improving federal financial management and oversight of government operations. Two of the bills — one requiring the Homeland Security Department to pass a complete financial audit and the other lightening the mandatory caseload of the Government Accountability Office — have already been passed by the Senate and head to the president's desk for his signature.
Border Patrol to stop interpreting
U.S. Border Patrol agents will no longer serve as interpreters when local law enforcement agencies request language help, according to a new decree issued by the Department of Homeland Security.
Agency collaboration founded in personal relationships
Several departments are seeing the benefits from governmentwide collaboration. The interagency National Intellectual Property Coordination Center used its relationships to get the word out more quickly about counterfeit air bags that potentially could explode on impact. HR University absorbed millions of dollars in performance management training courses from an agency who on the CHCO Council.
TSA's playbook keeps terrorists guessing
The agency developed a playbook to help officials keep their processes and procedures unpredictable. Deputy Administrator John Halinski said TSA is using a risk-management approach to protecting transportation systems. GAO said DHS as a whole is doing a better job using risk to make decisions.
Homeland Security grant spending questioned
The Homeland Security Department paid for an underwater robot in a Midwest city with no major rivers or lakes nearby, a hog catcher in rural Texas and a fish tank in a small Texas town, according to a new congressional report highlighting what it described as wasteful spending of tax money intended for counterterrorism purposes.
Senate votes to require DHS clean audit by 2013
The Homeland Security Department would be required to conduct and pass a full financial audit under a bill unanimously approved by the Senate on Wednesday. The DART Act requires the agency, long characterized by the Government Accountability Office as being at high-risk for waste and abuse, to reach a clean audit opinion by 2013.
ICE agent settles harassment lawsuit
A senior agent for Immigration and Customs Enforcement and the government have agreed to settle a discrimination lawsuit, according a court record filed Thursday.
Border Patrol under scrutiny for deadly force
A pair of Mexican drug smugglers in camouflage pants, bundles of marijuana strapped to their backs, scaled a 25 foot-high fence in the middle of the night, slipped quietly into the United States and dashed into the darkness.
On cyber defense, U.S. ‘stuck at the starting line'
NSA, DHS taking steps to improve information sharing by creating a set of standardized technical specifications that let machines detect cyber threats and communicate them to one another in real-time. Whole of government approach is starting to take shape when it comes to cybersecurity.
Who will stay and who will go in Obama's second term?
President Barack Obama is gearing up for a second term in office, but some members of his Cabinet are on their way out, experts tell Federal News Radio. The legwork for these top- tier changes and others is already in motion behind-the-scenes.
New group strives to clarify, simplify cyber basics for agencies
The Consortium for Cybersecurity Action, a newly-formed international group of government agencies and private organizations from around the world, today will release an updated baseline of the 20 most important cyber controls. The group wants to become a resource to help agencies implement those security checks. DHS already is developing a solicitation to make it easier for agencies to buy tools and services to implement several of the security checks.
