On Jan. 18 the State Department named Kareem Abdul-Jabbar a “global cultural ambassador” to help reach out to young people worldwide. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said to Abdul-Jabbar in a press conference that he would be able to connect to young people in a world where the population keeps getting younger overall. “We from time to time ask distinguished Americans to take on an additional responsibility in their busy lives as a cultural ambassador for our country,” Clinton said. For those of you who didn’t know, Abdul-Jabbar is the NBA’s all-time leading scorer, with 38,387 points. So this brings…
Monthly Archives: January, 2012
Back by popular demand, it’s a roundup of some of the more exotic items being sold by federal agencies. Whether its the U.S. Marshals seizing property or the General Services Administration trying to get rid of some random miscellany that for some reason wound up in an auction, you know you’re just itching to crack open that paypal account and pony up. Lets begin. #5 PRINTS AND PAINTINGS (Mostly of birds, but there is also a fish and apparently a cheetah?) Current bid: $2,134 Now I know what you are thinking. That seems like an awful lot of money for…
Last Friday morning, President Obama heralded long-awaited plans for a government consolidation involving a half-dozen agencies with some connection to business and trade policy. Late that day, the Office of Management and Budget posted a memo instructing those same six agencies–and a few other bureaus to boot–to inventory all their programs with the ultimate goal of reducing duplication and overlap. Coincidence? Not exactly, according to an OMB spokeswoman. The newly ordered inventory is in fact a pilot project to figure out how to do the government-wide program count required by the Government Performance and Results Modernization Act signed last year, the spokeswoman, Moira Mack,…
The Department of the Navy has already taken steps to reduce information technology costs and cut its overall business IT budget by $2 billion over the next five years. Data center consolidation and greater scrutiny of IT purchases like mobile devices and software are expected to cut costs, said Chief Information Officer Terry Halvorsen in an interview. “That money has been taken out of those lines for accounting that would support buying those services,” Halvorsen said. “We’re beginning the execution in 2012,” but the savings run from 2013 to 2017. Following Halvorsen’s orders, both services have appointed a so-called Information Technology Expenditure Approval…
You can’t call this a game-changer, but the U.S. Postal Service’s inspector general is offering some indirect support for the mail carrier’s plans to close more than half of its mail processing plants. In a newly released round-up, the IG’s office pulled together audits of 32 previous area mail processing consolidations and found that 31 had a valid business case. Those business cases “were supported by adequate capacity, increased efficiency, reduced work hours and mail processing costs, and improved service standards,” the roundup says. The IG’s office did note, however, that four of the 31 consolidations were poorly executed and…
The nation’s first federal chief information officer has transitioned to the private sector. Vivek Kundra has joined cloud provider salesforce.com as its executive vice president of emerging markets, the company announced Monday. Kundra will be responsible for raising awareness and adoption of cloud computing and work out of the company’s Herdon,Va., office. “Salesforce.com is an industry disruptor, helping organizations use the transformative power of technology for change,” Kundra said in the news release. “I am excited to join the most innovative company in the world that is pioneering social, mobile and open cloud computing technologies for the enterprise.” Last August, Kundra…
The RIF clock is officially ticking for most of the staff at the inspector general’s office for the Corporation for National and Community Service. Reduction-in-force packages went out Friday to 26 of the office’s 33 employees, said spokesman Bill Hillburg, who was among those receiving notification that he could be out of a job by March 17. “It can change for some if some folks find work elsewhere, but unless funding is found and restored, [it’s] irrevocable,” Hillburg said in an email. The move comes after Congress whacked the IG’s funding by almost half to $4 million in a fiscal…
A proposed 4G network by wireless broadband firm LightSquared would cause harmful interference to Global Positioning System devices, according to the government organization that deals with GPS matters. LightSquared’s original and modified plan to mitigate interference to GPS receivers would be harmful to “many” of them, federal officials on the National Executive Committee for Space-Based Positioning, Navigation, and Timing, said in a letter Friday. The letter to the administrator of the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) was in response to the agency’s request for further tests of LightSquared’s proposed mobile network. NTIA is responsible for advising the president on telecommunications and information…
Here is why President Obama’s plan to reorganize and streamline government doesn’t stand much of a chance in Congress: rice bowls. In this case: USTR. Just about every state in the Union has a deep vested interest in international trade and in the outcome of trade disputes. That’s why, as a legislator, it is about as plum as it gets if you sit on one of the committees that calls the shots at the obscure little agency across the street from the White House called the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative (USTR). That little office sets and promotes U.S.…
The State Department’s top security chief is leaving his post to oversee a newly created cybersecurity division at the Department of Homeland Security. John Streufert will replace Nicole Dean as director of DHS’ National Cyber Security Division on Jan. 17, where he will be tasked to build and maintain an “effective cyberspace response system” and implement a program for protecting critical infrastructure, DHS’ Roberta Stempfley said in an email Friday to employees within the Office of Cybersecurity and Communications. Streufert will also work to strengthen DHS’ partnerships with the private sector and international organizations. “Although Nicole is leaving rather large shoes…