Posts By Jonathan Messinger

Keep It Simple: Innovation and Regulation Can Coexist

Retired Air Force Lt. Col. Dan Ward has made a bit of a name for himself as a leading thinker in terms of pushing and supporting innovation within the typically slow-moving world of federal acquisition. The author of two books, Ward has advocated loudly and eloquently for pushing for speed and simplicity in procurement, andRead… Read more »

Department of Defense Shapes “IT Box” to Speed Acquisition

While the civilian agencies wrestle with improving their IT procurement—and watch as legislation like the Federal IT Acquisition Reform Act (FITARA) makes the slow march through Congress—the Department of Defense is moving ahead with its own plans to streamline the process. The problems with defense acquisition are known and many: Cost overruns, schedule slippage, etc.Read… Read more »

More Communication, Collaboration Needed in Federal Cybersecurity

By Jeff Ghelerter and Curtis Cote The numbers are astonishing. There are around 70 million cyber-attacks on the Department of Defense per week, or roughly 115 per second, and the National Nuclear Security Administration matches those numbers. Cyber-attacks on the federal government increased 782% between 2006 and 2012, and 66% of security breaches go undetectedRead… Read more »

Lost in the Crowd: How the Government Can Learn ID Management from the Private Sector

At a recent panel meeting of the Armed Forces Communications and Electronics Association (AFCEA) about how federal agencies can best manage identities to improve engagement and relationships with those customers, an illustrative private sector example came to light. A member of the audience told the story of buying a Dell computer ten years ago, aRead… Read more »