News: Report card day looms for federal agencies
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Cyber security audits find improvement in some agencies, but viruses and worms still plague the halls of government.
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The GAO and the Department of Homeland Security's inspector general have issued critical reports about IT at the DHS -- a development that calls into question whether a proposed consolidation of U.S. intelligence agencies would lead to the same kinds of problems.
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A memo sent last week by the While House Office of Management and Budget gives federal agencies 120 days to develop and implement security notification policies, and to start planning to reduce or eliminate the unnecessary use of Social Security numbers and similar personal data.
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A study shows 79 percent of federal agencies are violating a Freedom of Information Act amendment requiring they post records online and help citizens request info via the internet. In 27B Stroke 6.
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By David Zeeck, The News Tribune, Tacoma, Wash.  Feb. 11--One of our prime newsroom goals last year was to do more investigative reporting.   Actually, we call it accountability reporting.
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A Congressional hearing slated for Tuesday will delve into the results of an investigation of the Department of Homeland Security's own difficulties in managing vulnerabilities with its systems.
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For an example of how federal employees can make a difference, the Office of Management and Budget yesterday offered up the story of feeder mice.
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InfoWorld - Many of the Web sites for members of the U.S. Congress lack basic information such as information on office hours or where to go if the reader has problems with a federal agency, according to a report released Monday.
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The employees have spoken. What they have said about job satisfaction has gratified four relatively small federal agencies and sent a jolt through the Department of Homeland Security, which scored last or almost last in job satisfaction, leadership and workplace performance.
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Highlights of the latest campaign finance reports that presidential candidates filed with the Federal Election Commission. The reports cover April through June. Reports already are available for Republicans Rudy Giuliani and Mitt Romney and Democrat Bill Richardson; more were expected to be available Sunday.
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The U.S. Department of Defense and Department of Veterans Affairs still aren&#39;t able to share complete electronic health records of military members and veterans despite working on a project for nine years, employees of the two agencies told a congressional committee Wednesday.While the two agencies have begun to share some text records, including discharge summaries and emergency-room reports, it won&#39;t be until 2008 before they can share vital signs of patients, laboratory data, and family histories, said Dr. Gerald Cross, principal deputy undersecretary of health in the VA&#39;s Veterans Health Administration.Officials from both agencies told the U.S. House of Representatives Veterans Affairs Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations they&#39;re making good progress, but issues remain. &quot;The work to make data computable between two different health-care systems is very complex and requires complete standardization of data,&quot; Cross said.And the U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) has yet to see a comprehensive plan from the two agencies to share e-health records, added Valerie Melvin, director of human capital and management information systems issues for the GAO. The GAO has issued multiple reports since 2001 calling for VA and DOD to improve their health records sharing, she noted.The agencies have made progress on short-term projects to share data between some health-care centers, she said.&quot;These exchanges are limited, as significant work still remains to achieve the long-term goal of a comprehensive electronic medical record,&quot; Melvin said. It&#39;s unclear how a number of ad hoc projects will fit into an e-health record program, she said.Lawmakers stressed the importance of getting a record-sharing program in place as wounded military members come back from wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and will get medical service from both agencies. &quot;This is a critically important issue,&quot; said Rep. Harry Mitchell, an Arizona Democrat and subcommittee chairman. &quot;Thousands of our servicemen and women require and will continue to require significant medical care.&quot;While lawmakers called for the agencies to move faster, the GAO noted some progress. The agencies have developed repositories for health data and are starting to populate them with data, a GAO report said. Seven DOD and VA sites are using an interface to the data repositories, the report said.&quot;Much work&quot; remains before the e-health records sharing system is fully operational, the report said.The DOD and VA effort has been plagued by several setbacks in the past nine years. An interface for a data repository was delayed for more than a year at one point, and in July 2002, the agencies split the project into two initiatives after multiple delays.In July, after nine years of work, the two agencies awarded a contract for a consultant to conduct a feasibility study for a common inpatient health record system.Together, the two agencies have spent more than $1.8 billion on health records initiatives since 1998, according to the GAO.But officials from both agencies expressed optimism. Asked if they could share all data within a year, three officials from the DOD and one from the VA said they expect that to happen.&quot;We are all working toward the same end -- to provide the highest-quality care to our nation&#39;s heroes, past and present,&quot; said Dr. Stephen Jones, the DOD&#39;s principal deputy assistant secretary for health affairs.
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Federal agencies required to ensure security of their Windows XP and Vista PCs by the end of February are going to get some tools to help them.
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Here are details of President Bush's budget for the major federal agencies.
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Important details in little-seen government reports.
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Some federal employees are smarting over their smart-card treatment.
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Deadline for federal agencies' policies for dealing with data breaches approaches and it's not yet clear whether everyone will be done in time.
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WASHINGTON The Associated Press reports some details are coming out today about proposed federal rules for regional phone companies.