AFCEA International offers academic institutions the opportunity to create student chapters as forums for knowledge sharing and discussions about various aspects of communications and information technology.

The AFCEA International board of directors elected Alfred Grasso, president and chief executive officer of The MITRE Corporation, to serve as the association’s chairman of the board.

Introduction: In part 1, our guest blogger discussed the wisdom found in sharpening your pencil on cost build-ups before applying margin as well as the wisdom in asking the right question to assure your bid and your delivery of services is solving the right problem. Here, in part 2, we explore how to be more competitive via learning from previous projects and using this to win the next one.

One of the most ardent proponents of virtual worlds technologies for military collaboration has forged ahead and developed a version of the Second Life technology that is able to operate behind secure .mil firewalls, and it is on its way to being certified for secure operation within most military networks.

Having spent most of May reading Tim Weiner’s recent book “ENEMIES a History of the FBI” and Jose Rodriguez’s “HARD MEASURES How Aggressive CIA Actions After 9/11 Save American Lives” I thought discussing my “takeaways” from these two books would be interesting material for this edition. However, not examining the in-depth media reporting on the use of armed drones for targeted killing of terrorists in Pakistan, Afghanistan, and Yemen juxtaposed with the wholesale execution of civilians in Syria strikes me as tone death. Finding the confluence of technology and ethics personally fascinating, the more I thought about how the President is personally engaged in selecting targets and giving the “shoot order” for targeted drone killings I found myself informed by Weiner’s and Rodriquez’s narratives with implications for Syria.

There is mere 'opinion' in this market and then there is 'qualified opinion'. In the case of the former, everybody has at least one. Just ask someone what small businesses can do (in the intelligence and defense markets) to become as competitive or more competitive than large businesses, and you'd get a mixed bag of answers. Below--and in the next blog entry, are the comments of Michael Gallo, owner and principal consultant of Valerisys Consulting. (www.valerisys.com) He has a qualified opinion to address several core issues that many services firms (in this market) deal with on a weekly basis: capital investment decision making in the federal sector including cost and price forecasting, modeling, assessment and review, proposal support, and training. Michael's 20+ years of experience has given him insights that many of us may miss. What is so valuable here is that (in my opinion) if you take his advice, you'll better understand how to solve real challenges, and with a higher quality of service. And being better at what you do will cause you to win more business as a direct result.

Prospective bidders for the U.S. Navy’s Next Generation Enterprise Network are facing several balancing acts as they weigh multiple criteria to vie for the multibillion-dollar contract. Issues such as technology refresh, service integration and savings sharing loom large in what ultimately will be the Navy’s primary information network.

The U.S. Air Force is planning an energy future in which it both leads and follows the technology efforts of others. Improved efficiencies as well as alternative technologies will play key roles in giving the Air Force supremacy in energy as well as in the air. The future of the Air Force’s fundamental research into energy through the year 2026 is outlined in a report designed to maintain the service’s position as the pre-eminent entity in air and space. Titled Energy Horizons, the paper offers plans for power-source science and technology (S&T) not only in the expected air and space arenas, but also in cyberspace and infrastructure.

The shifting winds of geopolitical change are forcing government and industry alike to take a new tack in ensuring safe passage through the Earth’s oceans. From criminals plying their trade on the high seas, to nation-states seeking to deny access to other countries, the challenges are growing. To counter the problems, militaries and businesses are engaged in overcoming both new and resurgent dangers that threaten navigation over waterways.