Any aggregation of computers, software and networks can be viewed as a “cloud.” The U.S. Defense Department is actually a cloud consisting of thousands of networks, tens of thousands of servers and millions of access points. The department’s fiscal year 2012 spending for information technologies is $38.4 billion. This includes the costs of civilian and military payroll as well as most information technology spending on intelligence. The total Defense Department cloud could be more than $50 billion, which is 10 times larger than the budget of the 10 largest commercial firms. So, the question is: How efficient is the Defense Department in making good use of its information technology?

The situation in Afghanistan is good but not great, and corruption is the biggest problem facing the nation, according to Maj. Gen. John A. Toolan Jr., USMC. The corruption comes in two forms: the parasitic type found in the central government and the predatory corruption found in the military and police forces, especially the Afghan National Police. At the high level, dishonest officials use the current weak state of the Afghan government as a host off which they feed, often also making money from the drug trade.

When U.S. Marines of the future come under enemy fire, they may be able to use a tablet or smartphone to call for ammunition, other supplies, or for air casualty evacuation by an autonomous helicopter smart enough to avoid hostile forces and safely land itself.

The Defense Information Systems Agency is at the heart of some of the U.S. Defense Department's most sweeping technological changes.

The report also recommends that Congress return to the president the authority to determine the export control jurisdictional status of satellites and related items.

In addition to white papers and research material, the Resource Library is the repository for archived webinars, so site visitors can view them when and where they’d like.

The U.S. State Department wants to spend as much as $1 billion over the next five years to expand its fleet of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) to be used primarily for embassy security and to protect transportation routes. The agency's formal request for proposal seeks bids for "real-time air surveillance of fixed installations, proposed movement routes, and special events thereby improving security in high-threat or potentially high-threat environments."

When it comes to living life, Col. Vic Budura, USAF (Ret.), certainly is above par, which is good in his personal and professional life, but not so good for his golf--a sport he’s played since age 12.

Putting aside for a minute some of the overzealous TSA security rules and the literally strange behavior of flight crewmembers recently, there’s a much more common, insanely exasperating type of activity that occurs on airplanes today: thoughtlessness.

AFCEANs receive deep discounts from Microsoft, Dell and HP as well as are eligible to join the Pentagon Federal Credit Union (PenFed), which offers member benefits of its own plus highly competitive interest rates on mortgages, auto loans and credit cards.