Members of government and industry are taking concrete steps to address long-standing problems in the procurement community through plug fests--events that test the interoperability of network devices by plugging them into functioning networks. Various organizations within and outside of government have hosted such programs, but recently a group of public and private partners in the defense industry decided to organize plug fests specifically to address problems in the military arena.

The U.S. Army is fielding its Vigilant Pursuit system to reduce the time necessary to combine data gathered from human and signals intelligence assets.

The final day of the TechNet Land Forces East conference in Baltimore yielded signs that the task of protecting the military's and the nation's digital infrastructure is still very much a work in progress. But peering through the crystal ball, one sees signs that both the defense establishment and private industry are making decisive steps toward the goal of safeguarding the Internet from attack.

Wednesday panel discussions and presentations at the TechNet Land Forces East conference in Baltimore delved into the nuts and bolts of cybersecurity and how they fit with the men and women of the military who are called upon to protect computer networks from those with malicious intent.

In welcoming attendees to TechNet Land Forces East today, Sen. Barbara Mikulski emphasized that the military and civilian agencies represented at TechNet Land Forces must continue their work to build up the “thin cybersecurity shield,” and that citizens and leaders alike must disabuse themselves of the notion that cyberattacks “are something that will happen in the future.” On the contrary, they are happening with more frequency.

Since my last interaction with you just before the 4th of July quite a bit as transpired - - - - most of it troubling to me - - - - but the Olympics, the preseason début of the Redskin’s RG III, and the Nationals pennant run, all seem to be acceptable diversions in the swelter of the dog days of July and August in DC.

SIGNAL Connections is your source for news about your chapter, your region and your profession. Redesigned last year to include a personal touch, the e-newsletter not only features the latest industry activities but also pulls events information from the AFCEA calendar and Chapter News from SIGNAL Online.

This month, all AFCEA corporate member points of contact (POCs) will receive a package that includes their current corporate profile and details about how to update this information.

For just over two weeks, people around the world were talking about nation facing nation, not on the field of combat, but rather in the spirit of competition. Every two years, the Olympic Games provide the opportunity for the global population to rally around their respective country's best-of-the-best.