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.

The Homeland Security Directory includes information about companies that design and develop technologies such as sensors, vulnerability assessments or information security solutions.

SIGNAL Online now features a section dedicated to sharing white papers and other instructional and research materials.

Shop!AFCEA has opened its e-doors, and members can purchase hats, jackets and shirts that include the official AFCEA logo.

I am just back from the DoDIIS Conference in Denver where the message was moving military intelligence, if not the entire national Intelligence Community (IC), to an Information Technology (IT) Enterprise (ITE; aka "the cloud") is a mission imperative. I will return to DoDIIS, but first I want to comment on the book "INTEL WARS: The Secret History of the Fight Against Terror" by Matthew Aid and share some thoughts on the current situation in Afghanistan.

Tethered aerostats with Persistent Threat Detection Systems that fly over separate forward operating bases in Afghanistan received capability upgrades recently with the addition of new Kestrels. Unlike the former versions, the revamped technology includes electro-optical/infrared features, enabling users to have a 360-degree view of targets in a city-size area after sundown and during the day.

Innovation ruled the third and final day of the TechNet Land Forces conference in Tucson, Arizona, with military and industry experts discussing a wide range of ways warfighters use technology to improve operational effectiveness--even if the operation is a simple search for candy.