One of two things has to happen for Stephanie O'Sullivan, principal deputy DNI designate. Either her luck or her timing needs to improve. Having one's confirmation hearing take place when members of the Senate are in arms about the Intelligence Community's failure to warn of the crisis in Egypt makes those hearings and the principal witness therein targets of opportunity for folks whose capacity for retrospective prediction is, as always, flawless.

My plan for this month's edition of Mazz-INT was to discuss with you new House Permanent Select Committee for Intelligence (HPSCI) Chairman Mike Roger's statements about throttling back the size and influence of the Office the Director of National Intelligence (ODNI). We will actually get to this indirectly, but the vortex of events in Egypt since 25 January trivializes, in the short run at least, any other Intelligence Community (IC) topics.

Apple sold more than 45 million iPhones and iPads in the first 10 months of 2010. As many of these devices enter workplaces—and organizations’ networks—leaders must determine not only how to secure them but also how to make them increase productivity.

For some folks, capture management if a four letter word! To get some insights, I tuned into a Federal News Radio program hosted by Larry Allen. His guest back in 2009 was Bob Lohfeld, President of the Lohfeld Consulting Group; as you'd expect, the nature of capture management is much more than just the proposal effort. (see: http://www.wfed.com/index.php?hlpage=6&nid=46&sid=1805751)

There has been recent news over the last several weeks related to SecDef Gates and his intention to cut $78B from the overall budget over five years and pare-down the DoD IT budgets specifically, which are currently absorbing about $37B annually. I sure hope you haven't lost any sleep over this… it amounts to well less than 3 percent. So, while I give the SECDEF high marks, these would not be considered bold cuts by anyone's definition. (I don't count the congressman or senator who may lose a single program as legitimate criticism... politics will always create disproportionate whining when it comes to cuts).

In the early 1970s, the music industry was transformed by the arrival of a practical solution to mobile music—the 8-track player. The world embraced this technology, which infected car stereos, home entertainment systems, portable players and lifestyles. While transformational, this technology soon was replaced by the cassette, followed by CDs and audio DVDs until Apple came out with the iPod—another game-changing technology. The market has created many forms of iPod docking stations for cars, clock radios, entertainment systems, airplane seats, pillows and every possible application. Uses include photos, FM radio, podcasts, videoconferencing and Wi-Fi. This technology is significantly smaller, faster, more comprehensive, more capable and inherently more user-friendly than its 8-track progenitor. The same lessons from this progression can be applied to command, control, communications, computers and intelligence (C4I) and government information technology.

Sweden is transforming its military across the board, beginning with its personnel makeup. The Northern European country, which has not been at war since 1814, is transitioning from a conscript military to a fully professional force. This change will reshape the military along different force lines with different emphases. At a time when many other Western militaries are looking at deep cuts in their defense budgets, Sweden expects at worst a flat budget for the foreseeable future. Priorities for hardware expenditures may shift depending on ongoing studies, but not because of budget pressures.

The newly created U.S. Cyber Command is starting its first year of operation in a race to secure the vital infostructure before a new generation of cyberattacks causes lasting damage to military, government and commercial information assets. This potential hazard is not theoretical; it already has been realized overseas, and it may be just a matter of time before U.S. cyber assets suffer devastating attacks.