For those readers who have an on-going (i.e., contractor) relationship with a federal agency, this is the time of year to be considering what kind of proposal you'd like to give your client in case there is any end-of-fiscal year funding that needs to be spent by September 31st.

In February 2009 I cavalierly gave ambassador Negroponte a grade of "Incomplete" for failing to establish the prerogatives of the office and outgoing DNI Mike McConnell a "Gentleman's B" for his performance as the second Director of National Intelligence based on the following accomplishments: · FISA Modernization · Executive Order 12333 rewrite · National Cyber Security Initiative · Development of "A" Space · Security Clearance Reform · Intelligence Community (IC) joint duty program

After years of work in mitigating threats to the current version of networking protocols (Internet Protocol version 4- IPv4), network defenders can implement defense in depth by leveraging an array of capabilities like Firewalls, Intrusion Detection Systems, Intrusion Prevention Systems, Security Information and Event Management (SIEM) tools and Unified Threat Management (UTM) tools. Capabilities have evolved in IPv4 security that enable all those functions to be hosted on singled Deep Packet Inspection (DPI) platforms. In the IPv4 world, the threats are still real and still require this defense in depth approach, but savvy network defenders have DPI and other tools at the ready to help mitigate these threats.

An advanced, indigenous base is building many of the country’s military enablers.

The U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) set out to complete its National Emergency Communications Plan (NECP) within 18 months of publishing the final version. Instead, by January 2010—the halfway point—the OEC had completed 80 percent of the plan’s milestones and was well on its way to finishing the final 20 percent long before the deadline.

To support its global operations, the U.S. Marine Corps is relying on a tactical communications system linked by satellites to theater and national headquarters. Several mobile tactical systems and an innovative space-based networking capability are providing warfighters with reliable, high-bandwidth communications wherever they deploy.

The publication of Christopher Andrew's Defence of the Realm, the authorized history of Britain's Security Service (or MI-5 as it continues to be known familiarly) is an extraordinary event, not least because it points to the differences between how the United States and Britain address counterintelligence and domestic security. Within the US/UK "special relationship," intelligence and security have been for nearly 75 years the most intimate part of an extraordinary partnership. Yet Professor Andrew's massive work (nearly 900 pages of text with another 150 pages of notes) highlights in a dramatic way that in Britain counterintelligence and domestic intelligence are core responsibilities, with the Security Service and its missions afforded parity with what the U.S. called, until 9/11, "foreign intelligence." It has been decades since American counterintelligence enjoyed similar prominence.

The U.S. Army has unveiled to the public a new robot that aids troops in their fight against improvised explosive devices (IEDs). Intended to attach to more than 8,000 other robotic assets already deployed in the field, Tanglefoot employs simple tools to clear routes that military members must traverse. Developers of this new machine believe its capabilities will help save lives by improving the security of roadways and by keeping soldiers away from explosives during the detection and disarming processes.