The push for alternatives to crude-oil-based fuels is as much about greenbacks as it is about greenhouse gases. So for the U.S. military, which spends $20 billion on fuel annually, the benefit of finding viable biofuels can mean saving big bucks. But creating feasible substitutes for good old diesel is only the beginning of the workload for the U.S. Marine Corps. Not only does the service have to determine if swapping feedstock for traditional fuel is cost effective but it also must clarify the impact that doing so would have up and down the logistics road.

Scientists are developing methods to turn green algae into black gold. A research consortium consisting of two national laboratories, universities and private industry is studying a variety of technologies and processes to convert the humble one-celled organism into the chemical building blocks for biofuels and plastics.

By the middle of this decade, a new command and control system will provide U.S. Army air defense forces with an extended view of the airspace over a battlefield. The capability will integrate the service’s sensors and weapons into a single network, allowing each platform to perform to its maximum abilities while minimizing operational weaknesses. Commanders will be able to access data quickly from any sensor on the network and order any weapon to engage a target.

U.S. warfighters may one day have their handheld communications and sensor equipment powered by batteries that are “grown” using biological processes. Researchers are manipulating viruses to create power sources that can be poured or sprayed into containers or woven into uniforms and ballistic vests. By using genetically engineered viruses as templates for semiconductors and metals, scientists are building small, highly efficient batteries that are more powerful and longer lasting than current platforms.

The U.S. Army has become a fount of innovation. Under the leadership of Lt. Gen. Jeff Sorenson, USA, the Army’s chief information officer/G-6, and Maj. Gen. Susan Lawrence, USA, commanding general of the U.S. Army Network Enterprise Technology Command (NETCOM), the Army is transforming its LandWarNet to become a global enterprise network fully capable of supporting an expeditionary Army in an era of persistent conflict.

A new website has launched to help keep the public current with the latest information about the Deepwater Horizon oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) and the University of New Hampshire's Coastal Response Research Center were developing an open-source, Web-based, geographical information system (GIS) platform as an internal site so stakeholder organizations could see a common operational picture of an oil spill in near real-time when the recent event occurred.

A factor as simple as purchasing desktop computers instead of laptop units may be a key clog holding back the flow of telework among U.S. federal government employees. A recent study has determined that only 23 percent of federal employees telework regularly or exclusively, compared to 64 percent of private-sector employees. And, 93 percent of federal employees state that being able to telework would make working for an organization more desirable.

When military data is lost, stolen or compromised, the potential dangers are obvious. Lost personal data can lead to identity theft, lost operational data can lead to mission cancellation or failure and lost technical data can lead to other compromised systems and even further damage. While loss of data is bad enough, sometimes the loss is not mitigated in a timely fashion. When this happens, it is often not because of a stealthy hacker or a missing hardware audit. It is because somebody did not report the incident out a fear of potential personal consequences. We need to change that mindset. Not accepting responsibility and warning others of a network or data breach can put missions and lives at risk.

Money may be available for your company's IC-specific product development, but not as a hand-out, more of a collaborative endeavor, sponsored by your friendly Department of Defense. Have you ever considered the Small Business Innovative Research (SBIR) program that the federal government runs? Below is an introduction to SBIR, and I found this to be very helpful. Keep in mind that the DoD drives approximately 70% to 80% of the intelligence community's mission. So, the IC connection is via the DoD-specific SBIR segments. This money will be spent on innovation; that is the law; so, if you believe your innovation is truly unique, it's worth a look.

U.S. government agencies fail to employ the policies that have been put into place to protect sensitive data when it is in transit, according to a recent survey of 200 government information technology (IT) and information security officials.