Clips February 21, 2003

[Lillie Coney <lillie.coney@xxxxxxx>]

Clips February 21, 2003

ARTICLES

High-Speed Service May Cost More
Rep. Berman May Not Revive Internet Piracy Bill
Illinois becomes first in line to join the Federal Bridge 
Swiss Crack E-Mail Code, but Minimal Impact Seen
Hackers Run Wild and Free on AOL  
Homeland plots modernization path
Flyzik to lead ITAA homeland group
DOD taps Harris for crypto work
Federal architecture tool ready in March 
Library aims to ?capture the human record? 
Quantico hooks up to NMCI 
DOD cites progress on agenda items 

*******************************
New York Times
February 21, 2003
High-Speed Service May Cost More
By SAUL HANSELL

If the roughly 20 million users of high-speed Internet service, only a few hundred thousand customers are likely to have their rates increased as a direct result of yesterday's ruling by the Federal Communications Commission. But some executives argue that eliminating this form of price competition will lead to increased overall prices for the service, also known as broadband. 

The companies that will be hardest hit are those that have built high-speed data networks that share the lines of local telephone companies into homes and offices. The F.C.C. voted to eliminate, over three years, a rule that forced local Bell companies to let these rivals offer broadband services using their networks.

But even under the old rules, which had been intended to help them, these companies have had a hard time competing, and most have failed.

The biggest company remaining in that market is Covad Communications, which provides high-speed data service to 200,000 homes; its service is sold to consumers mostly by Earthlink. Covad said that, with the ruling, the price it paid local phone companies for access to their wires would be $5 and $15 a month, up from the current rates of less than $5 or, in some cases, free. 

Currently, Covad charges Earthlink and other Internet service providers about $30 a month, and Earthlink in turn charges consumers about $50 a month. If the new rules are carried out, Covad said it would be forced to raise its prices.

Phone companies use a technology called digital subscriber line, which allows a voice phone call and high-speed data to use the same copper wire at the same time, transmitting the data through inaudible high frequencies. The previous F.C.C. rules forced local phone companies to give access to these high frequencies to companies that were building their own data networks but did not want to string new wires to consumers' homes. 

Michael K. Powell, the chairman of the F.C.C., argued yesterday that phone companies should have been forced to continue to share their lines for broadband service. He had taken the opposite point of view for voice service, arguing the Bell companies should not be forced to share their networks. He was outvoted on both counts.

"Line sharing has clear and measurable benefits for consumers," he said. "The decision to kill off this element and replace it with a transition of higher and higher wholesale prices will lead quite quickly to higher retail prices for broadband consumers."

Internet service providers can also buy D.S.L. service directly from local phone companies, without going through a company like Covad. Those arrangements, which are subject to both state and federal regulations, are not affected by the rule change yesterday. Indeed, most of the D.S.L. lines offered by the two largest Internet services, America Online and Microsoft's MSN, are purchased directly from local phone companies.

But AOL, MSN, Earthlink and the other Internet service providers that have dominated the dial-up market have collectively been a quite small part of the broadband market, despite whatever price advantage the old F.C.C. rules may have given them. The vast preponderance of broadband customers choosing D.S.L. have purchased it directly from the local phone company.

Even more customers, however, have chosen to get broadband service from their local cable companies, which offer service that is often even faster. At the end of June 2002, the F.C.C. counted 5.1 million D.S.L. customers in the United States and 9.2 million broadband cable customers.

Indeed, the phone companies have been struggling to increase their market share against cable, largely by cutting their prices. SBC Communications, for example, just lowered the price of its D.S.L. service to $35 a month. It had been $50 a year ago.

The phone companies point to these price cuts as a sign that consumers will not be hurt by the F.C.C. actions yesterday.
*******************************
Los Angeles Times
Rep. Berman May Not Revive Internet Piracy Bill
By Jon Healey
February 21, 2003

Rep. Howard L. Berman said he may abandon his controversial proposal to help Hollywood battle Internet piracy, in part because of complaints from an unexpected source: Hollywood.

Berman (D-Van Nuys) introduced a bill in July to give movie studios, record companies and other copyright holders limited immunity from lawsuits if they used technology to block piracy on file-sharing networks such as Kazaa or Gnutella. The immunity would not have applied to tactics that damaged users' computers or legitimate file-sharing activities.

The measure, which died when Congress adjourned last year, drew heavy flak from consumer advocates who said it would encourage copyright owners to become network-snarling vigilantes. Nevertheless, Berman was widely expected to try again this year with a revised version of the bill.

This week, however, Berman said he may not revive the measure. For one thing, copyright holders may not need extra protection to combat file-sharing piracy, he said. And though Berman wasn't deterred by complaints from consumer advocates, the concerns voiced by Hollywood studios -- among the biggest beneficiaries of the bill, given their active anti-piracy efforts online -- suggested that Berman was climbing out on a limb by himself.

In particular, Hollywood's enthusiasm for the bill was dimmed by Berman's insistence on imposing new liabilities on copyright holders that go too far in attacking pirates. "And if they're not for it," Berman asked, "where am I going?"

His comments came in an interview at a conference on copyrights and consumer rights at Intel Corp. in Santa Clara, Calif. "It still may be worth doing," Berman said of the proposal, "but realistically, a bill like this isn't going to zip through Congress."

Rich Taylor, a spokesman for the Motion Picture Assn. of America, said "the essence of the legislation makes all the sense in the world." However, some MPAA members were concerned about the new liabilities, and some doubted the need for the bill, he said.

"There were no self-help actions being taken in violation of state or federal laws," Taylor said.
*******************************
Government Computer News
Illinois becomes first in line to join the Federal Bridge 
By Dipka Bhambhani 

Illinois is preparing to become the first state to join the Federal Bridge Certification Authority and make its digital certificates interoperable with those of four federal agencies. 

The General Services Administration will work with the state this month to test the interoperability of Illinois? certificates with those of the Treasury and Defense departments, the Agriculture Department?s National Finance Center and NASA, which are part of the bridge authority. 

Illinois uses digital certificates to conduct business online between state agencies, lawmakers and businesses. 

When we started, this technology was "bleeding edge,? said Georgia Marsh, associate director for the Illinois Department of Revenue, who also serves on the state?s public-key infrastructure policy authority. 

Judith Spencer, chairman of the federal PKI Steering Committee at GSA, said she and Illinois officials are trying to develop policy mapping for verification of certificates and conducting interoperability tests. 

?This is where we put the certification authorities through their paces,? she said. ?We have to ensure that we can issue cross certificates and that they can be recognized.? 

?Nothing regarding the deployment has been easy, but the return on opportunity for citizens to do joint federal and state transactions, and our new ability to securely and confidentially communicate with our federal counterparts, makes it all worthwhile,? Marsh said. 

Illinois submitted its application to the federal bridge in January. She touted the online business tax registration, which in two weeks will include a federal component. 

?Businesses will receive their state tax numbers and provisional [federal employer identification number] in one online session,? she said.
*******************************
Associated Press
Swiss Crack E-Mail Code, but Minimal Impact Seen
Thu Feb 20, 8:45 PM ET

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Researchers at a Swiss university have cracked the technology used to keep people from eavesdropping on e-mail sent over the Web, but U.S. experts said on Thursday that the impact would likely be minimal. 


Professor Serge Vaudenay of the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Lausanne found a way to unlock a message encrypted using Secure Socket Layer protocol technology, according to a posting on the research institute's Web site. 


However, U.S. cryptography experts said it was not the version of security that most consumers use to shop online. 


Rather, it is a version that only affects e-mail, is limited in scope and not widely used, said Professor Avi Rubin, who is technical director of the Information Security Institute at Maryland's Johns Hopkins University. 


In addition, an attacker would have to be in control of a network computer located in the middle of the two people communicating over which the messages were flowing, he said. "It's possible, but it has limited applicability," he said. 


He said patches are already available to fix the hole, which affects one particular mode of OpenSSL. Like all co-called "open source" software, OpenSSL is free software created by developers who can modify it at any time. 


"This is not something that anybody really needs to worry about," Rubin said. 


Bruce Schneier, chief technical officer at network monitoring firm Counterpane Internet Security, agreed. 


"As a cryptographer, I am impressed. That's really nice work," he said of the research. "As a guy who wants to protect my secrets tomorrow, I don't care." 


Besides the mitigating circumstances which lessen the likelihood that attackers would be successful, Schneier said SSL is irrelevant to security because attackers can more easily get at secret information while it is stored on computers and servers at the sending and receiving ends. 

"SSL protects the communications link between you and the Web" server, he said. "Nobody bothers eavesdropping on the communications while it is in transit." 
*******************************
CNET News.com
Lawyers: Hackers sentenced too harshly 
By Robert Lemos 
February 20, 2003, 3:47 PM PT

The nation's largest group of defense lawyers on Wednesday published a position paper arguing that people convicted of computer-related crimes tend to get stiffer sentences than comparable non-computer-related offenses. 

The paper--signed by the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers (NACDL), the Electronic Frontier Foundation and the Sentencing Project, a nonprofit group that focuses on perceived injustices in penalties--criticized today's sentences for computer crimes because they frequently exceed the seriousness of the crime and rely on damage figures that can be easily inflated. 

"The serious nature of offenses is overplayed," said Jennifer Granick, author of the paper and clinical director at Stanford University's Center for Internet and Society. "The (majority) of the offenses are generally disgruntled employees getting back at the employer or trying to make money." 


The lion's share of cases prosecuted under the most-often-used computer crime statute--Title 18, Section 1030 of the United States Code--involved monetary damage to a private interest. In a review of 55 cases highlighted by the Department of Justice, only 15 involved harm to the public and only one involved a threat to safety, the paper stated. 

While admitting that the small set of cases might not truly represent reality, the paper said that the DOJ statistics and other evidence does support the conclusion that such cases should be treated as white-collar fraud, not as some sort of terrorism. 

Those convicted "are receiving sentences based on the fear of the worst-case scenario rather than what the case may really be about," Granick said. 

The position paper came in response to a public request for comment by the United States Sentencing Commission as required by the passage of the Homeland Security Act of 2002. That act would also create harsher sentences--up to life in prison--for computer criminals who endanger human life with their activities. 

Yet, with no reported incident of cyberterrorism to date and other statutes that would punish any act of terrorism already on the books, Granick and the paper's signatories argue that harsher sentences for cyberterrorism are unwarranted. 

"The guidelines punish people more for using a skill that members of the general public don't have," Granick said. "If we can't do your crime, then we punish you more." 

Moreover, the report found that prosecutions for computer crimes are increasing, though slowly. In 1997, the DOJ prosecuted 57 cybercrime cases, resulting in 47 convictions. In 2001, the DOJ prosecuted 135 cybercrime cases, resulting in 107 convictions. 

However, the paper argues that the increase in prosecutable "crimes" could have a chilling effect on security researchers and industry. Security researchers who uncover and disseminate information on vulnerabilities could be charged for their activities. Companies that send unsolicited bulk e-mail could be convicted of unauthorized access. And, makers of faulty software could be liable for the transmission of harmful code. 

Scott Frewing, an attorney at law firm Baker & McKenzie and formerly the lead prosecutor in the Elcomsoft copyright infringement case, disagrees with that aspect of the paper. 

"I think the fears of security researchers and others are overstated," he said. 

While he concurs with some of the points brought up in the position paper, he does believe that network intruders who intend to cause bodily harm or actually do so by gross negligence should be punished more severely. 

"I would be comfortable in a situation where the code addresses the discrepancy between those who cause bodily injury and those that don't," he said. "If that results in the law being unfair to a virus writer, maybe that's enough to put them on notice." 

The National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers represents 10,400 direct members including private criminal defense attorneys, public defenders and military defense counsels. State and local affiliates account for another 28,000 members. 
*******************************
Wired News
Hackers Run Wild and Free on AOL  
02:00 AM Feb. 21, 2003 PT

Using a combination of trade tricks and clever programming, hackers have thoroughly compromised security at America Online, potentially exposing the personal information of AOL's 35 million users. 

The most recent exploit, launched last week, gave a hacker full access to Merlin, AOL's latest customer database application. As a security measure, Merlin runs only on AOL's internal network, but savvy hackers have found a way to break in.

The hack involves tricking an AOL employee into accepting a file using Instant Messenger or uploading a Trojan horse to an AOL file library. When the file is executed, the Trojan horse connects the user who launched it to an Internet relay chat server, which the hacker can use to issue commands on the targeted machine. This allows the hacker to enter the internal AOL network and the Merlin application. 

Merlin requires a user ID, two passwords and a SecurID code, all of which hackers obtain by spamming the AOL employee database with phony security updates, through online password trades, or by "social engineering" attacks over IM or the telephone. 

The hacker who first used this exploit is said to be a 14-year-old boy. (He could not be reached for comment.) 

Another recent exploit reportedly allowed anyone to log in to any account with a password, using a hole in AOL's Japanese Webmail portal. That flaw has since been repaired. 

Yet another hole has allowed hackers to steal AOL Instant Messenger screen names, even those of AOL staff members and executives. 

Most at risk are screen names that hackers covet, like Graffiti, or single-word names like Steve. Also at risk are internal AOL accounts like TOSGeneral, which is used to monitor abuse reports. 

While many of these hacks utilize programming bugs, most hackers are finding it far easier and quicker to get access or information simply by calling the company on the phone. 

These so-called social engineering tactics involve calling AOL customer support centers and simply asking to have a given user's password reset. Logging in with the new password gives the intruder full access to the account. 

In a telephone interview, two hackers using the handles Dan and Cam0 explained that security measures (such as verifying the last four digits of a credit card number) can be bypassed by mumbling. 

A third hacker, using the name hakrobatik, confirmed the mumbling method. 

"I kept calling and pretending I just had jaw surgery and mumbling gibberish," hakrobatik said. "At first I had no info except the screen name, then I called and got the first name and last name by saying, 'Could you repeat what I just said?' Then each time that I got information I called back making the real information understandable, and everything else I just mumbled." 

In the end, hakrobatik said, service reps he talked to got so frustrated having to ask him to repeat information that they'd give up and reset the password. Hakrobatik later proved he could compromise any AOL account armed only with its screen name.

Typically, hackers target reps at offshore call centers in India or Mexico, who they claim are less savvy and have far less training than American service agents. 

"You can basically get any account information from AOL by just calling and pestering," hakrobatik said.

At least one rep was susceptible to the proverbial oldest trick in the book. Cam0 said he masqueraded as "a teenage girl" to win favors from a smitten AOL employee after engaging in flirtatious chat sessions and sending phony photographs. Some hackers also pose as internal AOL Operations Security staff to wheedle information. And hackers claim disgruntled AOL employees freely provide account information and favors to friends on the outside. 

Of the latest AOL attacks, Adrian Lamo, renowned hacker and founder of disbanded watchdog site Inside-AOL, said: "It's unprecedented in the history of AOL. AOL employee education is centered around fake online communication. There's very little effort to guard against voice scams." 

Why hasn't AOL let users know about the site's rampant security problems? "Every now and then something flashy happens, but AOL keeps it quiet pretty effectively," Lamo said. 

The reason, Lamo said, is that AOL rarely prosecutes hackers. 

"They tend to employ technical countermeasures and otherwise ignore intruders," he said. "There's an oft-stated perception that no one has ever been busted for hacking an AOL account." 

AOL did not return repeated calls requesting comment for this story. 

"You see all those commercials saying AOL 8.0 is so secure," said Dan. "If people knew how insecure their data was they probably wouldn't use it." 

*******************************
Federal Computer Week
Homeland plots modernization path
BY Diane Frank 
Feb. 19, 2003

During the next seven months, the Homeland Security Department will develop its enterprise architecture road map, bringing together the business needs and technical capabilities of the department, said Steve Cooper, chief information officer at Homeland Security.

Earlier this month, Cooper sent to Congress a set of milestones developed by his office and approved by Homeland Security Secretary Tom Ridge. The milestone tasks will help department officials chart a course to modernization as they define their current state of technology and services and their desired state. 

The first task is to have a detailed business strategy for the department by March 1, as officials take a closer look at the missions outlined in the National Strategy for Homeland Security.

"We need the next layer down in detail," Cooper said, speaking today at the Enterprise Architecture in Government Conference in Washington, D.C., sponsored by Potomac Forum Ltd. and Federal Sources Inc.

By June, Cooper wants officials to have documented the current state of business processes across the 22 organizations that make up the department. He said that although they likely will not be able to document all of the current state in that timeframe, 80 percent will be good enough to start making decisions and the rest can be filled in as time goes on.

This task includes making current-state documentation of the information technology in the 22 organizations. Such documentation encompasses looking at infrastructure, applications, a technology's position in its life cycle and its ability to meet business needs. 

Cooper said he is especially interested in finding technologies that make users happy and meet their needs, but where there might be a better or more advanced way to fulfill those needs.

By August, Cooper wants a picture of the desired state for the department's business processes. This documentation will have to come from the undersecretaries and will represent a high-level statement of where they want their services to be, Cooper said.

This statement will shape what technology will be needed to support the desired level of service. 

By September, all of this will come together in a modernization road map, drawing connections between the current and desired states, Cooper said.

"I'd like a first pass at [making a] road map to close the gap," he said, adding that all of the milestones are interrelated, but "the ones that will be the most challenging will be the ones regarding [the] desired state."
*******************************
Federal Computer Week
Flyzik to lead ITAA homeland group
BY Michael Hardy 
Feb. 18, 2003

Jim Flyzik, a consultant and former senior adviser to Homeland Security Secretary Tom Ridge, has been named chairman of the Information Technology Association of America's Homeland Security Task Group.

Flyzik, a partner at the consulting firm Guerra, Kiviat & Flyzik, said the task group will become critically important as the new Homeland Security Department develops. 

"We need to align ourselves with the priorities of the new department," he said. "It's got to be the goal of all us to make sure the department's a success. The mission is to save lives."

Flyzik's first priorities will be to examine the relationships among industry and different levels of government, he said. "How can we begin to look at industry from the point of view of state, local and federal cooperation? It might require some new models for industry to work with Ridge and his team."

Flyzik served as a senior IT adviser to Ridge for about eight months in 2002. He retired from that position Dec. 17 and made the transition from government to the private sector.

Jerry Agee, vice president for ballistic missile defense at Northrop Grumman IT, founded the task group in 2001. Flyzik will be aided by two vice-chairmen: Guy Copeland, vice president of information infrastructure advisory programs at Computer Sciences Corp.; and Chris Oglesby, client sales executive for EDS' federal government business.

The task group works on issues that pertain to companies with products for homeland security needs. During its two years of existence, the group has tackled risk-sharing and security clearance requirements for homeland security contractors.

ITAA, based in Washington, D.C., is an association dedicated to fostering the growth of IT businesses through public policy initiatives and networking efforts.
*******************************
Federal Computer Week
Soldier has seen analog wars turn digital
The new IT arsenal
As the United States builds up for war with Iraq, defense experts say that information technology is much different than it was during the Gulf War. This article is part of a series that examines changes in military IT during the past 12 years and culminates with in-depth coverage in the Feb. 24 issue of Federal Computer Week. 

BY Dan Caterinicchia 
Feb. 20, 2003

Col. Dan Gerstein, commander of the 93rd Signal Brigade, Fort Gordon, Ga., has served in Operation Desert Storm, in Bosnia, and now his brigade most likely will be involved in homeland defense missions.

He is a front-line warrior who has firsthand experience with the evolution of the military's information technology capabilities since the Persian Gulf War. "In Desert Storm, there was heavy reliance on voice communications, but very limited data capability," Gerstein wrote in an e-mail. "In fact, in the 3rd Armored Division, we had a dedicated multichannel tactical satellite, which remained with the division's main [command post], to provide the only data connectivity.

"In contrast, today, our data networks are really more important to the senior commanders than our voice networks. So while for the close battle, single-channel voice (VHF/FM) radios remain essential, at higher levels, classified and unclassified data networks are key." 

Gerstein said another major transition in the dozen years since Desert Storm concluded is the importance of video in battle operations. 

"In the Gulf War, there was only limited use of video and only at higher levels in the theater," he said. "In Bosnia, we began to use live video feeds from intelligence, surveillance and [reconnaissance] assets to assist in conducting operations and gathering intelligence. These feeds were really only available at the division level. This trend to pushing information to lower levels continues today as battlefield [video teleconferencing] is in use down to brigade and in some cases battalion level...and unmanned aerial vehicles are proliferated throughout the battle space." 

Another example of the use of video and the infusion of data into the operational scheme of maneuvers is the Global Broadcast System, which provides massive amounts of data, including imagery, directly to the tactical command level, he said. 

Situational awareness capabilities also have experienced an evolution since the Gulf War with the proliferation of Global Positioning System (GPS) devices. "In Desert Storm, there were only limited numbers of GPS systems," Gerstein said. "There was no linkage between systems, so while awareness to determine one's own position was increased, there was no interface with other units or elements within a formation." 

But today, infantry divisions deploy with the capability of real-time situational awareness that offers an advanced friend-or-foe picture of the battlefield as well as improved data exchange and collaborative planning capabilities.

All of these technological advances have resulted in the military services gleaning myriad lessons learned and being able to apply those to the conflict, wherever that may be, he said.

"The Gulf War was an analog conflict with little, if any, digital input," Gerstein said. "The limited digital capability was only at the highest levels," such as Central Command's forward headquarters. "In contrast, today there are digital formations at much lower levels  down to system level in some cases  although this is not uniform throughout the force. The biggest advantage this IT capability will provide is the capability to command and control on the move, and in the ability to make rapid decisions." 

And he is confident that IT will help the United States dominate in any future conflicts in Iraq. "In short, the IT integration of the force that has been enhanced since the Gulf War and which was honed in Bosnia and most recently Afghanistan, has made the U.S./Iraq balance even more one-sided in favor of our capabilities," he said.
*******************************
Federal Computer Week
DOD taps Harris for crypto work
BY Dan Caterinicchia 
Feb. 19, 2003

Defense Department officials soon will get their hands on the first advanced cryptographic software prototypes developed by Harris Corp. in support of the Joint Tactical Radio System (JTRS). 

JTRS uses software-centric radios that can be programmed to patch users into various radio frequencies. Radios in use today were designed to work in a specific frequency range, and each of the military services has used its own frequency. Joint tactical radios can be programmed for any waveform.

The cryptographic software prototypes are part of a contract awarded last month by the JTRS Joint Program Office, Arlington, Va. The contract requires Harris to develop, test and deliver cryptographic software products for the Sierra II cryptographic module and associated peripheral processors. 

Sierra II is a miniaturized programmable module that can be integrated into radios and other voice and data communication devices to encrypt classified information prior to transmission and storage. The product is based on the Sierra I module, which was certified by the National Security Agency (NSA) in June 2002

The new software will replace legacy external encryption hardware functionality and support JTRS legacy and newly defined waveforms, said Dick Rzepkowski, vice president of government systems in Harris' RF Communications Division. He added that the company would deliver the first prototype Sierra II modules with cryptographic modes this fall.

"The software being developed under this contract has two major focuses," Rzepkowski said. "First, it enables the programmable Sierra II encryption module to emulate a number of legacy cryptographic solutions for backward interoperability during rollout of the new JTRS equipment. Second, in addition to those legacy modes, new cryptographic modes will be implemented to support high-speed networking and data transfer on the battlefield of the future." 

DOD is calling the future high-speed capability "Wideband Networking Waveform," and the Harris contract also will result in the cryptographic modes necessary to support that new waveform, he said.

"Once the Wideband Networking Waveform is implemented, there will be a significant increase in the data-sharing capabilities of the commanders across the battlefield," Rzepkowski said. "Some of the data will be routed from unmanned aerial vehicles overhead, or from unmanned ground sensors placed in strategic locations to monitor movements that might be of particular interest in planning and executing the battle strategy."

Harris will build the cryptographic software, and the NSA will then evaluate it for future certification. The initial task orders will focus on the waveforms to support JTRS Cluster 1, and additional task orders and waveform support will be incrementally added to existing Sierra II products through its reprogramming capabilities, he said.

The indefinite delivery/indefinite quantity contract, which is worth up to $10 million, was awarded Jan. 28 and work has already begun, but Harris is continuing to recruit engineers to contribute to the JTRS program, Rzepkowski said.

Last June, Boeing Co. was awarded an $856 million contract to spearhead the development and initial production of the first generation of JTRS, and Harris is one of many contractors working on various aspects of the program. In December 2002, The Army's Communications Electronics Command awarded Cubic Corp. a contract worth up to $14 million to develop an interoperable waveform, or signal, supporting JTRS.
*******************************
Government Computer News
02/21/03 
Federal architecture tool ready in March 
By Jason Miller 

The Federal Enterprise Architecture Program Management Office has a software tool almost ready to help agencies collaborate on their IT projects. 

The Federal Enterprise Architecture Management System, or FEAMS, has passed the proof-of-concept stage and will be available next month, said Bob Haycock, Office of Management and Budget chief architect. 

?We tested the system with four agencies in January and received good feedback,? Haycock said this week at an enterprise architecture conference in Washington sponsored by Federal Sources Inc. of McLean, Va., and Potomac Forum Ltd. of Potomac, Md. ?We asked them a series of questions, and they worked through the application.? 

The Agriculture and Labor departments joined the Environmental Protection Agency and the General Services Administration for the month-long test, Haycock said. 

The database tool included the federal Business Reference Model framework for test purposes. It will go live next month with a newer version of the business model as well as the first Performance Reference Model, Haycock said. The business model covers: 


Budget allocation 
Horizontal and vertical information sharing 
Performance measurement 
Budget and performance integration 
Cross-agency collaboration 
E-government 
Component-based architectures 

FEAMS also will provide agencies with information about standards, service components, Extensible Markup Language schemas and metadata. Booz Allen Hamilton Inc. of McLean, Va., built the initial tool for the Housing and Urban Development Department. Haycock said, and FEAPMO modified HUD?s software for broader use. It will be available for use on a secure part of the office?s site, www.feapmo.gov.
*******************************
Government Computer News
02/21/03 

Library aims to ?capture the human record? 

By Susan M. Menke 
GCN Staff

Digital content of all kinds is doubling in volume each year, said Laura Campbell, the associate librarian of Congress for strategic initiatives. 

She must figure out how to save the content in a national digital information infrastructure, using a $99.8 million appropriation plus $75 million the library itself is trying to raise to get matching funds from Congress. 

Like the National Archives and Records Administration, the library does not yet know how to preserve so much information, Campbell acknowledged. She plans to enlist a network of partnersfederal agencies, content owners, content distributors and other libraries, as well as hardware and software contributorsto store and access the materials. 

?There isn?t a format we wouldn?t deal with: text, graphics, photographs, audio and video,? she said. ?We want to capture the human record. You can?t hear old wax music cylinders or read old 5.25-inch floppy disks? without compatible players and PCs. 

Millions of digital works flow into the Library of Congress each year through copyright filings, outright acquisitions, and famous donations such as Leonard Bernstein?s music collections and Mathew Brady?s Civil War daguerreotype photos. 

?We have six million maps and the world?s largest sound collection,? Campbell said. ?Sometimes we can specify the format.? But she added that the survivability of digital materials as formats and technologies change will mean migrations of unknown scope. 

Studies of the current state of the art, commissioned by the library, covered six areas: Web sites, electronic journals, electronic books, digitally recorded sound, digital moving images and digital television. All have different needs for long-term preservation. Intellectual property rights are another area of difficulty. 

The result, the study consultants noted, might be ?shifting roles and responsibilities for creators, distributors and users.? 

For more information, go to www.digitalpreservation.gov.
*******************************
Government Computer News
02/21/03 
Quantico hooks up to NMCI 
By Dawn S. Onley 

Marine Corps Base Quantico has become the first Corps base to begin the transition to the Navy-Marine Corps Intranet. 

The Virginia site awarded a task order for 6,786 unclassified NMCI computer seats and services to contractor EDS Corp. and its subcontractors on the Information Strike Force. 

The first of three transition phases began Feb. 10. 

Strike Force validation teams are collecting data about the base?s IT hardware and security and counting the legacy applications. Teams also are assessing the base area network, LAN, and desktop PC and server environments. 

EDS will assume responsibility for operation and maintenance of the Quantico network on March 24, entering the second phase of transition. The base will cut over completely to NMCI on May 5 in the third and final phase. 

Following Quantico?s transition to NMCI, the National Capital Region including Marine Corps headquarters will start the process, officials said. 

NMCI ultimately will link voice, video and data communications at more than 300 Navy and Marine Corps installations.
*******************************
Government Computer News
02/20/03 
DOD cites progress on agenda items 
By Dawn S. Onley 

The Defense Department has improved its scorecard rating in two of five initiatives laid out in the President?s Management Agenda, the deputy undersecretary of Defense for plans said. 

When the Office of Management and Budget unveiled the agenda in June 2001, the DOD had the worst possible rating of red in each of the five categories, including strategic management of human capital, competitive sourcing, financial performance, e-government and budget and performance integration. 

Gail H. McGinn, speaking today at a luncheon sponsored by the Association for Federal Information Resources Management at George Washington University, said DOD?s poor performance was due to the size and complexity of a department with more than 3 million active-duty, Reserve and civilian personnel. 

In the 20 months since the management agenda was introduced, DOD has improved its ranking to yellow in human capital and budget and performance integration, she said. 

In the financial performance area, DOD hired IBM Corp. to merge 1,800 disparate financial systems into a common system. 

McGinn said she was happy with the progress made by the DOD, but added that although the agenda doesn?t establish a timeline to accomplish agency goals of transformation, it would take Defense eight to 10 years to reach the green goal envisioned by the president.
*******************************