From saic at vision.moundalexis.com Thu Jan 5 23:38:57 2006 From: saic at vision.moundalexis.com (Daily SAIC News) Date: Thu, 5 Jan 2006 18:38:57 -0500 (EST) Subject: [saic] Gabriel Technologies Subsidiary Trace Technologies Joins SAIC Public Safety Integration Center Message-ID: <20060105183724.W81874-100000@vision.moundalexis.com> 05 January 2005 ; Business Wire Gabriel Technologies Subsidiary Trace Technologies Joins SAIC Public Safety Integration Center http://www.tmcnet.com/usubmit/-gabriel-technologies-subsidiary-trace-technologies-joins-saic-public-/2006/jan/1263846.htm --- OMAHA, Neb. --(Business Wire)-- Jan. 5, 2006 -- Gabriel Technologies Corp. (OTC Bulletin Board:GWLK), a homeland security company providing physical locking systems and GPS tracking services, announced today that its wholly owned subsidiary Trace Technologies will begin installation of its Trace Location Services at Science Applications International Corporation's (SAIC) Public Safety Integration Center (PSIC) with an anticipated operational date in March 2006. SAIC's PSIC is a laboratory, test bed and prototype demonstration facility located in the Washington, D.C. suburb of McLean, Va. It is used to illustrate the integration of capabilities and expertise of SAIC with vendors, service providers and the federal government to suit their specific customer needs. PSIC staff presents scenarios tailored to these PSIC visitors' requirements in the areas of homeland security, homeland defense and national security. The staff demonstrates various integrated solutions to suit visitors' needs in areas including policy, enterprise architecture, systems engineering, information technology, training and prevention. With Trace Location Services, SAIC's PSIC can demonstrate an integrated view of monitoring and tracking assets and people in a variety of challenging environments when minimal size, greater signal sensitivity and extended battery life are essential. Trace Technologies provides a flexible, rapidly deployable assisted-GPS service. Trace's proprietary use of Qualcomm's SnapTrack(TM) software using ReFLEX(R) wireless networks has changed how and where GPS can be applied. "We welcome Trace's technology to the growing list of vendors who are demonstrating their capabilities in SAIC's PSIC," said James W. Morentz, SAIC vice president for Homeland Security Technology. Keith Feilmeier, CEO of Trace Technologies, said, "We are pleased to be part of SAIC's PSIC, and we look forward to fully integrating and demonstrating how Trace Location Service's assisted GPS service provides tracking of mobile assets for homeland security, homeland defense and national security. The system can track the geographic location of any unit registered in the system, report specific activities and identify violations against customer-established parameters." About SAIC SAIC is the largest employee-owned research and engineering company in the United States, with annual revenues of $7.2 billion and more than 43,000 employees in over 150 cities worldwide. SAIC engineers and scientists solve complex technical problems in national security, homeland security, energy, the environment, space, telecommunications, health care and logistics. About Trace Technologies Trace Technologies, LLC is a wholly owned subsidiary of Gabriel Technologies Corporation. Trace location tracking provides enhanced location services to devices supporting Qualcomm's SnapTrack(TM) assisted-GPS technology. Subscribers and licensees pay a fee to access the Trace SnapTrack-based location information to determine the precise location of enabled devices, such as the Trace Asset Tag. The company works with a number of value-added resellers and distribution partners to give the technology a greater reach of the tracking services market. Trace Technologies' mission is to provide high quality security solutions. The company is headquartered in Omaha, Neb., with satellite offices in Seattle, Wash., and Dallas, Texas. For more information, visit http://www.trace-tech.net. About Gabriel Technologies Through its wholly owned subsidiary, Gabriel Technologies, LLC of Omaha, Neb., Gabriel Technologies Corp. develops, manufactures and sells a series of physical locking systems for the transportation and shipping industries collectively known as the WAR-LOK(TM) Security System. Security has evolved substantially in recent years due to increased risks from theft and terrorism. With the implementation of the award-winning WAR-LOK, Gabriel Technologies provides cost-efficient security measures to prevent national and global theft and homeland security issues. Gabriel Technologies' mission is to provide the highest quality security products available to the transportation and shipping industries by creating innovative, proven technologies that can be implemented on a realistic basis. Gabriel Technologies Corp. is also the parent company of the next-generation-assisted GPS company, Trace Technologies, LLC, http://www.trace-tech.net. For more information about Gabriel, contact Dan Chicoine at (402) 614-0258 or visit http://www.gabrieltechnologies.com. From saic at vision.moundalexis.com Thu Jan 5 23:39:19 2006 From: saic at vision.moundalexis.com (Daily SAIC News) Date: Thu, 5 Jan 2006 18:39:19 -0500 (EST) Subject: [saic] SYS Technologies Awarded $2.2 Million Subcontract Message-ID: <20060105183904.S81874-100000@vision.moundalexis.com> 05 January 2006 ; Business Wire SYS Technologies Awarded $2.2 Million Subcontract http://home.businesswire.com/portal/site/google/index.jsp?ndmViewId=news_view&newsId=20060105005517&newsLang=en --- SAN DIEGO--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Jan. 5, 2006--SYS Technologies (AMEX:SYS), a leading provider of real time information technology solutions to industrial and U.S. government customers, announced today that it has been awarded a $2.2 million subcontract by Science Applications International Corporation (SAIC). SYS will provide Program Management services to SAIC in direct support of the Director, Navy Marine Corps Intranet Program Office (DRPM NMCI). These services will include the programmatic oversight of the NMCI Prime Contractor in the areas of Planning, Processes, and Operating Policies and Procedures. Ken Regan, President of SYS Technologies' Defense Solutions Group, said, "We are pleased to once again be a valued contributor to a key Naval initiative, continuing our direct support to the NMCI Program Office and our longstanding partnership with both the Space and Naval Warfare Systems Command and SAIC." About SYS Technologies SYS Technologies (AMEX:SYS) is a leading provider of information and communications systems for the Department of Defense, Homeland Security, and Industrial markets. SYS Technologies' expertise is in real-time sensor capture, communications, applications development, integration and data visualization, which forms the basis of its current success and future growth. For the Department of Defense (DoD), we provide command and control systems to operational commanders. For the U.S. Department of Homeland Security and various state agencies, we provide real-time safety and security products and services, including sensor networking products and end-to-end solutions. For large industrial customers in the telecommunications, utilities, construction, chemical, and biomedical industries, our products and services are used to intelligently and profitably manage remote assets. SYS Technologies is headquartered in San Diego at 5050 Murphy Canyon Road, San Diego, CA 92123, and has principal offices in California, Virginia and Washington, DC. For additional information, visit the SYS Technologies web site at http://www.systechnologies.com. From saic at vision.moundalexis.com Fri Jan 6 13:23:41 2006 From: saic at vision.moundalexis.com (Daily SAIC News) Date: Fri, 6 Jan 2006 08:23:41 -0500 (EST) Subject: [saic] Testing combat systems at Bliss to mean more high-tech jobs Message-ID: <20060106082237.N81874-100000@vision.moundalexis.com> 06 January 2006 ; El Paso Times Testing combat systems at Bliss to mean more high-tech jobs http://www.borderlandnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060106/NEWS/601060352/1001 --- Chris Roberts An experimental Army combat team created to test cutting-edge war-fighting technology will be located at Fort Bliss and is expected to bring lucrative jobs and inject millions of dollars into the regional economy, officials said Thursday. The experimental team is at the core of the Army's transformation into a modern fighting force equipped with the best technology and structured so appropriate numbers can be sent on a moment's notice anywhere in the world instantly ready to fight. The program is called Future Combat Systems. Companies supporting the development of unmanned aerial vehicle, remote targeting and satellite technology are expected to follow the two lead contractors -- Boeing and Science Applications International Corporation, or SAIC -- to El Paso. Officials estimated as many as 300 high-tech jobs will be created in the first stages. The official Department of the Army announcement is expected today, but independent sources close to the Pentagon, who asked not to be identified, confirmed for the El Paso Times on Thursday that Fort Bliss is the choice. "This is not just important for the city and the region; it is important for our ability to keep this country safe," said U.S. Rep. Silvestre Reyes, D-Texas, when asked for comment. "We're a community on the threshold of great things." U.S. Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison, R-Texas, has been working to find "opportunities for expansion" of military missions in Texas throughout the Base Realignment and Closure process, which ended late last year, said Jamie Loftus, a spokeswoman for the senator. "She believes Fort Bliss is a very logical choice because of airspace and maneuver space," Loftus said. The other installations under consideration were Fort Hood, Texas; Fort Carson, Colo.; Fort Leavenworth, Kan.; Fort Lewis, Wash.; and the National Training Center in California. Reyes said locating the team in El Paso would put "millions of additional dollars" into the local economy. "In the 21st century, it can conceivably transform the way people look at El Paso and our region," he said. Another anticipated benefit would be new research grants for the University of Texas at El Paso and New Mexico State University, Reyes said. Business community officials declined to comment until the official announcement is made. Daniel Zanini, SAIC Future Combat Systems manager, talked generally about the subject last month after his speech at the Association of the U.S. Army convention in El Paso. At the time, he said, no decision had been made on where the combat team would be located. However, he said of El Paso, "You can't ask for a better community." Zanini said SAIC, Boeing and the Army's training and doctrine command will be the first to set up offices at the chosen location. "There will be some kind of local work force to help us," he said. "And there will be subcontractor bases there as well. Then you'll see the brigade combat team start. ... It will be a build up over time." Testing and evaluation will be performed at White Sands Missile Range, including both virtual systems, which use linked computers that can be located almost anywhere, and traditional testing, Zanini said. "I think we have begun a great partnering process with Fort Bliss and we don't see where that partnering is going to stop any time soon," said White Sands spokesman Larry Furrow. Locating the evaluation combat team at Fort Bliss "makes a lot of sense and I think the decision is very, very logical." Reyes said the decision is as important to the region as the results of the Base Realignment and Closure process and other recent Pentagon decisions that will boost the soldier population at Fort Bliss by nearly 21,000 over six years, the biggest boost of any military installation in the country. Fort Bliss lost the Air Defense Artillery Center and School -- which guides research and development for the Patriot missile systems -- to Fort Sill, Okla. Business leaders have said the Future Combat Systems will more than make up for that loss. "If we thought the (Air Defense Artillery) School was high-tech, this is super, super high-tech," Reyes said. "This is cutting-edge transformation in every way." Reyes added that he doesn't consider the loss of the school a done deal. "I'm not going to stop and let that one go," he said. In December, Congress approved $3.2 billion for all Future Combat Systems work, which was $240 million below the original request. Although some have criticized the project for being too large and expensive, the cuts were made as a cost-saving measure in light of hurricane relief efforts and the nation's military commitment in Iraq and Afghanistan. "The program has full support of the chief of staff of the Army and the secretary of the Army," Zanini said. From saic at vision.moundalexis.com Fri Jan 6 23:36:07 2006 From: saic at vision.moundalexis.com (Daily SAIC News) Date: Fri, 6 Jan 2006 18:36:07 -0500 (EST) Subject: [saic] Fort Bliss brigade to test Army's Future Combat Systems Message-ID: <20060106183523.I81874-100000@vision.moundalexis.com> 06 January 2006 ; Associated Press Fort Bliss brigade to test Army's Future Combat Systems http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/nation/3570200.html --- By SUZANNE GAMBOA Associated Press WASHINGTON -- Fort Bliss will be used to test and evaluate a network of weaponry and technology being developed for future combat, the Department of the Army announced today. Rep. Silvestre Reyes, D-El Paso, said the Army's decision to locate the Future Combat Systems testing at Fort Bliss would generate high-technology jobs for the region. "This is the future of the Army, and the Army is bringing it here," said Reyes, a member of the House Armed Services Committee. "This will transform our community. El Paso will be able to offer a significant number of new jobs with quality pay and benefits, and local universities ... will benefit from increased research opportunities." The Army said the Future Combat Systems program is the centerpiece of its modernization program. The Army will base the Future Combat Systems Office at Fort Bliss. It will begin forming an Evaluation Brigade Combat Team in March 2007 from soldiers already at Fort Bliss. The office and team should be operating by June 2007. The Future Combat Systems program consists of 18 manned and unmanned systems, connected by a network that is focused around a soldier, the Army said. Through the network, soldiers and leaders are linked to combat technologies that allow them to maneuver quickly and conduct various missions in complex scenarios, the Army said. The systems in the network include ground sensors; intelligent munitions systems; four classes of unmanned aerial vehicles; three classes of unmanned ground vehicles; an armed robotic vehicle; medical treatment; and evacuation and other equipment. As more technologies are developed for Future Combat Systems, they will be delivered to the brigade combat team at Fort Bliss for evaluation and testing. Future Combat Systems plans to begin using technology in the field in 2010, and the first unit is expected to be fully equipped by 2014, the Army said. The Army said Fort Bliss was chosen in part because of its access to White Sands Missile Range in New Mexico. From saic at vision.moundalexis.com Sun Jan 8 14:31:03 2006 From: saic at vision.moundalexis.com (Daily SAIC News) Date: Sun, 8 Jan 2006 09:31:03 -0500 (EST) Subject: [saic] Energy Department suspends work on some Yucca Mountain programs Message-ID: <20060108093001.P81874-100000@vision.moundalexis.com> 06 January 2006 ; Las Vegas Sun Energy Department suspends work on some Yucca Mountain programs http://www.lasvegassun.com/sunbin/stories/nevada/2006/jan/06/010610248.html --- By KEN RITTER ASSOCIATED PRESS LAS VEGAS (AP) - Design work has been suspended on a national nuclear waste repository in Nevada after internal whistle-blowers reported more problems at the Yucca Mountain site, officials said. But officials with the Energy Department and project contractor Bechtel SAIC Co. LLC said work is continuing at the site that Congress and President Bush picked in 2002 to bury the nation's most radioactive waste. "It's not a work stoppage," Energy Department and Yucca Mountain project spokesman Allen Benson said Friday. "They're working, we're working, and we're moving ahead." Steve Frishman, a technical consultant for the state of Nevada, which opposes the repository plan, told the Las Vegas Review-Journal that a Dec. 19 letter from the Energy Department to the contractor was "a stop work order, plain and simple." Frishman could not immediately be reached Friday for comment. However, Bob Loux, state Nuclear Projects director and Frishman's boss, recalled "dozens" of similar orders in the two decades the government spent studying, designing and picking the site. "They apparently just can't seem to follow their own written policies and procedures," Loux said. He predicted the project would continue as "a cash cow for the contractor." Bechtel SAIC spokesman Jason Bohne said the company and the government are partners on Yucca Mountain, where the Energy Department plans to entomb 77,000 tons of nuclear waste now stored at more than 100 commercial, industrial and military sites in 39 states. "They said, 'Let's take a step back, put our corrective actions in place, improve the system, make sure we've got the deficiencies out and then resume the activities,'" Bohne said. "We're not doing any construction, but there's still a lot going on." The two-page Dec. 19 letter from Birdie Hamilton-Ray, Energy Department contracting officer, to Ted Feigenbaum, Bechtel SAIC Co. general manager, said no engineering and safety analysis work would be approved until the Energy Department revalidated requirements and Bechtel shows that technical and performance processes were being followed. The letter cited unspecified "inadequacies in the design control process." Benson said the order showed the Energy Department was carefully correcting shortcomings identified by whistle-blowers while it prepares to apply to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission for a license to open the repository 90 miles northwest of Las Vegas. "We encourage people to identify issues of concern so the issues can be dealt with and fixed," he said. The project has been beset by recent setbacks including missing its license application deadline, congressional funding cuts and revelations that geologists may have falsified data. The government also is rewriting radiation safety rules after a federal court threw out the first ones. Cost estimates have more doubled for a railroad the government wants to build to the site, and project officials have pushed back the date for opening the repository from 2010 to 2012 or later. An overall cost estimate of $58 billion has not been updated since 2002. Meanwhile, the Energy Department and Bechtel SAIC are in negotiations about extending the company's five-year contract, which expires in March. On the Net: Yucca Mountain project: http://www.ymp.gov From saic at vision.moundalexis.com Sun Jan 8 14:45:43 2006 From: saic at vision.moundalexis.com (Daily SAIC News) Date: Sun, 8 Jan 2006 09:45:43 -0500 (EST) Subject: [saic] Bliss only post to meet all combat-system criteria Message-ID: <20060108094453.D81874-100000@vision.moundalexis.com> 08 January 2006 ; El Paso Times Bliss only post to meet all combat-system criteria http://www.borderlandnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060108/NEWS/601080334/1001 --- Chris Roberts El Paso Times Fort Bliss was the only installation that met all the Army's requirements to become home for a new experimental combat team -- created to test cutting-edge war-fighting technology -- that is the centerpiece of a servicewide modernization program, an Army official said. "Other facilities met many of the criteria," said Army spokesman Lt. Col. Carl S. Ey, who is with the Pentagon's Office of the Chief at Army Public Affairs, "but no other facility hit them all." Fort Bliss was chosen because of its immense training areas, unrestricted airspace and access to test capabilities at White Sands Missile Range, Ey said. "These capabilities, coupled with America's third-longest runway at Biggs Army Airfield, make the Fort Bliss-White Sands complex a premier facility for both (Future Combat Systems) testing, evaluation and experiments, and for training, mobilization and deployment of combat forces," according to a document provided by Connie Sica, who is with the Army's Program Manager Future Combat Systems Brigade Combat Team. The other installations considered were Fort Hood, Texas; Fort Carson, Colo.; Fort Leavenworth, Kan.; Fort Lewis, Wash.; and the National Training Center in California. The combat systems will use remote sensors, portable unmanned aerial vehicles, armed robotic vehicles, satellite technology, unified communications that can be routed to individual soldiers and more. It is touted as a system that will make the nation's fighting force more agile and lethal by providing real-time battlefield intelligence to the smallest units on the ground while giving soldiers numerous technological advantages over their enemies. The new technology will allow for faster battlefield decisions and will reduce reliance on supplies of fuel, water, ammunition and repair parts by as much as 70 percent, said U.S. Rep. Silvestre Reyes, D-Texas. Reyes said he and local business officials have been working to recruit the Future Combat Systems program for more than two years. "This is the future of the Army and the Army is bringing it here," Reyes said. "This decision will transform our community." Hundreds of lucrative high-tech jobs will be created in the near future, and there's a potential for thousands of similar jobs in the long run, said Bob Cook, interim director of the El Paso Regional Economic Development Corp. "FCS certainly is one of the major components that we have been seeking to put in place to transform the economy," Cook said. Although the lead contractors -- Boeing and Science Applications International Corp., or SAIC -- already have said they will expand or set up offices in El Paso, Cook said, the corporation has been talking to many of the 25 subcontractors already involved in the project. "El Paso will be able to offer a significant number of new jobs with quality pay and benefits, and local universities like UTEP and NMSU will benefit from increased research opportunities," Reyes said. The Physical Science Laboratory at New Mexico State University has already been working on FCS-related projects with White Sands Missile Range, interim lab director Jay Jordan said. "The front-end work has been going on for a while now," Jordan said. "It (FCS) has a field-deployable weather system component. ... We've been involved in that." Jordan said he expects the lab to get more work when the project gears up at Fort Bliss. Joint FCS projects with White Sands have already created a need for computer scientists, he said -- jobs that pay around $70,000 a year. The Evaluation Brigade Combat Team will at first have about 819 soldiers and will eventually grow to more than 3,500, according to Army documents. The soldiers will be 1st Armored Division volunteers. The 1st Armored Division is now stationed in Germany and is scheduled to be sent to Iraq. Members of the combat team will be chosen later this year, Ey said, and headquarters and other personnel and equipment will first appear at Fort Bliss between June and March 2007. The bulk of the 1st Armored Division is expected to begin arriving at Fort Bliss in 2008 or 2009, as part of the Base Realignment and Closure process. The combat team will be under the operational and administrative control of the 1st Armored Division commander. The division will work with the Army Capabilities Integration Center at Fort Bliss, which will be responsible for integrating new technology with Army doctrine. Prototype equipment is scheduled for delivery to the experimental combat team in fiscal year 2008, when evaluation and testing will begin. The first equipment to be tested will include sensor systems used for collecting intelligence and conducting surveillance and reconnaissance, and communications systems linking vehicles with battle commands at the brigade level and below. Equipment that passes the tests will be sent to active brigade combat teams around 2010. The first fully equipped brigade combat team is expected by 2014, and the program is to wrap up in 2016, according to Army documents. Some of the FCS equipment already is in Iraq or headed there, said Dan Zanini, Future Combat Systems program manager for SAIC, one of the lead contractors. A Future Combat System unmanned aerial vehicle is already in use, he said, and an armed robotic vehicle is scheduled to hit the ground later this year. From saic at vision.moundalexis.com Mon Jan 9 14:36:19 2006 From: saic at vision.moundalexis.com (Daily SAIC News) Date: Mon, 9 Jan 2006 09:36:19 -0500 (EST) Subject: [saic] Stuart Davis Named to Lead Investor Relations at SAIC Message-ID: <20060109093515.M81874-100000@vision.moundalexis.com> 09 January 2006 ; PR Newswire Stuart Davis Named to Lead Investor Relations at SAIC http://www.prnewswire.com/cgi-bin/stories.pl?ACCT=104&STORY=/www/story/01-09-2006/0004244995 --- SAN DIEGO, Jan. 9 /PRNewswire/ -- Science Applications International Corporation (SAIC) today announced that Stuart Davis has joined the company as senior vice president, Investor Relations, of its newly formed Investor Relations office. Working out of SAIC's McLean, Va. office, Davis will report directly to the company's chief financial officer, Mark W. Sopp. "We're pleased to have an individual of Stuart Davis' caliber and extensive financial background to head up the investor relations activities at SAIC," said Mark W. Sopp, SAIC executive vice president and chief financial officer. "His business acumen and long-standing experience in the investor relations community within the national security industry will play an integral role in finalizing the company's plans to complete an initial public offering and in communicating with public investors and securities analysts once we've completed the offering." Prior to joining SAIC, Davis held a number of key financial positions in a career spanning more than 21 years at SRA International, Inc. Most recently Davis was vice president and director of Investor Relations at SRA. Davis formed and led the Investor Relations Department at SRA and had responsibility for communicating the company's strategy and results to the investment community through SRA's initial public offering in 2002 to the present. Previously, Davis was director of Strategic Planning and spearheaded the creation of the company's first multi-year plan. He also led the analysis, implementation approach and employee outreach for several SRA policies, including the redesign of the company's internal stock option program and provision for long-term care insurance. Earlier in his career, Davis held other important positions at SRA as manager of the Econometric Analysis Department. He also served for more than a decade as a project manager and lead economic analyst on numerous engagements involving econometric modeling, simulation, cost-benefit analysis, survey analysis, program evaluation and life-cycle cost modeling. Davis received his bachelor's degree in economics and philosophy from Cornell University, Ithaca, N.Y., and a master's degree in economics from the London School of Economics and Political Science. From saic at vision.moundalexis.com Tue Jan 10 14:10:31 2006 From: saic at vision.moundalexis.com (Daily SAIC News) Date: Tue, 10 Jan 2006 09:10:31 -0500 (EST) Subject: [saic] A Visit With the Bolivarian Revolution Message-ID: <20060110090855.R81874-100000@vision.moundalexis.com> 09 January 2006 ; Venezuelan Analysis A Visit With the Bolivarian Revolution http://www.venezuelanalysis.com/articles.php?artno=1647 --- By: David Sugar The third International Forum on Free Knowledge brought together many groups and individuals interested in the development of free software worldwide to the city of Maracaibo. One reason Venezuela choose to host this event is because starting in January, their new free software law, directive 3.390, comes into effect, which mandates all government agencies to migrate to free software over a two year period. I was invited to speak about Telephonia Libre; the use of free software in telecommunications. While my travel had been planned a number of weeks in advance, as with all travel I have experienced in Latin America, this turned out to be on a different concept of time. I did not hear back at all from Venezuela until the weekend before departure, but this is actually not that remarkable. By Monday the 21st, I knew I would arrive in Maracaibo the next day, and return to the U.S. on the 29th. That much was confirmed to me by Ambar Rodriguez, who works for Conatel, which is their state telephone regulatory agency. I had a chance to speak with Ambar over the weekend prior, but I still did not know which airport I would departing from, or even what airlines I would be flying until Monday morning. To understand the blissful attitude I had taken, one must know this. I recall one time I was staying with a family in San Paulo, where we were scheduled to take a flight to Porto Alegre. The airport was across town, and our departure time was about a half hour away when we finally wandered out to the car. We did not even travel particularly in a hurry. Yet somehow, in the twisted and bizarre time warp that is Brazil, we arrived on time for our flight anyway, and I never figured that out either. Time often has a very different meaning in Latin America. Many of the events and presentations at the event were, much like mine, of a rather technical nature. My presentation had some difficulties with the translator I was given, who had no experiance or understanding of the specialized technical terms I was using. This was only corrected near the end when a different person came forward to translate my speech. Some presentations were from groups who were using free software in some social setting. The event was heavily attended by many people, and particular technical directors, from many parts of the Venezuelan government because of their migration plans for next year. Naturally the web site at the American state department was kind enough to choose to warm me that there are military checkpoints all over the country, often manned by troops who look for bribes. Unfortunately, I failed to encounter any of these, or for that matter, any large posters of Chavez, even at the airport. I eventually meet up with Jeff Zucker from Perl Mongers, who traveled by bus from Caracas. He also failed to find any of these promised military checkpoints filled with marauding troops. I eventually also met up with the well known international free software activist, Juan Carlos Gentile, who drove all the way from Caracas along the same roads. While it is said to take 10 hours to drive from Caracas to Maracaibo, as he is Italian, naturally I expected he would arrive in only 5. These two, and Ana Isabel Delgato from the Debian Venezuela group, were my primary "translation team" whenever I spoke with others who did not speak english. The People's Ministry of Economics Venezuela is blessed with not one, but two economic ministries. There is the old ministry of economics, which deals with the traditional capitalist economy. It is worth noting that capitalism continues in Venezuela and will likely continue to do for some time. While lands are at times redistributed to landless laborers, for the most part existing industries and businesses are left alone, and left to the old ministry of econimics. Instead, they have a different idea of how to transform society here, and this brings us to the second ministry. The Ministerio Para La Economia Popular, or roughly, the People's Economic Ministry, and for simplicity, to be referred to simply as Minep, is tasked with transforming Venezuela into a socialist society. Minep is a quirky institution of very recent origin. Here we find all manner of bright and intelligent left thinking people, some from around the world who came to Venezuela to work for Minep. My impression is that Minep includes people from a very broad mix of socialist backgrounds, including traditional Marxists and communists, as well as those who practice other forms of socialism. There are Libertarian Socialists also represented among the ranks of Minep, although I believe they are still considered the more radical group within it. The ministry does a number of important tasks. First they provide the educational support and program management for co-management projects, such as done with PDVSA, the state owned oil company. However, I believe the most important task they perform is to train and educate ordinary Venezuelans who volunteer on how to run a socialist worker co-operative. This is done not by political indoctrination, which is probably fortunate given the wide range of different socialist thinking within the ministry, as it would no doubt spark a war :), but rather by providing co-ops the tools, financing, and practical training they will need in operating a socialist enterprise. The ministry is in some ways like the socialist version of a "Small Business Administration". However, rather than teaching people who wish to start small businesses how to put up their homes as collataral or otherwise become indentured to a capitalist owner, the ministry provides real financial resources to help those who wish to help themselves in forming a new socialist economy. My interest in this aspect of Minep came in part from their interest in providing VOIP services with the computers they are offering to their worker managed co-ops. This was a rather specific technical issue, and one they were very interested in discussing with me. Many of these worker co-ops are composed of very small startups that typically have 10 people or less. Minep offers training and support, as well as financing, to allow co-ops to purchase computing systems for their business needs. These systems use entirely free software, starting with the Debian GNU/Linux operating system, along with Open Office for general business use, and web hosting under Apache. Co-ops that go through the Minep program also have the ability to host web sites with their own content, and these usually feature the products or services a given co-op wishes to offer. The Minep co-op training program was piloted last year, with some 3000 such worker managed co-ops formed. By the end of 2005 they had already formed over 45,000 such co-ops nationwide, and they expect to train over 700,000 Venezuelans in how to form and be part of a socialist economy by the end of the year. This also suggests to me that perhaps about 40% of those that go through the Minep program eventually do form a socialist enterprs use as part of the co-op program is actually relativily new. This year, theynly trained a few thousand of the co-ops through an initial pilot program. Next year, however, that program, and free software training will be available to all. Capitalism, I suspect, at best directly benefits at most maybe 100,000 Venezuelans today. Many of the rest are reduced to wage slavery or otherwise indentured through it. While the exact number of those that benefit from capitalism in any given country varies, this basic principle that some few truly benefit while many do not remains a universal. In the ideal of a socialist economy, all the participants benefit. I think there are already more people who directly benefit from the socialist economy than the capitalist one in Venezuela today, and this will grow over time. Capitalism may not disappear entirely in Venezuela, it is certainly not being threatened or forced to change by the government, but it seems to me that it will be submerged in the rising tide of the new Socialist economy. This then is the future of the Bolivarian Revolution. The Ministry of Intellectual Prosperity SAPI, the Independent Service ministry of Propiedad Intellectual, is the ministry that used to define Venezuela's so called "Intellectual Property" laws. I understand SAPI also at one time concerned itself with the issue of "Piracy". I would have thought, however, that controlling murderous gangs of anarcho-capitalist "gentlemen of fortune" who raid ships would be the job of the navy, or perhaps the interior ministry. The term intellectual property itself is of course a new-speak propaganda word that did not even exist 20 years ago. First, the topic it covers varies from Copyright, Patents, Trade Secrets, Trademarks, to a variety of other things, all of which are in reality all very different and unrelated. Second, it is based on the premise that you can give someone something intangible to someone else and yet control it and what other people do as if it or they were your physical property, even the ideas they may have in their mind. Intellectual property amounts in part to thought control through legal fiction. Some may say it amounts to Intellectual Slavery. The consequence of treating ideas and thoughts as if they are tangible property are the very destruction of science and education and the elimination of individual rights and freedoms. Science is in part built upon the idea that new knowledge is created by incrementally improving ideas. Education is based on the idea that one can learn from existing things and then use that knowledge to create new works. The idea behind "Intellectual Property" interferes with both. It is barbarism, and could well lead to a new dark ages, where only a privileged few are allowed to learn, under the exclusive control of greedy intellectual monopolies. Since "Intellectual Property" involves exclusive licensing, when public universities do this and then let others license their discoveries, the public is made to fund research that only benefits a small number of people. Even worse, those companies which receive such funding can then use this exclusive grant to sell back to society the fruits of what society already paid for. This can be thought of as paying for something twice. This could also be thought of as public welfare for private capitalism, or more simply, exploitation. I had the good fortune to meet the current director general of SAPI, Eduardo Samn, while I was in Maracaibo. He has very different ideas for the purpose of SAPI. He is a well known internationalist, and had been a key person in establishing the program for promoting a developing nations agenda within WIPO. Rather than creating new intellectual restrictions, Eduardo proposes that the mission of SAPI should instead become that of promoting "Intellectual Prosperity" by creating laws and services that promote the ability to share knowledge as the common heritage of all mankind rather than hoard it to make a few people wealthier. Assuming that private interests in the developed world today do succeed in the great capitalist program of owning what people are allowed to think, it is very possible that places like Venezuela will become the new leading nations in science and technology. PDVSA and how oil fuels to Bolivarian Revolution Maracaibo is also the heartland of the oil industry, and the state run oil company, PDVSA. Oil companies are also traditionally conservative in nature. However, PDVSA also is a contrast, as both the primary wealth producing intuition in the country, and the strongest source of support for President Hugo Chavez's revolutionary changes. I had met a number of PDVSA oil workers, who seemed well represented among the ranks of PDVSA management. I also had the chance to talk with one of their directors, Socorro Hernendez, over lunch, as well as Jose Luis Rey, who's renoun is both as a skilled hacker and financial genius who was involved in helping rebuild the financial trading systems when those were sabotaged in 2003. Today, the state-run oil company is a major backer of the free software movement (software libre) in Venezuela and is a major sponsor of the 3rd International Forum on Free Knowledge, which is what brought me to Maracaibo. Every question related to the use of free software in Venezuela, and to how the Bolivarian revolution started, seems to come back to PDVSA and the worker lockout in 2002. Before the worker lockout, the administration of the state oil company was strongly connected to the wealthy elite of Venezuela. Many of the wealthiest people in Venezuela had been getting much richer thanks to the oil company, in part through contracts and corruption, not unlike what has been happening here in the U.S. with politically connected companies like Halliburton. President Hugo Chavez was originally elected on a platform to use the oil wealth to help pay for the poor of the country through education and health programs, rather than to simply making the country's wealthy even wealthier. Many of Venezuela's wealthier citizens, used to having money from the state oil company, would not tolerate this, and so they decided President Hugo Chavez had to go at any cost, even if it meant sabotaging their own nation to do it. So they tried to close the oil company in December of 2002, by locking out the workers, and hold the oil resources of the nation as a whole hostage by having the entire IT infrastructure under their control. If the data and systems present then had been destroyed, it would have been years before another drop of oil could have been produced. Out of 4800 managers, about 200 chose to stay behind, and together, with the help of many by then retired former managers who were less corrupt than the ones who left, the workers tried to save the oil company. But the biggest challenge was the computer infrastructure. Management of IT was at the time contracted to SAIC (Science Applications International Corp), which has well known political and business connections to Cheney's office, to the U.S. DOD, and the CIA. At first, when the Venezuelan army was called out to secure the oil facilities during the lockout, and the SAIC staff created videos of the troops securing the facilities to claim they were under attack and try and persuade the U.S. congress to give Bush war powers to seize the oil fields. When this scheme failed, the SAIC workers fled the country, but changed all the passwords and kept remote control of all the computer servers of PDVSA. They choose not to destroy the data on them because they thought they would be back in a few months when the government of President Chavez finally would capitulate. Much of the infrastructure of PDVSA was under Microsoft Windows-based servers, and used proprietary database software such as Microsoft SQL. The IT managers did not expect a bunch of oil workers to be able to thwart their plans. Those same oil workers, working together with local computer hackers, were able to secure control of vital computer servers, and in doing so save the oil infrastructure. The Venezuelan revolution is perhaps the first revolution in history saved by computer hackers and is one of the reasons the government is so very strong on promoting the use oations. This cannot be accomplished by source secret proprietary software, such as Microsoft Windows, with it's infamous backdoor NSA key. Even proprietary software from a trustworthy source has to be suspect for possible tampering, and so must be rejected, not just by Venezuela, but by any nation that wishes to protect and maintain it's sovereignty against sabotage. Today, everyone I had met from PDVSA appears completely committed at all levels to the basic idea of converting Venezuela's oil resources into long-term and self-sustaining wealth for the nation as a whole. This is done in part through the development of a new socialist economy, as planned for through Minep. Capturing this wealth is viewed as an urgent matter because, even though Venezuela posses one of the largest known reserves of oil, they expect world oil production to begin declining and see this wealth as very temporary. Socorro Hernendez said PDVSA believes that nobody will "burn" oil (as for example in automobiles) in as little as 20 years. He also said they believe that while oil will remain important in the ny other industries it is used in, the price will settle to $5 a barrel, so now is not only the best but also the last, chance to create something useful from this wealth. Conatel and Conclusions I flew from Maracaibo to Caracas on Saturday. Even in Venezuela's revolutionary republic, custom officials are still custom officials, and airports are still like airports everywhere. Given the lack of revolutionary posters, pictures of Chavez, or those military checkpoints promised by the state department, what is worth noting is the rather ordinary way society and most institutions operate in Venezuela. There are also many ministries and government institutions which are not connected ideologically with the revolution, yet many of the civil service I met from these other ministries in their own way seem to support it. Usually this is because of the kind of programs these different agencies have been able to do with funding provided by the Chavez government. One example, is Conatel, Venezuela's regulatory agency for telephone and broadcast services, something a bit like the FCC in the United State. However, in creating a telecenter project for Venezuelan communities, Conatel does now something else as well to benefit poor communities across the country. Many of the people I met from Conatel came themselves from poor families. While they live something of what we might call "middle class" lifestyles, they are very proud of being able to bring projects like telecenters forward. They do not see it as a matter of any ideology, but simply as something that is right to do. For this reason, I believe the civil servants as a whole, even those in very traditional government institutions like Conatel, also strongly support Chavez. Rita Hermosa is an excellant example of this civil service attitude. While not ideologically motivated, she was particularly proud of the Conatel telecenter project. This is a program supported by the government of Venezuela to offer community computer resources, including VOIP telephones, web browsing, and community educational services, again using free software. I actually saw their model telecenter at the Conatel building while I was in Caracas. A typical community telecenter comes with up to a dozen PC workstations, and a server. Connectivity is offered through a telecom carrier for both Internet data and for Voice. These systems also entirely use free software, and each telecenter includes a staff of two people. One of the people is trained to manage and teach how to use the computers and resources of the telecenter, and charged with maintaining the equipment. The second person is someone trained in the social needs of a given community. For example, for a telecenter that is deployed in an agricultural town, the second person would likely be someone who was educated in agriculture. In a mining town, it would likely be a miner. I believe telecenters are or will be the public libraries of the new millennium. Unfortunately, most existing libraries today elsewhere in the world, while often include computers, understand how they should be used. For example, many libraries in the U.S. have computers, but they are really only used for web browsing, and come "attached" with nutty politicians deeply concerned that library patrons might actually read about sex, along with laws requiring that library content is filtered for this reason. Venezuelan socialism to appears not to be about socialism by decree, nor driven by state or any single party ideology. It is rather socialism by experimentation and education. Venezuelan socialists instead appear deeply tied to the basic principles of social justice, solidarity, and equality as inspired from Simon Bolivar's vision of a Latin community stretching from the Rio Grande to the southern tip of Chile, living in peace, independence from colonial masters, equality, and able to determination their own destiny. Many actual policies are open for thought and discussion, and there is a willingness to try new and original solutions. However, rather ironically, none of this would have even been possible without the direct help of the wealthy of Venezuela. Rather than bringing down the government of Hugo Chavez, by working together with foreign interests to directly sabotage the country's most vital industry, the wealthy elite of Venezuela instead radicalized the oil workers in a way no other action could. The workers of PDVSA are now fully committed to creating the new economy, and will remain so regardless of who is in power. When the rich of Venezuela ponder who it was that made Venezuela become a revolutionary socialist nation, they should not look at President Hugo Chavez, who may not even have been thinking of this then, and certainly had no means to accomplish it at the time if he had, but rather in the mirror. From saic at vision.moundalexis.com Tue Jan 10 14:13:44 2006 From: saic at vision.moundalexis.com (Daily SAIC News) Date: Tue, 10 Jan 2006 09:13:44 -0500 (EST) Subject: [saic] Travis Slocumb to Lead Business Development for SAIC's RDT&E Group Message-ID: <20060110091335.X81874-100000@vision.moundalexis.com> 09 January 2006 ; PR Newswire Travis Slocumb to Lead Business Development for SAIC's RDT&E Group http://www.prnewswire.com/cgi-bin/stories.pl?ACCT=104&STORY=/www/story/01-09-2006/0004245342 --- MCLEAN, Va., Jan. 9 /PRNewswire/ -- Science Applications International Corporation (SAIC) announced today that its Research, Development, Test and Evaluation (RDT&E) Group has selected Travis Slocumb as senior vice president for business development. For the past year Slocumb has served as chief technology officer for the RDT&E Group. He was responsible for managing the RDT&E technology portfolio and supporting strategic planning and business development efforts in the group. His initiatives included managing SAIC's Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) account team, initiating and supporting the pursuit of strategic acquisitions that enhance the value of RDT&E's growing technology base and building an alliance focused on next generation robotic and cognitive systems. Prior to joining the RDT&E Group, Slocumb launched and managed SAIC's Electronic Systems Division (ESD), focusing on the development of solutions in wideband communications and surveillance systems. In addition to building core DoD technology business, he initiated and managed SAIC/Telcordia's Wireless Internet Base Station project, including oversight of research, patent development and commercialization efforts. Prior to managing ESD, he was SAIC's program manager for a range of DARPA projects and programs. Before joining SAIC, Slocumb served on the senior technical staff at Technology Service Corporation and managed airborne- and spaced-based radar design and support programs. He started his career at Presearch Incorporated as an analyst in Anti-Submarine Warfare Systems. Slocumb is a graduate of the College of William & Mary where he earned a bachelor of science in mathematics. His work has been published in the IEEE journal and he has two patents pending for SAIC-related work. From saic at vision.moundalexis.com Tue Jan 10 14:15:45 2006 From: saic at vision.moundalexis.com (Daily SAIC News) Date: Tue, 10 Jan 2006 09:15:45 -0500 (EST) Subject: [saic] Dynamics Research Corporation Adds 46 New Team Members to its DESP II Team Message-ID: <20060110091345.N81874-100000@vision.moundalexis.com> 09 January 2006 ; PR Newswire Dynamics Research Corporation Adds 46 New Team Members to its DESP II Team http://www.prnewswire.com/cgi-bin/stories.pl?ACCT=104&STORY=/www/story/01-09-2006/0004244939 --- Expansion Adds Major Contractors, Including Boeing, Lockheed Martin and SAIC ANDOVER, Mass., Jan. 9 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Dynamics Research Corporation (Nasdaq: DRCO), a prime contractor on the Air Force's Design and Engineering Support Program II (DESP II) contract, has officially added 46 new members to its team, bringing the total number of team members to 76. DESP II supports the Air Force's Air Logistics Centers at Ogden, Utah, Warner Robins, Georgia, and Oklahoma City, Oklahoma; the Air Force Materiel Command; the Army Tank and Automotive Command and other Department of Defense (DoD) Agencies. The 46 new team members, including 20 small and 26 large businesses, bring even more capability to the DRC DESP II team to support various weapon systems at multiple locations. The new team partners include industry leaders such as Boeing, Lockheed Martin, Rockwell Collins, SAIC, CACI, and CSC. Some of the new small businesses will fill niche requirements while others with expanded capabilities will play a larger role in satisfying customer requirements. "The additional team members, large and small businesses, provide our government customers with access to added capabilities to satisfy warfighter requirements," said Jim Regan, DRC's president, chairman and CEO. "DoD customers benefit with our DESP II team's expanded capability toward satisfying program requirements and meeting warfighter needs." DESP II is an Indefinite Delivery/Indefinite Quantity (ID/IQ) contract vehicle. It may be used by all other Air Force/Army commands, Department of Defense agencies (e.g., Navy, Marines), and other government entities (e.g., NASA, DOE, DOT, DOS, EPA, OSHA, Coast Guard, Homeland Security, FAA, FEMA, etc.) having similar systems and/or needs. --- About Dynamics Research Corporation DRC is headquartered in Andover, Massachusetts and has major offices in Vienna, Virginia and Fairborn, Ohio. The company has 27 additional field offices throughout the United States providing direct support to all branch services of the Department of Defense. Dynamics Research Corporation is an innovative solutions provider that partners with its customers to apply proven processes and technologies. For more than 50 years, DRC has delivered technical and information technology services that enhance the performance and cost effectiveness of its customers' mission critical systems. For additional information about DRC please visit the website at http://www.drc.com. From saic at vision.moundalexis.com Tue Jan 10 23:31:08 2006 From: saic at vision.moundalexis.com (Daily SAIC News) Date: Tue, 10 Jan 2006 18:31:08 -0500 (EST) Subject: [saic] SAIC to Provide Systems Engineering Services to the Joint Warfighting Center (JWFC) Message-ID: <20060110182950.A81874-100000@vision.moundalexis.com> 10 January 2006 ; SAIC News SAIC to Provide Systems Engineering Services to the Joint Warfighting Center (JWFC) http://www.saic.com/news/2006/jan/10.html --- (SUFFOLK, VA) - Science Applications International Corporation (SAIC) announced today it was awarded a $7.4 million, three-year, time and materials contract to provide management and engineering support services to the Joint Warfighting Center (JWFC) at the United States Joint Forces Command (USJFCOM). This contract focuses on the functional areas of system engineering, software engineering, database engineering, telecommunications engineering, system administration and Web site support. Over the last eight years, SAIC has worked with USJFCOM and the JWFC to provide systems engineering support of the Joint Digital Library System (JDLS), Joint Training Information System, Joint Events Scheduling System and Joint National Training Capability. "The Joint Experimentation, Transformation, Training, and Assessments (JETTA) Division was formed in Suffolk just over a year ago to bring the best capabilities of SAIC to U.S. Joint Forces Command," said Jim Suhr, assistant vice president and manager of the JETTA Division. "This win provides a great opportunity to offer SAIC's world-class services to USJFCOM as the command engages in critical real-world missions." As part of JWFC's Command Group focus, SAIC has provided Enterprise Content Management, Advanced Distance Learning, and Joint Digital Library System (JDLS) support for JWFC System Engineering. For the Joint Training and Exercise system, the JDLS provides the Web services, Web farm and corporate Oracle database that catalogs, stores, protects, searches and retrieves data, documents and legacy databases. SAIC, which has supported USJFCOM since the command's inception, currently has more than 180 supporting staff members in the area, reflecting SAIC's growing presence in Hampton Roads. For a list of career opportunities visit the Joint Warfighting Center [1] career page. --- [1] http://www.saic.com/career/bridgeway/ From saic at vision.moundalexis.com Wed Jan 11 23:31:58 2006 From: saic at vision.moundalexis.com (Daily SAIC News) Date: Wed, 11 Jan 2006 18:31:58 -0500 (EST) Subject: [saic] SAIC wins warfighting center systems engineering deal Message-ID: <20060111182937.S81874-100000@vision.moundalexis.com> 11 January 2006 ; Washington Technology SAIC wins warfighting center systems engineering deal http://www.washingtontechnology.com/news/1_1/daily_news/27720-1.html --- By Roseanne Gerin Staff Writer Science Applications International Corp. won a three-year, $7.4 million contract to provide management and engineering support services to the U.S. Joint Warfighting Center. The Joint Warfighting Center is a nexus for joint warfare doctrine and development and joint training exercises. It is part of the U.S. Joint Forces Command -- one of nine combatant commands in the Defense Department -- based in Norfolk, Va. Under the contract, SAIC specifically will provide system, software, database and telecommunications engineering as well as system administration and Web site support services. During the past eight years, the company has worked with the command and the center to provide systems engineering support for the Joint Digital Library System, Joint Training Information System, Joint Events Scheduling System and Joint National Training Capability. SAIC of San Diego has more than 43,000 workers and had revenue of almost $7.2 billion for fiscal 2005. The company is No. 3 [1] on Washington Technology's 2005 Top 100 [2] list of federal prime contractors. --- [1] http://www.washingtontechnology.com/top-100/2005/3.html [2] http://www.washingtontechnology.com/top-100/2005 From saic at vision.moundalexis.com Thu Jan 12 14:05:41 2006 From: saic at vision.moundalexis.com (Daily SAIC News) Date: Thu, 12 Jan 2006 09:05:41 -0500 (EST) Subject: [saic] DOE shuts down Yucca Mountain Message-ID: <20060112090440.H81874-100000@vision.moundalexis.com> 11 January 2006 ; Pahrump Valley Times DOE shuts down Yucca Mountain http://www.pahrumpvalleytimes.com/2006/01/11/news/ymp.html --- WEIRD SCIENCE PARTIAL WORK STOPPAGE AT NUCLEAR WASTE REPOSITORY REFLECTS SAFETY CONCERNS By STEVE TETREAULT PVT WASHINGTON BUREAU WASHINGTON - The Department of Energy has suspended work on key segments of Yucca Mountain after whistleblowers reported more problems with nuclear waste repository design and engineering, officials confirmed. The work stoppage is the latest illustration of persistent weaknesses in how blueprints and complex analyses are compiled, documented and woven together, potentially affecting licensing and safety at the Nye County nuclear waste site. It also suggests new lengths that the Energy Department is undertaking in trying to get its arms around shortcomings, while providing critics with more bullets to fire at the proposed repository that they contend will be unsafe. DOE issued an order on Dec. 19 telling management contractor Bechtel SAIC (BSC) not to move forward on safety-related aspects of the repository until a newly formed review team could assess whether the work meets current requirements. Department spokesman Allen Benson said Thursday the order covers most key facets, including technical work on new designs for an above-ground industrial complex where nuclear waste-bearing canisters would be handled at the site 50 miles northwest of Pahrump and 20 miles east and north of Beatty and Amargosa Valley, respectively. Benson said the work suspension could take weeks or longer. The Yucca project has missed self-set deadlines in recent years and DOE has not identified a new schedule for when a repository might be opened. Outside experts have said a repository may not be completed until 2015 to 2020. In a Dec. 14 e-mail to employees, Yucca Mountain deputy director John Arthur said DOE was "suspending BSC's authority to approve design and engineering-related technical products subject to our QARD (Quality Assurance Requirements and Description) document." Critics noted DOE has been criticized repeatedly for shortcomings in work documentation and quality controls that are important elements of nuclear projects. They maintained the latest development is more of the same. "This is a stop work order, plain and simple," said Steve Frishman, a full-time technical consultant for the state of Nevada. "It's back to a problem they have had for years and years, which is design control. This is a chronic screw-up in this program." DOE officials defended their action, saying the work suspension was a tougher response than to problems in the past. They maintained it reflected a drive by new managers installed by Energy Secretary Samuel Bodman to fix problems once and for all on the embattled project. "This is a tough response, when you tell a contractor they no longer have the authority to submit work they are contractually required to submit because they are not following procedure," Benson said. Bechtel SAIC spokesman Jason Bohne said there was shared responsibility between the government and the contractor. "The feds direct us through the contract as to what the requirements are," Bohne said. "This is more of a 'Let's hold on and collect where we are, complete our review and move forward on the right path.'" On another front, the Energy Department and Bechtel SAIC are talking about extending the company's Yucca Mountain contract that expires in March, representatives of both parties confirmed this week although they would not discuss the negotiations. According to federal documents and government and nuclear industry officials, the problem was that Yucca requirements management guidelines and databases were allowed to become outdated. The guidelines, which are a staple in nuclear projects, are the root-level rules that lay out in detail how scientists, engineers and analysts need to document their activities in meticulous detail so they can be traced back at later times for safety, effectiveness and consistency with federal regulations and industry practices. Several repository workers who have not been identified filed internal complaints with the Yucca Mountain employee concerns program starting in August 2004. Complaints also were filed with the Nuclear Regulatory Commission. A follow up DOE investigation substantiated the claims, according to John Arthur. The investigation "revealed that our project has not maintained and properly implemented its requirements management system, resulting in inadequacies in the design control process," Arthur told workers by e-mail. DOE issued 14 corrective actions in November on the topic, Benson said. Arthur reported on the matter at a Dec. 7 meeting in Las Vegas that was attended by DOE managers and staffers from the Nuclear Regulatory Commission. NRC officials expressed concern. "It appears to be a significant issue," said Elmo Collins, an NRC licensing and inspection official. The NRC is poised to evaluate a repository application whenever the Energy Department finalizes one. "We believe strong actions are required to address the current situation," Arthur said. "It just didn't get the proper management attention." From saic at vision.moundalexis.com Thu Jan 12 23:20:10 2006 From: saic at vision.moundalexis.com (Daily SAIC News) Date: Thu, 12 Jan 2006 18:20:10 -0500 (EST) Subject: [saic] Feds halt nuclear waste project Message-ID: <20060112181928.D81874-100000@vision.moundalexis.com> 12 January 2006 ; Vermont Guardian Feds halt nuclear waste project http://www.vermontguardian.com/dailies/012006/011206.shtml --- WASHINGTON -- The Department of Energy has suspended work on key segments of the Yucca Mountain nuclear waste depository after whistleblowers reported more problems with the design and engineering. Breaking the story, the Las Vegas Review Journal presented the work stoppage as another illustration of persistent weaknesses in how blueprints and complex analyses are compiled and documented, potentially affecting licensing and safety at the Nevada nuclear waste site. But DOE officials insisted that the stoppage suggests new steps the department is undertaking to correct shortcomings. DOE.s order covers several key facets, including technical work on new designs for an above-ground industrial complex where nuclear waste-bearing canisters would be handled at the site 100 miles northwest of Las Vegas. The Yucca project has missed self-set deadlines in recent years, and DOE officials won.t say when a repository might open. Outside experts predict that it may be 2015 or later. "This is a stop-work order, plain and simple," said Steve Frishman, a full-time technical consultant for the state of Nevada. "It's back to a problem they have had for years and years, which is design control. This is a chronic screw-up in this program." Several repository workers who have not been identified filed complaints with the Yucca Mountain Employee Concerns Program starting in August 2004. Complaints also were filed with the Nuclear Regulatory Commission. According to federal documents and government and nuclear industry officials, the problem was that Yucca management guidelines and databases were allowed to become outdated. The guidelines are the rules that lay out in detail how scientists, engineers and analysts need to document their activities so they can be traced back for safety, effectiveness and consistency with federal regulations and industry practices. On another front, the Energy Department and Bechtel SAIC, the management contractor for the project, are talking about extending the company's contract, which expires in March. From saic at vision.moundalexis.com Thu Jan 12 23:21:05 2006 From: saic at vision.moundalexis.com (Daily SAIC News) Date: Thu, 12 Jan 2006 18:21:05 -0500 (EST) Subject: [saic] SAIC Awarded National Reconnaissance Office Contract Message-ID: <20060112182011.J81874-100000@vision.moundalexis.com> 12 January 2006 ; SAIC News SAIC Awarded National Reconnaissance Office Contract http://www.saic.com/news/2006/jan/12.html --- (SAN DIEGO and MCLEAN, VA) - Science Applications International Corporation's (SAIC) Space & Geospatial Intelligence (S&GI) Business Unit today announced that it was awarded a contract with a maximum value of $30 million by the National Reconnaissance Office (NRO) to continue support to the Signals Intelligence (SIGINT) Applications and Integration Office (SAIO) and the NRO's SIGINT Directorate. SAIC will provide systems, engineering, test and evaluation and management support on the fixed-price level-of-effort contract, which has a one-year base plus four one-year options. The work will be performed in Chantilly, Va. "The NRO is a critical national security customer for SAIC and this win clearly reflects upon our solid reputation of hard work and dedication to the NRO's vital SIGINT mission," said K. Stuart Shea, SAIC senior vice president and general manager of the S&GI Business Unit. SAIC, in support of SAIO, is providing the services to apply the capabilities of NRO systems to directly support the warfighter. The National Security Operation of the Space & Geospatial Intelligence Business Unit, based in Herndon, Va., is responsible for program execution. SAIC leads a team of subcontractors in the northern Virginia area. From saic at vision.moundalexis.com Tue Jan 17 14:09:16 2006 From: saic at vision.moundalexis.com (Daily SAIC News) Date: Tue, 17 Jan 2006 09:09:16 -0500 (EST) Subject: [saic] Fidelis Security Systems Contracts with SAIC to Conduct Common Criteria Evaluation for DataSafe(TM) Extrusion Prevention System(R) Message-ID: <20060117090557.Q11711-100000@vision.moundalexis.com> 17 January 2006 ; PR Newswire Fidelis Security Systems Contracts with SAIC to Conduct Common Criteria Evaluation for DataSafe(TM) Extrusion Prevention System(R) http://www.prnewswire.com/cgi-bin/stories.pl?ACCT=104&STORY=/www/story/01-17-2006/0004261655 --- First Extrusion Prevention System to Undergo Evaluation Process, Simplifying Purchasing Decisions for Security-Conscious Organizations Worldwide BETHESDA, Md., Jan. 17 /PRNewswire/ -- Fidelis Security Systems, an authority on extrusion prevention, today announced that it has contracted with SAIC's Common Criteria Testing Lab (CCTL) to perform the Common Criteria (CC) evaluation process for the DataSafe Extrusion Prevention System. SAIC will be working closely with Fidelis Security Systems in the evaluation of DataSafe against the requirements as set forth by the Common Criteria, an internationally approved set of security standards. DataSafe is the first information leak prevention system to undergo this rigorous evaluation process. Fidelis Security Systems and SAIC have signed a master agreement and SAIC has completed the initial assessment, the first milestone in the process. Once the security target and work plan are complete, they will be submitted to CCEVS for assignment of validation resources. Once assigned, the Fidelis Security Systems' DataSafe product can be listed on the "In Evaluation" list. "We believe it is important for security solutions providers to have an objective, third-party assessment against a recognized global standard," said Julie Taylor, assistant vice president and division manager of SAIC's Accredited Security and Evaluation Laboratories, of which the CCTL is a part. "By undertaking this rigorous process, companies like Fidelis Security Systems provide a tremendous service to their customers by demonstrating a commitment to bringing externally validated security solutions to market." The Common Criteria are an internationally recognized standard to evaluate and certify the level of security, compatibility and consistency of a particular product, system or service. The certification of evaluation results provides a sound basis for confidence that security measures are appropriate to meet a given threat. The certification will ensure that DataSafe has been tested and validated against strict security and assurance requirements. The evaluation is conducted under the criteria established by the National Information Assurance Partnership (NIAP), a U.S. Government initiative created to meet the security testing needs of both information technology consumers and producers. NIAP is a collaboration between the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) and the National Security Agency (NSA). NIAP certification has been required by all Department of Defense users under directive 8500.1 since July 2003 and is called for under the President's National Strategy to Secure Cyberspace, among other Government mandates and requirements. "We are pleased that Fidelis Security Systems is leading their industry with the first solution to enter the Common Criteria certification process," said Robert Deitz, CEO of GvTechSolutions, the exclusive GSA contract holder for the DataSafe Extrusion Prevention System. "This is a significant milestone for Fidelis Security Systems and for government customers that recognize the importance of preventing extrusions of sensitive and classified information." DataSafe Extrusion Prevention System helps prevent the unauthorized network transfer of critical or sensitive information across all channels on gigabit speed networks. DataSafe protects digital assets from unauthorized disclosure across all network channels including email, http, Web mail, FTP, instant messaging and peer-to-peer communications. "We have received an extremely positive response to DataSafe from government organizations and determined, once again, to break new ground in the security market by submitting the first extrusion prevention system to the Common Criteria process," said Timothy Sullivan, CEO of Fidelis Security Systems. "Our engagement illustrates our commitment to deliver a solution that meets the security requirements of large organizations, including the U.S. Government." --- About Fidelis Security Systems Fidelis Security Systems' DataSafe(TM) is the first Extrusion Prevention System(R) and the only network security solution that prevents the unauthorized network transfer of critical or sensitive information on gigabit speed networks. Digital assets such as personally identifiable information, credit card data, health care records, intellectual property and classified information are prevented from transfer through any network channel, thus enabling organizations to enforce compliance with internal policies and external regulations. Founded in 2002, Fidelis Security Systems is a privately held company headquartered in Bethesda, MD. For more information, visit http://www.fidelissecurity.com. From saic at vision.moundalexis.com Wed Jan 18 13:44:20 2006 From: saic at vision.moundalexis.com (Daily SAIC News) Date: Wed, 18 Jan 2006 08:44:20 -0500 (EST) Subject: [saic] Joint warfighting systems engineering deal goes to SAIC Message-ID: <20060118084339.Y11711-100000@vision.moundalexis.com> 17 January 2006 ; Government Computer News Joint warfighting systems engineering deal goes to SAIC http://www.gcn.com/vol1_no1/daily-updates/37996-1.html --- By Roseanne Gerin Contributing Staff Writer The U.S. Joint Warfighting Center has awarded a three-year, $7.4 million contract to Science Applications International Corp. to provide management and engineering support services. The Joint Warfighting Center is a nexus for joint warfare doctrine and development and joint training exercises. It is part of the U.S. Joint Forces Command.one of nine combatant commands in the Defense Department.based in Norfolk, Va. Under the contract, SAIC specifically will provide system, software, database and telecommunications engineering as well as system administration and Web site support services. During the past eight years, the company has worked with the command and the center to provide systems engineering support for the Joint Digital Library System, Joint Training Information System, Joint Events Scheduling System and Joint National Training Capability. Roseanne Gerin is a staff writer for Government Computer News. sister publication, Washington Technology. From saic at vision.moundalexis.com Thu Jan 19 03:02:12 2006 From: saic at vision.moundalexis.com (Daily SAIC News) Date: Wed, 18 Jan 2006 22:02:12 -0500 (EST) Subject: [saic] EKM Corporation Signs Teaming Agreement with SAIC Message-ID: <20060118220006.J652-100000@vision.moundalexis.com> 18 January 2006 ; Business Wire EKM Corporation Signs Teaming Agreement with SAIC http://home.businesswire.com/portal/site/google/index.jsp?ndmViewId=news_view&newsId=20060118005829&newsLang=en --- SAN DIEGO--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Jan. 18, 2006--EKM Corporation, an award-winning Knowledge Management firm and a leader in Electronic Laboratory Notebooks, has teamed with Science Applications International Corporation (SAIC), a world leader in providing outsourcing and IT services. This teaming agreement matches a leading lab notebook vendor with an expert in global rollout support. EKM's Electronic Laboratory Notebook (ELN) and Laboratory Information Management System (LIMS) business is expanding its global market to major pharmaceutical, chemical and medical device companies. SAIC is a preeminent, worldwide services firm with a rapidly growing commercial business supporting the scientific market. "The decision to commit a company's research and intellectual property management to an electronic system is a major commitment," stated Stewart Larson, EKM CEO. "One critical factor is the assurance of continued enterprise support both during rollout and thereafter." With SAIC having the resources and over 150 worldwide locations, Larson believes that this relationship will provide EKM clients with "top shelf" support services. EKM is a vendor of scientific informatics software in the Electronic Laboratory Notebook (ELN) and Laboratory Information Management System (LIMS) market. Customers include academia, government and commercial pharmaceutical, biotech, medical device, chemical and engineering firms. The EKM/SAIC teaming arrangement will provide EKM customers with information technology services and local LABTrack support across the globe. Many laboratories around the world have implemented LABTrack to enhance their R&D and discovery efforts. LABTrack offers the reporting and searching capabilities of a relational database while mirroring existing laboratory notebook practices. With electronic signature (21 CFR Part 11) functionality built-in and the optional AbsoluteProof(TM) automated protection scheme, LABTrack's notebooks are viewed as legally acceptable documents in a court of law, before the PTO and compliant GxP (cGMP, GLP, etc). Combined with a wireless tablet PC, users gain complete mobility while working in a secure ELN environment. --- About Science Applications International Corporation (SAIC): SAIC is the largest employee-owned research and engineering company in the United States, with annual revenues of $7.2 billion and more than 43,000 employees in over 150 cities worldwide. SAIC engineers and scientists solve complex technical problems in national security, homeland security, energy, the environment, space, telecommunications, health care, and logistics. SAIC: FROM SCIENCE TO SOLUTIONS(TM) For more information, please visit www.saic.com. --- About LABTrack: LABTrack is the ELN of choice used by research, analytical, production and academic laboratories. LABTrack is tailored to fit any organization's processes and procedures, existing notebooks, templates and reports. The LABTrack suite of solutions includes software modules for Electronic Laboratory Notebook, Laboratory Information Management, manufacturing compliance (cGMP), bio-informatics and chem-informatics. EKM offers both Team and Enterprise versions of LABTrack. The Team version is an intranet server-based application designed for small to medium groups of researchers needing to collaborate in real time. The Enterprise version is a powerful and flexible intranet server based collaborative application that can be accessed by thousands of users in a large corporation or academic/research institution. For more information, please visit www.labtrack.com. --- About EKM: Founded in 2000, San Diego-based EKM Corp. develops knowledge management solutions for the government and scientific sectors. EKM solutions are built on the foundation of the company's award-winning knowledge discovery systems technology and utilize standard data system environments, including IBM, Microsoft and Oracle. EKM has successfully deployed solutions to more than 200 locations around the United States. They are the recipient of IBM's prestigious Beacon Award for the Best Integrated Business Solution for 2003, as well as a 2005 BIO-IT World Best of Show Finalist. For more information, please visit www.ekmco.com. From saic at vision.moundalexis.com Thu Jan 19 14:42:50 2006 From: saic at vision.moundalexis.com (Daily SAIC News) Date: Thu, 19 Jan 2006 09:42:50 -0500 (EST) Subject: [saic] New Mexico lab chosen to coordinate Yucca Mountain work Message-ID: <20060119094205.M652-100000@vision.moundalexis.com> 18 January 2006 ; Las Vegas Sun New Mexico lab chosen to coordinate Yucca Mountain work http://www.lasvegassun.com/sunbin/stories/nevada/2006/jan/18/011810073.html --- ALBUQUERQUE (AP) - Sandia National Laboratories has been chosen as the lead federal lab to coordinate science work on the $58 billion Yucca Mountain nuclear waste repository in Nevada, the U.S. Department of Energy said Wednesday. Sandia has done work on the planned repository for 20 years, lab spokesman Michael Padilla said. The DOE's Office of Civilian Radioactive Waste Management, OCRWM, made the selection announcement. Project contractor Bechtel SAIC Co. currently oversees the work. Bechtel will continue to be responsible for above-ground design efforts, the agency said in a news release. Designating Sandia will give the federal agency a strong, central leader for the science program and will increase the project's credibility both with the scientific community and with federal regulators, the DOE said. "The independent expert review that the scientists at Sandia will perform will help ensure that the technical and scientific basis for the Yucca Mountain repository is without question," said OCRWM's acting director, Paul Golan. The contract is in effect, although some final details are being worked out with the DOE's National Nuclear Security Administration, according to Craig Stevens, a DOE spokesman in Washington, D.C. "We really see Sandia's involvement as a positive step in making sure the work done at Yucca is based on sound science," Stevens said. Shifting lab responsibilities and so-called post-closure work to Sandia will affect contract talks with Yucca Mountain project contractor Bechtel SAIC Co., said Jason Bohne, a Bechtel spokesman in Las Vegas. Bohne on Wednesday denied the Energy Department decision showed it plans to sever ties with Bechtel, which has some 1,300 contract employees on the Yucca project under a $3.2 billion five-year contract that expires March 31. There are another 350 laboratory workers on the project in Nevada, Bohne said. Sandia did much of the site work that led to the opening of the DOE's Waste Isolation Pilot Project near Carlsbad, N.M. The nuclear waste dump, which opened in March 1999, buries plutonium-contaminated waste from the nation's defense work in ancient underground salt beds. Earlier this month, the DOE announced a reorganization of federal offices overseeing the Yucca Mountain project, which would bury the nation's most radioactive waste. The reorganization, ordered by Golan, came after design changes and investigations into critics' claims that the project is based on flawed science. The Energy Department plans to use Yucca Mountain as a geologic repository to entomb 77,000 tons of nuclear waste now stored at more than 100 commercial, industrial and military sites in 39 states. Congress and President Bush picked the site in 2002. The project has suffered such setbacks as missing its license application deadline, congressional funding cuts and revelations that geologists may have falsified data. The government also is rewriting radiation safety rules after a federal court threw out the first ones. Last year, officials pushed back the target date for Yucca Mountain's opening from 2010 to 2012 or later. The federal Nuclear Regulatory Commission's review of the application is expected to take several years. OCRWM said Sandia will provide the technical support for the NRC's review, including assigning work to other national laboratories, subcontractors, federal agencies, universities and expert panels. Sens. Jeff Bingaman and Pete Domenici praised the selection of Sandia. Bingaman, D-N.M., said it "speaks very highly of the work the lab has already done on the Nevada site and all of the work it did to certify WIPP." Domenici, R-N.M., said work on nuclear waste issue is key to the future of the nation's nuclear power development. From saic at vision.moundalexis.com Fri Jan 20 04:25:23 2006 From: saic at vision.moundalexis.com (Daily SAIC News) Date: Thu, 19 Jan 2006 23:25:23 -0500 (EST) Subject: [saic] Defense firm wants to get bigger Message-ID: <20060119232437.O652-100000@vision.moundalexis.com> 19 January 2006 ; Daily Press Defense firm wants to get bigger http://www.dailypress.com/business/local/dp-57458sy0jan19,0,582821.story --- Science Applications International Corp. wants a contract that would add another 500 jobs in the area. BY PETER DUJARDIN SUFFOLK -- When one thinks of big employers in Hampton Roads, Science Applications International Corp., or SAIC, isn't typically the first that comes to mind. The company's employment base is so spread out, with workers in so many different places, that its 3,000 employees in Hampton Roads often are below the radar - even though it has more local workers than many other private employers. But San Diego-based SAIC - which handles lots of defense industry technology work - hopes to soon become more widely known in Hampton Roads. It's vying for a five-year, $250 million contract to provide support services for the U.S. Joint Forces Command's Joint Warfighting Center in Suffolk, a contract that could add another 500 people to SAIC's local payroll. "We're a submarine moving along underneath the surface," said Carl M. Albero, the president of SAIC's Naval Engineering and Technical Services Group. "But we're hoping to shoot above the surface with a win on this contract." SAIC is competing against the incumbent contract-holder, Northrop Grumman Mission Systems, for the work. Northrop has held the contract for the past five years, employing 500 people under that project. The Joint Warfighting Center runs training exercises - both simulated and live - to prepare joint commanders for combat and other scenarios. The center is one of the focal points of modeling and simulation work in Suffolk, which is trying to solidify its role as a worldwide hub in the field. SAIC has tapped a retired two-star Air Force general, Bill Lay, as its proposed program manager. A former deputy director of the NATO Joint Warfare Center in Norway, Lay maintains that SAIC - with contacts in so many organizations - is a good fit with the Joint Forces Command's plans to add more players to its training. Twenty years ago, the Army, Navy, Air Force and Marines all did their own training. Today, they often conduct joint exercises, in addition to the individual training. Now, Lay says, the Joint Forces Command wants to include other entities that could also be involved in, say, a combat mission or country rebuilding effort. Everyone from the State Department to the Department of Homeland Security to the International Red Cross to other non-governmental organizations could be involved. "Whoever just happens to show up, you have to be able to coordinate them," Lay says. "First of all, you don't want to hurt each other. And we have a lot of other things we can do in addition to military power." Jim Metzger, SAIC's vice president for business development and a retired Navy vice admiral, put it another way: "It's utilizing all the elements of national power - diplomatic, informational, economic, military. Coordinating all of those sometimes takes a lot of inter-agency play." SAIC's competitor, Northrop Grumman's Mission Systems, agrees that's a new push of the command. But Keith Beavers, vice president of Advanced Warfighting Solutions for Northrop Grumman Mission Systems, said Northrop is already attuned to that change. "Those kinds of things are going to be going on in the future, but they're also going on now," Beavers said. Northrop's team, he said, helped train Defense Department personnel before they responded to Hurricane Katrina. Meanwhile, another part of the Mission Systems division has a contract to train Homeland Security responders. "We certainly bring a lot of experience and expertise to this contract," Beavers said. Science Applications International Corp., with about 55,000 employees worldwide, has workers all over the country. Many are in San Diego and Northern Virginia, with Hampton Roads ranking as the location with the third highest number of workers. About 2,000 of the 3,000 SAIC workers in Hampton Roads are employed by AMSEC LLC. That's a joint venture between SAIC and Northrop Grumman Newport News. SAIC owns 55 percent and the shipyard owns 45 percent, Albero said. About half the 2,000 AMSEC employees work out of the Net Center, on Mercury Boulevard on the Newport News-Hampton line. The other half work out of Virginia Beach. The other 1,000 SAIC workers are at NASA Langley Research Center, the Joint Forces Command, Langley Air Force Base, Fort Eustis and various other locations. The pay range of SAIC's workers in Hampton Roads goes from about $25,000 to $125,000 a year, with an average of about $50,000, company officials say. From saic at vision.moundalexis.com Fri Jan 20 13:35:52 2006 From: saic at vision.moundalexis.com (Daily SAIC News) Date: Fri, 20 Jan 2006 08:35:52 -0500 (EST) Subject: [saic] Opsware Announces Common Criteria Certification; Opsware Server Automation System Evaluated by SAIC Common Criteria Testing Laboratory Message-ID: <20060120083425.L652-100000@vision.moundalexis.com> 19 January 2006 ; Business Wire Opsware Announces Common Criteria Certification; Opsware Server Automation System Evaluated by SAIC Common Criteria Testing Laboratory http://home.businesswire.com/portal/site/google/index.jsp?ndmViewId=news_view&newsId=20060119005215&newsLang=en --- SUNNYVALE, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Jan. 19, 2006--Opsware Inc. (NASDAQ:OPSW), the leading provider of IT automation and utility computing software, today announced that it has achieved the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) Common Criteria certification for the Opsware Server Automation System. The Opsware Server Automation System (SAS) was evaluated by Science Applications International Corporation (SAIC) Common Criteria Testing Laboratory, an accredited testing laboratory, using the common methodology for conformance to the predefined requirements of EAL 2. The Common Criteria are a set of internationally recognized standards of assurance for sharing classified information within and across government agencies. "Common Criteria certification of Opsware SAS underscores our ongoing commitment to the Common Criteria process and to the government marketplace," said John Menkart, Director of Government Sales for Opsware. "This milestone complements our ongoing advances in software quality, benefiting any IT organization that requires the highest level of security. We are pleased to deliver this required conformance to our customers." The Opsware System provides a central point for automating the many different operations required to manage enterprise IT environments and is an effective tool for automating server tasks at geographically dispersed organizations. The technology allows administrators to rapidly and efficiently perform tasks such as server provisioning, compliance management, server hardening, asset/inventory tracking, patching, code deployment, change rollback and script deployment. About Opsware Inc. Opsware Inc. (NASDAQ:OPSW) is the world's leading IT automation and utility computing software company. The growth of the Internet is driving a shift from client/server computing to Web architecture. With this shift comes an overwhelming proliferation of servers, networking devices and applications, creating massive complexity that makes an automated IT model a necessity. Opsware automates the complete IT lifecycle and delivers utility computing by enabling IT to automatically provision, patch, configure, secure, change, scale, audit, recover, consolidate, migrate, and reallocate servers, network devices and applications. Over 250 of the world's largest companies, outsourcers and government agencies use Opsware to deliver this new, automated model of IT. For more information on Opsware Inc., please visit our Web site at www.opsware.com. From saic at vision.moundalexis.com Tue Jan 24 03:30:45 2006 From: saic at vision.moundalexis.com (Daily SAIC News) Date: Mon, 23 Jan 2006 22:30:45 -0500 (EST) Subject: [saic] CONTRACTS from the United States Department of Defense Message-ID: <20060123223034.H652-100000@vision.moundalexis.com> 23 January 2006 ; Department of Defense CONTRACTS from the United States Department of Defense http://defenselink.mil/contracts/2006/ct20060123-12352.html --- No. 060-06 FOR RELEASE AT Jan 23, 2006 Media Contact: (703)697-5131 Public/Industry(703)428-0711 CONTRACTS NAVY Science Applications International Corp., San Diego, Calif., is being awarded a $32,986,671 indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity contract with a cost-plus-fixed-fee pricing arrangement for program configuration management, technical services, systems engineering, algorithm development, hardware and software development, material analysis, data processing, testing, repair, installation, deployment, recovery, and analysis in support of maritime and littoral area surveillance technologies. Work will be performed in San Diego, Calif., and is expected to be completed by January 2011. Contract funds will not expire at the end of the current fiscal year. This contract was competitively procured via the SPAWAR e-commerce central website with one proposal received. The Space and Naval Warfare Systems Center San Diego, Calif., is the contracting activity (N66001-06-D-5021). From saic at vision.moundalexis.com Thu Jan 26 03:36:07 2006 From: saic at vision.moundalexis.com (Daily SAIC News) Date: Wed, 25 Jan 2006 22:36:07 -0500 (EST) Subject: [saic] SAIC's Wil Myrick Wins 2006 BEYA for Career Achievement in Industry Message-ID: <20060125223437.A652-100000@vision.moundalexis.com> 25 January 2006 ; SAIC Feature Article SAIC's Wil Myrick Wins 2006 BEYA for Career Achievement in Industry http://www.saic.com/cover-archive/saicachieve/myrick.html --- SAIC's Aaron Demory and Gregory Wallace Named Modern-Day Technology Leaders There are many researchers working in the field of adaptive signal processing, however only an elite few are truly advancing the state of the art. SAIC's Wilbur (Wil) Myrick, Ph.D., is one of the elite. In honor of Myrick's innovative contributions to engineering as well as his leadership and mentoring, he has been awarded the 2006 Black Engineer of the Year Award for Career Achievement in Industry. Since 1986, the annual Black Engineer of the Year awards have recognized outstanding black engineers, scientists and technology leaders in the United States. "My accomplishments reflect the culture and mentoring that the SAIC Technology Research and Integration Business Unit promotes throughout its operations," Myrick says. "I am fortunate to have (Business Unit General Manager) Jurgen Gobien and (Operations Manager) Scott Goldstein as leaders who foster innovation as well as diversity." Myrick and other Black Engineer of the Year award winners will be honored at the Black Engineer of the Year Awards Conference in Baltimore, Md., February 16 - 18, 2006. Also to be honored during the conference are SAIC Systems Engineer Aaron Demory and Systems Engineer/Enroute Facilities Lead Gregory Wallace, who were named Modern-Day Technology Leaders for 2006 by US Black Engineer & Information Technology magazine. Solving the impossible Myrick, a nationally recognized expert in advanced adaptive signal processing, is an SAIC senior signal processing analyst recognized by his colleagues as a brilliant researcher and scientist who solves problems others thought "impossible" to solve. He gained this reputation when, on more than one occasion, with limited funds and information, he very rapidly produced successful solutions for the U.S. defense and intelligence communities to challenges generally thought to be impossible to solve. "Wil is one of our brightest and most innovative young engineers," says Gobien, "and his highly classified work has made major contributions to being able to deal with some of the nation's most important security problems." Advancing signal processing Myrick, who received his Ph.D. from The School of Electrical and Computer Engineering at Purdue University in 2000, performs work that focuses on advanced algorithm development and evaluation in the areas of communications and radar systems. He develops signal and image processing algorithms to support the development of a wide range of applications and researches new techniques for working with remote sensing data. He invented a processing architecture used in one of our major defense programs, and his research led to the invention of a processor for signal extraction and improvements to an algorithm used for signal processing. SAIC recognized Myrick's accomplishments in 2003 with a prestigious incentive award for outstanding new leaders, and in autumn 2005, with an SAIC Research, Development, Test and Evaluation Group Scientific and Technical Performance Award for pushing the boundaries of technology through work that contributes to superior program performance. Mentoring and leadership The Career Achievement in Industry award also recognizes Myrick's leadership and mentoring at work and in the community. He uses his ability to express technological concepts to prospective customers and business associates, and he works with junior SAIC engineers to develop and refine their proposal-writing skills. He also recruits for SAIC at the University of Maryland and encourages minority students to pursue engineering careers and advanced degrees. Myrick also finds time to serve his community, working with a program that distributes school supplies to children and with a group that aids families in northern Virginia during the holidays. Exemplifying SAIC's resolve Myrick's management team members sum up their admiration for his accomplishments, saying, "Dr. Myrick embodies SAIC's tag line 'From Science to Solutions.'" From saic at vision.moundalexis.com Sun Jan 29 14:12:30 2006 From: saic at vision.moundalexis.com (Daily SAIC News) Date: Sun, 29 Jan 2006 09:12:30 -0500 (EST) Subject: [saic] Contractor has close ties with staff of NSA Message-ID: <20060129091018.E652-100000@vision.moundalexis.com> 29 January 2006 ; Baltimore Sun Contractor has close ties with staff of NSA http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/nationworld/bal-te.saic29jan29,1,5221259.story --- By Siobhan Gorman Sun reporter When the National Security Agency went shopping for a private contractor to help it build a state-of-the-art tool for plucking key threats to the nation from a worldwide sea of digital communication, the company it chose was Science Applications International Corp. More than three years later, the project, code-named Trailblazer, still hasn't gotten off the ground. And intelligence experts inside and outside the agency say that the NSA and SAIC share some of the blame. Investigations of Trailblazer's early years by Congress and the NSA inspector general criticized the agency for its "confusion" about what Trailblazer would ultimately accomplish and for "inadequate management and oversight" of the program to improve collection and analysis of mountains of digital information. Unsolved problems When SAIC came on board as the lead contractor in 2002, NSA had not solved those problems, said intelligence officials with extensive knowledge of the program. But SAIC did not provide computer experts with the technical or management skills to pull off a system as complex as Trailblazer, the intelligence experts said. Moreover, they said, SAIC did not say no when NSA made unrealistic demands. Trailblazer has cost taxpayers an estimated $1.2 billion, former intelligence officials told The Sun. "The system in the Pentagon and defense-related agencies is notoriously susceptible to slippage and overruns," said Gordon Adams, director for security policy studies at George Washington University. "A lot of the [information technology projects] are traffic accidents waiting to happen," said Adams, who was speaking generally. "There's a penchant, particularly in the [information technology] area, to overdesign things, promise it will deliver all kinds of things and not be able to deliver on the project." SAIC is among the fastest-growing government contractors in the country, expanding from an annual revenue of $243,000 in 1970 to more than $7.2 billion today. 43,000 employees The federal government accounts for two-thirds of San Diego-based SAIC's work, and the company has offices in 29 Maryland communities. Some of SAIC's 43,000 employees worldwide could become millionaires if the company follows through on its plans to go public this year. As SAIC has grown, it has forged close ties to several key defense and intelligence agencies, including the NSA. Among those who have served on SAIC's board of directors are former NSA Director Bobby Ray Inman; former CIA Directors John M. Deutch and Robert M. Gates; and former Defense Secretaries Melvin R. Laird and William J. Perry. The door swings so regularly between the NSA and SAIC that the company has earned the nickname "NSA West" inside the intelligence community. The Trailblazer project illustrates that point. William B. Black Jr. retired from his position in the elite senior cryptologic executive service at the NSA in 1997 to take a job as assistant vice president at SAIC. Three years later, NSA Director Michael V. Hayden called Black back to the spy agency. By 2002, Black was overseeing NSA's Trailblazer project, with SAIC as its prime contractor. Two other top NSA managers who worked on Trailblazer - Hal Smith and Sam Visner - also left the spy agency for jobs at SAIC. There, Smith worked on Trailblazer and the FBI's Virtual Case File program, according to a former senior intelligence official who spoke only on the condition of anonymity. The FBI pulled the plug last year on the $170 million Virtual Case File program, which was supposed to bring the bureau's computer system into the 21st century, after it was criticized as unworkable by the Justice Department's inspector general and members of Congress. The inspector general said the bulk of the program's problems were the fault of the bureau. Black, Smith and Visner declined requests for interviews. An NSA spokesman denied repeated requests for comment. An NSA spokeswoman told The Sun in 2003 that Black sold his SAIC stock when he returned to the agency in 2000 and recused himself for a year from "involvement in any matter affecting the financial interests" of the company. Varied criteria The spokeswoman said SAIC, which was selected as the prime contractor for Trailblazer in 2002, was one of three companies seeking the contract. The choice, she said, was based on a "formal source selection process" that looked at technical issues, management, cost and past performance. SAIC officials declined requests for interviews for this article, referring questions to the NSA. In 2003, Mark V. Hughes, then executive vice president of SAIC, told The Sun that the company hires former government officials not for influence but for their expertise. "We do a much better job for our customers if we have people in the company who really know the customers," he said then. Hughes also said the company is scrupulous about obeying laws designed to prevent conflicts of interest. "As a government contractor," he said then, "just one or two violations could cause us to be suspended from government contracts. That would destroy our company." Hughes has since left the company. Jacques Gansler, a former undersecretary of defense who is now vice president for research at the University of Maryland, said the revolving door between government agencies and private government contractors has an upside. Without former government officials in their ranks, he said, companies would have a difficult time navigating the labyrinth of the government procurement process. Before he took his Pentagon job dealing with acquisitions, Gansler was a senior executive with TASC, a major defense contractor. From saic at vision.moundalexis.com Mon Jan 30 13:41:57 2006 From: saic at vision.moundalexis.com (Daily SAIC News) Date: Mon, 30 Jan 2006 08:41:57 -0500 (EST) Subject: [saic] System error Message-ID: <20060130083637.I652-100000@vision.moundalexis.com> 29 January 2006 ; Baltimore Sun System error http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/nationworld/bal-te.trailblazer29jan29,1,7228842.story --- A Sun special report The NSA has spent six years and hundreds of millions of dollars trying to kick-start a program, intended to help protect the United States against terrorism, that many experts say was doomed from the start. A program that was supposed to help the National Security Agency pluck out electronic data crucial to the nation's safety is not up and running more than six years and $1.2 billion after it was launched, according to current and former government officials. The classified project, code-named Trailblazer, was promoted as the NSA's state-of-the-art tool for sifting through an ocean of modern-day digital communications and uncovering key nuggets to protect the nation against an ever-changing collection of enemies. Its main goal when it was launched in 1999 was to enable NSA analysts to connect the 2 million bits of data the agency ingests every hour -- a task that has grown increasingly complex with the advent of the Internet, cell phones, and instant messaging -- and enable analysts to quickly pick out the most important information. The stakes could scarcely be higher. A major failure leading up to Sept. 11, 2001, involved communications intelligence, investigators found.More than 30 hints of the impending attack had been collected in the previous three years but had sat, unnoted, in the NSA's databases, according to a joint congressional inquiry into pre-Sept. 11 intelligence operations. The NSA initiative, which was designed to spot and analyze such hints, has resulted in little more than detailed schematic drawings filling almost an entire wall, according to intelligence experts familiar with the program. After an estimated $1.2 billion in development costs, only a few isolated analytical and technical tools have been produced, said an intelligence expert with extensive knowledge of the program. Trailblazer is "the biggest boondoggle going on now in the intelligence community," said Matthew Aid, who has advised three recent federal commissions and panels that investigated the Sept. 11 intelligence failures. Complex from the start - the initial Trailblazer plan called for more than 1,000 priority items - the project ballooned as it was passed through three separate NSA divisions, each with its own priorities, former intelligence officials said. And, they said, Trailblazer's overseers lacked either the influence or the time to clearly define their goals and keep the project on track. When the agency's inspector general looked at the NSA's handling of the project in its first three years, it found in a 2003 report "inadequate management and oversight" of private contractors and overpayment for the work that was done, according to a recently declassified version of the report obtained by The Sun through a Freedom of Information Act request. Meanwhile, Science Applications International Corp. (SAIC), the lead contractor on the project, did not provide enough people with the technical or management skills to produce such a sophisticated system, according to industry and NSA experts familiar with Trailblazer. And, they said, the company did not say no when the NSA made unrealistic demands. The company was initially awarded $280 million in 2002 to begin construction. SAIC spokesman Jared Adams declined to comment, saying, "We have been asked to defer all comment regarding the NSA Trailblazer contract to the NSA." The reporting in this article includes interviews conducted over the past three months with 25 intelligence professionals, 13 of whom worked on or had oversight of Trailblazer. Because the program is classified, most would not allow their names to be used. Although the Bush administration spent much of the past week defending the NSA's eavesdropping work as vital to keeping Americans safe from terrorism, virtually no attention has been paid to the agency's failure to deliver the system the NSA said was key to fulfilling that mission. That means the government has been standing by while the agency has been gradually "going deaf" as unimportant communications drown out key pieces of information, a government official with extensive knowledge of Trailblazer told The Sun. NSA spokesman Don Weber said the agency would have no response to requests for comment. Listening in Based at Fort Meade in Anne Arundel County and with field offices around the world, the NSA harvests virtually every form of electronic communication - including phone calls, e-mails, video links and bank transactions - through a vast array of satellites, clandestine posts at U.S. embassies, ground-based listening stations, and military airplanes, ships and submarines. The information collected and culled by the agency's approximately 40,000 employees accounts for an estimated 75 percent of the president's daily intelligence briefing, said Aid, an intelligence consultant who is writing a multivolume history of the NSA. But there are huge holes in the agency's information filter. As a result, a congressional report on 9/11 intelligence failures found, "potentially vital" information is lost, particularly with regard to terrorist groups. That is what Trailblazer was designed to fix. All digital communications trapped by the NSA are transmitted to the agency's offices in computer codes of zeroes and ones. The sheer volume of data being gathered is overwhelming the NSA's ability to digest it. And that volume is growing every day with the advent of text messages, hand-held computers such as the BlackBerry and phone conversations over Internet lines. The result is akin to looking for a needle in a haystack that doubles in size every few months, said Aid, who has written extensively on intelligence issues. The agency has only blunt tools - largely based on the information's origin or keywords linked to items of interest - to use in making decisions about whether to keep captured data or discard it. Intelligence experts familiar with the system said it is like deciding whether to keep a piece of mail or throw it out based only on what is on the outside of the envelope. An estimated 95 percent of the information gathered is discarded without being translated into an understandable form, said an intelligence expert who has tracked the system for years. The remaining 5 percent, still in the form of zeroes and ones, is turned into plain text or voice recordings and routed to the appropriate division for analysis. In each division, it might be run through software programs to identify patterns or links with other data. But that is not guaranteed. Nor is there a guarantee that a communication sent to a division dealing with Latin America, for example, will ever be seen by an analyst tracking a terrorist group that finances its activities through Latin American drug smuggling. NSA officials knew they needed to make changes in how they handled the deluge of digital data and spent a year developing a broad concept for how to do so. As initially envisioned, said four intelligence experts with extensive knowledge of the project, Trailblazer would have translated all of the digital computer language (the zeroes and ones) into plain text or voice. The data would have been analyzed to identify new patterns of activity or connections among people whose communications are intercepted, and then stored in an easily searchable database. Key communications would have been automatically forwarded to the appropriate analysts, who for the first time could have followed up with their own searches of the database. To implement Trailblazer, the NSA would have vastly expanded its computing hardware and software, and made revolutionary changes in the way huge amounts of data are stored and retrieved. But years after the initiative was launched, there was still no unanimity within the agency on how to achieve those goals, or even on whether all of them were necessary or possible, interviews and records show. A December 2002 report by the House and Senate intelligence committees investigating pre-Sept. 11 intelligence failures found that although Trailblazer was "frequently cited" as the solution to many of the NSA's information management problems, "implementation of those solutions is three to five years away and confusion still exists as to what will actually be provided by the program." The unclassified report also noted that without Trailblazer the NSA employees with whom committee investigators spoke knew of no "near-term efforts to alleviate their current system's technical limitations." Another division of the NSA had been working on a separate, less expensive program, code-named Thinthread. In development before Trailblazer was launched, Thinthread tried to accomplish a similar goal of separating the important communications from the junk. A classified report from the Pentagon in 2004 found that Thinthread was more promising than Trailblazer and could be put to use faster, said an intelligence expert who was briefed on its contents. NSA managers disagreed with the Pentagon report's conclusions and canceled Thinthread, said the expert briefed on the report's contents. As a result, nearly 4 1/2 years after the Sept. 11 attacks, the NSA lacks a system to comprehensively evaluate all of the communications collected by its vast networks of high-tech ears. Blazing trails Trailblazer began as a signature program of Gen. Michael V. Hayden, who was the NSA's director from March 1999 until last spring. Early on, former officials familiar with the program said, it became clear to Hayden that the agency, with its rich history of developing cutting-edge technology, was falling behind the technology curve. He cast Trailblazer as the agency's future. A cerebral Air Force general with close-cropped hair and wire-rimmed glasses, Hayden saw his tenure as a key opportunity to turn the agency around. In November 1999, he made Trailblazer a centerpiece of his "100 Days of Change" agenda. Presented nearly two years before the 9/11 attacks, former colleagues noted, Hayden's plan was prescient. "It was going to structure us to handle the digital revolution," said a former intelligence official. And, the official recalled, it would start by building on the agency's existing computer systems. But two months after Trailblazer was launched, the agency's computers had a 3 1/2 -day meltdown. Hayden later described the episode in a 60 Minutes II interview as the agency's headquarters going "brain dead." "It doesn't take a rocket scientist to know that an [information technology] infrastructure that crashes ... is not going to be able to handle Trailblazer applications," said a former intelligence official familiar with the program. Hayden declined, through a spokeswoman, to comment for this article and referred questions to the NSA. Several former intelligence and government oversight officials contend that Trailblazer was doomed almost from its inception. The program "kicked off with not a real great definition of what it was trying to achieve," said a government oversight official, recalling an initial briefing in December 1999. Trailblazer began with such a burst of energy that it skipped some crucial first steps, said current and former government officials close to the program. For example, to make sense of the communications it pulled in, Trailblazer needed a standard format for all data so that it could sort it properly, much like the standards Google uses so that it can search different kinds of information on the Internet. But intelligence officials said those standards were never defined. The agency also boxed itself in by underestimating how long it should keep old data, a former national security official said. As a result, the system was designed to discard information that could later prove useful, particularly in an open-ended war on terror. Such early errors were exacerbated by the Sept. 11 attacks, which prompted Hayden to push for faster implementation, eliminating time for review and corrections, a former intelligence official said. And Congress began throwing money at Trailblazer, discouraging a more disciplined approach, said a former government official with extensive knowledge of the program. Monitoring project While internal and external warnings that Trailblazer was going off course were sounded, the extent of its problems gained little public attention because the program was so secret and technical. Since 1999, for example, more than 10 unclassified congressional reports have pointed to "deficiencies" in NSA modernization efforts, but few specifically pointed to problems with Trailblazer. A 2003 NSA inspector general's report obtained by The Sun found that the spy agency was unable to monitor the progress or the results of its early Trailblazer contractors. Moreover, Inspector General Joel Brenner said that his office could find no evidence of the program's specific priorities, could not track the ways all of the money was being spent and found that the NSA had overpaid some contract employees. The contracts showed no limits on labor costs. "These conditions are directly related to inadequate management and oversight," Brenner's team said. An intelligence expert who was briefed on a December 2004 report conducted by the Pentagon's inspector general said the report found that Trailblazer was not producing the system that had been promised and was unlikely to produce it. The intelligence expert said the report suggested agencywide management problems and recommended further investigations of the NSA's overall acquisition and financial systems, at least one of which has begun. That report remains classified. Shortly after the inspector general's review was completed, the NSA hired IBM to take the lead on the project, said intelligence sources familiar with the program. Despite such warnings of problems, the Government Accountability Office, the investigative arm of Congress that specializes in assessing program management and government waste, has not looked into Trailblazer. Randolph Hite, the GAO's director of information technology, said no one in Congress has asked it to. Former Sen. Bob Graham, a Florida Democrat who led the Senate Intelligence Committee during and after the Sept. 11 attacks, said Congress has failed to provide adequate oversight of the NSA. "Most of the members don't have the background or the expertise to understand very well an organization like the NSA," Graham said. It did not help that Trailblazer, then less than two years old, was faltering just as the country and Congress were attempting to cope with the deaths of an estimated 3,000 people in the Sept. 11 attacks. Congress was not interested in cutting any program related to fighting terrorism for fear that it would be blamed if terrorists struck again. >From that point, "our overwhelming focus was on trying to understand that tragedy and the role the intelligence agencies had played," Graham said. "Then, in 2002, summer and fall was the run-up to the war in Iraq, so our attention was diverted." That meant that on Capitol Hill, much of the oversight was left to the few congressional staff members who understood the program. In July 2003, they persuaded their bosses to send the NSA a no-confidence message about the agency's ability to manage complex programs such as Trailblazer, said congressional aides. Congress took away the NSA's authority to sign big-ticket contracts without getting permission from the Department of Defense. The Defense Department continues to be responsible for approving the NSA's proposals to pursue and pay for large programs. But that didn't stop or fix the project. At the NSA, Trailblazer continued to stumble along. Rep. C.A. Dutch Ruppersberger, a Democrat from Maryland who sits on the House Intelligence Committee and whose district includes NSA headquarters, said abandoning the concept behind Trailblazer is not an option because "our national security depends on it." "There was congressional oversight, and that's one of the reasons this program has been red-flagged as a program that needs work," he said. "The conclusion we all had was there were mistakes made, but the concept has to move forward for the sake of our national security." Sen. John D. Rockefeller IV of West Virginia, who succeeded Graham as the senior Democrat on the Senate Intelligence Committee, said the committee has "worried about the direction of the Trailblazer program specifically and NSA acquisition practices generally" over the past few years. "We and the Armed Services Committee required detailed reports, withheld money and ultimately removed the NSA's acquisition authority," Rockefeller said. "I expect that [NSA Director Lt. Gen. Keith B.] Alexander will have a major restructuring plan to present to the committee as part of the request for fiscal year 2007." Turf battles To understand where Trailblazer ended up, it is helpful to understand the internal politics at the time of its launch. The beginning of the Trailblazer program in 1999 coincided with a major NSA reorganization. Deep inside the spy agency, knowledgeable bureaucrats rushed to get their programs redefined as part of a project favored by the director and presumably immune from budget cuts, two former intelligence officials said. As a result, they said, Trailblazer's scope mushroomed in the first few years. Meanwhile, the project was passed among several divisions, including the new Transformation Office, which was shut down after a year; the Signals Intelligence Directorate, which housed many of the analysts; and the Information Technology Directorate, which builds technology systems. Each time Trailblazer was moved, its new leaders altered its design. "Every year or so, their story would be somewhat different about what it is, what it's going to accomplish and how it is going to be implemented," said a congressional aide who works with intelligence programs. The program landed in the lap of William B. Black Jr., the agency's deputy director. Black had spent four decades at the NSA before leaving it in 1997 to join SAIC, a San Diego-based contractor with strong ties to the agency. In 2000, Hayden called him back to become his top deputy and to take charge of Trailblazer. Two years later, the NSA awarded the prime contract to build Trailblazer to SAIC, Black's former employer. A careful bureaucrat who shies away from the media, Black was an expert at navigating the agency's many fiefdoms and insisted that he make all key decisions about Trailblazer, said intelligence officials with extensive knowledge of the program. But they said Black had too much on his plate to pay close attention to the program. NSA spokesman Weber said Black was not available for an interview. Lax internal oversight and shifting priorities quickly sent Trailblazer's costs skyrocketing. In April 2005 Hayden testified before Congress that the program, with publicly announced contracts then worth $500 million, was "a couple to several hundred million" dollars over budget and behind schedule. Although he didn't provide details of the program's troubles, he acknowledged in his testimony that getting the program off the ground "was far more difficult than anyone anticipated." New direction? Five months into his tenure as NSA director, Alexander has been reviewing Trailblazer, and he recently decided that he will try to revamp it rather than scrap it, according to three intelligence experts familiar with the program. These officials and others knowledgeable about the program's history said they were skeptical that Trailblazer could be fixed without starting from scratch. "Trailblazer is completely beyond fixing," said a former government official who has tracked the program carefully. "Everybody who reviewed Trailblazer after the first few months [of the program's launch] said it was doomed or it should be scrapped." Bobby Ray Inman, a former NSA director and a retired admiral, said there needs to be some tolerance for altering the course of ambitious projects. Several projects he considered successes, he said, were scaled-back versions of an initial vision that "took us forward from where we were, but it really didn't meet the aspirations of what we would have liked to have had." Alexander plans to hire a new executive to run the NSA's technology programs, and Trailblazer will be one of this executive's top priorities, said an intelligence consultant. Alexander declined to comment for this article, but in August he told The Sun that he would look to shift the agency's approach away from large programs such as Trailblazer and toward smaller programs that build on one another. "I think the way to do it efficiently is smaller steps, more rapidly done, rather than try to take one big jump and make it all the way across," he said. Those steps would involve significant changes in the way the NSA manages data, including, he said, "how you handle data, how you visualize that data and how we jump from Industrial Age analysis to the Information Age analysis that our country needs." Intelligence experts with extensive knowledge of the program said Alexander is likely to salvage what he can from Trailblazer and largely start over, casting it as a kind of "Trailblazer 2.0." The country's new spymaster, Director of National Intelligence John D. Negroponte, is taking on the job of connecting the technology systems of all 15 intelligence agencies, and former intelligence officials said Trailblazer's troubles should serve as a cautionary tale. If Negroponte wants to learn the details, he won't have to go far. Since last spring, his top deputy has been Hayden, the former NSA chief.