From saic at vision.moundalexis.com Wed Mar 1 04:37:57 2006 From: saic at vision.moundalexis.com (Daily SAIC News) Date: Tue, 28 Feb 2006 23:37:57 -0500 (EST) Subject: [saic] CONTRACTS from the United States Department of Defense Message-ID: <20060228233748.E608-100000@vision.moundalexis.com> 28 February 2006 ; DOD CONTRACTS from the United States Department of Defense http://defenselink.mil/contracts/2006/ct20060228-12570.html --- No. 169-06 FOR RELEASE AT Feb 28, 2006 [...] AIR FORCE [...] ATK/Mission Research Corp., Albuquerque, N.M.; Electro Magnetic Applications, Lakewood, Colo.; Fiore Industries, Albuquerque, N.M.; ITT Industries, Albuquerque, N.M., Lockheed Martin, Grand Prairie, Texas; Northrop Grumman, Albuquerque, N.M.; Science Applications International Corp., Albuquerque, N.M.; and Voss Scientific, Albuquerque, N.M, are being awarded a $24,000,000 (maximum) cost-reimbursement, cost-plus-fixed-fee, indefinite delivery indefinite quantity (with the exception of one firm-fixed price award to Electro Magnetic Application contract that will be split among the eight contractors listed. This contract provides for research and development under BAA entitled "Electro Magnetic Effects Research and Development." This effort is to search for new opportunities in all aspects of high power EM lethality, as well as to develop new solutions and enhance present capabilities. Missions such as survivability of DoD assets to high power microwave environments, the development of HPM weapons and the refinement of HPM-predictive modeling for inclusion into engagement and campaign-level models will be supported. The intent is for the contractor to make optimum use of available AFRL/DEH capital assets and to augment or compliment AFRL/DEH capabilities. The Air Force can issue delivery orders totaling up to the maximum amount indicated above, although the actual requirement may be less than the amount above. At this time, the following amounts are obligated: $100,000 (ATK/MRC); $81,416 (EMA); $33,166 (Fiore); $139,000 (ITT); $30,000 (Lockheed Martin); $165,000 (Northrop Grumman), $75,000 (SAIC); and $73,351 (Voss Scientific). This work will be complete February 2012. Solicitations began October 2005 and negotiations were complete February 2006. Detachment 8 Air Force Research Laboratory/PKDP, Kirtland Air Force Base, N.M., is the contracting activity. (ATK/Mission Research Corp.: FA9451-06-D-0216); (Electro Magnetic Applications: FA9451-06-D-0217); (Fiore Industries: FA9451-06-D-0218); (ITT Industries/ AES: FA9451-06-D-0219); (Lockheed Martin: FA9451-06-D-0220); (Northrop Grumman: FA9451-06-D-0221); (Science Applications International Corp.: FA9451-06-D-0222); (Voss Scientific: FA9451-06-D-0223) [...] From saic at vision.moundalexis.com Thu Mar 2 03:12:02 2006 From: saic at vision.moundalexis.com (Daily SAIC News) Date: Wed, 1 Mar 2006 22:12:02 -0500 (EST) Subject: [saic] Terry Ryan Joins SAIC's Intelligence and Security Group Message-ID: <20060301221057.E608-100000@vision.moundalexis.com> 1 March 2006 ; PR Newswire (via Yahoo!) Terry Ryan Joins SAIC's Intelligence and Security Group http://biz.yahoo.com/prnews/060301/dcw036.html?.v=45 --- SAN DIEGO and MCLEAN, Va., March 1 /PRNewswire/ -- Science Applications International Corporation (SAIC) announced today that Terry M. Ryan has joined SAIC's Intelligence and Security Group as senior vice president for strategic development. The Intelligence and Security Group provides technology services and products for customers in intelligence, information operations, surveillance, reconnaissance and targeting, information assurance and security in addition to homeland security and defense. "Intelligence and technology have been at the core of Terry Ryan's profession since he served as a Marine Corps officer," said Lawrence Prior, president for SAIC's Intelligence and Security Group. "Terry's deep-domain expertise, coupled with his experience as visionary leader, will help SAIC and the Group execute new growth strategies and expand business opportunities." Before joining SAIC, Ryan served as vice president and director for SRA International's C4ISR (Command, Control, Communications, Computers, Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance) Center. During his tenure, he was appointed a member of the President's Foreign Intelligence Advisory Board's Transformation Advisory Group and the CIA Director's Constellation Architecture Panel. Ryan served as president and chief executive officer for Adroit Systems until its acquisition by SRA International in 2003. Before joining the private sector, Ryan served as director of Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance for the Office of the Secretary of Defense. Following 10 years of military service as a Marine Corps officer, he served as a staff member of the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence, where he advised senators on all military intelligence and weapons proliferation issues, as well as the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence. Ryan received a bachelor's degree in communications from The Ohio State University in Columbus. From saic at vision.moundalexis.com Thu Mar 2 03:13:09 2006 From: saic at vision.moundalexis.com (Daily SAIC News) Date: Wed, 1 Mar 2006 22:13:09 -0500 (EST) Subject: [saic] Army defends $125 bln communications program Message-ID: <20060301221223.J608-100000@vision.moundalexis.com> 1 March 2006 ; Reuters Army defends $125 bln communications program http://today.reuters.com/News/newsArticle.aspx?type=politicsNews&storyID=2006-03-01T195524Z_01_N01239120_RTRUKOC_0_US-ARMS-BOEING-ARMY.xml --- By Andrea Shalal-Esa WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. Army officials on Wednesday said a $125 billion communications modernization program is on track for a key Pentagon review in May, despite delays in two other programs that are needed to run its extensive communications networks. The Future Combat Systems program (FCS), with Boeing Co. as prime contractor, will use advanced communications to give troops more information by linking 18 light, fast, manned and robotic air and ground vehicles. It will be rolled out over two decades, Army acquisition chief Claude Bolton told a Senate Armed Services Committee subcommittee that 2006 is a "critical execution year" for the program. It faces more than 52 reviews, key hardware and software deliveries, and several field experiments this year, he said. Bolton said the FCS had long acknowledged integration challenges with two communications programs -- the Joint Tactical Radio System (JTRS) and WIN-T. Both are critical to the success of FCS but have run into technological issues that forced restructuring moves. Boeing is the prime contractor for FCS, along with employee-owned Science Applications International Corp. Chicago-based Boeing is also prime contractor for the first segment of the JTRS program, while General Dynamics Corp. and Boeing are working together on the WIN-T contract. The FCS was working closely with the JTRS and WIN-T restructuring efforts and developed risk mitigation plans that included alternative approaches, Bolton said. "The Army is focusing hard to get it right on developing a common and integrated battle command network," he told the subcommittee, noting seven radios had been delivered by the JTRS program for FCS integration use and experimentation. A recent report by the Government Accountability Office said the Pentagon paid billions of dollars in award fees regardless of the acquisition outcomes, but Bolton said the FCS fee structure was different. Unlike other contracts of this size, it had measurable performance goals, he said. Bolton also said the Army was on track to finalize by the end of March a reworked defense contract with Boeing and SAIC that transformed it from an "Other Transaction Authority" deal, which exempted it from some cost and auditing requirements. The Army agreed to change the terms of its FCS contract with Boeing and SAIC after Republican Sen. John McCain of Arizona raised questions about the Army's ability to properly oversee work on the huge program without the auditing requirements that are mandatory in defense contracts. Bolton also defended the Army's decision to hand over managerial control to Boeing and SAIC, saying the alternative of having the government control 19 separate contracts could hurt the overall integration of the project. Congressional investigators have raised concerns about the rapid pace of the program, cautioning that its success depends on complex software integration work that is far from done. From saic at vision.moundalexis.com Sat Mar 4 00:06:09 2006 From: saic at vision.moundalexis.com (Daily SAIC News) Date: Fri, 3 Mar 2006 19:06:09 -0500 (EST) Subject: [saic] Boeing picks Raytheon for vehicle team Message-ID: <20060303190514.P608-100000@vision.moundalexis.com> 3 March 2006 ; United Press International Boeing picks Raytheon for vehicle team http://www.upi.com/SecurityTerrorism/view.php?StoryID=20060303-033731-8149r --- ST. LOUIS, March 3 (UPI) -- Boeing has selected a Raytheon unit to develop an onboard defensive system to protect military vehicles against enemy rockets and other weapons. Boeing announced Friday that Raytheon's Network Centric Systems division in Texas would work on the project as part of the Army's Future Combat Systems (FCS) program. A network of defense contractors is involved in the complex APS program, which Boeing said could be worth around $70 million down the road. The goal is to produce a system that can defend military vehicles from rocket-propelled grenades and other weapons fired at close range. Earlier this month, Raytheon engineers successfully tested a system that intercepted and destroyed an RPG round fired at a Stryker armored car. The "Quick Kill" system is made up of an onboard launcher that automatically fires a small guided rocket that homes in on the incoming threat. Boeing and Science Applications International Corp. (SAIC) are the lead integrated systems developers for the FCS. Boeing explained in a news release that the program is mapped out in three phases. The current base program runs from this month to September 2011 and includes development of the system's architecture in concert with BAE Systems. Phase 2 begins in June and runs through September 2009 and is a risk-reduction effort aimed at making the equipment designed to defeat ground-launched threats available to the military. The third phase of the project will be the production of the complete APS system and the first incremental deliveries to producers of FCS vehicles. From saic at vision.moundalexis.com Tue Mar 7 03:12:30 2006 From: saic at vision.moundalexis.com (Daily SAIC News) Date: Mon, 6 Mar 2006 22:12:30 -0500 (EST) Subject: [saic] CONTRACTS from the United States Department of Defense Message-ID: <20060306221223.T608-100000@vision.moundalexis.com> 6 March 2006 ; Department of Defense CONTRACTS from the United States Department of Defense http://defenselink.mil/contracts/2006/ct20060306-12611.html No. 193-06 FOR RELEASE AT Mar 06, 2006 Media Contact: (703)697-5131 Public/Industry(703)428-0711 CONTRACTS [...] NAVY [...] Science Applications International Corporation (SAIC), San Diego, Calif., is being awarded a $5,177,718 indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity, cost-plus-fixed-fee contract for systems integration engineering to plan for, implement, and gain acceptance of C4I components and networks integrated into Navy, Joint, and national C4I systems. This contract is one of four contracts awarded: all four awardees will compete for task orders during the ordering period. This one-year contract includes four one-year options, which, if exercised, will bring the potential, cumulative value of the contract to $27,667,657. Work will be performed in San Diego, Calif., and is expected to be completed March 2007. Contract funds will not expire at the end of the current fiscal year. This contract was competitively procured via publication on the Federal Business Opportunities website and posting to the SPAWAR e-Commerce Central website, with 11 offers received. The Space and Naval Warfare Systems Center, San Diego. Calif., is the contracting activity (N66001-06-D-0030). From saic at vision.moundalexis.com Wed Mar 8 14:06:10 2006 From: saic at vision.moundalexis.com (Daily SAIC News) Date: Wed, 8 Mar 2006 09:06:10 -0500 (EST) Subject: [saic] Raytheon wins $100m airport pact Message-ID: <20060308090356.C608-100000@vision.moundalexis.com> 8 March 2006 ; The Boston Globe Raytheon wins $100m airport pact http://www.boston.com/business/technology/articles/2006/03/08/raytheon_wins_100m_airport_pact --- Security system deal lifts firm's push into homeland defense By Robert Weisman Four major airports in the New York City area have hired Raytheon Inc. for more than $100 million to put together an antiterrorist surveillance system that would monitor the airports' perimeters. Raytheon, a Waltham defense and aerospace company, will lead a team of contractors that will deploy a mix of radar, sensors, video motion detectors, closed-circuit TV monitors, and electronic fences at John F. Kennedy International and LaGuardia in New York and Newark Liberty International and Teterboro in New Jersey. The two-year contract from the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, which continues to beef up its security in the aftermath of the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, is symbolically important for Raytheon as it repackages its communications, sensor, and command-and-control technologies for the military to defend airports, borders, and ports. "Raytheon's research and development in the homeland security area, and the projects they're working on, have considerable potential," said Paul Nisbet, analyst for JSA Research in Newport, R.I. "Selling the New York airports is probably the best first step you could have for an airport defense system. If it works there, it's the kind of technology that could be used at every major airport in the country." But the company will face stiff competition from rival Lockheed Martin Corp., among others, as it seeks to expand its foothold in the burgeoning homeland security market. Several of the technologies in the New York airports' "perimeter intrusion detection system" are already deployed individually at other airports across the country, including infrared surveillance cameras at Logan International Airport in Boston. But Raytheon is marketing its approach as the first that can feed data from multiple sources into integrated command-and-control consoles that can simultaneously monitor, for example, an attempt to cut through a security fence and an effort to land a boat near the runway of a seaside airport. "A single operator will be able to make an assessment of an incursion and perform a dispatch," said Richard J. Dinka, Raytheon's director of air space management and homeland security. Pasquale DiFulco, spokesman for the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, said the system, details of which were reported in yesterday's Star-Ledger newspaper in New Jersey, is part of a $2.3 billion investment in security operations and capital improvements since 2001, when the port authority lost 84 of its employees in the terror attacks. "Our airport facilities are of paramount importance to us," he said. Raytheon, which is bidding on similar airport security contracts in the Middle East, hopes to market its perimeter system widely. Andrew B. Zogg, vice president for air-space management and homeland security at a Raytheon site in Marlborough, estimated the business could be worth $300 million to $500 million in five years. "This is our entry into airport security systems in the United States along with the opportunity for international orders," he said. Zogg said Raytheon currently has about 25 employees working in Marlborough on systems to safeguard airports, and that number could more than double in the next few years. The company has been working on several other homeland security initiatives, including Vigilant Eagle, a grid of sensors on towers and buildings that would protect commercial jets from shoulder-fired missiles. At least initially, however, that would not be part of the perimeter intrusion detection system being deployed in New York and New Jersey. Homeland security still represents just a fraction of the more than $20 billion Raytheon rings up in annual revenue, but company officials expect the business to grow substantially in coming years. Nisbet estimated overall industry revenue from homeland security, now several billion dollars a year, could double in the next seven years. At its Naval Integration Center in Portsmouth, R.I., the company has developed Project Athena, an integrated maritime defense system that Raytheon is marketing to coastal port authorities. And, last month, the company put in a bid with the Department of Homeland Security to be prime contractor for a $2.5 billion secure border initiative, known as SBInet, to protect the Canadian and Mexican borders from terrorist infiltration. That contract is scheduled to be awarded this fall. Rival defense and electronics companies, however, are marketing competing technologies to protect airports, seaports, and borders. Lockheed Martin, the largest US military contractor, also is vying for the SBInet contract, while airport authorities have been fielding bids from L3 Communications, SAIC, and ADT Security Services, the prime contractor for the Massachusetts Port Authority. Dennis Treece, director of corporate security for Massport, said Logan International Airport in Boston is currently installing a $5 million "camera intrusion detection system" that uses infrared cameras and analytic software to track potential threats. Treece said he provided his counterparts at the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey with the performance specifications of the system at Logan, which is much smaller than most of the airports in the New York area. "People complain about Logan being small, but one advantage of being small is it's easier to protect," Treece said. From saic at vision.moundalexis.com Thu Mar 9 04:16:06 2006 From: saic at vision.moundalexis.com (Daily SAIC News) Date: Wed, 8 Mar 2006 23:16:06 -0500 (EST) Subject: [saic] Premier 100: Small towns, big IT talent Message-ID: <20060308231316.N608-100000@vision.moundalexis.com> 8 March 2006 ; Computer World Premier 100: Small towns, big IT talent http://www.computerworld.com/managementtopics/management/story/0,10801,109326,00.html --- Tapping workers in rural areas could be cheaper than outsourcing, says RSI exec News Story by Ellen Fanning PALM DESERT, Calif. -- What do Magnolia, Ark., Greenville, N.C., and Rockport, Mo., all have in common? According to Kathy Brittain White, a speaker at the Computerworld Premier 100 IT Leaders Conference here this week, these rural American towns have "an untapped workforce and an untapped potential." And for an industry in desperate need of identifying and grooming the next generation of IT talent, tapping that workforce right here in the U.S. could be a lower-cost alternative to offshore outsourcing, she says. White is founder and president of Rural Sourcing Inc. [1] (RSI), which develops IT services in rural areas for client companies, in part by partnering with regional universities. White, formerly CIO at Baxter Healthcare Corp. and Cardinal Health Inc., launched RSI in 2003 in Jonesboro, Ark., home of her alma mater, Arkansas State University. She was spurred by the success of a virtual internship program she led while working in the IT field in Chicago. One of the lessons learned from that program, White told Premier 100 attendees, is that despite the IT opportunities in metropolitan areas of the U.S., many of those in rural America would prefer not to move from their hometown regions. Instead of bringing people to the work, RSI brings the work to them, locating in lower-cost, nonurban regions of the U.S. and recruiting experienced IT workers to relocate or return to their roots. RSI also offers new college graduates employment without having to leave their home regions by collaborating with regional leadership and universities. White, who said she is a proponent of the global economy, pointed to a predicted loss of jobs and revenue as IT work continues to move offshore. RSI, she said, delivers IT services at 30% to 50% cost savings to its client companies while supporting regional economic development. RSI collaborates with Arkansas State University, Southern Arkansas University, the University of Arkansas-Monticello, East Carolina University and Northwest Missouri State University. Clients include Mattel Inc., Cardinal Health, Blue Cross/Blue Shield, Science Applications International Corp. and Novell Inc. [1] http://www.ruralsource.com/ From saic at vision.moundalexis.com Thu Mar 9 04:18:14 2006 From: saic at vision.moundalexis.com (Daily SAIC News) Date: Wed, 8 Mar 2006 23:18:14 -0500 (EST) Subject: [saic] Government IT Market M&A Activity Continues At Strong Pace Message-ID: <20060308231651.T608-100000@vision.moundalexis.com> 8 March 2006 ; PRNewswire Government IT Market M&A Activity Continues At Strong Pace http://biz.yahoo.com/prnews/060308/clw546.html?.v=1 --- Technologies in defense and security markets command premium valuations RESTON, Va., March 8 /PRNewswire/ -- Merger and acquisition (M&A) activity in the government information technology (IT) sector continued at a strong pace in 2005, according to a report released today by INPUT, the authority on government business. INPUT tracked 118 merger and acquisition transactions in the government IT and defense markets over the course of last year. Of these transactions, 63 deals were made by buyers making multiple acquisitions. General Dynamics, L-3 Communications, and Lockheed Martin led the list with five or more acquisitions each, continuing their push into services. "These large hardware-oriented contractors continue to invest in the IT services market where relatively high return on assets and invested capital balance businesses with higher capital investment requirements," said William Carrier, member of the INPUT Consulting Group and former vice president of business development & strategic planning at Northrop Grumman Information Technology. Other companies making multiple acquisitions in 2005 include CACI International, DRS Technologies, ChoicePoint, EDO, MTC Technologies, Northrop Grumman, QinetiQ Group, SAIC, SRA International, and Veritas Capital. About two-thirds of the 2005 deals targeted the security and defense markets, with a focus on military communications, sensors, and signal processing technologies. "Adding technology capability enables the acquirer to sell more broadly to an existing customer," said Ken Johnson, member of the INPUT Consulting Group and former president of US operations for CACI International, Inc. "And two or three key customer relationships can be a foundation for competitiveness and growth." Acquisitions in 2005 averaged a very healthy multiple of over 1.4 times revenue where terms were disclosed. Many of the 2005 sellers earning higher valuations added new intelligence and homeland security customers to their buyer's account base. Several vendors who started 2005 as buyers finished the year as sellers. Another trend seen last year was the smaller size of buyers and sellers. For the 85 deals where seller revenue was available, two-thirds of the sellers had revenue less than $50 million. Of the 20 buyers with multiple acquisitions in 2005, six had revenue of less than $300 million: Alion, ICF, INDUS, ITS, McNeil and MTC. "To be competitive with larger companies, smaller and mid- size companies can use an acquisition to buy their way into new customers," stated Johnson. "Head-to-head competition is expensive with lower margins. Buying your way into a customer or a contract can be more profitable." Past performance and customer experience are the keys to the next contract for companies selling into the public sector space. This condition is the driving force behind government IT mergers and acquisitions and organic growth for contractors. "INPUT expects these factors will continue to spur a robust merger and acquisition market over the next three years," stated David Heinemann, senior vice president, corporate development at INPUT. INPUT's 2005 Public Sector IT Merger and Acquisition Activity and Market Valuations White Paper is available for download on INPUT's website. For more information on the INPUT Consulting Group, visit http://consulting.input.com. About INPUT INPUT is the authority on government business. Established in 1974, INPUT helps companies develop federal, state, and local government business and helps public sector organizations achieve their objectives. Over 1,200 members, including small specialized companies, new entrants to the public sector, and the largest government contractors and agencies, rely on INPUT for the latest and most comprehensive procurement and market information, consulting, powerful sales management tools, and educational & networking events. For more information about INPUT, visit http://www.input.com or call 703-707-3500. From saic at vision.moundalexis.com Fri Mar 10 04:13:49 2006 From: saic at vision.moundalexis.com (Daily SAIC News) Date: Thu, 9 Mar 2006 23:13:49 -0500 (EST) Subject: [saic] Clues from a Comet Message-ID: <20060309231319.B608-100000@vision.moundalexis.com> March/April 2006 ; Brown Alumni Magazine Clues from a Comet http://www.brownalumnimagazine.com/storydetail.cfm?ID=3044 --- Okay, all life requires water, but how do you get the water in space? By Lawrence Goodman [OUT THERE] Clues from a Comet Okay, all life requires water, but how do you get the water in space? [OUT THERE] last year on Independence Day, someone gazing toward the sky might have seen a sudden eruption of glowing dust. If you were looking through a large telescope, you might have thought you were looking at a fireworks display deep in outer space, when what you were in fact seeing was the plume of space dust released when a NASA space probe slammed into a comet 83 million miles away from Earth. The event captivated the public's imagination, but for the Deep Impact Team, the group of researchers behind the explosion, the hardest and most exciting work was just beginning. Using photographs and data gathered by a spacecraft close to the dust-up, the team has now concluded there's water beneath the comet's surface. In a February article in the online edition of Science, lead author Jessica Sunshine '88, '94 PhD reported that a pool of water ice lies spread out over seven acres on the 4.6-billion-year-old comet. "We have known for a long time that water ice exists in comets, but this is the first evidence of water ice on comets," says Sunshine, who is a chief scientist at Science Applications International Corporation, a research and engineering firm headquartered in San Diego. Professor of Geological Sciences Peter Schultz, who is also part of the Deep Impact project, says the water is saturated with comet dust. "Basically, it's a dirty ice rink," he says. He points out that the ice lies over a relatively small portion of the comet's forty-five-square-mile surface, which means, he says, "we're not talking about a lot of water." But the finding is still highly significant because it offers a possible explanation of how life began on Earth. Several billion years ago Earth was a barren, hot place, totally inhospitable to the creation of life. But if comets smashing into our planet brought water with them, they may have set off a chain reaction with other compounds on Earth that led to life. "Understanding a comet's water cycle and supply is critical to understanding these bodies as a system and as a possible source that delivered water to Earth," says Sunshine. "Add the large organic component in comets and you have two of the key ingredients for life." From saic at vision.moundalexis.com Fri Mar 10 04:16:04 2006 From: saic at vision.moundalexis.com (Daily SAIC News) Date: Thu, 9 Mar 2006 23:16:04 -0500 (EST) Subject: [saic] Watch What You Say Message-ID: <20060309231351.J608-100000@vision.moundalexis.com> 9 March 2006 ; AlterNet Watch What You Say http://www.alternet.org/rights/33334/ --- By Tim Shorrock, The Nation Two months after the New York Times revealed that the Bush Administration ordered the National Security Agency to conduct warrantless surveillance of American citizens, only three corporations--AT&T, Sprint and MCI--have been identified by the media as cooperating. If the reports in the Times and other newspapers are true, these companies have allowed the NSA to intercept thousands of telephone calls, fax messages and e-mails without warrants from a special oversight court established by Congress under the 1978 Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA). Some companies, according to the same reports, have given the NSA a direct hookup to their huge databases of communications records. The NSA, using the same supercomputers that analyze foreign communications, sifts through this data for key words and phrases that could indicate communication to or from suspected terrorists or terrorist sympathizers and then tracks those individuals and their ever-widening circle of associates. "This is the US version of Echelon," says Albert Gidari, a prominent telecommunications attorney in Seattle, referring to a massive eavesdropping program run by the NSA and its English-speaking counterparts that created a huge controversy in Europe in the late 1990s. So far, a handful of Democratic lawmakers--Representative John Conyers, the ranking Democrat on the House Judiciary Committee, and Senators Edward Kennedy and Russell Feingold--have attempted to obtain information from companies involved in the domestic surveillance program. But they've largely been rebuffed. Further details about the highly classified program are likely to emerge as the Electronic Frontier Foundation pursues a lawsuit, filed January 31, against AT&T for violating privacy laws by giving the NSA direct access to its telephone records database and Internet transaction logs. On February 16 a federal judge gave the Bush Administration until March 8 to turn over a list of internal documents related to two other lawsuits, filed by the American Civil Liberties Union and the Electronic Privacy Information Center, seeking an injunction to end the program. Despite the President's rigorous defense of the program, no company has dared to admit its cooperation publicly. Their reticence is understandable: The Justice Department has launched a criminal investigation of the government officials who leaked the NSA story to the Times, and many constitutional scholars and a few lawmakers believe the program is both illegal and unconstitutional. And the companies may be embarrassed at being caught--particularly AT&T, which spent millions advertising its global services during the Winter Olympics. "It's a huge betrayal of the public trust, and they know it," says Bruce Schneier, the founder and chief technology officer of Counterpane Internet Security, a California consulting firm. Corporations have been cooperating with the NSA for half a century. What's different now is that they appear to be helping the NSA deploy its awesome computing and data-mining powers inside the United States in direct contravention of US law, which specifically bans the agency from collecting information from US citizens living inside the United States. "They wouldn't touch US persons before unless they had a FISA warrant," says a former national security official who read NSA intercepts as part of his work for the State Department and the Pentagon. This is happening at a time when both the military and its spy agencies are more dependent on the private sector than ever before, and an increasing number of companies are involved. In the 1970s, when Congress acted to stop domestic spying programs like Operation Shamrock, in which the NSA monitored overseas telegrams and phone calls, the communications industry was in its infancy. "It was basically Western Union for cables, and AT&T for the telephone," says James Bamford, who revealed the existence of the NSA in his famous book The Puzzle Palace and is a plaintiff in the ACLU lawsuit. "It's much more complicated now." In fact, today's global telecom market includes dozens of companies that compete with AT&T, Sprint and MCI for telephone and mobile services, as well as scores of Internet service providers like Google, Yahoo! and AOL that offer e-mail, Internet and voice connections to customers around the world. They are served by multinational conglomerates like Apollo, Flag Atlantic and Global Crossing, which own and operate the global system of undersea fiber-optic cables that link the United States to the rest of the world. Any one of them could be among the companies contacted by intelligence officials when President Bush issued his 2002 executive order to obtain surveillance without FISA approval. Nobody's talking, though. Asked if AT&T, which was recently acquired by SBC Communications, is cooperating with the NSA, AT&T spokesman Walt Sharp said, "We don't comment on national security matters." He referred me to a recent AT&T letter to Representative Conyers, which stated that AT&T "abides by all applicable laws, regulations and statutes in its operations and, in particular, with respect to requests for assistance from governmental authorities." MCI, which was acquired in January by Verizon, and Sprint, which recently merged with Nextel Communications, declined to comment. Attorney Gidari, who has represented Google, T-Mobile, Nextel and Cingular Wireless (now part of AT&T), believes that "some companies, both telecom and Internet," were asked to participate in the NSA program. But he suggests that only a limited number agreed. "The list of those who said no is much longer than most people think," he says. The NSA, some analysts say, may have sought the assistance of US telecoms because most of the world's cable operators are controlled by foreign corporations. Apollo, for example, is owned by Britain's Cable & Wireless, while Flag Atlantic is owned by the Reliance Group of India. Much of the international "transit traffic" carried by the cable companies flows through the United States (this is particularly true of communications emanating from South America and moving between Asia and Europe). The NSA could get access to this traffic by sending a submarine team to splice the cables in international waters, as the agency once did to the Soviet Union's undersea military cables. But that is an extremely expensive proposition, and politically dicey to boot--which is where the US telecoms come in. "Cooperation with the telcos doesn't make NSA surveillance possible, but it does make it cheaper," says Schneier, the technology consultant. According to Alan Mauldin, a senior research analyst with TeleGeography Research in Washington, DC, it would be possible for US intelligence operatives to gain access to transit traffic from anywhere in the country with the cooperation of a US company. "You could be inland, at an important city like New York or Washington, DC, where networks interconnect, and you could have the ability to tap into the whole network for not only that city but between that city and the rest of the world," he says. Foreign-owned cable operators, says Gidari, are also required by US law to maintain security offices manned by US citizens, with background checks and security clearances at the landing sites in Oregon, Florida, New Jersey and other states where fiber-optic cables come ashore. The government has gone to great lengths to insure law-enforcement access to foreign-owned telecom companies. Take the example of Global Crossing, which owns several undersea cable systems and claims to serve more than 700 carriers, mobile operators and ISPs. Three years ago, as Global Crossing was emerging from one of the largest bankruptcies in US history, it was purchased by ST Telemedia, which is partly owned by the government of Singapore. As part of the US approval process (which occurred at a time when Global Crossing was being advised by Richard Perle, then-chairman of Donald Rumsfeld's Defense Policy Board), the company signed an unprecedented Network Security Agreement with the FBI and the Defense Department. Under the agreement, which is on file with the Federal Communications Commission, Global Crossing pledged that "all domestic communications" would pass through a facility "physically located in the United States, from which Electronic Surveillance can be conducted pursuant to lawful US process." (Global Crossing declined to comment.) Legal experts say the wording is significant in the context of the NSA spying flap, but cautioned not to read too much into it. "These agreements are not uncommon in the industry," says James Andrew Lewis, director of the Technology and Public Policy Program at the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington. "They provide assurances that US interests won't suffer damage with foreign ownership." History proves a good guide to how the NSA would go about winning cooperation from a telecom company. When telephone and telegraph companies began assisting the NSA during the 1940s, only one or two executives were in on the secret. That kind of arrangement continued into the 1970s, and is probably how cooperation with the NSA works today, says Kenneth Bass III, a Justice Department official during the Carter Administration. "Once the CEO approved, all the contacts [with the intelligence agencies] would be worked at a lower level," he says. "The telcos have been participating in surveillance activities for decades--pre-FISA, post-FISA--so it's nothing new to them." Bass, who helped craft the FISA law and worked with the NSA to implement it, adds that he "would not be surprised at all" if cooperating executives received from the Bush Administration "the same sort of briefing, but much more detailed and specific than the FISA court got when [the surveillance] was first approved." For US intelligence officials looking for allies in the industry, AT&T, MCI and Sprint have a lot to offer. In 2002, when the spying program began, AT&T's CEO was C. Michael Armstrong, the former CEO of Hughes Electronic Corp.tal in creating CEO COM LINK, a secure telecommunications system that allows the chief executives of major US corporations to speak directly to senior members of Bush's Cabinet during national emergencies. Randall Stephenson, a former SBC Communications executive who is now AT&T's ch member of the National Security Telecommunications Advisory Committee, a group of executives from tns and defense industries who advise the President on security issues related to telecom. Those execurity clearances, meet at the White House once a year--Vice President Cheney was the speaker at their last meeting--and hold quarterly conference calls with high-ranking officials. (Asked if the NSA surveillance was ever discussed at these sessions, committee spokesman Stephen Barrett said, "We do not participate in intelligence gathering.") AT&T also makes no bones about its national security work. When SBC was preparing to acquire the company last year, the two companies underscored their ties with US intelligence in joint comments to the FCC. "AT&T's support of the intelligence and defense communities includes the performance of various classified contracts," the companies said, pointing out that AT&T "maintains special secure facilities for the performance of classified work and the safeguarding of classified information." MCI, too, is a major government contractor and was highly vizon in part because of its work in defense and intelligence. Nicholas Katzenbach, the former US Att MCI's board after the spectacular collapse of its previous owner, WorldCom, reiterated MCI's intellhe Senate Judiciary Committee. "We are especially proud," he wrote, "of our role in supporting our ntional-security agencies' infrastructure, and we are gratified by the many positive comments about our service from officials at the US Department of Defense and other national-security agencies." MCI's general counsel--who would presumably have a say in any decision to cooperate with the NSA--is William Barr. He is a former assistant general counsel at the Central Intelligence Agency and served as Attorney General during the Administration of President George H.W. Bush. Sprint Nextel is top-loaded with executives with long experience in national security and defense. Chairman and CEO Gary Forsee is a member of Bush's telecom council (as is Lawrence Babbio, the vice chairman and president of Verizon). Keith Bane, a company director, recently retired from a twenty-nine-year career with Motorola, which has worked closely with US intelligence for decades. William Conway Jr. and former FCC Group, the Washington private equity fund that invests heavily in the military and has extensive coinistration. There's another group of companies, largely overlooked, that could also be cooperating with the NSA. These are firms clustered around the Beltway that contract with the agency to provide intelligence analysts, data-mining technologies and equipment used in the NSA's global signals-intelligence operations. The largest of them employ so many former intelligence officials that it's almost impossible to see where the government ends and the private sector begins. Booz Allen Hamilton, the prime contractor for Trailblazer, a huge NSA project updating its surveillance and eavesdropping employs several NSA alumni, including Mike McConnell, its vice president, who retired as NSA direct, the company's CEO, joined Booz Allen in 1978 after serving in senior positions with Western Union cooperated with the NSA on Operation Shamrock.) SI International, a software and systems engineering company with NSA contracts, recently hired Harry Gatanas, the NSA's former director of acquisitions and outsourcing, to oversee its $250-million-a-year business with US intelligence and the Pentagon. Science Applications International Corporation, another big NSA contractor, is run by executives with long histories in military intelligence, including COO Duane Andrews, a former Assistant Secretary of Defense for Command, Control, Communications and Intelligence. Are firms that cooperate with the NSA legally culpable? Bamford, who is not a lawyer but probably knows more about the NSA than any American outside government, says yes. "The FISA law is very clear," he says. "If you don't have a warrant, you're in violation, and the penalty is five years and you can be sued by the aggrieved parney for the Electronic Frontier Foundation, adds that US law "not only prohibits unauthorized wireted disclosure or use of illegally wiretapped information. As long as you were doing that, you're potneier, the technology consultant, harbors no doubts either. "Arguing that this is legal is basically saying we're in a police state." But Gidari, the Seattle telecom attorney, believes that companiesnges if they had assurances from the government that the program was within the law. He alsosays Conanting immunity to companies operating under "statutory grants of authority" from the government. "I but it is a good-faith defense," he says. Former Justice Department official Bass agrees but says reliance on oral requests from US officials is another matter: "If they didn't get the type of legal assurances the FISA provides for"--such as a written statement from the Attorney General--"there could be some legal exposure." But a full airing of the legal issues raised by the surveillance program may be a long time coming. "The likelihood of any enforcement absent a change in administration is zero," Bass says. From saic at vision.moundalexis.com Fri Mar 10 04:17:19 2006 From: saic at vision.moundalexis.com (Daily SAIC News) Date: Thu, 9 Mar 2006 23:17:19 -0500 (EST) Subject: [saic] Yucca Mountain construction won't start for 5 years, Bodman says Message-ID: <20060309231709.F608-100000@vision.moundalexis.com> 9 March 2006 ; Las Vegas Sun Yucca Mountain construction won't start for 5 years, Bodman says http://www.lasvegassun.com/sunbin/stories/nevada/2006/mar/09/030910221.html --- LAS VEGAS (AP) - It will be at least five years before construction can begin at the Yucca Mountain nuclear waste disposal facility, Energy Secretary Samuel Bodman said this week, as lawmakers grilled him about delays possibly affecting the creation of new power plants. During a House subcommittee meeting on Energy Department spending Wednesday in Washington, D.C., lawmakers said the lack of proper waste disposal facilities could endanger efforts to license new power plants at the Nuclear Regulatory Commission. "I think we have a very serious problem here," said Rep. Pete Visclosky, D-Ind. Bodman appealed for patience. "We really had a process that was broken, and we are trying to fix it," he said. The nuclear industry "is being patient with me. I ask for your patience as well." Asked by Visclosky when Yucca Mountain was going to open, Bodman said: "I would guess at least five years before we are in a position to put a shovel in the ground to build it." Bodman, who became energy secretary in January 2005, was questioned about continuing delays in the repository program, and about why the department was not seeking to establish interim storage sites where thousands of tons of radioactive spent fuel now piling up at power plants in 39 states could be kept. Subcommittee chairman David Hobson, R-Ohio, said he was willing to help, "but we can't do it if you don't have a plan." The Bush administration has been preparing legislation to speed work on Yucca Mountain, but it has been delayed in negotiations between the Energy Department and the White House. The department has spent roughly $8 billion to research and begin development of the nuclear waste repository at Yucca Mountain, 90 miles northwest of Las Vegas. President Bush and Congress approved the project in 2002 with a target date for opening in 2010. But there have been a series of setbacks, leading project officials in recent months to push back the target date to 2012 or later. A federal appeals court in July 2004 threw out a key radiation health standard, and a Nuclear Regulatory Commission has not validated an electronic document database that was a required precursor for NRC licensing. Inspection audits by the department and by congressional investigators have raised questions about the quality of work being conducted by DOE and its management contractor, Bechtel SAIC. Nevada critics of the repository said management is only part of the problem. They maintained that Yucca Mountain is fundamentally flawed for safe disposal of spent nuclear fuel. "I'm glad to hear he's finally admitting that Yucca has serious problems," Sen. Harry Reid, D-Nev. "I agree with him on the first part: Yucca Mountain is broken. But he's wrong about the second part; science has shown that Yucca cannot be fixed." Rep. Shelley Berkley, D-Nev., renewed a call for the department to abandon Yucca Mountain and to invest in dry cask technology to keep waste secured at power plants. "What we really need is a fresh start on our nuclear waste policy, but that can never come so long as Yucca Mountain remains the Bush administration's sole focus," Berkley said. From saic at vision.moundalexis.com Fri Mar 10 04:20:26 2006 From: saic at vision.moundalexis.com (Daily SAIC News) Date: Thu, 9 Mar 2006 23:20:26 -0500 (EST) Subject: [saic] Input: M&A activity remains robust in government IT market Message-ID: <20060309231721.J608-100000@vision.moundalexis.com> 9 March 2006 ; Washington Technology Input: M&A activity remains robust in government IT market http://www.washingtontechnology.com/news/1_1/daily_news/28151-1.html --- By Ethan Butterfield Staff Writer With 118 mergers or acquisitions taking place, 2005 was an active year in the government IT and defense markets, according to a white paper [1] released today by the market research firm Input Inc., Reston, Va. The "2005 Public Sector IT Merger and Acquisition Activity and Market Valuations" white paper shows that 63 deals were made by buyers making multiple acquisitions. Leading the way was a trio of companies expanding their service offerings with at least five acquisitions: General Dynamics Corp., Falls Church, Va., L-3 Communications Holdings Inc., New York and Lockheed Martin Corp., Bethesda, Md. "These large hardware-oriented contractors continue to invest in the IT services market where relatively high return on assets and invested capital balance businesses with higher capital investment requirements," said Willliam Carrier, a member of the Input Consulting Group and former vice president of business development and strategic planning at Northrop Grumman Information Technology. Other companies making multiple purchases in 2005 include CACI International Inc., Arlington, Va.; DRS Technologies Inc., Parsippany, N.J.; ChoicePoint Inc., Alpharetta, Ga.; EDO Corp., New York; MTC Technologies Inc., Dayton, Ohio; Northrop Grumman Corp., Los Angeles; QinetiQ Group PLC, Farnborough, U.K.; Science Applications International Corp., San Diego; SRA International Inc., Fairfax, Va.; and The Veritas Capital Fund L.P., New York. Roughly two-thirds of last year's deals targeted the security and defense markets, with a focus on military communications, sensors and signal processing technologies. Acquisitions averaged a healthy multiple of more than 1.4 times revenue where terms were disclosed, the report stated. Many of the sellers earning high valuations added new intelligence and homeland security customers to their buyer's account base. One trend uncovered in the report was the smaller size of many buyers and sellers in the 2005 market. For the 85 deals where seller revenue was available, two-thirds of sellers had revenues of less than $50 million. Of the 20 buyers with multiple acquisitions in 2005, six had revenues of less than $300 million: Alion Science and Technology Corp., McLean, Va.; ICF Concord, Calif.; Indus Corp., Vienna, Va.; I.T.S. Corp., Oxnard, Calif.; McNeil Technologies Inc., Springfield, Va.; and MTC Technologies Inc., Dayton, Ohio. Smaller and mid-size companies looking to become competitive with larger companies can buy their way into new customers, which is often more profitable than direct competition for contracts with larger companies, said Ken Johnson, a member of Input's Consulting Group and a former president of domestic operations for CACI. Past performance and customer experience are keys in getting new contracts for companies selling in the public sector space, and so those conditions are the driving force behind much of the current activity, the report concludes. Input expects that such conditions will continue to drive a robust merger and acquisition market for the next three years. [1] http://www.input.com/corp/community/reports.cfm From saic at vision.moundalexis.com Fri Mar 10 04:23:12 2006 From: saic at vision.moundalexis.com (Daily SAIC News) Date: Thu, 9 Mar 2006 23:23:12 -0500 (EST) Subject: [saic] Active Protection System for US Army Ground Vehicles Message-ID: <20060309232300.N608-100000@vision.moundalexis.com> 9 March 2006 ; eDefense Active Protection System for US Army Ground Vehicles http://www.edefenseonline.com/default.asp?func=article&aref=03_09_2006_OM_01 --- by Brendan P. Rivers Boeing (St. Louis, MO) and Science Applications International Corp. (SAIC) (San Diego, CA), teamed as lead systems integrator (LSI) for the US Army's Future Combat System (FCS) program, are expected to award a contract today to Raytheon Network Centric Systems (Plano, TX) to develop technologies for an active protection system (APS) that will be used to protect manned ground vehicles . both in the current force and those being developed as part of the FCS . against the full spectrum of threats. The LSI team has been in discussions with BAE Systems (Nashua, NH), hit-avoidance integrator under the FCS program, and expects to formalize a contract, valued at an estimated $70 million, to Raytheon today. The contract will call for a three-phase development effort (with the phases overlapping somewhat, though), the first phase of which will run from March 2006 to September 2011 and will develop the APS architecture. The goal, according to Steve Marion, the LSI's FCS senior program director for supplier management, is to get an APS to the current force as quickly as possible . along with some other capabilities (see "US Army FCS Spin-Out Plan Detailed" [1]) . while still maintaining applicability to the FCS program. [2][Image] Caption: US Army Stryker combat vehicles ford a flooded street as they patrol in Mosul, Iraq, on Feb. 14, 2006. The Army's Stryker vehicles are currently fitted with cage-like slat armor to protect them from the threat of rocket-propelled grenades (RPGs), but a development effort will soon get underway that will aim to replace this low-tech solution for the service's Strykers, as well as any other vehicles in the current force and those being developed under the Future Combat System (FCS) program. --- [1] http://www.edefenseonline.com/default.asp?func=article&aref=12_15_2005_OM [2] http://www.edefenseonline.com/article_images/03_09_2006_OM_01.jpg From saic at vision.moundalexis.com Fri Mar 10 04:25:02 2006 From: saic at vision.moundalexis.com (Daily SAIC News) Date: Thu, 9 Mar 2006 23:25:02 -0500 (EST) Subject: [saic] Robotics team competition Message-ID: <20060309232447.J608-100000@vision.moundalexis.com> 9 March 2006 ; Times Community Newspapers - Centreville Robotics team competition http://www.timescommunity.com/site/tab5.cfm?newsid=16270038 --- Members of Chantilly High School Academy's Robotics Team will be competing in two robotics competitions beginning Thursday, March 16, thanks to donations from local companies. The team has combined their math, science, English and social studies to make a unique robot out of a box of mechanical parts. Companies sponsoring the teams include MitreTek, SAIC, Northrop Grumman, Integrity Applications, Inc., Curry Automotive, and OEC Engineering. For more information, contact Doug Wright at 703-222-7460 or visit http://www.chantillyrobotics.com From saic at vision.moundalexis.com Fri Mar 10 04:26:02 2006 From: saic at vision.moundalexis.com (Daily SAIC News) Date: Thu, 9 Mar 2006 23:26:02 -0500 (EST) Subject: [saic] Volunteers needed for Great Oregon Spring Beach Cleanup Message-ID: <20060309232554.B608-100000@vision.moundalexis.com> 9 March 2006 ; Newport News-Times Volunteers needed for Great Oregon Spring Beach Cleanup http://www.newportnewstimes.com/articles/2006/03/08/community/community09.txt --- The 21st annual Great Oregon Spring Beach Cleanup is scheduled for Saturday, March 25. Thousands of volunteers are needed to help clean Oregon's beaches, from the Washington to California borders, between 10 a.m. and 1 p.m. "Large amounts of trash have washed ashore during winter storms," says Jack McGowan, SOLV's executive director. "We need thousands of volunteers on March 25th to help restore our coastline to its pristine condition." Volunteers are asked to check in at one of 42 registration sites, pick up a bag, and head down to the beaches to improve our coastline for wildlife and summer visitors. Coordinators suggest that volunteers dress for the weather, wear sturdy shoes and bring gloves. Beach captains at the meeting sites will furnish bags to volunteers. Groups of 20 or more are asked to contact the appropriate Zone Captain prior to the event. Zone captains and registration sites are listed at www.solv.org or volunteers can call SOLV at 800-333-SOLV (7658) for more information. "Express Check-In" will save volunteers time and avoid the need to wait in line. The volunteer registration and waiver form along with express check-In instructions, can be found on SOLV's website at www.solv.org. Volunteers should bring their completed and signed forms to turn in at the registration site. Safety is all-important during this spring's cleanup. Volunteers are asked to watch for sneaker waves, stay away from logs, exercise caution on rocks and cliffs, and never turn their backs on the ocean. The small coastal shorebird known as the snowy plover, a threatened and endangered species may be present on Oregon's beaches during the cleanup. Coordinators ask that volunteers be mindful of their nesting sites, usually just above the high tide line on open sand, and stay outside of all roped and signed areas. During the Great Oregon Spring Beach Cleanup of 2005, 4,100 volunteers removed 29 tons of trash from Oregon's beaches. This statewide event started in Oregon in 1984, and has spread to 55 states and US territories and more than 100 countries and sovereign territories. Major sponsors of the Spring Beach Cleanup are: Fred Meyer; Hawthorn Farm Athletic Club; Henry Weinhard's; Tektronix; The Standard; and Wells Fargo. The Zone Sponsors are Boyd Coffee Co.; Curry Coastal Pilot; Northern Star Natural Gas; and SAIC. The Media Sponsors are Clear Channel Radio and KGW Northwest NewsChannel 8, and the Truck Sponsor is Wentworth/Wilsonville Chevrolet. Along with SOLV, the cleanup is coordinated by the Oregon Parks and Recreation Department, and the local coast haulers. From saic at vision.moundalexis.com Sat Mar 11 17:35:00 2006 From: saic at vision.moundalexis.com (Daily SAIC News) Date: Sat, 11 Mar 2006 12:35:00 -0500 (EST) Subject: [saic] Lockheed Takes Crack At FBI Computers Message-ID: <20060311123426.P608-100000@vision.moundalexis.com> 10 March 2006 ; Security Pro News Lockheed Takes Crack At FBI Computers http://www.securitypronews.com/insiderreports/insider/spn-49-20060310LockheedTakesCrackAtFBIComputers.html --- by John Stith, Staff Writer Defense contractor Lockheed Martin won the job of upgrading the Federal Bureau of Investigation's (FBI) dated computer system. This isn't the first time a company has attempted this costly venture and many wonder if Lockheed is up to the task. Also under consideration is if the budget involved is up to the task after some conceivable estimates hitting $800 million. The Wall Street Journal (WSJ) reported Lockheed beat another major defense contractor, Northrop Grumman, for the job of bringing the bureau computer systems into the 21st century. After lengthy six-month review process, Lockheed manage to clinch the deal. This deal comes after the disastrous fiasco of an effort put forth by Science Applications International taking four years and $170 million. FBI director Robert Mueller said the effort wouldn't meet the bureaus needs when he pulled the plug. The new announcement is a bit past due, originally expected in November. The FBI has caught some criticism on the antiquated state of the computers, with more than 1,000 paper forms still in use, particularly after 9/11. The FBI aims for this new systems to eliminate much of that paperwork as well as speed investigations and allow information to be shared and accessed a much faster rate and as such, improve national security. Lockheed, perhaps best known for the super-fast spy planes like the U2 and the SR71-Blaird, will have their work cut out for them on this mission. According to the WSJ, if the job includes scanning the billions of pages of files for computer access, this job could blow up into an $800 million job. From saic at vision.moundalexis.com Sat Mar 11 17:35:19 2006 From: saic at vision.moundalexis.com (Daily SAIC News) Date: Sat, 11 Mar 2006 12:35:19 -0500 (EST) Subject: [saic] FBI hires Lockheed to upgrade it computers Message-ID: <20060311123501.W608-100000@vision.moundalexis.com> 10 March 2006 ; Monsters & Critics FBI hires Lockheed to upgrade it computers http://news.monstersandcritics.com/business/article_1136108.php/FBI_hires_Lockheed_to_upgrade_it_computers --- WASHINGTON, DC, United States (UPI) -- The FBI has hired Lockheed Martin Corp. to upgrade its computer system, The Wall Street Journal said Friday. The apparently Herculean task of modernizing the agency`s computer system had been tried by Science Applications International Corp., but the effort was unsuccessful. The cost of the venture was not immediately known. From saic at vision.moundalexis.com Sat Mar 11 17:36:00 2006 From: saic at vision.moundalexis.com (Daily SAIC News) Date: Sat, 11 Mar 2006 12:36:00 -0500 (EST) Subject: [saic] Lockheed Picked for FBI Upgrade Message-ID: <20060311123520.H608-100000@vision.moundalexis.com> 11 March 2006 ; Washington Post Lockheed Picked for FBI Upgrade http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/03/10/AR2006031002085.html --- New Program Would Aid Collaboration By Ellen McCarthy Washington Post Staff Writer The FBI has selected Lockheed Martin Corp. for final negotiations on a contract to build its computerized case management system, a troubled project that has already been scrapped once at a cost of $100 million, a source familiar with the deal confirmed yesterday. The FBI released a statement yesterday saying it was in final talks with a company, which it did not name, and hoped to announce an award within a month. The source spoke on the condition of anonymity because negotiations are continuing. It has been widely reported that competition for the contract had been narrowed to Lockheed and Northrop Grumman Corp. The program, called Sentinel, is designed to make it easier for agents to collaborate digitally. "The FBI, now with the continuing pressures to share information across the elements of the law enforcement community and the national security community, knows it needs tools like this," said Ray Bjorklund, chief knowledge officer of Federal Sources Inc., an industry research firm. The value of the Sentinel contract has not been announced. The FBI was criticized for allotting too little -- $170 million -- to its first attempt at the system. Zalmai Azmi, the bureau's chief information officer, has denied reports that the new contract is worth $792 million. Federal Sources estimated that Sentinel will be worth $150 million over several years. The earlier contract, called the Virtual Case File system, was awarded to Science Applications International Corp. in June 2001. A report prepared for the House Appropriations Committee and detailed by The Washington Post said the FBI had doubts about the system as early as 2003 and by 2004 had identified 400 problems with it, but never told SAIC about those deficiencies. In March 2005 FBI Director Robert S. Mueller III abandoned the VCF program. At a news conference outlining the new strategy for the system last June, Azmi said "Sentinel is a lot different than VCF," and will not be "implemented in one swoop," but will be phased in by 2009. Azmi also said Sentinel is more likely to rely on off-the-shelf software for the new program, rather than trying to build the system from scratch. Government Computer News, a publication owned by The Washington Post Co., reported that the bureau had selected Lockheed for final contract discussions. In a statement yesterday, FBI spokeswoman Catherine L. Milhoan said that "negotiations are still fluid but we hope to have the contract awarded within the next 30 days or so." From saic at vision.moundalexis.com Sun Mar 12 15:34:13 2006 From: saic at vision.moundalexis.com (Daily SAIC News) Date: Sun, 12 Mar 2006 10:34:13 -0500 (EST) Subject: [saic] Combat system jobs likely to go to El Pasoans Message-ID: <20060312103346.X608-100000@vision.moundalexis.com> 12 March 2006 ; El Paso Times Combat system jobs likely to go to El Pasoans http://www.borderlandnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060312/NEWS/603120336/1001 --- by Chris Roberts Boeing and Science Applications International Corp., or SAIC, are the two lead contractors for the national Future Combat Systems program. Boeing opened an FCS office last month at its plant in northwest El Paso. Dennis Muilenburg, Boeing vice president-general manager and FCS program manager, said many of the new jobs created by the FCS program will be filled by people already living in El Paso Some of the new employees could come from programs such as the Army Air Defense Artillery Center and School, which employs about 600 civilians, said Tom Thomas, West Texas civilian aide to the Secretary of the Army. The school is scheduled to move to Fort Sill, Okla., as part of the Base Realignment and Closure process. "Most of these (FCS) jobs are very high-tech jobs, and a lot of them have to do with electronics," Thomas said. "What do you think these folks have been doing with the Patriot? They (Boeing and SAIC) are looking at folks in the community that have the experience they need." Thomas said some of the ADA school civilian employees have expressed interest in working for the FCS program. "It's fantastic for those people because the timing is just perfect," Thomas said. "They are scheduled to go to Fort Sill within the next two years." Dan Zanini, SAIC senior vice president and FCS deputy program director, said a number of people with specialties at Fort Bliss would qualify for the program, including people working on the Counter Rockets, Artillery and Mortars, or C-RAM, program. "We are already talking about that talent, and there are people who are very much interested in hanging around here and becoming part of FCS," Zanini said. In addition, some of the new hires will come from the University of Texas at El Paso and New Mexico State University. "We think there are great collaborative efforts here with the universities," Muilenburg said. "We think there's going to be a good match." The El Paso Regional Economic Development Corp. has documented University of Texas at El Paso and New Mexico State University graduates with computer and engineering degrees, corporation President Bob Cook said. "We know where those graduates live today," he said. By 2008, as many as 600 people, military and civilian will be working in El Paso to directly support the FCS program, officials said. Boeing and SAIC will hire about 200 people over the next two years, Muilenburg said, starting with about 10 to get the office up and running. "The details of that are still in the planning phases," he said. The Army's Training and Doctrine Command, which will integrate the new systems and programs into Army operations, will have about 200 support staff in El Paso by mid-2007, said Allan M. Resnick, director of TRADOC's Requirements Integration, Army Capabilities Integration Center. The Army's FCS Brigade Combat Team office will have between 100 and 200 employees in El Paso, said Maj. Gen. Charles A. Cartwright, the office's program manager. "About June or July, we'll start putting people on the ground, both military and civilian, logisticians and engineers," he said. Thomas said that with FCS and the nearly 21,000 increase in the military population resulting from the Base Realignment and Closure program, Fort Bliss will "become the center of the universe for the Army." Thomas said the economic impact on El Paso and Fort Bliss of FCS will be larger than the Patriot ever was. "This will tie in with the latest that's going on in the Army," said Brig. Gen Robert P. Lennox, Fort Bliss commander. "It will mean high-tech jobs and employment in the city and on the post." From saic at vision.moundalexis.com Mon Mar 13 14:39:11 2006 From: saic at vision.moundalexis.com (Daily SAIC News) Date: Mon, 13 Mar 2006 09:39:11 -0500 (EST) Subject: [saic] Firms wait for NASA to re-launch contract Message-ID: <20060313093758.F8724-100000@vision.moundalexis.com> 12 March 2006 ; MSNBC Firms wait for NASA to re-launch contract http://msnbc.msn.com/id/11805450/ --- By Mary Ann Azevedo Houston Business Journal More than 400 Houston-area employees are going about their jobs in limbo as their employers await word from NASA on whether the space agency will renew an 11-year-old contract. SAIC, an employee-owned firm based in San Diego, and Houston-based GHG Corp. are partners on a NASA project on Safety & Mission Assurance. The contract -- which was first awarded in 1995 and extended in 2004 -- expires on April 30. More than 400 Houston-area employees are going about their jobs in limbo as their employers await word from NASA on whether the space agency will renew an 11-year-old contract. SAIC, an employee-owned firm based in San Diego, and Houston-based GHG Corp. are partners on a NASA project on Safety & Mission Assurance. The contract -- which was first awarded in 1995 and extended in 2004 -- expires on April 30. NASA will notify SAIC and GHG by March 15 whether the companies will be reawarded the ongoing work. If NASA chooses to go with a competing team, SAIC and GHG will have to lay off a total of 418 employees in the Houston area, according to letters to the Texas Workforce Commission. Specifically, if the contract renewal falls through, SAIC says it would have to permanently lay off 315 employees at its offices at 2200 Space Park and at the Johnson Space Center. GHG would let go of 103 employees at its headquarters office at 1100 Hercules and at the Johnson Space Center. Both companies note that the potentially affected employees do not belong to a union. In its letter, GHG says it will assist employees in the search for other employment within GHG and elsewhere. In a written statement sent via e-mail on Feb. 27, SAIC said: "As required by federal law, SAIC did send a WARN (Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification) letter to the Texas Workforce Commission on Feb. 16, 2006. However, there have been no layoffs and no decision regarding the NASA rebid. SAIC continues to perform services to NASA on this contract." With 43,000 employees in more than 150 cities worldwide, SAIC provides services to the Johnson Space Center in the areas of safety, reliability, maintainability and quality assurance for human space flight programs and projects. Those services include system safety engineering, risk management and assessment, maintainability engineering, quality assurance and quality engineering, software assurance and software safety. Meanwhile, GHG offers human resource management software to customers such as Lockheed Martin Corp. and Galveston County. With only about 350 employees, a non-renewal by NASA would be of greater significance to GHG, impacting nearly one-third of the company's total work force. Personnel affected would include primarily computer operators and various kinds of engineers. John Denny, general manager of GHG, says it is his understanding that the bidding process has been narrowed down to two players: The SAIC/GHG partnership and a competing team outside of Houston. NASA spokesman James Hartsfield says the agency can't comment on the bidding process until a contract is awarded. If the contract is not renewed, SAIC will still have a presence in the Bayou City. In 2003, the firm won a four-year, $48 million contract to provide professional and engineering services to NASA on the Orbital Space project. Several members of that SAIC-led team are Houston firms including Muniz Engineering Inc.; GeoControl Systems Inc.; W de Y Associates Inc. and Prairie View A&M University. Still on board The SAIC/GHG situation may have a familiar feel for many NASA contractors. In fact, GHG itself let go of more than one-third, or nearly 200 of its 500 employees, when it lost a different NASA contract in 2001. While the situation can be devastating to some firms, it may not be as bleak for the employees themselves. Typically, about 95 percent of the employees working on a particular project will transition over to the new contractor if the incumbent firm does not win the bid, says GHG's Denny. And sometimes they get higher pay. "In the industry, we call it changing badges," he says. Denny says about 99 percent of GHG's employees went on to work for the competing firm that won out over GHG in 2001. In that case, the workers were represented by a union. For some larger firms with headquarters in other states, the loss of a contract can spell their exit from the Clear Lake area. Denny predicts that the GHG/SAIC scenario -- where firms or teams of firms are competing on a large NASA contract -- comes up at least twice a year. And while many of the affected employees usually stay on with a competing firm, Denny says, there always are some who do not. "As a small business that doesn't have the global reach of a lot of companies, it would definitely affect the staff in my corporate office if we don't win this contract," Denny says. "There's just no getting around some job loss." From saic at vision.moundalexis.com Tue Mar 14 02:54:48 2006 From: saic at vision.moundalexis.com (Daily SAIC News) Date: Mon, 13 Mar 2006 21:54:48 -0500 (EST) Subject: [saic] Rep. Scott says UAE deal highlights need for better port security Message-ID: <20060313215342.F8724-100000@vision.moundalexis.com> 13 March 2006 ; WVEC Rep. Scott says UAE deal highlights need for better port security http://www.wvec.com/news/local/stories/wvec_local_031306_port_security_rep_scott.2032ec06.html --- Rep. Bobby Scott (D- 3rd District) says the failed Arab port deal controversy may prove to be a good thing because it has opened people's eyes to the issue of port security. He got a close look at one of the Virginia Port Authority's primary anti-terrorism weapons. The Vehicle and Cargo Inspection System, called VACIS, uses x-ray technology to view contents of cargo containers. The problem is there aren't enough of the $1 million devices, so inspectors can only look at about five percent of the nearly two million containers that pass through the port each year. Monday, Rep. Scott said that has must change. "The war effort is a billion a week. You can fund a whole lot of million dollar machines for a billion dollars," he noted. Virginia Port Authority Executive Director Robert Bray agrees that more funding is needed to keep up with technology. "But the thing that has to be done in my judgment to satisfy the American public and to provide better security is to inspect electronically and with radiation detectors every container that's loaded overseas and again when a container comes off a ship before it goes inland. It's expensive, but then, how expensive is it going to be to have another terrorist attack in this country," said Bray. Rep. Scott, the ranking member of the House Judiciary Committee's Crime, Terrorism and Homeland Security subcommittee, said the White House was too secretive on the Dubai Ports World deal. "There hadn't been any congressional oversight to begin with. Then, we're going to vote on whether or not the deal ought to go through. Well, when that's your first line of defense, members of Congress in an election year deciding whether a port operation is safe, that's what ought to scare people to death." The Coast Guard has called for $7 billion a year in port security equipment upgrades. Thus far, Congress has appropriated about $750 million. From saic at vision.moundalexis.com Tue Mar 14 03:02:25 2006 From: saic at vision.moundalexis.com (Daily SAIC News) Date: Mon, 13 Mar 2006 22:02:25 -0500 (EST) Subject: [saic] Apparel Maker Seeks Seamless Tracking Message-ID: <20060313220135.R8724-100000@vision.moundalexis.com> 13 March 2006 ; RFID Journal Apparel Maker Seeks Seamless Tracking http://www.rfidjournal.com/article/articleview/2196/1/1/ --- A DOD apparel supplier is ready to start tagging shipments for mandate compliance, but isn't stopping there. by Mary Catherine O'Connor Mar. 13, 2006--The National Center for Employment of the Disabled [1] (NCED) in El Paso, Texas, is a 26-year-old not-for-profit corporation founded to employ disabled workers who would otherwise have difficulty finding work. In addition to making garments for NCED's government and commercial customers, workers in the El Paso facility manufacture chemical-protection overgarments (CPOs), as well as other military clothing, such as camouflage and dessert battle uniforms, hats and other accessories, for the U.S. Department of Defense [2] (DOD). To comply with an impending RFID tagging mandate from the DOD, as well as to improve its internal inventory tracking and manufacturing processes, NCED has contracted SAIC, a San Diego, Calif., engineering firm, to design and deploy a passive RFID tagging system. Under an amendment to its DOD supply contract, due to come into effect in the coming months, the NCED must begin attaching RFID-enabled smart labels to cases and pallets of its CPO shipments headed for the DOD's Defense Logistics Agency [3] (DLA) warehouses. The DLA supplies the U.S. military with clothing and other resources to support operations. Jan Hodges, SAIC's senior scientist of technology integration, says NCED's tagging operation is in place and ready to roll, as soon as the DLA warehouses are ready to begin reading and processing RFID data. [Image] http://www.rfidjournal.com/ezimagecatalogue/catalogue/variations/3018-400x500.jpg This marks just one part of the first phase of NCED's RFID deployment, however. The company also plans to use RFID to automate the collection of data needed for inventory control of the CPO raw material, fabric made with a carbon liner that has a shelf life the NCED must observe. Eventually, for phase 2 of the deployment, the NCED plans to expand its RFID system to help automate order processing, production planning and work-in-progress manufacturing. "Not only are we [deploying the tagging system] to be ready when the DOD requires RFID compliancy, but also for internal process improvements and cost reduction opportunities," says Ernie Lopez, NCED's chief operating officer. "This is not a pilot project," SAIC's Hodges maintains. "This is a deployment." The entire hardware infrastructure is compliant with the EPC Gen 2 Class 1 standard. "We're getting great read range--as much as 20 feet on our portal readers. We've actually had to change our antenna settings to reduce the range," Hodges says, "and 100 percent of the tags are being read." SAIC is using fixed interrogators and tags from Alien Technology [4], in conjunction with Symbol handheld readers. The first part of phase 1--the tagging of cases and pallets of finished CPOs as they are being shipped to DLA warehouses--will begin as soon as the warehouses are ready to read the tags. The second part of the first phase involves using RFID to inventory and locate rolls of the fabric used to make the CPOs; this part is already underway. In the second phase, for which the NCED does not yet have a start date, RFID will be used to track the fabric throughout the manufacturing process, as it is cut and sewn into CPOs. When rolls of the fabric used to make the CPOs arrive from NCED's supplier, workers at the El Paso facility apply an RFID smart label to each one. Encoded to the tag is a lot ID, saved in a database along with any order information, such as invoice number, relating to that roll. Also encoded to the tag is the warehouse location (isle/shelf) to which the roll is assigned for storage. This location data is be stored in the warehouse management program used to track the rolls in inventory. Hodges says the NCED is hoping its fabric suppliers will soon begin tagging the rolls of fabric prior to shipping them. That way, the NCED staff would not need to apply the tags themselves, and they could use the tags to receive the goods into inventory. [Image] http://www.rfidjournal.com/ezimagecatalogue/catalogue/variations/3019-400x500.jpg Once the second phase begins, each time a new roll is needed in the manufacturing facility, the WMS will direct workers to pull it from its assigned location and bring it to the cutting room. Here, the fabric will be spread onto a very large industrial cutter, where portions needed to form the chemically resistant suit components--sleeves, pant legs, etc.--will be cut. Workers will then attach tags to large bundles of cut fabric. Encoded to the tag will be an ID associated with the lot ID from the roll. Before pulling components from the bundles, workers at sewing stations will use handheld interrogators to read each bundle's tag. This data will be sent to the NCED's back-end software to track the manufacturing process. Once each suit is complete, it will be packaged in a plastic bag that could also be tagged, once the DLA begins tracking goods at the item level. At each step in this process, the RFID tag IDs will be commissioned and, as the tags are read, collected by Radio Frequency Asset System (RFAS), a software platform developed by SAIC for RFID device management and data aggregation. SAIC has developed interfaces between RFAS and the software platforms NCED utilizes. This includes the warehouse management system used to manage its raw materials receiving and inventory system, as well the Apparel Management Accounting System (AMAS) and The Production Manager (TPM) software, used to track the work-in-process manufacturing steps, provided by New Generation Computing [6]. Throughout this integration, the NCED hopes the unique IDs encoded to the roll and bundle tags, as well as to the tags attached to the cases and pallets of finished goods bound for DLA warehouses, will provide the company more visibility into in-process manufacturing and order fulfillment systems. "In the near future, we'll have passive RFID tags for all of our many DOD and commercial products, as well as, very possibly, [unique identification] tags in some select uniforms," says Lopez. --- [1] http://www.nced.org/ [2] http://www.defenselink.mil/ [3] http://www.dla.mil/ [4] http://www.alientechnology.com/ [5] http://www.symbol.com/ [6] http://www.ngcsoftware.com/ From saic at vision.moundalexis.com Thu Mar 16 21:44:23 2006 From: saic at vision.moundalexis.com (Daily SAIC News) Date: Thu, 16 Mar 2006 16:44:23 -0500 (EST) Subject: [saic] SAIC Awarded Contract for Additional Pallet VACIS(R) Inspection Systems at Kingston Transshipment Port Jamaica Message-ID: <20060316164411.B8724-100000@vision.moundalexis.com> 15 March 2006 ; PR Newswire SAIC Awarded Contract for Additional Pallet VACIS(R) Inspection Systems at Kingston Transshipment Port Jamaica http://www.prnewswire.com/cgi-bin/stories.pl?ACCT=104&STORY=/www/story/03-15-2006/0004320637 --- SAN DIEGO and MCLEAN, Va., March 15 /PRNewswire/ -- Science Applications International Corporation's (SAIC) Security and Transportation Technology Business Unit announced today that it has been awarded a contract by the Port Authority of Jamaica to supply and install two additional Pallet VACIS(R) inspection systems at the Kingston Transshipment Port Jamaica. The Port Authority of Jamaica currently has five Pallet VACIS(R) units, which have been operational since 2004 and 2005. SAIC's VACIS(R) gamma ray-based inspection systems are designed for the non-intrusive inspection of the contents of trucks, containers and cargo. The Pallet VACIS(R) unit consists of a self-contained gamma ray imaging system designed to quickly image fully loaded pallets or pallet-sized containers. The Pallet VACIS(R) unit is ideal for any number of industrial or military uses, including customs facilities and checkpoints at seaports, airports and land borders. "This project is a continuation of SAIC's ongoing relationship with the Jamaican Port Authority in support of its security measures to help keep illicit contraband from entering and leaving Jamaica," said Alex Preston, general manager of SAIC's Security and Transportation Technology Business Unit. "This follow-on order is evidence of the confidence in our systems to assist Jamaican Customs with their vital mission." SAIC's VACIS inspection systems, deployed and operational in 20 countries worldwide, are designed to assist customs, port, terminal and checkpoint authorities with manifest verification, tariff collection and the identification of contraband and other suspicious items. From saic at vision.moundalexis.com Thu Mar 16 21:45:29 2006 From: saic at vision.moundalexis.com (Daily SAIC News) Date: Thu, 16 Mar 2006 16:45:29 -0500 (EST) Subject: [saic] SAIC Helps National Center for Employment of the Disabled Track Shipments of Military Apparel Message-ID: <20060316164436.H8724-100000@vision.moundalexis.com> 15 March 2006 ; SAIC SAIC Helps National Center for Employment of the Disabled Track Shipments of Military Apparel http://www.saic.com/news/2006/mar/15a.html --- (SAN DIEGO and MCLEAN, VA) - Science Applications International Corporation (SAIC) announced that it recently completed the initial installation of a second-generation passive radio frequency identification (pRFID) solution for the National Center for Employment of the Disabled (NCED) in El Paso, Texas. The installation involved the design, installation and implementation of a pRFID solution for inventory tracking, accountability and Department of Defense (DoD) compliance. The installation of RFID at the NCED facilities is designed to provide increased visibility in their production operations, quality assurance and shipping areas. This NCED-funded project will help NCED meet the DoD RFID compliance requirements for pRFID and will begin shipping significant quantities of this product to Defense Logistics Agency (DLA) facilities in the next few months as DLA upgrades their pRFID reading capability. NCED is a 26-year, not-for-profit corporation with headquarters in El Paso, Texas. It employs more than 4,000 disabled and disadvantaged workers who manufacture many DoD apparel-related products such as chemical protection suits and battledress uniforms, in addition to corrugated products for sale to commercial and industrial clients as well as federal agencies. The company also manufactures men and women.s sportswear through its Sahara Sportswear division. SAIC preformed a detailed site survey and system design that included using Electronic Product CodeTM, second generation RFID and multiple portal configurations. This installation included various pRFID read zones, pRFID printer locations, software for managing inventory and RFID data, pRFID middleware, and a network of pRFID handheld readers. Business processes at the large garment manufacturer were refined to allow for 100 percent data capture for all material consolidated to pallets and loaded onto outbound trucks. From saic at vision.moundalexis.com Thu Mar 16 21:46:39 2006 From: saic at vision.moundalexis.com (Daily SAIC News) Date: Thu, 16 Mar 2006 16:46:39 -0500 (EST) Subject: [saic] NASA Awards Safety & Mission Assurance Contract Message-ID: <20060316164630.T8724-100000@vision.moundalexis.com> 15 March 2006 ; PR Newswire NASA Awards Safety & Mission Assurance Contract http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/conws/3725622.html --- WASHINGTON, March 15 /PRNewswire/ -- NASA has awarded Science Applications International Corp. (SAIC), San Diego, a $148.6 million contract to provide safety and mission assurance support services for the agency's Johnson Space Center in Houston. The contract with SAIC is for a three-year base period. Two one-year extension options may bring the total value to $256.5 million. SAIC's Technical Services Corp. will support safety, reliability, maintainability and quality for the space shuttle and International Space Station; government-furnished equipment, payloads and other items prepared for flight; government suppliers; technical and process issues; future programs and new technologies; and the White Sands Test Facility near Las Cruces, N.M. In addition to Johnson and White Sands, work will be performed at vendor manufacturing and engineering facilities. From saic at vision.moundalexis.com Thu Mar 16 21:51:08 2006 From: saic at vision.moundalexis.com (Daily SAIC News) Date: Thu, 16 Mar 2006 16:51:08 -0500 (EST) Subject: [saic] Can't touch this Message-ID: <20060316164640.M8724-100000@vision.moundalexis.com> 16 March 2006 ; The Georgetown Voice Can't touch this http://www.georgetownvoice.com/2006-03-16/news/can-t-touch-this --- by Dave Stroup Controversies over electronic voting are nothing new. Each year here at Georgetown there are calls to abandon on-line voting for GUSA elections in favor of paper ballots. Only through constant improvement in its reliability and transparency does the on-line system remain the primary option. The same, unfortunately, cannot be said for Diebold Election Systems, Inc. which provides e-voting machines to many states including Maryland. Lawmakers led by State Delegate Anne Healey in Annapolis have voted to replace the Diebold touchscreen e-voting system with optical scan paper ballots for the 2006 elections. Security flaws in the Diebold system are lawmakers' main concern. Critics of the Diebold system in California and Maryland cite reports that vote totals are easily manipulated. The Maryland resolution has banned the use of the Diebold machines until they are modified to provide a paper vote record. Diebold's reaction to these questions has been less than ideal. Diebold claims that the voting systems are reliable and that any security concerns are minimal. Compare this to the reaction at Georgetown to the 2003 GUSA presidential election. Following that election, there were concerns that vote totals could be manipulated by hackers and that people could vote multiple times. While on a much smaller scale than state-wide voting, the concerns were similar to those around Diebold's system. As a response to security concerns, the Saxa Server administrators, myself included, went before the GUSA Assembly and offered a challenge to critics. We posted the source code to our voting system online and offered a cash reward to anyone who could successfully compromise the system. In the past three years, no one has taken us up on the offer. On the other hand, Diebold has been less than forthcoming with opening their source code, even when required by state officials. In 2003, Maryland contracted Science Applications International Corporation to assess the risks of the Diebold touchscreen voting system. SAIC's final report was delivered to the state of Maryland in September 2003, and it found that Diebold's election software failed to meet most basic standards of security. Furthermore, SAIC reported that the system was at high risk of compromise. Controversy over the Diebold voting system has been brewing for over three years. Also in September 2003, a collection of internal Diebold memos were leaked on the Internet. These memos were not flattering to Diebold, as they showed many within the company were aware of flaws in the system and had done little to correct them. Computerized voting offers many advantages over paper ballots, such as instantaneous vote totaling and improved accessibility for the handicapped. As the state of Maryland has realized, however, serious questions remain about the integrity of such a system. Paper ballots can be a logistical nightmare in the event of a recount, but they do offer the option of a recount. With the controversies over vote counts in both the 2000 and 2004 elections, the integrity of the vote count in the November elections is of the utmost importance to many state officials, and rightfully so. From saic at vision.moundalexis.com Thu Mar 16 21:51:30 2006 From: saic at vision.moundalexis.com (Daily SAIC News) Date: Thu, 16 Mar 2006 16:51:30 -0500 (EST) Subject: [saic] A Homegrown Solution for Safe Ports Message-ID: <20060316165108.T8724-100000@vision.moundalexis.com> 16 March 2006 ; Business Week A Homegrown Solution for Safe Ports http://www.businessweek.com/bwdaily/dnflash/mar2006/nf20060316_8508_db016.htm --- Sophisticated scanning technology is being tested in Hong Kong. Why not at home? by Brian Bremner The Dubai Ports World affair touched a nerve in the U.S. over the threat of possible security breaches at American ports. Though U.S. authorities thoroughly inspect the 5% of cargo containers they identify as high-risk, only 45% of all containers pass through the most accurate radiation scanners. But U.S. ports needn't be so vulnerable. At the Port of Hong Kong, a pilot program uses sophisticated radiation and gamma-ray screeners to scan every single container of cargo that passes through two of the megafacility's nine terminals. Since late 2004 the setup has generated 1.4 million digital profiles of outbound containers at the port, the second busiest in the world behind Singapore in terms of container traffic. OVERSEAS EMPHASIS. The big irony is that Hong Kong's port is using American technology. San Diego-based Science Applications International, a $7.2 billion research and engineering company that does system-integration work for the U.S. government and is readying an initial public offering in 2006, designed the Integrated Container Inspection System (ICIS). The $10 million project in Hong Kong can scan up to nearly 400 container trucks an hour and provide real-time data to help identify suspicious cargo, all the while keeping detailed records of what passes through. It took about a year to develop, and because its debut was at a 24/7, high-volume port the pressure was intense to "be right on the edge of state of the art," says Terry Gibson, a business development manager for digital-imaging systems with Science Applications' transportation technology group. For Hong Kong, the advantages of such extra scrutiny are obvious: A terrorist event linked to Hong Kong would be a financial disaster at a port that moved 22.4 million containers last year. So why isn't the U.S., which produces the world's most sophisticated high-tech port-protection technology, rushing to install this gear? So far, the U.S. has preferred to beef up security overseas -- stationing U.S. Customs inspectors in 43 foreign ports. But Hong Kong's port inspection program has gotten the eye of Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff. He plans to tour the ICIS project in April. Also, the U.S. government has received 20,000 ICIS sample images to evaluate the value of the data. WORTHWHILE EXPENSE? Here's what Chertoff will find: Container trucks in Hong Kong pass under two giant portals which first scan for radioactivity. Gamma ray imaging checks for odd-sized objects that might conceal weapons. An optical scanner retrieves the ID numbers on the container, while a computer integrates data into a database that could be accessed by ports worldwide. So far the U.S. has been reluctant to embrace such high-tech solutions. U.S. authorities worry that the new high-tech scanning systems are unproven. Some worry that such sensitive scanning systems might trigger a lot of false alarms, and needlessly tie up port traffic. That would be costly in a global economy so heavily reliant on just-in-time supply networks. Then there's the expense. Stephen Flynn, a terrorism expert and senior fellow with the Council on Foreign Relations and ex-Science Applications advisor, figures it would cost $1.5 billion to install such systems at every major container port worldwide. That doesn't sound like much, but managing them and tracking the enormous data such systems would generate would require a huge outlay. That cost would have to be covered by a $50 to $100 surcharge per container paid by companies shipping the goods, according to Flynn. "REALLY SUSPICIOUS CONTAINERS." Yet, says Flynn, the payoff in high-tech security would "fundamentally change the paradigm" of securing ports. Such integrated systems would have a big investigative advantage since any container-related terrorist incident would leave a long electronic trail. The rich harvest of digital data generated by ICIS provides "a unique systems approach to solve one of the great homeland security dilemmas of our time," says Kim Petersen, president of SeaSecure, a Fort Lauderdale maritime security company. Would such inspections gum up the works? Jessie Chung, general manager of logistics at port operator Modern Terminals in Hong Kong, says the ICIS pilot program "helps better target really suspicious containers" for inspection and has had no impact on port productivity. That's why U.S. companies from L-3 Communications (LLL) to Ocean Shipholdings are also diving into the market along with Science Applications. All hope to come up with the best possible technology solutions to counter such scary scenarios as dirty radiological bombs or even concealed nuclear weapons arriving undetected at a major global port. From saic at vision.moundalexis.com Thu Mar 16 21:51:49 2006 From: saic at vision.moundalexis.com (Daily SAIC News) Date: Thu, 16 Mar 2006 16:51:49 -0500 (EST) Subject: [saic] SAIC Signs Mentor-Protege Agreement With Harding Security Associates Message-ID: <20060316165131.L8724-100000@vision.moundalexis.com> 16 March 2006 ; PR Newswire SAIC Signs Mentor-Protege Agreement With Harding Security Associates http://www.prnewswire.com/cgi-bin/stories.pl?ACCT=104&STORY=/www/story/03-16-2006/0004321612 --- SAN DIEGO and MCLEAN, Va., March 16 /PRNewswire/ -- SAIC's Intelligence and Security Group today announced a mentor-protege agreement between its Operational Intelligence Solutions (OIS) Business Unit and Harding Security Associates, Inc., under the Department of Defense (DoD) Mentor-Protege program. The agreement was approved and awarded through the Office of the Secretary of the Army, Office of Small and Disadvantaged Business Utilization with the sponsorship of U.S. Army INSCOM. Established in March 2003 by retired Maj. Gen. Robert A. Harding, Harding Security Associates, Inc. (HSA) is a small, service-disabled, minority and veteran-owned company that is designated by the Small Business Administration as an 8(a) corporation and a Small Disadvantaged Business. Headquartered in McLean, Va., HSA and its staff provide homeland security, counterintelligence, human intelligence, management of measurement and signature intelligence and critical infrastructure protection. "SAIC needs good teammates that share our values, customer focus and passion for our business -- we can't do it alone," said John Thomas, SAIC senior vice president and OIS Business Unit General Manager. "Harding Security Associates complements our strengths and brings unique experience and focus. I'm pleased that we can carry this to the next level and help HSA grow by sharing our experience as a larger company." Harding, who serves as HSA's president and chief executive officer, has 33 years of military service, including assignments as the deputy to the Army's Chief of Intelligence (G2), as director of operations for the Defense Intelligence Agency and as the commander of the Army's only Military Intelligence Group focused on homeland security. He has extensive experience running global operations and providing security for sensitive national programs, facilities and technologies. "SAIC is well regarded in both the industry and the intelligence community as a leading provider of intelligence and security solutions," said Harding. "We've been fortunate to work with SAIC on a number of contracts." The Mentor-Protege agreement is a three-year relationship between the two companies, and is the first of its kind for SAIC's OIS Business Unit, which is based in McLean, Va. SAIC has been recognized seven times with the DoD Nunn-Perry Mentor-Protege award for demonstrating successful performance with its proteges. From saic at vision.moundalexis.com Fri Mar 17 03:51:13 2006 From: saic at vision.moundalexis.com (Daily SAIC News) Date: Thu, 16 Mar 2006 22:51:13 -0500 (EST) Subject: [saic] SAIC installs RFID at National Center for Employment of the Disabled Message-ID: <20060316224950.B8724-100000@vision.moundalexis.com> 16 March 2006 ; Computer Business Review Online SAIC installs RFID at National Center for Employment of the Disabled http://www.cbronline.com/article_news.asp?guid=FB7B5ECE-A017-4DA0-96E6-FBCCB8493861 --- Science Applications International Corporation has installed a passive radio frequency identification system at the National Center for Employment of the Disabled (NCED) in Texas. The installation involved the design, installation and implementation of a pRFID system for inventory tracking, accountability and Department of Defense compliance. NCED said that the installation of RFID at its facilities was intended to provide increased visibility in its production operations, quality assurance and shipping areas. The project will also help it meet new compliance requirements for pRFID imposed by the federal government. The centre employs more than 4,000 disabled and disadvantaged workers who manufacture many department of defense apparel-related products such as chemical protection suits and battledress uniforms, in addition to corrugated products for sale to commercial and industrial clients as well as federal agencies. From saic at vision.moundalexis.com Sat Mar 18 19:17:41 2006 From: saic at vision.moundalexis.com (Daily SAIC News) Date: Sat, 18 Mar 2006 14:17:41 -0500 (EST) Subject: [saic] NASA Awards Safety and Mission Assurance Contract Message-ID: <20060318141602.E8724-100000@vision.moundalexis.com> 15 March 2006 ; BBSNews NASA Awards Safety and Mission Assurance Contract http://bbsnews.net/article.php/20060315183419417 --- NASA via BBSNews - 2006-03-15 -- NASA has awarded Science Applications International Corp. (SAIC), San Diego, a $148.6 million contract to provide safety and mission assurance support services for the agency's Johnson Space Center in Houston. The contract with SAIC is for a three-year base period. Two one-year extension options may bring the total value to $256.5 million. SAIC's Technical Services Corp. will support safety, reliability, maintainability and quality for the space shuttle and International Space Station; government-furnished equipment, payloads and other items prepared for flight; government suppliers; technical and process issues; future programs and new technologies; and the White Sands Test Facility near Las Cruces, N.M. In addition to Johnson and White Sands, work will be performed at vendor manufacturing and engineering facilities. From saic at vision.moundalexis.com Mon Mar 20 23:54:01 2006 From: saic at vision.moundalexis.com (Daily SAIC News) Date: Mon, 20 Mar 2006 18:54:01 -0500 (EST) Subject: [saic] Lancope's StealthWatch System 5.1 Earns Common Criteria Augmented EAL2 Certification Message-ID: <20060320185334.I8724-100000@vision.moundalexis.com> 20 March 2006 ; Business Wire Lancope's StealthWatch System 5.1 Earns Common Criteria Augmented EAL2 Certification http://home.businesswire.com/portal/site/google/index.jsp?ndmViewId=news_view&newsId=20060320005085&newsLang=en --- ATLANTA--(BUSINESS WIRE)--March 20, 2006--Lancope, Inc., a pioneer and market leader in network behavior analysis (NBA) and response solutions with the most enterprise customers, today announced that its StealthWatch(TM) System 5.1 has achieved Common Criteria Evaluation Assurance Level 2 Augmented (EAL2) certification. In addition, StealthWatch is also the only NBA and response solution to adhere to a validated U.S. Government Protection Profile, which demands conformance with guidelines established by the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) and the National Security Agency (NSA). The Common Criteria certification and Protection Profile Conformance processes are comprised of unbiased third-party evaluations of security technology and devices. Science Applications International Corporation's (SAIC) Accredited Testing and Evaluation Labs, a third-party testing facility, performed the evaluations, which show that StealthWatch conforms to standards sanctioned by the International Standards Organization. "Common Criteria certification is a strong validation of StealthWatch's ability to meet the needs of the government marketplace," said Harland LaVigne, president and CEO of Lancope. "By providing the only NBA and response solution to achieve this U.S. Government certification with conformance to the select U.S. Department of Defense Protection Profile, we make it easier for our resellers and systems integrator partners to provide their government customers with the most qualified security product to secure their internal networks." "We're pleased that Lancope worked with SAIC to evaluate its StealthWatch system," said Julie Taylor, assistant vice president and division manager of SAIC's Accredited Testing and Evaluation Labs. "By going through the Common Criteria certification process and achieving EAL2, Lancope is showing StealthWatch users, especially in federal agencies, that it is committed to meeting stringent security standards." Common Criteria certification validates StealthWatch's ability to protect enterprise assets and business transactions with the leading high-performance solution for ensuring network integrity through behavior-based anomaly detection and network intelligence. U.S. Government Protection Profiles are an implementation-independent combination of security objectives, security related functional requirements, information assurance requirements, assumptions, and rationale. The NIST and the NSA have agreed to cooperate on the development of security requirements for key technology areas necessary for the protection of federal information systems and networks, including those comprising the critical infrastructure within the United States. For more information about the Common Criteria evaluation and validation scheme or the U.S. Government Protection Profiles, visit http://niap.nist.gov/cc-scheme/index.html or http://niap.nist.gov/cc-scheme/pp/index.html. The validated StealthWatch System, which includes StealthWatch NC for native flow capture, StealthWatch Xe for NetFlow, StealthWatch Xe for sFlow, and StealthWatch Management Console appliances, provides enhanced network and host level security as well as powerful visualization of network activity to optimize security and network operations, and protect internal networks against zero-day attacks, internal misuse and unnecessary network exposures. StealthWatch continuously monitors network behavior, detects anomalies, and isolates known and unknown threats. Expanding beyond the capabilities of traditional perimeter-based security products, StealthWatch collects, categorizes and analyzes network traffic to create comprehensive security intelligence at both network and host levels. Providing a cost-effective, single point of reference for optimizing security and network operations, StealthWatch enables organizations to improve the network health and security posture of their networks. StealthWatch is the NBA and response system of choice for over nine Department of Defense, Intelligence and Civilian agencies, including: -- U.S. Army -- U.S. Navy -- U.S. Air Force -- National Security Agency (NSA) -- Missile Defense Agency (MDA) -- U.S. Department of Energy -- U.S. Department of Justice -- U.S. Department of the Interior -- Commodities Futures Trading Commission Currently Lancope partners with the following industry-leading government resellers and systems integrators, including iGov, International Systems Marketing, Inc., The Root Group, Spectrum Systems, TKC, and True North Solutions. Lancope solutions can be procured through multiple Federal Government Contract Vehicles, including GSA, SEWP III and ECS III. From saic at vision.moundalexis.com Mon Mar 20 23:54:49 2006 From: saic at vision.moundalexis.com (Daily SAIC News) Date: Mon, 20 Mar 2006 18:54:49 -0500 (EST) Subject: [saic] NATO to knit anti-missile defences Message-ID: <20060320185402.K8724-100000@vision.moundalexis.com> 20 March 2006 ; Flight International NATO to knit anti-missile defences http://www.flightglobal.com/Articles/2006/03/21/Navigation/177/205539/NATO+to+knit+anti-missile+defences.html --- Alliance to award integration contract to ensure member nations' systems will work together in any combination Having decided against buying its own missile defence system, NATO is to create an integration testbed to ensure the anti-missile radars and interceptors owned by its member nations will work together in any operation. Industry teams led by Boeing, Northrop Grumman and SAIC expect an invitation for bids in early May, leading to the award in September of a EU 100 million ($118 million), three- to four-year contract to provide the system engineering and integration required to ensure that NATO members' anti-missile systems can work together in any combination. "NATO has said it will not buy sensors or shooters. Instead, in a conflict or contingency, it wants to knit together the sensors and shooters of its member nations," says Mitch Kugler, director of strategic initiatives for Boeing's missile defence programmes. "They want to make sure, when they show up for an operation, that the various sensors and shooters work together in a NATO way." The USA, meanwhile, is continuing to look at extending its Ground-based Midcourse Defense (GMD) system into Europe. There are now nine interceptors in silos at Ft Greely, Alaska and two at Vandenberg AFB, California, with a total of 16 planned by December and 20 to be installed in Alaska by the end of 2007. Missile-defence radars are operational in Alaska and at Beale AFB, California, providing coverage of North Korea, and the upgraded Flyingdales early-warning radar in the UK will become part of the GMD system by year-end, covering Middle East threats. From saic at vision.moundalexis.com Tue Mar 21 03:53:17 2006 From: saic at vision.moundalexis.com (Daily SAIC News) Date: Mon, 20 Mar 2006 22:53:17 -0500 (EST) Subject: [saic] Jamaica adds more pallet inspection devices Message-ID: <20060320225230.A8724-100000@vision.moundalexis.com> 20 March 2006 ; Fleet Owner Jamaica adds more pallet inspection devices http://fleetowner.com/news/jamaica_pallet_inspection_saic_032006/ --- The Port Authority of Jamaica is adding additional freight pallet inspection systems developed by Science Applications International Corp. (SAIC). SAIC said its security and transportation technology business was recently awarded a new contract by Jamaica's port authority to supply and install two additional Pallet VACIS inspection systems at the Kingston Transshipment Port Jamaica. The port authority already uses five Pallet VACIS units, put into operation between 2004 and 2005. SAIC's VACIS gamma ray-based inspection systems are designed for non-intrusive inspection of the contents of trucks, containers and cargo. The unit consists of a self-contained gamma ray imaging system designed to quickly image fully loaded pallets or pallet-sized container, the company said. From saic at vision.moundalexis.com Wed Mar 22 03:36:23 2006 From: saic at vision.moundalexis.com (Daily SAIC News) Date: Tue, 21 Mar 2006 22:36:23 -0500 (EST) Subject: [saic] SAIC Celebrates Opening of Advanced Radar Research and Development and Production Center in Florida Message-ID: <20060321223530.Y8724-100000@vision.moundalexis.com> 21 March 2006 ; PR Newswire SAIC Celebrates Opening of Advanced Radar Research and Development and Production Center in Florida http://biz.yahoo.com/prnews/060321/dctu003.html?.v=51 --- MCLEAN, Va., March 21 /PRNewswire/ -- Science Applications International Corporation (SAIC) will celebrate the opening of the Advanced Radar Research and Development and Production Center with a ribbon cutting ceremony at its new facility, 100 Rialto Place in Melbourne, Fla. The celebration will be held at 2 p.m. on Tuesday, March 21st 2006. Congressman Dave Weldon (R-FL) will be the event's guest of honor and featured speaker. The Radar Center was created to help satisfy the steadily increasing demand for advanced Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) products, which can provide critical, time-sensitive information on difficult problems faced by tactical commanders and senior decision-makers in the military community. "SAR systems can provide accurate geospatial products during the day or night and in any weather," said John Thomas, SAIC senior vice president and general manager of the Operational Intelligence Solutions Business Unit. "The products are especially useful in supporting combat operations or other time- sensitive activities." Geospatial data allows decision-makers to visualize events from a geographic perspective and can facilitate assessments made before, during and after a military operation. The Radar Center has also performed significant projects for civilian authorities as well, particularly in the area of emergency management. "We want to facilitate critical decision-making for Brevard County officials before, during and after a disaster affects our community," said Dave Bookman, the Radar Center's senior systems engineer. "Our plan is to use all available local, state and national datasets, and to supplement optical satellite data with SAR to provide critical information earlier than it is currently available." The Radar Center will have the ability to create storm tracking and damage prediction maps, hazard and asset location maps and optical satellite remote sensing maps. The Center will also provide the basic census demographics of affected areas and street address geo-coordinates that will help civil authorities to rapidly direct resources to the places they are needed most. From saic at vision.moundalexis.com Wed Mar 22 03:39:07 2006 From: saic at vision.moundalexis.com (Daily SAIC News) Date: Tue, 21 Mar 2006 22:39:07 -0500 (EST) Subject: [saic] SAIC opens new production center Message-ID: <20060321223820.X8724-100000@vision.moundalexis.com> 21 March 2006 ; Orlando Business Journal SAIC opens new production center http://orlando.bizjournals.com/orlando/stories/2006/03/20/daily19.html --- Science Applications International Corp. (SAIC) has opened its new Advanced Radar Research and Development and Production Center in Melbourne. The radar center was created to help satisfy increasing demand for Synthetic Aperture Radar products, which can provide critical, time-sensitive information on difficult problems faced by tactical commanders and senior decision-makers in the military. San Diego, Calif.-based SAIC, which has extensive operations in the Orlando area, is the largest employee-owned research and engineering company in the United States with more than 43,000 employees in more than 150 cities worldwide. It has annual revenue of $7.2 billion. From saic at vision.moundalexis.com Wed Mar 22 03:41:04 2006 From: saic at vision.moundalexis.com (Daily SAIC News) Date: Tue, 21 Mar 2006 22:41:04 -0500 (EST) Subject: [saic] SAIC employee union launches IPO blog Message-ID: <20060321223908.K8724-100000@vision.moundalexis.com> 21 March 2006 ; Washington Technology SAIC employee union launches IPO blog http://www.washingtontechnology.com/news/1_1/daily_news/28229-1.html --- By Ethan Butterfield Staff Writer Those looking for information about the upcoming initial public offering planned by Science Applications International Corp. have a new resource. The Service Employees International Union has created a blog [1] to keep tabs on the employee-owned company's impending plans. The SEIU launched the inaugural installment of the blog this week with a two-page report that addresses the costs of taking the company public, as well as the costs to current employee-shareholders. The focus areas of the first report are the possible costs of executive stock options and the impact of unequal voting share classes on shareholder value. The report also explores the high cost of fully implementing Sarbanes-Oxley reporting requirements, the effect of "poison pill" language designed to dissuade any potential takeover attempts and the influence of losing the company's employee ownership culture. No current date or price is set for the IPO. SAIC had planned to announce the stock price in December, but the move was delayed, according to a statement from company chairman and CEO Ken Dahlberg. In a Dec. 16 letter to company employees and shareholders, which SAIC published on its Web site, Dahlberg wrote that the company will first file its annual audited financial statements in April. Then the company will hold a stockholders meeting, after which SAIC will move forward with its IPO. The company first announced its IPO plans in September. The move was delayed because of an inquiry into SAIC's performance and loss of at least $115 million on the company's contract for the 2004 Olympic Games in Athens, Dalhberg said in the letter. The SEIU represents 1.8 million health care, property services and public sector employees who participate in pension funds with more than $1 trillion in assets, according to a union statement. SAIC has about 43,000 employees and annual revenues of $7.2 billion in fiscal 2005. The company ranks No. 3 [2] on Washington Technology's 2005 Top 100 [3] list of federal prime contractors. --- [1] http://saicipowatch.blogspot.com/ [2] http://www.washingtontechnology.com/top-100/2005/3.html [3] http://www.washingtontechnology.com/top-100/2005 From saic at vision.moundalexis.com Thu Mar 23 03:33:12 2006 From: saic at vision.moundalexis.com (Daily SAIC News) Date: Wed, 22 Mar 2006 22:33:12 -0500 (EST) Subject: [saic] NASA re-ups SAIC for mission support work Message-ID: <20060322223212.T8724-100000@vision.moundalexis.com> 22 March 2006 ; Washington Technology NASA re-ups SAIC for mission support work http://www.washingtontechnology.com/news/1_1/daily_news/28239-1.html --- By Doug Beizer Staff Writer Science Applications International Corp. won a $148 million contract renewal to furnish safety and mission assurance support services for NASA.s Johnson Space Center in Houston. The three-year contract has two one-year options. If all options are exercised, the contract total might reach $256.5 million. SAIC's team will support safety, reliability, maintainability and quality for the space shuttle, International Space Station, payloads and other items prepared for flight. The company also will handle technical and process issues, future programs and new technologies, and operation of the White Sands Test Facility near Las Cruces, N.M. SAIC, which has more than 43,000 employees and annual sales of $7.2 billion, ranks No. 3 on Washington Technology's 2005 Top 100 list of federal prime contractors. From saic at vision.moundalexis.com Thu Mar 23 14:19:27 2006 From: saic at vision.moundalexis.com (Daily SAIC News) Date: Thu, 23 Mar 2006 09:19:27 -0500 (EST) Subject: [saic] SAIC Wins NASA Safety and Mission Assurance Contract Message-ID: <20060323091918.H8724-100000@vision.moundalexis.com> 22 March 2006 ; PR Newswire SAIC Wins NASA Safety and Mission Assurance Contract http://www.prnewswire.com/cgi-bin/stories.pl?ACCT=104&STORY=/www/story/03-22-2006/0004325054 --- The Company Has Supported This NASA Program Since 1997 SAN DIEGO and MCLEAN, Va., March 22 /PRNewswire/ -- Science Applications International Corporation (SAIC) announced today it has been awarded a $148 million cost-plus-award-fee recompete contract to provide safety and mission assurance support services for the National Aeronautics and Space Administration's (NASA) Johnson Space Center in Houston. The NASA contract is for a three-year base period. Two one-year options would bring the total value to $256.5 million. Under the terms of the agreement, the SAIC-led team will support safety, reliability, maintainability and quality for the space shuttle, International Space Station, payloads and other items prepared for flight. SAIC also will support technical and process issues, future programs and new technologies, and the White Sands Test Facility near Las Cruces, N.M. "It is a true honor that the dedicated employees of SAIC's Assurance Engineering Operation in Houston will be able to continue their service as key elements of our nation's human space exploration programs," said Frank Culbertson, SAIC senior vice president and general manager of the Space, Earth and Aviation Sciences Business Unit. "This contract award reflects the quality of safety professionals we currently have supporting safety and mission assurance at the Johnson Space Center. It is a real privilege to serve with the same team, that in my previous career, helped ensure my own safety during missions aboard the space shuttle and space station." From saic at vision.moundalexis.com Tue Mar 28 23:56:54 2006 From: saic at vision.moundalexis.com (Daily SAIC News) Date: Tue, 28 Mar 2006 18:56:54 -0500 (EST) Subject: [saic] Rolls-Royce Increases Services Capability: Takes Full Ownership of DS&S Message-ID: <20060328185520.D8724-100000@vision.moundalexis.com> 28 March 2006 ; PR Newswire Rolls-Royce Increases Services Capability: Takes Full Ownership of DS&S http://www.prnewswire.com/cgi-bin/stories.pl?ACCT=104&STORY=/www/story/03-28-2006/0004328252 --- RESTON, Va., March 28 /PRNewswire/ -- Rolls-Royce, the world-leading provider of power systems and services for use on land, at sea and in the air, has taken full ownership of information systems and services provider Data Systems & Solutions LLC (DS&S). DS&S supplies world-class decision support systems to customers in the aviation, defense, energy, process industry and transport markets. It has particular expertise in high-integrity computer systems, predictive services and information management. It was established in 1999 as a 50:50 joint venture with Science Applications International Corporation (SAIC). Rolls-Royce acquired SAIC's share of DS&S on 24 March 2006. Jonathan Hale, Director of Corporate Development for Rolls-Royce, said: "Following a successful joint venture with SAIC, DS&S has become a world leader in predictive services and high-integrity systems. We look forward to its continued development." Corporate note to editors: 1. Headquartered in Reston, Virginia, DS&S has more than 600 employees around the world. Its products include aeromanager.com, which features interactive technical manuals and a host of other publications, engine health monitoring, engine leasing, on-line parts ordering, as well as information on repair and overhaul slots enabling airlines to go on-line to check their engines' progress through the workshop. 2. Rolls-Royce operates in four global markets -- civil aerospace, defense aerospace, marine and energy. Annual sales total 6.6 billion pounds Sterling ($12bn), of which 54 per cent are services revenues. The order book is more than 22.9 billion pounds ($41.6bn). 3. Rolls-Royce has a broad customer base comprising more than 600 airlines, 4,000 corporate and utility aircraft and helicopter operators, 160 armed forces and more than 2,000 marine customers, including 70 navies. The company has energy customers in over 120 countries. 4. The company employs around 36,000 people, of which 22,000 are in the UK. Forty per cent of its employees are based outside the UK -- including 5,000 in the rest of Europe and 8,000 in North America. 5. Additional information on DS&S is available at http://www.ds-s.com From saic at vision.moundalexis.com Fri Mar 31 00:10:29 2006 From: saic at vision.moundalexis.com (Daily SAIC News) Date: Thu, 30 Mar 2006 19:10:29 -0500 (EST) Subject: [saic] SDSC Helps Scientists Model Solar Eclipse Message-ID: <20060330190937.V8724-100000@vision.moundalexis.com> 30 March 2006 ; HPC Wire SDSC Helps Scientists Model Solar Eclipse http://www.hpcwire.com/hpc/608620.html --- Using San Diego Supercomputer Center's (SDSC) high-performance computing tools, scientists from the Solar Physics Group at SAIC (Science Applications International Corporation) were able to model with improved accuracy the energy flow of a total solar eclipse. The simulation used photospheric magnetic field data collected weeks before the actual event to predict the state of the solar corona when the moon moved directly between the sun and the Earth on March 29, 2006. In the past, SAIC used a crude model of the corona with greatly simplified calculations. Using high-performance computing solutions from SDSC and NASA (National Aeronautics and Space Administration), researchers at SAIC were able to simulate a better estimation of the corona density enabling researchers to observe the effects of coronal heating, the conduction of heat and other factors. SDSC's keen focus on data-intensive computing ensured that the research team received accurate results in a timely fashion. The March 2006 solar eclipse that is the focus on this simulation was visible in the northern hemisphere within a narrow corridor from the equator in the Atlantic Ocean, sweeping northeast across Northern Africa and the Mediterranean to Turkey, finally ending at sunset in central Asia. Although partial eclipses are common, total eclipses are rare because they require the tilted orbits of the sun, moon and Earth to line up exactly so that the moon obscures the sun completely. The last total solar eclipse occurred November 2003 and the next will appear in 2008. For more information about this project, log on to http://iMHD.net. From saic at vision.moundalexis.com Fri Mar 31 14:39:51 2006 From: saic at vision.moundalexis.com (Daily SAIC News) Date: Fri, 31 Mar 2006 09:39:51 -0500 (EST) Subject: [saic] United States officials evaluate port security system Message-ID: <20060331093824.I8724-100000@vision.moundalexis.com> 31 March 2006 ; Daily Breeze United States officials evaluate port security system http://www.dailybreeze.com/news/nationworld/articles/2554826.html --- Proponents say it should be implemented, but others worry about delays and costs. Radiation and outlawed items are checked at prototype plant in Hong Kong. By Toby Eckert Copley News Service WASHINGTON -- As lawmakers concerned about U.S. port security rush to embrace technology that is screening every cargo container at two Hong Kong terminals for radiation and other contraband, Bush administration officials are evaluating the program and warming to it. Deputy Homeland Security Secretary Michael Jackson told senators Thursday that he was "highly optimistic" about the technology, which some see as the most promising answer yet to the dilemma of how to inspect more containers without impeding commerce. Jackson's boss, Homeland Secretary Michael Chertoff, will look at the operation on Saturday, and Customs and Border Protection officials are examining how it "can be used to strengthen our inspection capabilities," Jackson said. Several Republican and Democratic lawmakers, who have made their own trips to Hong Kong, already are sold on the Integrated Container Inspection System, or ICIS, which was developed by San Diego-based SAIC. Containers move through the prototype system, which scans their contents and checks for radiation, at about 10 miles per hour. "You can screen cargo at the busiest port in the world without bringing commerce to a halt. This has to be done worldwide," said Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C. But in the House, Republicans rejected a Democratic amendment to port security legislation that would have required all U.S.-bound cargo to be screened. The legislation is being co-sponsored by Rep. Jane Harman, D-El Segundo, and was approved by a House subcommittee Thursday. "The technology already exists," said Rep. Ed Markey, D-Mass., who proposed the amendment and cited the Hong Kong project. Others said numerous issues must be addressed before the technology can be used more widely. They include how the millions of data files generated by the system would be transmitted, stored and shared; determining when suspicious containers would require a thorough physical inspection; and how false alarms would be handled. The cost, and who covers it, is another major consideration. One widely cited cost estimate is $10 to $20 per container. "The technology is conceptually very attractive, but a real-world evaluation of the technology, its effect on operations and its integration into and use by the government is clearly needed," said Christopher Koch, president of the World Shipping Council, an industry group. The Sept. 11, 2001, attacks stoked fears that terrorists could use a cargo container to enter the United States, smuggle a nuclear weapon or launch a direct attack on a port. But with thousands of the boxcar-size containers pouring into U.S. seaports and across land borders every day, officials have struggled to come up with ways to inspect more of them without slowing commerce. Jackson spoke Thursday at a hearing on a new report that documents major shortcomings in inspection efforts here and abroad. Only 2.8 percent of containers are scanned for radiation before they enter the United States, and .38 percent have their contents X-rayed. Once the containers are here, those figures jump to 40 percent and 5.4 percent, respectively. But most experts say it is best to do the screening abroad. Citing a Congressional Budget Office study that concluded an attack on the Los Angeles-Long Beach port complex would cause economic losses rivaling the 9-11 attacks and Hurricane Katrina, Sen. Norm Coleman, R-Minn., said, "We cannot afford the devastation these findings imply." The Integrated Container Inspection System has been used at two of the world's busiest marine terminals in Hong Kong since last year, under a program sponsored by container terminal operators there. Every truck entering the terminals' main gates passes through the system, which has generated a database of 1.5 million images, said Gary D. Gilbert, senior vice president of Hutchison Port Holdings, which operates one of the terminals. Homeland Security Department officials are reviewing 20,000 of the container scans and radiation readouts.