TECHNOLOGY AND THE BUSINESS OF GOVERNMENT

The General Services Administration named Karl O. Krumbholz the new director of network services programs within the Federal Acquisition Service’s Office of Integrated Technology Services.

As head of the network services office, based in Fairfax, Va., Krumbholz will help provide strategic, operational, technical, and acquisition leadership for an organization that delivers $1.5 billion in telecommunications services to 135 government agencies in 190 countries.

The new position brings together GSA’s legacy long distance and local services programs in a manner that is intended to reflect the integrated network-enabled government of the future, according to GSA.

John Johnson, assistant FAS commissioner, said Krumbholz has been acting in this role for almost a year and during that time has provided leadership and oversight for the award of the Networx, SATCOM II and the federal relay service contracts.

"He is well-positioned to help lead the federal telecommunications community through the challenges of transition to these new programs," Johnson said.

Previously, Krumbholz served as the deputy assistant commissioner for GSA’s Office of Service Development and Delivery in the legacy Federal Technology Service. In that role he was responsible for managing the FTS2001 and crossover federal telecommunications programs as well as the development activities that defined the next generation of GSA offerings.

Krumbholz has a bachelor’s degree in management from the U.S. Naval Academy, a master’s degree in aeronautical engineering from the Naval Postgraduate School and a master’s degree in business administration from George Washington University.

James Nicholson, head of the Veterans Affairs Department for the last two and a half years, announced he will leave government service by Oct. 1. In announcing his departure, the VA praised his leadership in modernizing the department's information technology, among other things.

But just a year ago members of Congress were calling on Nicholson to resign in the wake of one of the largest security breaches in U.S. history. In May 2006 a laptop computer containing personal information on 26.5 million veterans and active duty military personnel was stolen from an employee's home.

In June 2006, Pedro Cadenas, who resigned as VA information security chief, told Government Executive that he had an impossible job and that he was cut out of the department's executive decision-making process. During his tenure at the department, Cadenas said he met Nicholson only once at a social event. After Cadenas introduced himself, Nicholson reportedly said that he heard that Cadenas' job was important.

"The department has no interest in doing the right thing," Cadenas said at the time. "I was trained to do things the right way, not the good old boy way. I am having personal difficulty looking veterans in the eye and telling them that things will be OK."

Earlier that month Nicholson issued a directive giving expanded powers to the VA's chief information officer, in addition to the authority granted in the department's IT reorganization the previous year.

The Small Business Administration, which operates Business Gateway, has added an application to the Web site intended to help businesses determine license and permit requirements. The tool was launched in response to feedback from its users in the business community.

The new “Permit Me” feature, launched as a beta, is intended to be a single source for obtaining federal, state and local permits and professional licenses for businesses. Every business in the United States is required to obtain a permit, professional license or identification number to operate. While some states offer assistance to help individuals understand local permit and license requirements, not all provide information on federal requirements.

SBA officials also have expanded the content on Business.gov and added context for the information contained in its compliance guides. SBA launched Business.gov in 2004 in a partnership with 21 agencies as part of President Bush's management agenda. The site was re-launched in October 2006 in response to feedback provided by test groups.

Here is something new for constitution lawyers to ponder: How would you apply constitutional law to the hacking technique known as "keystroke logging?"

According to an article by CNET.com's Declan McCullagh, a federal agent with the Drug Enforcement Administration convinced a federal judge to legally authorize the installation of keystroke logging software into the computer of a suspected ecstasy drug manufacturer. Key logging software is used to capture a computer user's keystrokes, and it is often used to spy on people's computer usage and to capture usernames and passwords. According to the article:

That was necessary, according to DEA Agent Greg Coffey, because the suspects were using PGP and the encrypted Web e-mail service Hushmail.com. Coffey asserted that the DEA needed "real-time and meaningful access" to "monitor the keystrokes" for PGP and Hushmail passphrases.

The aggressive surveillance techniques employed by the DEA were part of a case that resulted in a ruling on Friday by the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals, which primarily dealt with Internet surveillance through a wiretap conducted on a PacBell (now AT&T) business DSL line used by the defendants. More on that below.

The DEA's pursuit of alleged Ecstasy manufacturers Mark Forrester and Dennis Alba differs from the first known police use of key-logging software, which snared reputed mobster Nicodemo Scarfo in 1999. In the Scarfo case, the FBI said in an unclassified affidavit at the time, a key logger that also was planted in a black bag job was disabled when the Internet connection became active.

Since the DEA agent did not use the key logging software when the modem was in use, they were able to avoid the question of whether the technique is unconstitutional and permitted under wiretap laws.

The defendants in this case argued that key logging software is the same thing as a "general warrant" or a "writ of assistance" that would allow police to take "any record, including e-mail, simply because it was typed on a computer." The Fourth Amendment of the Constitution prohibits general warrants and requires warrants to identify the "things to be seized." Wiretap laws require that the interception of non-applicable information, such as conversations, be kept to a minimum.

The Communist government in China does not mess around when it comes to punishing government employees who are viewed as failures. According to USA Today, the former head of the State Food and Drug Administration was given a death sentence Tuesday for taking money from drug companies and signing off on unsafe machines:

The sentence, announced by state media, comes as China is under growing domestic and international pressure to clean up its food and drug sectors after a series of scandals, including the poisoning of hundreds of American pets.

Zheng Xiaoyu, director of China's State Food and Drug Administration from 1998 to 2005, was convicted of dereliction of duty and taking more than $832,000 in cash and gifts, according to state news agency Xinhua.

An antibiotic OK'd under Zheng was withdrawn from the market last year after 10 patients died, state media reported. Six types of fake drugs were approved while he led the agency, according to state-run media.