Red Hat in the agencies.

Red Hat has sealed a potentially lucrative marketing and technology deal that could see its open source and Linux software land in more government and defense locations.

The company is partnering with Science Applications International Corporation (SAIC), an $8.3bn systems and solutions provider that lists NATO and the Department of Homeland Security (DHC) among its roster of clients.

Red Hat and SAIC have agreed to partner on development of technology and marketing to promote Red Hat and open source code to defense, federal and commercial users.

SAIC expects to bring its experience in systems integration, software development, database architecture and management of large projects to Red Hat Linux and middleware deployments. Red Hat said it expects the deal will help speed-up the move to open source by the US military, intelligence community, homeland security and other federal agencies.

IRS warns late tax filers of scam sites

The IRS issued an alert late today, warning of a "new tax scam... that lures taxpayers into filing tax information on a site masquerading as a member of the Free File Alliance".

Stay well away: the only place for US taxpayers to access the Free File program is through the official IRS.gov website.

According to the IRS, the latest twist on tax scams involves tax preparation websites that masquerade as members of the Free File Alliance, a partnership of 19 tax software firms and the IRS.

The IRS is investigating allegations that the unnammed websites "accepted tax information from taxpayers, changed the taxpayers’ bank account numbers to their own and then filed the return through a legitimate Free File partner".

Social Security: Is Early Retirement the Way to Go?

Social Security is perhaps one of the most interesting results of the New Deal during the great depression. Some believe that its nothing more than a very bad retirement savings program, whereas others believe that it's a safety net to keep seniors from living in poverty. Regardless about how you feel about it, you will have to pay into it whether you like it or not, and you will get money out upon retirement. Social Security is essentially a system which redistributes wealth from those who are workers to those who are retired. The Social Security Administration takes 11.2% of your income and places it in the Social Security Trust fund and then when you reach age 62 or age 67, you can retire and receive monthly payments from the Social Security Administration. Social Security also provides a disability benefit and a death benefit.

Social Security is really not a very good deal for most people mathematically. People should focus on making it the best deal they can though. Retirees have the option of taking their money at age 62 or age 67. If you take it early at age 62, you will start getting paid immediately, but have a reduced benefit for the rest of your life. If you take the full retirement at age 67, you will receive a higher payment.

Before making a decision as to whether you should take early retirement or not, we have to make sure we're taking early retirement for the right reasons. Never take out early retirement because you absolutely need the money. If this is the case, your lower social security payment is going to haunt you for the rest of your life and you will be forced to live on next to nothing until your death. Take the time, and work for an extra five years, it's not going to kill you. This way you won't have to eat beans and rice throughout all of your retirement.

Assuming your finances are in order, now we can determine whether or not it makes sense to take early retirement or not. The Social Security website offers a calculator which will help you determine which option is best. There is really only one factor to determine whether or not if it's the best option. How long do you think you are going to live? Let's say we assume we are going to live until 82, and can receive a Social Security payment of $9000 at early retirement, or a payment of $1200 at age 67. We would receive a total of $360,000 at regular retirement and a $324,000 at early retirement. You will want to use the social security calculator or call a social security representative toll free at 1-800-772-1213, which will help you determine which is the best option for you based on your income and life expectancy.

Inspector Lists Computers With Atomic Secrets as Missing

WASHINGTON, March 30 — The office in charge of protecting American technical secrets about nuclear weapons from foreign spies is missing 20 desktop computers, at least 14 of which have been used for classified information, the Energy Department inspector general reported on Friday.

This is the 13th time in a little over four years that an audit has found that the department, whose national laboratories and factories do most of the work in designing and building nuclear warheads, has lost control over computers used in working on the bombs.

Aside from the computers it cannot find, the department is also using computers not listed in its inventory, and one computer listed as destroyed was in fact being used, the audit said.

“Problems with the control and accountability of desktop and laptop computers have plagued the department for a number of years,” the report said.

In January, Linton F. Brooks was fired as the administrator of the National Nuclear Security Agency, the Energy Department agency in charge of bombs, because of security problems. The agency was created in the 1990s because of security scandals.

When the most recent audit began, the Counterintelligence Directorate was unable to find 141 desktop computers. In some cases, documents were found indicating that the computers had been taken out of service.

Previous incidents of wayward computers have also involved nuclear weapons information. But the office involved in this breach has a special responsibility, tracking and countering efforts to steal bomb information. Its computers would have material on what the department knew about foreign operatives and efforts to steal sensitive information.

The report includes a response from the security agency that generally agrees with the findings. But the inspector general, Gregory H. Friedman, noted in his report that “the comments did not include planned corrective actions with target completion dates.”

A spokesman for the department, Craig Stevens, said Energy Secretary Samuel W. Bodman “recognizes that we need to manage this place better.”

The counterintelligence office was recently merged with the intelligence office to improve operations, Mr. Stevens said.