From the White House

Visiting the White House, "Anytime, Anywhere, and on Any Device"

Today, we're excited to announce some big changes to the way you connect with the White House. More Americans rely on tablets and smart phones for news and information than ever before and we've certainly seen these trends reflected at WhiteHouse.gov. Over the past two years the number of mobile visits to the site has tripled, reaching 15.17% of total traffic. In order to meet this growing demand, we've relaunched the entire White House mobile program, making it even easier to see what's going on at 1600 Pennsylvania Ave.

First, we revamped the mobile version of WhiteHouse.gov, giving it a new look and making more than 99% of the site available to mobile users. We've also released new versions of the White House apps for the iPhone and Android, rebuilding them from the ground up and adding several new features. For the first time, these apps are also fully compatible with the iPad and Android tablets.

Some of the apps' features include:

• Live video streams of White House events
• Access to WhiteHouse.gov's incomparable photo and video archives
• High resolution photos using iPad's Retina display
• The latest news from the White House blog and press Briefing Room
• Tools to search WhiteHouse.gov, save your favorite items, and share them via Facebook and Twitter
• Notifications of breaking news and opportunities to take action

If you're a mobile developer, we have news for you, too: we've released the source code for both White House mobile apps on GitHub. Now anyone, from civic hackers and local organizations to federal agencies, can freely download these apps, make changes, and use them for their own projects.

WhiteHouse.gov has been an important part of President Obama's effort to open the White House up to the American people over the past three years, providing an unprecedented level of access to live events at the White House, insight into administration initiatives, and new ways to communicate with the President and other policy makers. This past spring, when he announced his initiative requiring that key government services be made available via mobile devices within 12 months, President Obama noted that, “Americans deserve a government that works for them anytime, anywhere, and on any device." As WhiteHouse.gov helps the President meet his own commitment to open up the People's House, mobile will play an increasingly important role. We'll continue updating the apps and mobile site in the days and months ahead, so if you have any ideas to share, drop us a line or tweet @WHWeb.

ICE teams with federal agencies to train computer forensic investigators

For the past 14 years, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement has been responsible for training ICE officers and special agents to become computer forensic investigators.

ICE teaches the class in conjunction with the U.S. Secret Service and the Internal Revenue Service.

Each year, two, six-week classes are offered at the Federal Law Enforcement Training Center in Charleston, S.C. The class is comprised of 24 students – eight from each agency. Next year will be the 14th consecutive year of the program.

After each session, instructors get together to figure out what tweaks need to be made for the next class. Keeping the sessions as up-to-date as possible is a key priority.

"It's ever changing," said Computer Forensic Unit's Matthew Swenson. "Each year, we try and take into account and implement things that are relevant."

The course is comprised of two parts: Basic Computer Evidence Recovery Training (BCERT) and Post Computer Evidence Recovery Training (PCERT). The first two weeks are taught by Hewlett Packard employees who teach students the ins and outs of computer software and hardware. The next four weeks focus on teaching students how to use that knowledge to actually conduct a computer forensic investigation. Participants learn how to examine the computer, how to find evidence and how to write a report that all parties involved in an investigation can understand. Swenson noted that it's not only the investigators who have to be able to understand the report, but also everyone in the justice system who will be involved in the sentencing.

As technology continues to advance, Swenson said the need for computer forensic investigators also rises. These days, he said, almost all criminals use some kind of technology that evidence can be found on.

"We take regular investigators off the street and teach them everything the need to know," he said.

There are currently 250 computer forensic agents within ICE, working at fields offices throughout the nation and attaché offices across the world.

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