Google software has won at least two important endorsements from the federal government in the past few months with the US State Department adopting the Chrome browser and the National Security Agency deploying an Android phone that complies with the department's tough information security rules.

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton told State Department employees in late January that Chrome would be an "optional browser" for their work, and would be available worldwide beginning on February 14. While it may not work with all department software, "we believe it will greatly improve the accessibility and performance with external sites," she said. The department will be deploying Internet Explorer 8 later this month, she added. Google blogged about the announcement on Friday.

Earlier this week, a top official with the NSA said it has released about 100 smartphones that encrypt voice conversations in keeping with department requirements. Margaret Salter, head of the NSA's Information Assurance Directorate, said the Android devices use readily available hardware and publicly available specifications to keep their cost low. She gave a demo of the devices at the RSA security conference in San Francisco.