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House Oversight’s FITARA 9.0 Hearing to Feature NASA, DHS CIOs

Chief information officers from the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and NASA are scheduled to testify at the House Government Operations Subcommittee’s hearing on Dec. 11 to discuss results of the House Oversight and Reform Committee’s ninth FITARA (Federal Information Technology Acquisition Reform Act) Scorecard, MeriTalk has learned.

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    While figures vary across industry and government as to the size of the “phishing-prone” population in any organization, both sides agree that sustained internal employee training efforts are necessary to cut the success rate of spear-phishing exploits down to more manageable levels.

  2. Commerce’s BEA Posts Procurement Notice for National Cloud Pricing Index

    The Department of Commerce’s Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA) released a sole source procurement notice for 451 Research’s one-year subscription to the agency’s Cloud Price Index Service on Dec. 4.

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  2. Romanian Hackers Get Long U.S. Prison Sentences
  3. Jonathan Pawlow Named ITI Government Affairs Senior Director
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  1. healthcare cyber-min FDA Launches New App to Assist Clinical Community

    The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) launched a new mobile application called the CURE ID that will allow the clinical community to report uses of existing drugs for infectious diseases that may prove difficult to treat.

  2. CBP Pulls Support for Broader Facial Recognition Use

    The Department of Homeland Security’s (DHS) Customs and Border Protection (CBP) operation has pulled its support for a mandatory biometric entry-exit system that would require facial recognition scans for all travelers – including U.S. citizens – entering or departing the United States, according to a Dec. 5 press release from Sen. Ed Markey, D-Mass.

  3. Sens. Coons, Lee Argue for Facial Recognition Technology Warrant Act

    At a Brookings Institution event on Dec. 5, Sens. Chris Coons, D-Del., and Mike Lee, R-Utah., made the case for their Facial Recognition Technology Warrant Act.

  4. binary, data privacy, breach, data How Agencies Are Overcoming Data Management Hurdles

    Officials from the General Services Administration (GSA), and Departments of Health and Human Services (HHS) and Veterans Affairs (VA) talked this week about some of the obstacles they’ve encountered, and are overcoming, in wrestling with Big Data sets.

  1. Senate Commerce Poised to Move on 5G Spectrum, Robocall Bills

    The Senate Commerce, Science, and Transportation Committee is poised to take action next week on a range of tech-related legislation including bills dealing with making available spectrum for 5G wireless services, and further action to rein in robocalling.

  2. VA Launches National AI Institute

    The Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) announced today the launch of its National Artificial Intelligence (AI) Institute (NAII) to coordinate veteran-specific AI initiatives.

  3. House Oversight Panel Sets Dec. 11 Hearing for FITARA Scorecard 9.0

    The House Oversight and Reform Committee’s Government Operations Subcommittee has scheduled a  hearing for Dec. 11 at 2:00 p.m. to discuss results of the subcommittee’s upcoming release of the ninth edition of its FITARA (Federal Information Technology Acquisition Reform Act) Scorecard.

  4. Successful AI Stems from Human-Centered Design, Fed Leaders Agree

    Federal artificial intelligence (AI) technology leaders agreed today that a human-centered approach to data management and automation generates stakeholder buy-in and improves agencywide perceptions of AI projects.

  5. SSA Seeing Slow Adoption on Updated Disability Case System

    The Social Security Administration (SSA) has rolled out its modernized Disability Case Processing System (DCPS) to 31 states and territories, but the system is only being used to process seven percent of their workloads due to gaps in functionality, according to a review by SSA’s inspector general.

  6. Sens. Booker, Wyden Target Biased Healthcare Algorithms

    Sens. Cory Booker, D-N.J., and Ron Wyden, D-Ore., called on the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS), and five major healthcare companies to “provide more information on how they are addressing bias in algorithms used in many healthcare systems.”

  7. Email Infrastructure Seen as Lingering Vulnerability for Elections

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  8. CDM Program Official Says Most Agencies Completing Phase 2 Work

    Ross Foard, Senior Engineer in the Continuous Diagnostics and Mitigation (CDM) Program Office at the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA), said on Dec. 4 that many Federal agencies are completing work on the second of four phases of the CDM program.

  9. FCC Chairman Floats $9 Billion 5G USF Support Proposal

    FCC Chairman Ajit Pai proposed Dec. 4 to create a $9 billion fund to support the deployment of 5G wireless services in rural portions of the U.S. The proposal would require approval from a majority of the full five-member commission, with a vote likely sometime in 2020.

  10. Senate Continues Data Privacy Work

    Days after Sen. Brian Schatz, D-Hawaii, introduced data privacy legislation to the Senate, the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation held a hearing to examine legislative proposals to protect consumer data privacy.