Smarter Gov Tech, Stronger MerITocracy
CX Customer experience -min

The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has announced the creation of a new customer experience (CX) office that will be led by Dana Chisnell, an internationally recognized expert in plain language, forms design, and user experience design. […]

DHS
generative AI, ChatGPT

The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) is working with the Department of Labor (DOL) to develop a set of guidelines and applications for using AI technology to improve the government’s hiring processes. […]

The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) has turned to artificial intelligence (AI) capabilities to bolster cybersecurity defenses against continued and growing threats, an agency official explained last week. […]

IRS

As the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) moves forward with modernizing its IT capabilities, a recent report from the Treasury Inspector General For Tax Administration (TIGTA) found that the IRS faces an uphill battle in transitioning to electronic records. […]

electric grid
AI

As the adoption of AI technology continues to increase within the Federal government, academic and industry experts warned lawmakers this week that more needs to be done to ensure procurement of this emerging technology is done ethically and responsibly. […]

The Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) has faced a long, troubled rollout of its Electronic Health Records Modernization (EHRM) program; however, leaders at VA healthcare facilities believe while the new EHR system is not perfect yet, it is their best option moving forward. […]

AI

The House Oversight and Accountability Committee’s Government Operations and the Federal Workforce Subcommittee held a hearing Thursday probing into Federal agency telework and productivity rates, and heard mostly upbeat stories from agency leaders on how pandemic-era telework policies benefited their operations. […]

generative AI, ChatGPT
Army
VA, Veterans Affairs

The Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) has launched a new Trustworthy AI Framework, becoming the first Federal agency to integrate all of the White House’s AI work into a single, public framework. […]

CISA

The Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency’s (CISA) new Cyber Supply Chain Risk Management (C-SCRM) Office is in the process of developing training and maturity models for Federal agencies, with an eye of releasing these resources in the new fiscal year (FY) to begin on Oct. 1.   […]

AI

Rep. Nancy Mace, R-S.C., today took the Office of Management Budget (OMB) and the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) to task for what she characterized as their slow work in meeting statutory deadlines to create Federal government policies dealing with artificial intelligence technologies. […]

Cybersecurity

The Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) held its third quarter Cybersecurity Advisory Committee (CSAC) meeting on Sept. 13, where members voted to approve a number of recommendations offered by each subcommittee to the agency, including one that could result in the creation of a national cyber alert system. […]

DoD

The Senate on Sept. 12 approved by voice vote the nomination of Michael Casey to become director of the National Counterintelligence and Security Center (NCSC). […]

IRS

While the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) has made strides in safeguarding taxpayer data, the Government Accountability Office (GAO) said in a new report that thousands of IRS contractors are not undergoing the same insider threat awareness training that agency staff engages in, and that this training deficit means that contractors are “at increased risk of being unprepared to handle taxpayer information.” […]

A handful of law enforcement agencies across the Departments of Homeland Security (DHS) and Justice (DoJ) are utilizing facial recognition technologies without requiring proper staff training to do so, the Government Accountability Office (GAO) found in its latest report on the technology. […]

DoD

The Department of Defense (DoD) is pledging to use offensive cyber capabilities to defend the U.S. and its allies against adversaries – particularly the Peoples Republic of China (PRC) – as part of its latest cybersecurity strategy. […]

With the increasing buzz of AI technology making its way into government and private industry operations, a bipartisan pair of senators have sent a letter to the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP) seeking to understand actions the government is currently taking to develop AI standards that “promote trust and transparency for Americans.” […]

Chris DeRusha, Federal CISO

Federal Chief Information Security Officer (CISO) Chris DeRusha said this week that the Federal civilian government has made considerable progress on both the tactical and culture fronts in efforts to implement zero trust security architectures at Federal agencies that stem from the Biden administration’s 2021 cybersecurity executive order. […]

EHR

The Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) told members of Congress today that it is going “back to the drawing board” to develop a new deployment schedule for its Electronic Health Records Modernization (EHRM) program, with hopes to resume the program in the summer of 2024. […]

The Government Accountability Office (GAO) is estimating that unemployment insurance fraud during the COVID-19 pandemic reached a range of $100 billion to $135 billion – way up from the $60 billion the watchdog agency previously estimated earlier this year. […]

Department of Commerce

The Department of Commerce (DOC) and its National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) comment are seeking industry insight on how to modernize the technology that NTIA uses to manage the use of radio frequency spectrum. […]

deep fakes, AI

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