Top leadership of the Senate Intelligence Committee said on Thursday that Congress has been making a “serious effort” to address emerging technologies – like artificial intelligence (AI) and quantum computing – but “whether it is enough is something that we really need to ask ourselves.” […]

Small Business Administration (SBA) Inspector General (OIG) Mike Ware told members of Congress on Thursday that the SBA Office of Inspector General (OIG) is “super confident” in its $200 billion estimate of potentially fraudulent COVID-19 pandemic assistance loan programs. […]

The U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) recently announced its new Information Technology (IT) Strategy for fiscal years (FY) 2023 – 2027, which will focus on refreshing the “alignment and execution” of the agency’s mission. […]

The Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) is officially launching a Special Salary Rate (SSR) to increase the basic pay for thousands of its IT and cybersecurity employees, effective on July 16, making it the first government agency to roll out the new pay model. […]

In this episode of MeriTalking, MeriTalk’s Gail Emery sits down with Kathleen Featheringham, vice president of artificial intelligence and machine learning at Maximus, to explore the big-picture potential of AI and how agencies can achieve immediate mission value from it. […]

The House began debate today on 80 additional amendments to the fiscal year (FY) 2024 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA), which were brought to the floor after the House Rules Committee met late Wednesday night to pass a rule covering this second tranche of provisions deemed more controversial than yesterday’s batch of amendments. […]

A top official at the Office of the National Cyber Director (ONCD) said today that his team is preparing to take on the large and potentially thorny task that sits at the very top of the list for implementing the White House’s National Cybersecurity Strategy (NCS) – harmonizing cybersecurity regulations – and offered that the process may take years to complete. […]

House members today grilled officials from the Department of Defense (DoD) on a long-standing and vexing issue for Congress – the Pentagon’s inability to produce a clean audit opinion on its financial statements since that requirement went into effect for Federal agencies in 1990. […]

The Senate Committee on Veterans’ Affairs held a hearing on Wednesday afternoon to consider two bills that aim to improve the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) troubled Electronic Health Records Modernization (EHRM) program contract with Oracle Cerner. […]

MeriTalk recently sat down with Essye Miller, former DoD deputy chief information officer for cybersecurity, former acting defense chief information officer, and board member for Axonius Federal Systems, and Tom Kennedy, vice president, Axonius Federal Systems, to talk about what successful public-private partnerships look like, lessons learned from past partnership experiences, and how industry and government can come together effectively to work towards common goals that advance the nation’s cybersecurity. […]

The White House’s Office of the National Cyber Director (ONCD) released its National Cybersecurity Strategy Implementation Plan (NCSIP) today, putting 18 agencies on the hook for 69 “high-impact” initiatives to be completed between now and fiscal year (FY) 2026. […]

The White House’s Office of the National Cyber Director (NCD) today released its much-awaited marching orders to implement the National Cybersecurity Strategy (NCS) that it published in March. […]

The full House began debate today on the fiscal year (FY) 2024 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) and some of the 1,500 amendments to the legislation filed by lawmakers. […]

The National Institutes of Health Information Technology Acquisition and Assessment Center (NITAAC) plans to take corrective action and reevaluate proposals under its $50 billion Chief Information Officer-Solutions and Partners 4 (CIO-SP4) contract, after the Government Accountability Office (GAO) upheld 98 protests to the IT services contract. […]

The Senate Commerce, Science, and Transportation Committee today advanced the nomination of Anna Gomez to serve as a commissioner for the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), sending it to the Senate floor for a final vote. […]

Microsoft said late Tuesday that it took action in recent weeks to mitigate China-based cyberattacks that exposed email account information of government agencies and other organizations, along with customer accounts of people tied to those agencies and organizations. […]

As the Federal government continues to navigate the world of AI regulations, Alondra Nelson – the former deputy director of the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP) – said this week that a lack of guardrails and regulations in the AI space may ultimately prevent the United States from leaning into innovation. […]

Rep. August Pfluger, R-Texas, introduced legislation this week that would establish a Digital Economy and Cybersecurity Board of Advisers at the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA). The bill comes as lawmakers are working to reauthorize the NTIA – a Commerce Department component – for the first time since 1992. […]

As the U.S. Air Force and Space Force move toward expanding their Advanced Battle Management System (ABMS), the service branches are looking to brew up competition among private sector organizations of all sizes to grow ABMS capabilities, said Gen. Luke Cropsey, the Air Force’s Integrating Program Executive Officer for Command, Control, Communications, and Battle Management. […]

MeriTalk recently sat down with Erin Godinez, director, homeland security solutions, and Dean Irwin, senior director, cybersecurity, at Maximus, to discuss how the department is using technology to drive improvements that are rebuilding trust in government. […]

The General Services Administration’s (GSA) Federal Acquisition Service (FAS) has failed to address prohibited telecom items offered on its Multiple Award Schedule (MAS) contracts, “putting customers at risk of unauthorized surveillance of foreign adversaries,” the agency’s watchdog said in a new report published on Monday. […]

The U.S Army Combat Capabilities Development Command (DEVCOM) is looking for industry’s help to create a system in which the Army can forecast “near-term enemy courses of action (ECOA) based on current Situational Awareness (SA)” according to the new request for information (RFI). […]

The Office of the Director of National Intelligence (ODNI) is preparing to release a brand-new National Intelligence Strategy (NIS), providing the Intelligence Community (IC) with strategic direction for the next four years. […]

Lt. Gen. John Shaw, deputy commander of the U.S. Space Command, said today that he sees deployment of AI technologies as vital to accomplishing the service branch’s missions. […]

The Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) said the agency is surpassing its own target for the rate at which Federal agencies are using automated Continuous Diagnostics and Mitigation (CDM) program reporting. […]

Greg Little is stepping down from his post as the Pentagon’s inaugural deputy chief digital and artificial intelligence officer (CDAO) for enterprise platforms and business optimization, a spokesperson for the Defense Department’s (DoD) Office of the Secretary of Defense confirmed to MeriTalk today. […]

The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) issued a notice on June 30 seeking public comments on a draft plan to make scientific data and publications more readily available to the public. […]

The White House’s Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP) has received 491 comments on its recent request for information (RFI) – including from tech giant Google and think tank Bipartisan Policy Center (BPC) – to help inform an upcoming National AI Strategy. […]

The Department of Homeland Security’s Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) component is working every day to reduce risks to the cyber and physical infrastructure that Americans rely on – but CISA Director Jen Easterly said today that effort relies on public-private partnership to help mitigate those risks through technological innovation. […]

Cloud computing offers a number of benefits to the Federal government, but a new report warns that government policy must evolve to address the unique risk profile of cloud computing and prevent a potential cloud outage or compromise. […]