About 96 percent of the Federal government’s 3.5 million employees have complied with President Biden’s vaccine mandate, which means workers have had at least one dose of a COVID-19 vaccination, or have a pending or approved exception request. […]
The White House has released a government-wide strategic plan to advance diversity, equity, inclusion, and accessibility (DEIA) for the Federal workforce, as required under President Biden’s June 25 DEIA executive order (EO). […]
House Government Operations Subcommittee Chairman Rep. Gerry Connolly, D-Va., introduced bipartisan legislation on Nov. 23 that the congressman said would help to rebuild and strengthen the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) and its civil service leadership mission. […]
The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) is looking for information on the trends and future investment needs for eight emerging technology sectors to complete a study authorized in the fiscal year (FY) 2021 appropriations act, according to a request for information (RFI) posted to the Federal Register Nov. 22. […]
The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) program office issued a pre-solicitation for proposed research topics it intends to pursue, hoping that eligible small business partners will become more aware and attuned to those areas of study. […]
President Biden nominated two women of color to lead the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) today, tapping Shalanda Young to serve as the permanent director of OMB and Nani Coloretti to serve as OMB’s deputy director. […]
The Department of Homeland Security’s (DHS) Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) needs to assess the effectiveness of its programs and services to support the communications sector – which is critical for U.S. national security. […]
The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) announced it is committing $169 million in the latest wave of funding for the Emergency Connectivity Fund (ECF), bringing the total to over $3.2 billion that goes to support students, school staff, and library patrons in all 50 states, Guam, Puerto Rico, the U.S. Virgin Islands, and the District of Columbia. […]
Federal Chief Information Security Officer Chris DeRusha said the Technology Modernization Fund (TMF) board – on which he sits – is looking to agencies that won awards from the fund earlier this year to pursue zero trust security projects to act as a group of pathfinders who can inform the zero trust transition work of other Federal agencies going forward. […]
The transfer of NASA-developed technology to the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) to help make air travel more efficient may not help unsnarl your Thanksgiving travel plans this year, but help is on the way. […]
The Department of Homeland Security’s (DHS) Customs and Border Protection (CBP) organization is working up a solicitation for a cloud management contract to be released in 2022, according to a posting on SAM.gov. […]
A new report from Booz Allen Hamilton warns that sophisticated threat actors including China are likely to soon start stealing encrypted data from the U.S. government and private sector in the hopes of being able to decrypt the data years from now using quantum computing technologies. […]
A White House official said in a press briefing late yesterday that more than 90 percent of Federal employees have been vaccinated ahead of the mandated Nov. 22 deadline – and 75 days after the requirement was put in place. […]
As the Federal government continues to focus on boosting the nation’s cybersecurity hygiene, Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) Director Jen Easterly said Nov. 18 that visibility and modernization are the keys to improving the nation’s cybersecurity posture. […]
The Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) can do a better job at estimating the level of homelessness in U.S. communities by better leveraging data, a new Government Accountability Office (GAO) report has found. […]
The United States Air Force (USAF) has signed an agreement with six technology contractors to commercialize parts of the service branch’s Platform One software development environment in order to modernize software delivery for the public and private sectors. […]
The United States Postal Regulatory Commission is working to hire its first-ever chief data officer (CDO) and establish a Data Governance Board, Michael Kubayanda, nominee for commissioner at the Postal Regulatory Commission, told a Senate committee. […]
The Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) and the FBI issued a cybersecurity advisory today, warning public and private sector organizations to stay vigilant for ransomware attacks and other cyberattacks leading up to and during the holiday season. […]
After a potential setback late last week, Sens. Gary Peters, D-Mich., and Rob Portman, R-Ohio, are still looking to attach their legislation to reform the Federal Information Security Modernization Act (FISMA) added to the Senate’s fiscal year (FY) 2022 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) making its way through the chamber, a Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee staffer told MeriTalk. […]
The Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) has launched its Infrastructure Dependency Primer (IDP) learning tool, which aims to help state, local, tribal, and territorial planners and decisionmakers better understand how infrastructure dependencies can impact their communities and how to increase resilience. […]
The complexity and flexibility of emerging fifth-generation (5G) wireless technologies make the process of defining a security assessment boundary complex, thus it’s crucial to maintain a wide aperture concerning 5G cybersecurity, an official from the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) said during a Palo Alto Network webinar on Nov 18. […]
The Government Accountability Office (GAO) recently spoke with technology leaders from government, academia, and nonprofits to discuss the efficacy of establishing a new service academy focused on training future digital civil servants, and found that tech leaders have significant concerns about the outcome of such an effort. […]
Senator Kirsten Gillibrand, D-N.Y., has introduced an amendment (SA. 4281) to the Fiscal Year 2022 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) that would fundamentally transform the Federal government’s approach to unidentified aerial phenomena (UAP) – more commonly referred to as unidentified flying objects (UFOs). […]
Despite the previous wish to pass the fiscal year (FY) 2022 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) before going on Thanksgiving break, the Senate has adjourned until Nov. 29, when it will again take up the defense spending bill, according to a Senate source. […]
The Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) will be rolling out a new protected Domain Name System (DNS) technology in 2022, CISA’s Trusted Internet Connections (TIC) program lead Sean Connelly said on Nov. 18. […]
The Defense Department (DoD) said today it has invited four major cloud service providers – Amazon Web Services, Google, Microsoft, and Oracle – to bid on its proposed multi-vendor Joint Warfighter Cloud Capability (JWCC) contract. […]
The Office of the National Cyber Director has hired Rexford G. “Rex” Booth as its senior policy advisor, according to Booth’s LinkedIn. […]
To build an effective zero trust approach, emphasizing identity and privileged access management can help agencies minimize their attack surface and cyber risk, Federal officials said during ATARC’s zero trust summit on November 18. […]
The Department of Justice (DoJ) announced it has charged two Iranian nationals for their role in a cyber-enabled disinformation and threat campaign “to intimidate and influence American voters, and otherwise undermine voter confidence and sow discord” in the 2020 U.S. presidential election. […]
The House of Representatives passed the Build Back Better (BBB) Act this morning, sending the more than $1.75 trillion reconciliation package to the Senate. The bill includes billions for supply chain resiliency, as well as additional cybersecurity and IT modernization funding. […]