Smarter Gov Tech, Stronger MerITocracy
FCC, Chinese suppliers

In the waning days of her leadership of the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel is hurrying along an effort to approve rules to auction AWS-3 spectrum and use proceeds from that sale to close a multi-billion-dollar funding gap in the agency’s Secure and Trusted Communications Networks Reimbursement Program. […]

Army

The U.S. Army is turning to the private sector for feedback as it prepares to upgrade its current Vantage Army data platform (ADP). With a Jan. 9 deadline approaching, vendors have a few more days to weigh in on the draft solicitation. […]

SNOW White House

Former Department of Defense (DoD) chief information officer (CIO) Dana Deasy has been tapped as the new chief information digital officer and senior vice president at Boeing Co., which generates about a third of its revenue from defense product lines.   […]

The U.S. Space Force has launched its first-ever cyber range squadron, officially adding “cyber defenders” to its roster as it prepares to battle digital threats in the space domain. […]

The Department of Commerce announced on Jan. 6 that it finalized $285 million in CHIPS for America funding for developing and operating a new semiconductor development facility in North Carolina that will take a “digital twins” approach.    […]

CISA

The Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) today released cybersecurity performance goals that the agency said will help to protect the information technology and product design sectors from cyber threats.   […]

The Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) announced on Jan. 3 that it has imposed sanctions on a Beijing-based cybersecurity company known as Integrity Technology Group, Inc. (Integrity Tech) for its role in a spate of malicious cyber activities. […]

cybersecurity

The Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) issued an update today regarding last week’s cybersecurity incident at the Treasury Department, stating that no other Federal agencies appear to have been impacted. […]

Customer experience CX-min

The Department of Defense (DoD) Chief Digital and Artificial Intelligence Office (CDAO) has concluded a red teaming pilot that resulted in the identification of more than 800 vulnerabilities in the use of large language models (LLM) to enhance military medical services. […]

The Office of Inspector General (OIG) for the Export-Import Bank of the United States (EXIM) discovered that the agency did not properly protect personally identifiable information (PII) stored on a shared network drive, in an incident the OIG is calling a “potential breach.” […]

OPM CIO Guy Cavallo

Office of Personnel Management (OPM) CIO Guy Cavallo said today that he will retire from Federal government service on Jan. 13 and plans to land back in the private sector later this year. […]

employee workforce federal worker-min

The National Science Foundation has awarded new CyberCorps Scholarships for Service (SFS) totaling nearly $15 million to four public universities with the aim of boosting the cybersecurity workforces at Federal, state, local, and Tribal government organizations.   […]

General Services Administration GSA

As the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and the Department of Justice (DOJ) modernize software to meet increasingly complex missions, a collaborative development model – powered by open-source technologies and agile methodologies – speeds the development process. In a recent interview with MeriTalk, Michael Hardee, chief architect for law enforcement and justice at Red Hat, discusses how a container-first and cloud-first approach can help. […]

The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) kicked off a notice of proposed rulemaking on Dec. 27 that it said aims to change the existing Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 (HIPAA) Security Rule with the goal of improving cybersecurity protections for electronic protected health information (ePHI). […]

The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency is setting the stage for a possible new program aimed at developing more robust quantum sensors that can be integrated onto U.S. military platforms, according to a special notice from the agency. […]

cybersecurity

The Pandemic Response Accountability Committee (PRAC) is touting the success of its fraud-fighting abilities and calling on Congress to permanently establish its Pandemic Analytics Center of Excellence (PACE) before the center’s scheduled sunset date of Sept. 30, 2025. […]

supply chain

The U.S. semiconductor industry’s supply chains face significant vulnerabilities, according to a report issued by the White House and informed by use of the Commerce Department’s SCALE supply chain risk assessment tool that debuted last year.   […]

federal workers workforce IT workers employees millennial -min

A proposed rule published today by the Defense Department, NASA, and the General Services Administration aims to help streamline the cybersecurity workforce by integrating the National Initiative for Cybersecurity Education (NICE) Framework into Federal IT and cybersecurity contract requirements.   […]

DoD

The Defense Department’s Office of Strategic Capital (OSC) has released its FY2025 investment plan, outlining priorities for nearly $1 billion of credit-based financial assistance to support development of critical technologies, assets, and their supply chains. […]

Navy seal

 The Department of the Navy is standing up a new office which will drive a mission-driven, user-focused approach to software development, prioritizing rapid deployment to better support its workforce – Sailors, Marines, and Civilians. […]

DoD Pentagon Military

Before wrapping up for the holiday season, the Pentagon issued a final mandate to military services and defense agencies instructing them to begin implementing modern internet addressing standards – and closely monitoring progress on that directive. […]

The Office of the National Cyber Director’s (ONCD) newly minted plan to defend against cyber threats across the energy sector is charging the Energy Department to take the lead in executing 32 key initiatives.  […]

Two pieces of legislation with significant Federal IT implications successfully completed the long legislative process in late December, while a third such bill has been sent to the White House and still requires President Biden’s signature before becoming law. […]

What Happened This Week – Ep. 53

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