Smarter Gov Tech, Stronger MerITocracy
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vThe Government Accountability Office (GAO) recently reviewed five financial regulators to understand their systems for protecting personally identifiable information (PII)— which can be shared with Federal agencies, law enforcement, and contractors— and found room for improvement in certain areas. […]

digital transformation

The Federal government’s new website for ordering free rapid COVID-19 tests went live today – a day ahead of its scheduled Jan. 19 opening date. The new website allows every household in the U.S.to order test kits online at COVIDTests.gov. […]

EHR

The Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) announced it is delaying its Electronic Health Records Modernization (EHRM) program deployment schedule at the second location in Columbus, Ohio, amid a surge in COVID-19 cases. […]

Army

Government and private sector software security experts met with White House officials on Jan. 13 to discuss ways to boost the security of the open-source software that helps to run everything from consumer gadgets to massive industrial systems. […]

Army

General Dynamics Information Technology (GDIT) President Amy Gilliland talked about the vital role that system integrators play for Federal agencies, along with growing agency appetite for zero trust security technologies, during an address to the Northern Virginia Technology Council (NVTC) on Jan. 14. […]

Federal money spending government

Democrats in both the House and Senate have introduced legislation that would give Federal employees an average 5.1 percent pay raise in 2023. Rep. Gerry Connolly, D-Va., reintroduced the Federal Adjustment of Income Rates (FAIR) Act, in the House, and Sen. Brian Schatz, D-Hawaii, introduced the companion bill in the Senate. […]

Reps. Yvette Clarke, D-N.Y., and Ritchie Torres, D-N.Y., are seeking more information on efforts by the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) efforts to reduce security risks to Federal networks through the use of multi-factor authentication (MFA). […]

supply chain risk management process automation

The Senate this week approved bipartisan legislation that would create a cyber training program for Federal employees, aimed to help protect the Federal government against cyberattacks and supply chain security vulnerabilities. […]

Army DoD military Defense AI

For 2022 the United States Army is once again zeroed in on its digital transformation, specifically focusing on six key areas – cloud, cyber, data, application modernization, network, and service delivery and user experience. […]

FITARA

The House Government Operations Subcommittee has confirmed scheduling for its Jan. 20 hearing on the 13th edition of the FITARA Scorecard issued by the House Oversight and Reform Committee that grades major Federal agencies for progress across a range of IT-related goals. […]

No Category Set!

After studying the SolarWinds and Microsoft Exchange attacks for the past year, the Government Accountability Organization (GAO) detailed the lessons agencies learned and ten critical actions still needed to address major cybersecurity challenges in a new report. […]

AI

As Federal agencies look to further adoption of artificial intelligence (AI) technologies, experts both in government and industry are stressing the importance of making sure AI is mission-integrated, and that agencies are moving towards a more distributed AI approach. […]

IRS

One plus one still equals two, but when two providers of services vital to executing on the Federal government’s zero trust security migration mandate are the ones leveraging each other’s strengths, then the equation yields an extra boost through force multiplication. […]

supply chain

The Information and Communications Technology (ICT) Supply Chain Risk Management (SCRM) Task Force has met for the first time this calendar year, and designated work on a software bill of materials (SBOM) as one of its primary priorities for 2022, according to a Jan. 11 press release. […]

cybersecurity

The Department of Defense (DoD) has launched the DoD University Consortium for Cybersecurity (UC2) to better facilitate communication between the Secretary of Defense and academia, and fulfilling a requirement from the 2020 National Defense Authorization Act, DoD announced Jan. 10. […]

three-keys-to-cybersecurity

Kenneth Wainstein, the Biden administration’s nominee to become undersecretary for Intelligence and Analysis (I&A) at the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), fielded questions on several tech-related issues from members of the Senate Intelligence Committee at a Jan. 12 committee hearing to consider his nomination. […]

space

The U.S. Space Force, the smallest and newest military branch, is looking to industry to serve as a leader in a number of innovative technology areas and to successfully collaborate with the service branch, according to Lisa Costa, Space Force’s chief technology and innovation officer. […]

electric grid

The Department of Energy (DoE) announced plans to upgrade the U.S. electricity grid with a major aim of helping to protect vital energy infrastructure against supply disruptions caused by environmental, physical, and cyberattacks, and to minimize the impact of supply disruptions. […]

cybersecurity

The Senate this week approved legislation sponsored by Sens. Gary Peters, D-Mich., and Rob Portman, R-Ohio, which would promote stronger cybersecurity coordination between the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and state and local governments. […]

Improving cybersecurity has become the key to better protecting critical infrastructure and meeting mission needs within the government space, but according to an official from the Government Accountability Office (GAO), Federal agencies still have a long way to go to be cyber-ready. […]

The Pentagon is a very large building that houses a lot of the authorities for the U.S. Military. It's big. This photo doesn't do it justice, but they're kinda rightly concerned about people flying drones around there.

Department of Defense (DoD) components have successfully monitored and managed four contracts and one cooperative agreement for the Algorithmic Warfare Cross-Functional Team (AWCFT) – otherwise known as Project Maven – but the team failed to document its approach to monitoring metrics, processes, and procedures. […]

Officials from the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) and within the cybersecurity industry are warning of the potential for threat actors to have already exploited the Log4j vulnerability, but are waiting to pull the trigger on any planned exploits until focus on the vulnerability abates. […]

Reps. Gerry Connolly, D-Va., and Jody Hice, R-Ga., have sent letters to the IRS, Social Security Administration (SSA), U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS), Department of Veterans Affairs (VA), and the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) seeking feedback on how the agencies are implementing the CASES Act. […]

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