Speaking today during an open hearing on the hacking of U.S. networks by foreign adversaries, Senate Intelligence Committee Chairman Mark Warner, D-Va., questioned why the U.S. shouldn’t have mandatory cyberattack reporting systems in light of the recent Russia-backed hack of government and private sector networks via SolarWinds software products. […]
Rep. Gerry Connolly, D-Va., said today he was reintroducing legislation to create a stronger Federal workforce by reauthorizing the Merit Systems Protection Board (MSPB) and requiring Federal agencies to report publicly about their workforce diversity and inclusion efforts. […]
The newly formed House Armed Services Committee’s Subcommittee on Cyber, Innovative Technologies, and Information Systems (CITI) held its first hearing today, in which members called for the Department of Defense (DoD) to accelerate technology innovation and adoption if the United States wants to remain a global leader in the “competition to innovate.” […]
The Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) released a new set of ethics principles on Feb. 22 for stakeholders both inside and outside of the agency to follow in an effort to better protect veterans’ data. […]
President Biden nominated former Office of Personnel Management (OPM) Chief of Staff Kiran Ahuja to serve as the agency’s next director, the White House announced Feb. 23. […]
The House Budget Committee has completed its markup of President Biden’s $1.9 trillion American Rescue Act, keeping the bill on schedule for a vote in the full House later this week before it heads to the Senate for consideration. […]
The General Services Administration (GSA) is re-awarding its 2nd Generation IT (2GIT) Blanket Purchase Agreements (BPAs) with estimated values of $5.5 billion over five years. […]
The National Institutes of Health’s (NIH) National Cancer Institute (NCI) is looking for data management services to help develop a large research resource to advance in breast cancer research. […]
In response to a sharp spike in IT services and cybersecurity demands for a dispersed workforce, President Joe Biden made Federal technology modernization one of his early priorities, citing the need to upgrade Federal IT as “an urgent national security issue.” […]
The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) needs to do a better job collecting necessary data from its Countering Violent Extremism (CVE) Grant Program – which funds efforts to reduce and prevent extremist violence in the United States – the Government Accountability Office (GAO) said in a report that found that DHS didn’t obtain data on the performance of grantees for 2017-2019. […]
Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas on Feb. 22 announced several steps to help meet President Biden’s goal to advance cybersecurity in the Federal government, including increasing spending to improve cybersecurity in some areas. […]
Two influential House committees said they will hold a public hearing into the Russia-based hack of government and private sector networks via SolarWinds Orion products, along with other recent attacks, on Feb. 26 at 9 a.m. […]
Continuing the budget reconciliation process, the House Budget Committee began marking up the House version of President Biden’s American Rescue Act on Feb. 22, as the House looks to bring the bill to a vote later this week. […]
The Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) has unveiled three key leadership appointments including the agency’s deputy director, and two covering hot-button security posts. […]
The General Services Administration’s (GSA) insider threat program (ITP) is failing to adequately protect GSA personnel, facilities, and systems from insider threats, according to a recent report from the agency’s Office of Inspector General. […]
The Secret Service is looking to purchase approximately 2,000 cloud-based body cameras for its agents, according to a request for information (RFI) posted on Beta.Sam.gov. The RFI notes that the eventual contract would be a firm fixed-price contract. […]
The Election Infrastructure Government Coordinating Council – whose leadership spans Federal, state, and local government election officials – applauded inter-government cooperation on implementing cybersecurity safeguards in the 2020 election cycle, and pledged to use lessons learned going forward to improve election security and resiliency. […]
Fresh on the heels of last month’s news that AWS is coming to GDIT’s milCloud 2.0, experts from both companies are set for a deep dive on Feb. 24 – exploring how the new addition to the milCloud 2.0 lineup provides Department of Defense (DoD) mission owners with secure cloud services. […]
In partnership with the U.S. Air Force, ATARC recently conducted a study of the Federal DevSecOps landscape, to better understand its current status, challenges, successes, and future. […]
The United States Census Bureau has set aside a contract for small businesses to help the bureau leverage technology and will schedule an industry day to help decide who to award the contract, according to a Feb. 19 beta.SAM.gov post. […]
President Biden announced several senior appointments on Feb. 19 plans to the Departments of Health and Human Services (HHS), Education, and Veterans Affairs (VA), including Chiquita Brooks-LaSure as Administrator for the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS). […]
A group of House Democrats is urging the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) and the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) to allocate COVID-19 vaccinations for the Federal workforce, many of whom are considered essential workers. […]
Federal agencies are finding their way to cloud services in increasing numbers, and through a variety of mission-specific motivations. Far from a one-size-fits-all mindset, agency decisions to undertake cloud migrations need to be evaluated through multiple project outcome priorities. Here’s a rundown of some recent agency moves to the cloud, with some advice from solutions provider Force 3 about steps that may make the move easier. […]
Officials from the Defense Department (DoD) and the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) said today that creating more effective defenses against sophisticated cyberattacks of the type used in the SolarWinds Orion hack may require further adoption of zero trust security concepts. […]
It has been nearly a year since the Federal workforce had to shift to telework practically overnight. While the Federal government was already working to increase telework capabilities, COVID-19 forced agencies to modernize at warp speed. After making sure employees had the devices they need, agencies had to ensure that cybersecurity capabilities remained strong even though employees were now working on their home networks. […]
The National Science Foundation (NSF) is collaborating with Amazon on a program to support research focused on fairness in artificial intelligence and announced the program’s first cohort of 2021 awardees. […]
Federal leaders agreed during a Feb. 18 Alteryx virtual event that the COVID-19 pandemic provided more opportunities for collaboration between agencies, especially when it came to sharing data across agency lines. […]
With the COVID pandemic painfully revealing the soft underbelly of legacy state IT programs, much speculation has arisen about just how an enterprise IT modernization program for states could take place. […]
Keith Nakasone, a senior acquisition official at the General Services Administration (GSA), said this week that his agency has held what he called “very early” talks with other Federal agencies aimed at spreading the use of the Cybersecurity Maturity Model Certification (CMMC) security standard through more of the Federal government. […]
The Occupational Safety and Health Association (OSHA) needs to reevaluate its reporting compliance standards and fix the current deficiencies in the system, according to a report by the Government Accountability Office (GAO). […]