President Joe Biden announced 23 acting agency heads after his inauguration, as his Cabinet nominees continue with their confirmation process. […]
Following President Joe Biden’s inauguration, the General Services Administration (GSA) announced the list of political appointees that will lead the agency. According to the GSA, the appointees are a combination of Obama-Biden administration officials and others with public/private sector experience specifically in climate and technology. […]
The Government Accountability Office’s (GAO) annual assessment of acquisition programs at the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) found 10 programs to have been in breach of either baseline cost or schedule at some point in 2020 and five were in breach as of September 2020. […]
The Oregon Army National Guard (ORANG) is seeking a cloud-based shipping and mailing solution for more than 100 users and more than 50 sites. […]
New working conditions have led agencies to adjust AI adoption methods and strengthen data analytics capabilities by leveraging commercially available solutions from industry and implementing other practices during the pandemic. […]
Four lawmakers are criticizing Secretary of State Mike Pompeo’s approval of a new cybersecurity and emerging technologies bureau and calling for President-elect Joe Biden to hit pause when he is sworn in and takes office. […]
Mark Montgomery, senior advisor to the chairmen of the Cyberspace Solarium Commission that last year produced dozens of recommendations to Congress on legislative steps to improve U.S. cybersecurity, said Jan. 19 that the commission is urging Congress in 2021 to adopt a more comprehensive strategy to protect the nation’s information and communications (ICT) supply chain. […]
The Federal Risk and Authorization Management Program (FedRAMP) is looking to make the move from manual processes to automated ones, focusing on two strategic initiatives that will make cloud security even easier for agencies. […]
Ret. Army Gen. Lloyd Austin, President Joe Biden’s nominee for Defense Secretary, faced a barrage of cybersecurity questions during his Jan. 19 confirmation hearing before the Senate Armed Services Committee. […]
In a Senate Homeland Security Committee hearing, Alejandro Mayorkas, President-elect Joe Biden’s nominee for Secretary of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), laid out his vision for the nation’s cybersecurity and promised to make it a priority if confirmed. […]
Maria Roat, who has been deputy Federal CIO at the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) since May 2020, will become Acting Federal CIO and Acting Federal CISO effective Jan. 20, a senior administration official confirmed to MeriTalk. […]
Getting in and out of the District of Columbia will likely be more trouble than it’s worth until after President-elect Joe Biden’s inauguration with the Secret Service adding bridge closures to mounting restrictions. The Secret Service announced restrictions on seven bridges Jan. 18, with all but one restricting all access into the city. […]
The costs and consequences of the Russia-backed hack of government and private sector networks via a breach of SolarWinds Orion products are continuing to grow more than a month after the exploit was publicly disclosed, a senior official with the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) said today. […]
The Institute of Education Sciences (IES) housed within the Department of Education is seeking support for its cloud hosting, system administration, and website support and development. […]
The National Security Agency (NSA) announced Rob Joyce will take over as the agency’s Director of Cybersecurity, replacing Anne Neuberger. […]
President-elect Joe Biden said Jan. 15 that he will nominate Dr. Eric Lander as director of the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP). […]
House Oversight and Reform Committee Chair Carolyn Maloney, D-N.Y., and Government Operations Subcommittee Chairman Gerry Connolly, D-Va., asked Office of Management and Budget (OMB) leaders in a Jan. 15 letter to halt implementation of the Trump administration’s 2020 executive order that created a new “Schedule F” classification for Federal employees in policy-making positions. […]
President-elect Joe Biden’s proposal to inject $9 billion of new money into the Technology Modernization Fund (TMF) to speed Federal agency IT modernization and improve security is drawing uniformly positive reviews from across the Federal tech community, mixed with notes of caution about how the proposal will end up faring in Congress. […]
The Defense Department (DoD) is parceling out senior management responsibilities that had been overseen by its chief management officer (CMO) position – which was eliminated under the William M. “Mac” Thornberry National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) for FY 2021. […]
Federal agencies have made major changes in their approach to network security in the recent past, spurred by last year’s move to widespread telework, the implementation of Trusted Internet Connections (TIC) 3.0, and the desire toward zero-trust network security, a panel of agency officials and experts explained. […]
President-Elect Joe Biden has announced two key nominations to help run the Office of Management and Budget (OMB), tapping Shalanda Young as the nominee for the Deputy Director of OMB, and Jason Miller as the nominee for Deputy Director for Management at OMB. […]
As Federal agencies are looking to modernize IT infrastructure and increasingly migrate to cloud environments, their respective stages of implementation are running the spectrum from just beginning the journey to having highly developed processes, a General Services Administration (GSA) official said at a FedInsider digital training event Jan. 13. […]
The Office of Personnel Management (OPM) published an updated doctrine on Jan. 13 that details new core security vetting principles for the government to use in managing security clearances. […]
The Government Accountability Office (GAO) found in a new report that the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services’ (CMS) Transformed Medicaid Statistical Information System (T-MSIS) has shown key improvements in accuracy and completeness of data that it handles. […]
The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) has officially named Jeff Seaton as the agency’s permanent CIO. […]
To protect high value assets (HVAs), Federal agencies need to fully deploy the Continuous Diagnostics and Mitigation (CDM) program, clearly communicate strengths and weaknesses to leadership, and ensure system owners have a stake in their CDM deployment, explained Jeff Eisensmith, former CISO at the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), during a MeriTalk webinar on January 12. […]
A broad economic recovery plan released late today by President-elect Joe Biden proposes a whopping $9 billion increase to the Technology Modernization Fund (TMF), along with a host of other funding measures to upgrade Federal government technology and improve IT security following the Russian hack of thousands government and private sector networks that came to light last month. […]
A bill introduced in the House by Reps. Gerry Connolly, D-Va., and Ryan Fitzpatrick, R-Pa., on Jan. 13 aims to invalidate a controversial executive order issued by the Trump administration in October 2020 that created a new “Schedule F” classification for Federal employees in policy-making positions and makes it easier to hire and fire them. […]
The Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) is warning that threat actors are exploiting poor cyber hygiene to compromise cloud security environments, and in response issued its Analysis Report AR21-013A: Strengthening Security Configurations to Defend Against Attackers Targeting Cloud Services. […]
The Department of Defense (DoD) announced the establishment of the Trusted Capital Digital Marketplace (TCDM) on Wednesday, which will establish trusted sources of funding for the defense industrial base (DIB) and prevent threats to national security. […]