Army

The shift to remote work forced by the coronavirus pandemic has helped the Army’s Combat Capabilities Development Command (CCDC) – a component of Army Futures Command – identify security gaps, and work to improve IT security for offsite personnel, said Col. Gregory Smith, Military Deputy to the Director of the CCDC, at an AFFIRM webinar Dec. 16. […]

Christopher Krebs under secretary undersecretary DHS Department of Homeland Security National Protection and Programs Directorate NPPD leader CISA cybersecurity and infrastructure security agency

Online learning provider Coursera is scoring a big Federal sector win by making its services available – via an agreement with immixGroup – to the General Services Administration (GSA) Multiple Award Schedule (MAS) to help with Federal government employee reskilling efforts. […]

DHS
DoD Pentagon Military

The Department of Defense (DoD) will pilot the enforcement of its Cybersecurity Maturity Model Certification (CMMC) program on seven upcoming contracts that DoD expects to award in late 2021, setting the stage for the first CMMC audits, the department announced in a Dec. 15 news release. […]

Veterans Affairs

The Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) announced the completion of all IT initiatives for the implementation of the Forever GI Bill – also known as the Colmery Act – and the full deployment of associated software and systems, finishing the implementation of a policy initiative that initially put VA’s IT in the headlines for the wrong reasons. […]

The Council of the Inspectors General on Integrity and Efficiency (CIGIE) has announced the election of Allison Lerner as the group’s new chairperson, effective in January. […]

CISA

In a push to help students and faculty feel safer in their classrooms, the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) is looking to help K-12 schools make data-driven decisions on how to use current and evolving security procedures and technologies to improve school security – primarily against active assailants. […]

security

A new report from the Government Accountability Office (GAO) finds that most large agencies had not implemented any supply chain risk management practices from the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) – publicly acknowledging weaknesses on the heels of the attack on SolarWinds’ software that led to breaches at multiple Federal agencies. […]

The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Science and Technology Directorate (S&T) Silicon Valley Innovation Program (SVIP) is continuing a partnership with Bastille Networks—an Atlanta-based Internet of Things (IoT) technology start-up—by awarding the company a Phase 5 Other Transaction Agreement (OTA). […]

capitol washington dc senate house congress-min

The $908 billion emergency COVID relief package debuted Dec. 14 by a bipartisan group of senators proposed another big round of Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) work for the Small Business Administration (SBA), along with a $10 billion lifeline for broadband connectivity and distance learning programs. […]

State Department

Within the State Department, Information Systems Security Officers (ISSOs) in overseas posts have an unclear reporting system, a lack of management oversight, and not enough dedicated staff time, leading to deficiencies in ISSO performance, according to a report released Dec. 15 by the State Department’s Office of the Inspector General (OIG). […]

cybersecurity
cybersecurity

President Trump’s National Infrastructure Advisory Council (NIAC) released recommendations and an implementation plan in a Dec. 10 report to the President for the creation of a Critical Infrastructure Command Center (CICC) that would be pair government and private sector experts to improve cybersecurity for critical infrastructure sectors. […]

The Intelligence Advanced Research Projects Activity (IARPA) issued a Broad Agency Announcement (BAA) seeking information on developing software capable of whole-body (WB) identification at long-range and from elevated platforms. […]

President Trump on Dec. 11 signed an executive order (EO) giving Federal employees the full day off on Christmas Eve. While Christmas Eve is not officially a Federal holiday, President Trump gave Federal employees Dec. 24 off in 2019 and 2018, as well. Department heads will still ultimately have the last call as the EO […]

DoD

The Defense Information Systems Agency (DISA) is seeking a private sector partner to provide engineering, sustainment, technical and operational support for the Virtual Desktop Infrastructure (VDI) and Cloud Storage programs. […]

CISA

The Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) is requiring all Federal civilian agencies to disconnect or turn off any SolarWinds Orion products by noon today, as a nation-state hack of the tools pose a significant cybersecurity threat and is linked to a hack at the Treasury and Commerce Departments. […]

Government and industry officials weighed in on the final day of Google Cloud’s Public Sector Summit Dec. 9 with both strategic advice and practical experience for technology deployments to deal with dislocations caused by the coronavirus pandemic, and to continue improving citizen service beyond the current public health crisis. […]

The Department of the Navy (DON) Chief Information Officer is being directed to partner with the Assistant Secretary of the Navy and Director, and the Director for Office of the Chief Management Officer to take proactive measures to identify, assess, and eliminate redundant systems and applications throughout the organization. […]

White House

The Senate unanimously passed the weeklong continuing resolution (CR) by a voice vote on Dec. 11, clearing the way to avoid a Federal government shutdown at midnight. The Senate approved the CR passed by the House of Representatives earlier in the week. The CR will now go to President Trump’s desk for final approval. […]

The Senate passed the annual National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) for Fiscal Year 2021 on Dec. 11 with a veto-proof 84-13 vote. This follows the House passing the bill earlier this week, also with a veto-proof majority. The bill now goes to President Trump’s desk, who has repeatedly Tweeted that he plans to use his veto power. […]

Pentagon Military Defense DoD

The Government Accountability Office (GAO) said in a Dec. 10 report the Department of Defense (DoD) is at risk of not being able to fully achieve its electromagnetic system (EMS) strategy goals without addressing key issues. […]

Cyber

The changing cybersecurity landscape demands evolving technology and policy to help Federal agencies combat cyber threats and build resilience. MeriTalk spoke with Bryan Rosensteel, public sector cybersecurity architect at Cisco’s Duo Security, about the expansion of agency networks beyond traditional perimeters, how the Continuous Diagnostics and Mitigation (CDM) program is adapting to the changing landscape, and how dynamic authentication can help agencies stay ahead of bad actors. […]

Maria Roat

Federal CIOs laid the groundwork for COVID-19-related telework by modernizing systems and moving to the cloud, responded to the pandemic with rapid modernization, and have the opportunity to maintain momentum for further improvements to government technology, said Maria Roat, deputy Federal CIO. […]

Federal government agencies are making consistent progress on going paperless and 97 percent of agencies believe they will meet the December 2022 deadline, set in Memorandum-19-21, to properly manage permanent files, according to a National Archives and Record Administration (NARA) report. […]

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