Smarter Gov Tech, Stronger MerITocracy
Air Force

The House Homeland Security Committee will mark up its portion of the legislative language for the $3.5 trillion reconciliation bill tomorrow, but the released text of the chairman’s amendment to the bill shows that Rep. Bennie Thompson, D-Miss., proposes to give the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) $856 million to fund various programs and operations expenses. […]

infrastructure

Crumbling bridges and leaky levees. Buckling roadways. Unsafe water pipes. Inadequate public transit. The list of U.S. infrastructure failings is both broad and deep. The United States is paying only about half of its necessary infrastructure bill, and the total investment gap has grown from $2.1 trillion over 10 years, to a current figure of nearly $2.59 trillion over 10 years, according to the American Society of Civil Engineers. As a result, local government leaders face staggering infrastructure requirements that local tax revenues cannot fulfill. […]

CISA
FCC
AI

The vital role of digitization in the ongoing effort to meet electronic records mandates is undeniable, Federal government officials agreed on September 9 during a Digital Government Institute webinar at which they discussed their agencies’ successes and challenges in improving the process. […]

Growth in artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML) technologies is driving new demands across the Federal enterprise for secure storage and effective data management. Data is no longer just accumulated and stored. Teams rely on robust, timely data analysis to support daily operations and innovation. Secure storage, access, and management of data are critical to agency missions. […]

vaccine

While the White House’s September 9 executive order makes clear that employees of Federal government contractors will be covered by an updated coronavirus vaccine mandate, the exact details of that requirement may not be learned until later this month when the government’s Safer Federal Workforce Task Force issues more precise information. […]

President Biden announced this week he will nominate Willie Phillips as a commissioner of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC), an agency that regulates the interstate transmission of natural gas, oil, and electricity – including critical infrastructure such as the electric grid and natural gas pipelines. […]

NIST

The House Committee on Science, Space, and Technology completed the markup of its legislative language for the $3.5 trillion reconciliation package Sept. 9 and included in that measure nearly $1.2 billion of funding to the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) for cybersecurity and other emerging tech research. […]

DHS
cybersecurity
Electronic Records

Earlier this year, the Government Publishing Office (GPO) undertook a massive digitization project to make every U.S. government document digitally accessible. On Sept. 9, during a Digital Government Institute webinar, Suzanne Ebanues, supervisory management analyst for Library Services and Content Management at GPO, updated attendees on the agency’s digitization efforts. […]

In a new Government Accountability Office (GAO) report, the agency identified challenges related to exposure notification applications that allow for contact tracing for the spread of COVID-19. According to GAO, half of U.S. states have COVID-19 exposure notification apps as of June 2021 and identified five challenges related to the apps. To address the challenges, […]

Navy
vaccine

The Department of Commerce (DOC) established the National AI Advisory Committee (NAIAC), which will serve as a high-level committee advising President Biden and other Federal agencies on AI-related issues. […]

Army

As the military moves towards utilizing a Joint All Domain Command and Control (JADC2) data fabric across operations, the Army and other military departments are increasingly engaging in operations across multiple domains. In order to maintain staunch cybersecurity practices in these environments, the military must move to zero trust, Army CIO Raj Iyer said Sept. 8. […]

army fitness apps

Tomorrow’s troops will draw on biotechnology and brain-computer interfaces, augmented reality headsets and adaptive camouflage, and other tools barely dreamt of by today’s soldiers. The U.S. Army Research Laboratory (ARL) continues to look broadly across the swath of technologies critical to supporting the Army today and in the future, according to ARL officials on September 8 at a Defense One webinar.  […]

CISA

Bipartisan members of Congress this week introduced legislation that would make the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency’s (CISA) director’s tenure a five-year term and reaffirm that the position is presidentially appointed and Senate confirmed. […]

USPS Postal Service
Data Center Brainstorm
Department of Transportation

Now that the Office and Management and Budget (OMB) and the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) have released their new directives for Federal civilian agencies to move to zero trust security principles and expanded cloud adoption, what are some near-term steps that Federal IT and cybersecurity officials should think about as they get ready to put those directives into action? […]

White House flag at half mast

The Biden administration’s latest set of directives that aim to move Federal agencies toward zero-trust security architectures and more cloud adoption are receiving positive initial reviews from Federal IT officials, although leaving some to wonder where funding will come from for agencies to follow through on the directives. […]

modernization

The Department of Defense (DoD) is expanding its chief technology officer (CTO) role, which is the under secretary for research and engineering, to head the innovation steering group and oversee modernization efforts, Deputy Secretary Kathleen Hicks announced today. […]

us passport government publishing office gpo
White House

Categories