Federal agencies should begin fully describing public comment data and their limitations, despite agencies not being required to collect information on or to verify commenters’ identities. […]
With a growing number of advanced threats across the Federal landscape, Small Business Administration (SBA) Chief Technology Officer Sanjay Gupta, encouraged agencies to view cybersecurity as a “team sport” and a proactive sport to gain a better cyber posture. […]
The Technology Modernization Fund (TMF) got a $1 billion boost in March’s American Rescue Plan, and the TMF board saw a massive influx of TMF requests that it has been working on adjudicating. At a Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs hearing today, Federal chief information security officer (CISO) Chris DeRusha updated senators on the status of that extra TMF funding. […]
The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) has awarded $73 million in cooperative agreements to 10 awardees as a part of its Public Health Informatics & Technology Workforce Development Program (PHIT Workforce Program). […]
Federal IT professionals often feel stuck between a rock and a hard place. Their “customers” – which include every U.S. citizen as well as legions of internal stakeholders – want them to deliver modern services faster, more securely, and more cost-effectively at a time when workloads and expectations have never been greater. Couple this with record employee transitions and steep competition for talent, and IT professionals face a Herculean mission. […]
President Biden announced the members of the President’s Council of Advisors on Science and Technology (PCAST), which is tasked with making science, technology, and innovation policy recommendations to the President and the White House. […]
The Department of Defense (DoD) has announced that Verizon Public Sector will be delivering 5G Ultra-Wideband mobility service to seven Air Force Reserve Command (AFRC) installations based in California, Florida, Massachusetts, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania, and Texas. […]
President Biden’s nominees to run the Merit Systems Protection Board (MSPB) promised during a confirmation hearing on September 22 to act quickly to reduce an unprecedented backlog of cases involving agency personnel decisions. They also acknowledged they anticipate an onslaught of appeals involving COVID-19 vaccine mandates. […]
President Biden announced nominations for a round of key national security positions, including nominating Douglas Bush for assistant secretary of the Army for Acquisition. […]
As part of a government-wide effort to counter ransomware, the U.S. Department of the Treasury is taking robust actions to disrupt criminal networks and virtual currency exchanges responsible for laundering ransoms, encourage best cyber practices, and increase efficient and timely incident reporting to agencies. […]
In the early days of the pandemic, the General Services Administration (GSA) leveraged new technologies to advance their electronic records management systems and processes, said Dave Simmons, knowledge management specialist and senior records officer for GSA, on September 21 at an FCW webinar. […]
After a two-day meeting that included deciding which amendments to the fiscal year (FY) 2022 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) will receive votes, the House Rules Committee ruled several cybersecurity provisions to see floor votes when the measure comes up. […]
It’s important to hold adversaries accountable for recent cyber incidents, but Carole House, the director of cybersecurity and secure digital innovation on the White House National Security Council (NSC) stressed that “we need to hold ourselves accountable to the shortcomings” at home as well. […]
The Department of the Navy is working on a brand new program, which does not have a name yet, that will put data into the hands of its workforce, according to the Navy’s Chief Data Officer (CDO) Tom Sasala. […]
A new agreement led by the Commonwealth of Massachusetts will allow eight neighboring states and Washington, D.C., to offer Internet access, devices, and other technology to constituents through local agencies at a discounted rate via Verizon’s Digital Inclusion Program. […]
The ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, along with other natural disasters, forced the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to shift to remote work. In a new report, the agency’s Office of Inspector General (OIG) said that the EPA was able to effectively plan a long-term solution to address remote access concerns while also transitioning to the General Services Administration’s (GSA) Enterprise Infrastructure Solutions (EIS) contract. […]
As the deadline to meet the requirements set in Memorandum-19-21 (M-19-21), some Federal agencies are struggling to meet the remaining requirements. However, during an FCW virtual summit on Sept. 21. the National Archives and Record Administration’s (NARA) chief record officer, Laurence Brewer, said the agency is aware of these challenges and is prepared to have those conversations, but there is currently no plan for a deadline extension. […]
The Department of Defense (DoD) has made progress in implementing a new electronic health records (EHR) system, but some challenges remain, the Government Accountability Office (GAO) says. […]
Savannah River National Laboratory (SRNL) has opened a Critical Infrastructure, Industrial Control System Cybersecurity Laboratory at the Georgia Cyber Center. […]
At the highest levels of the Federal government and the private sector, officials have recognized that cybersecurity is a national security issue. A series of policy and technical documents and high-level meetings this year have reinforced this notion. Chief among them is President Biden’s cybersecurity executive order (EO), which outlines a wide-ranging and ambitious series of actions Federal agencies must take to better secure government operations. MeriTalk recently talked with Jim Richberg, field chief information security officer at cybersecurity firm Fortinet, who is uniquely qualified to assess the potential impact of the cybersecurity EO and the actions that agencies must take to realize its promise. Prior to joining Fortinet, Richberg was the senior federal executive focused on cyber intelligence within the U.S. intelligence community. He helped build the discipline of cyber threat intelligence analysis and is an innovator in measuring cyber performance, risk, and return on investment. […]
A Senate Homeland Security Committee hearing brought together several experts from the intelligence community today to discuss the homeland security landscape 20 years after the terrorist attacks on Sept. 11, 2001. […]
The American Federation of Government Employees (AFGE) now supports Rep. Jimmy Panetta’s, D-Ca., National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) amendment that would create a Civilian Cyber Reserve at the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), AFGE announced in a follow-up letter on Sept. 18. […]
The U.S. Postal Service (USPS) Inspector General (IG) reported that the Postal Inspection Service sufficiently manages seized cryptocurrency. However, opportunities exist to improve its management of cryptocurrency used for investigative purposes. […]
A recent survey by OneSignal found that nearly 70 percent of parents found that digital communication methods with educators and administrators was either less time consuming or about the same as phone or in-person meetings. […]
The American Federation of Government Employees (AFGE) wrote the leaders of the House Rules Committee Sept. 15 to express their opposition to amendments to the fiscal year (FY) 2022 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) that would create a civilian cyber reserve program. […]
The Department of Commerce’s (DoC) Bureau of Industry and Security published a request for comments to gain feedback on what should be included in a report on supply chains for critical sectors and subsectors of the information and communications technology (ICT) industrial base. […]
As we approach the home stretch for the two trillion-dollar-plus infrastructure bills that have consumed an extraordinary amount of legislative energy over the past few months, it’s easy to become confused. […]
With attacks on critical infrastructure increasing, Rep. Jim Langevin, D-R.I., chairman of the House Armed Services Subcommittee on Cyber, Innovative Technologies, and Information Systems, is calling for improved security of critical systems and increased cybersecurity collaboration among the private and public sector. […]
A request for information (RFI) by the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) developing a framework to improve the management of risks to individuals, organizations, and society associated with AI received feedback to assist in its development. […]
With fiscal year (FY) 2021 ending September 30, the House Rules Committee will be meeting on September 20 to decide which of the over 800 amendments filed for the FY2022 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) will get a floor vote. […]