As the COVID-19 pandemic forced Federal agencies to quickly move to a remote environment, Federal and private sector leaders say the shift to telework provided valuable benefits, such as increased leadership and employee engagement, as well as digital savviness among employees. […]
The Department of Homeland Security’s (DHS) Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) is still looking for a permanent lead for its Continuous Diagnostics and Mitigation (CDM) program, but Richard Grabowski, the program’s deputy lead, has been elevated to acting program manager in the meantime, CISA told MeriTalk. […]
The United States Air Force (USAF) – like the rest of the Federal government – has focused a great deal of energy on IT modernization. Those efforts resulted in the sunsetting of 221 legacy IT systems over the past four years, a USAF official shared along with other insights during the inaugural Coffee Chat event organized by MeriTalk and Amazon Web Services. […]
Cloud service behemoths Amazon Web Services (AWS) and Microsoft appear to be squaring off once again over a big Federal government cloud contract – this time a deal awarded by the National Security Agency (NSA) to AWS. […]
FedRAMP released its annual survey for FY2021 today. […]
For some Federal agencies, taking a hybrid approach to cloud modernization is the best path forward in protecting data, as well as helping to manage costs. […]
Office of Management and Budget (OMB) Acting Director Shalanda Young has delivered a report to Joe Biden assessing equity in government practices, and identifying significant existing barriers preventing historically underserved communities from accessing benefits and services in Federal programs. […]
As the number of cyberattacks continues to rise, Federal experts say information sharing between the private and public sectors is critical when it comes to defending against cyber threats. However, experts are warning agencies that they need to start getting more specific on their information sharing needs if they want to achieve “a joint end-state” with industry. […]
Infrastructure week finally arrived in Washington, D.C. with the Senate’s approval of the $1 trillion Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act on Tuesday morning. The bill – whose main tech-related titles include $65 billion for broadband and around $2 billion for cybersecurity – cleared the Senate by a vote of 69-30. […]
The Government Accountability Office (GAO) published a fresh update on its priority open recommendations for the Department of Defense (DoD), showing that while the Pentagon has been busy trying to satisfy numerous prior recommendations from the watchdog agency, its overall to-do list from GAO is staying about the same because a steady stream of new recommendations are being added. […]
President Biden has nominated Andrew Fois to a five-year term as chairman of the Administrative Conference of the United States (ACUS) – an independent Federal agency that convenes experts from the public and private sectors to recommend improvements to Federal government administrative processes and procedures. […]
The National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) released a 2022-2026 Strategic Plan draft to maximize digital records’ access and availability, including a top-line goal of digitizing a half billion pages of records. […]
Following a pair of votes on the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act over the weekend, the bipartisan infrastructure measure is nearing the finish line in the Senate. The bill is currently on track for a final vote in the Senate on Tuesday morning. […]
The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) announced the launch of a new map showing nationwide mobile coverage and availability data from the largest wireless providers. […]
A new mandate from the Pentagon will require all active duty service members to receive the COVID-19 vaccine by mid-September, or immediately upon final Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approval, whichever comes first. […]
The White House has issued new guidance in a series of questions and answers regarding COVID-19 vaccine and testing requirements for Federal employees, contractors, and visitors. […]
The Senate on August 7 by voice vote confirmed the nomination of Carlos Del Toro as Secretary of the Navy. He will bring 22 years of U.S. Navy service, and 17 years of private sector defense experience to the role. […]
The Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) released a new training guide to help IT professionals advance their careers in the Federal and state, local, tribal, and territorial cybersecurity communities. […]
A recent study found a host of vulnerabilities in the use of open-source components in commercial off-the-shelf (COTS) IT products, which undergo less stringent regulation in their use by the Federal government. […]
A new tool from MeriTalk and stackArmor is providing insight into the Federal Risk and Authorization Management Program (FedRAMP), and helping cloud service providers (CSPs) make data-driven decisions while pursuing their authorization journey. […]
President Biden named two key nominees for the Federal Labor Relations Authority (FLRA) on August 4. The White House announced Biden will nominate Susan Grundmann as an FLRA member and Kurt Rumsfeld as FLRA general counsel. […]
As the United States continues to compete in the cyber domain against adversarial nation states, Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas says that the U.S. must confront crucial questions about how to shape the future of internet-based communications. […]
Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin signed and approved the Department of Defense’s (DoD) 2020 Electromagnetic Spectrum Superiority Strategy’s Implementation Plan (EMSSS I-Plan) on July 15, aligning electromagnetic spectrum (EMS) resources across the department, the Pentagon announced this week. […]
A bipartisan bill introduced by Sens. Brian Schatz, D-Hawaii, Thom Tillis, R-N.C., John Cornyn, R-Texas, and Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., seeks to improve cybercrime data collection and give Federal law enforcement more tools to stop online crime. […]
The 12th edition of the House Oversight and Reform Committee’s FITARA Scorecard issued on July 28 offered a mildly positive story of progress that the largest Federal government agencies are making against a range of IT-related goals. But that’s not where the real news came from in the committee’s semiannual exercise on keep agencies honest on the tech front. […]
The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) created a new data system in April 2020 to deal with collecting data on whether hospitals have enough beds and supplies during the COVID-19 pandemic. However, during the pandemic, HHS changed its data collection methods and requirements—making it difficult for hospitals to report data. […]
The Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs signed off on a number of cybersecurity-related bills and a Department of Homeland Security (DHS) supply chain bill during an August 4 business meeting, sending the bills to the Senate floor for a vote. […]
The U.S. Army is searching for a cloud-based platform that it can use to simulate a real-world attacker hitting the Department of Defense Information Network (DoDIN). […]
The Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation approved two bills during an Aug. 4 business meeting, one to ensure that the Federal Communications Commission does not approve radio frequency devices that pose a national security risk, and another to advance the adoption of composite technology. […]
The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) is seeking comment on a draft special publication (SP) on assessing security and privacy controls. […]