Brian Harrell, assistant director for infrastructure security at the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA), is leaving his current post to take a role in the private sector, an agency spokesperson confirmed to MeriTalk today. […]
The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) Office of the Inspector General (OIG) found that the USDA is not properly disciplining employees or contractors for improper uses of IT resources. OIG found that a lack of clear policies and procedures were to blame for the lack of accountability. […]
As the final weeks of the nation’s first census conducted primarily online conclude, a Census Bureau official said the website of the 2020 decennial survey has experienced no downtime during peak operations as a result of a move to the cloud. […]
Sens. Chris Coons, D-Del., and Dick Durbin, D-Ill., announced a bill to increase Federal investment in research and development (R&D) by $80 billion over nine years, and make “American Innovation Centers” in metropolitan areas the recipients of the funding. […]
A survey of 2,200 Federal workers released yesterday by the American Federation of Government Employees (AFGE) revealed that most Feds feel unsafe returning to on-site work and believe agencies are not doing enough to protect them. […]
At the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) offices responsible for managing emergency communications, the coronavirus pandemic has required officials to adapt natural disaster plans to the unique challenges of the public health crisis, government officials said today. […]
According to a new Government Accountability Office (GAO) report, the Department of Homeland Security’s Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agency doesn’t comprehensively analyze inspection or complaint information to identify trends, and doesn’t have assurance that complaints are addressed. […]
As the U.S. Air Force (USAF) continues along its data management journey, Chief Data Officer Eileen Vidrine said that the agency has implemented new tactics – such as datathons and academic efforts – to empower all service personnel to embrace data science. […]
The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) is embracing a new cybersecurity routine after the ongoing public health crisis placed a new target on the agency and malicious actors boosted their efforts to infiltrate the agency and access sensitive data, HHS CISO Janet Vogel said this week. […]
Cybereason, a Boston-based cybersecurity firm, has held a series of election security events over the past couple of years in order to provide law enforcement with opportunities to think proactively about ways to ensure that elections are safe and secure. They held their latest event August 19 by Zoom, including officials from the FBI and CISA. […]
Department of Energy CIO Rocky Campione has named Emery Csulak Principal Deputy CIO, effective August 31, according to an agency email obtained by MeriTalk. […]
In an Aug. 18 request for information (RFI), the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) is seeking information on modernizing five of its strategic applications, which will include a planned migration to a cloud platform and integration with an enterprise virtual viewer (EVV) as part of their modernization efforts. […]
The Federal Communications Commission has scheduled a Forum on 5G Open Radio Access Networks (Open RAN) for September 14. […]
A half-dozen technology-savvy individuals have been placed with members of Congress through TechCongress, a non-profit founded by a former Hill staffer in order to boost the legislative knowledge of the body on technology issues. […]
Grant Schneider is stepping down as Federal CISO and senior director for cybersecurity policy on the White House National Security Council (NSC) to become senior director of cybersecurity services at Venable LLP. […]
The National Science Foundation has awarded $10 million in grant funding to the cloud computing testbed Chameleon, which enables systems and networking innovations by “providing thousands of computer scientists with the bare metal access they need to conceptualize, assemble, and test new cloud computing approaches.” […]
The Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration (TIGTA) told the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) that it needs to do a better job to verify wireless device identity, although it said that based on audit results IRS was employing effective strategies and protocols to authenticate network user identities. […]
A former Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) official, Alexander Yuk Ching Ma, was arrested last week for conspiring to communicate classified information to Chinese officials. […]
The Department of Energy and Microsoft are leading a new consortium using AI to improve the first responder experience based on a prototype from the Department of Defense’s Joint Artificial Intelligence Center (JAIC). […]
A Government Accountability Office (GAO) report found that the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), Indian Health Service, and Small Business Administration (SBA) are using security tools given to them by the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) as they’re intended: to identify hardware and software on their networks that may have vulnerabilities and insecure configurations. But GAO said the agencies have more to do manage their network in order to optimize the value of the tools. […]
Guy Cavallo is taking over as Principal Deputy CIO at the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) effective Sept. 14. […]
As state and local leaders continue to grapple with the COVID-19 pandemic, the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) released an update to its Essential Critical Infrastructure Workers Guidance. Version 4.0, released today, provides guidance for jurisdictions and critical infrastructure owners to ensure that essential workers can work safely while supporting ongoing infrastructure operations across the nation. […]
In a move that seems straight out of a science fiction movie, the Pentagon is on the hunt for UFOs. […]
The Navy’s Fleet Cyber Command/TENTH Fleet – a force of 55 commands and 40 Cyber Mission Force units across the globe – has unveiled its long-range strategic goals for the “21st century’s Information Age.” […]
The Department of Energy (DoE) is funding $37 million in artificial intelligence and machine learning research and development (R&D) to improve data and operations at the agency’s scientific user facilities. […]
The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) is proposing four principles to determine the degree to which decisions made by AI are “explainable,” and hopes that effort helps to jumpstart debate on what should be expected of decision-making technologies. […]
The Census Bureau hired a deputy director for data to help ensure “the 2020 Census data products are of the highest quality.” As of August 16 statistics, the Census Bureau’s Total Self-Response Rate for the 2020 Census was 63.8%. […]
A new Federal government interagency effort aimed at better coordination of government meteorological services is putting significant emphasis on data and cybersecurity resources to accomplish that goal, the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP) said. […]
Small Business Administration Deputy CIO Guy Cavallo said today that the agency’s extensive use of cloud-based IT has brought about what he called a “new miracle” of allowing the agency to tap a larger pool of workforce talent that is untethered from geographical limitations. […]
The Intelligence Advanced Research Projects Activity (IARPA) looking to develop smart radio techniques for detecting anomalies and secure data transmissions. […]