Recounting how the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) made a quick jump to 96 percent telework during the COVID-19 coronavirus pandemic, agency CIO Vaughn Noga explained today how partnerships with other offices and a new approach to emerging tech helped fuel the fast transition. And he urged tech practitioners not to forget lessons learned over the past three months as they transition to the next phase of new normal. […]
The Defense Department is transitioning its information technology services to a single agency, a change that a department leader says will result in better cyber hygiene for the department. […]
Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, was joined by a bipartisan group of senators to introduce legislation that would expedite staffing for the special pandemic recovery watchdog that oversees trillions in taxpayer funded pandemic relief. […]
For the estimated four billion people across the globe without Internet access – about half of Earth’s population – the race to 5G wireless services has barely begun. But the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) is putting people on the ground to prepare the way. […]
The Department of Defense’s (DoD) Joint Artificial Intelligence Center (JAIC) and the General Services Administration (GSA) awarded Booz Allen Hamilton a five-year, $800 million task order today to support warfighting operations with AI-based solutions. […]
According to a request for information (RFI), the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) is seeking to modernize its grants management system with an end-to-end automated solution. […]
The Department of Commerce (DoC) has amended an existing rule in order to prevent China-based network equipment maker Huawei from using U.S. technologies to design and manufacture semiconductors. […]
The Center for Security and Emerging Technology (CSET) at Georgetown University’s Walsh School of Foreign Service released a May 2020 issue brief examining artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML) from a cybersecurity perspective with a list of questions for policymakers to consider. […]
The Department of Defense’s (DoD) Defense Innovation Unit (DIU) is seeking machine learning (ML) solutions to help boost its existing robotic process automation (RPA) tools. […]
The House late Friday passed the HEROES Act, the Democrat-led $3 trillion COVID-19 coronavirus relief legislation that includes billions of Federal technology-related spending. […]
During the COVID-19 crisis, Federal agencies are vulnerable to more cyberattacks and data breaches than ever before, but agencies like the U.S. Postal Service (USPS) and Defense Information Systems Agency (DISA) are working hard to address the cybersecurity challenges. […]
On the same day that the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) issued a joint warning to COVID-19 research organizations about China’s cyber threat, the Cyberspace Solarium Commission got its hearing in the Senate. […]
The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) announced May 14 that 774 broadband and telephone providers have agreed to extend the Keep Americans Connected Pledge through June 30 as the COVID-19 pandemic continues. […]
The government’s Federal Data Strategy team extended some of the target dates for its 2020 action plan, and is making sure that COVID-19 response data is of the highest priority in the Federal Data Strategy’s call for agencies to prioritize data assets and projects. […]
Before the COVID-19 outbreak, just 40 percent of Federal and only 4 percent of State and Local government employees were authorized to telework. But since then, the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) is mandating that Federal agencies maximize telework across the nation, and many SLGs are doing the same. Embracing telework – and doing it right – is a government-wide priority. […]
The Transportation Security Administration (TSA) released its Insider Threat Roadmap on May 14, with details on how the agency plans to use emerging tech and advanced analytics to mitigate risks. […]
Federal CIO Suzette Kent this week applauded the capacity of commercial, cloud-based solutions in helping the government focus on mission continuity and response during the COVID-19 coronavirus pandemic. […]
The National Oceanic Atmospheric Association (NOAA) has been taking the current remote-standard in stride as it has enough capacity in its cloud-based systems for personnel teleworking. […]
The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) are warning research organizations studying COVID-19 that they may be susceptible to targeting and network compromise by the People’s Republic of China (PRC). […]
In a move to strengthen the United States’ cybersecurity posture, Sens. Jacky Rosen, D-Nev., Roger Wicker, R-Miss., and Cory Gardner, R-Colo., introduced the Cybersecurity Competitions to Yield Better Efforts to Research the Latest Exceptionally Advanced Problems (CYBER LEAP) Act of 2020. […]
As the COVID-19 coronavirus continues to change daily life, both the public and private sectors have stepped up with tech innovations to ease the transition and save lives. The speed of these innovations, however, seemingly outpace our ability to keep up with what new tech is available. […]
Schools moving to distance learning to stem the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic has shown a bright light on the homework gap experienced by 12 million students who lack internet access at home. […]
The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Science and Technology (S&T) Directorate released a predictive modeling tool to estimate the natural decay of SARS-CoV-2 – which causes COVID-19 – under a range of temperatures and humidity levels. […]
General Dynamics Information Technology (GDIT) announced on May 11 that it has won a $50 million contract with the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) to support the agency’s expansion and adoption of artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML). […]
For the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency (NGA), the biggest challenges for implementing new tools include working through policy points and providing balanced product teams to do software engineering well. […]
Acting Director of National Intelligence Richard Grenell has named Neil Wiley as Principle Executive at the Office of the Director of National Intelligence (ODNI). […]
Sen. Ron Johnson, R-Wis., chairman of the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, said at a May 13 hearing that he is pushing to include in National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) legislation a requirement for a National Cyber Director. […]
Often taken for granted in the eight weeks since the coronavirus pandemic struck is one simple but vital truth: the linchpin holding together the Federal government’s ability to provide crucial services is the technology that ties the enterprise together. Federal IT has literally brought us together – as a government, and as a nation. As government IT operations achieve steady-state and look to the next chapter of digital modernization, MeriTalk is chronicling the untold stories – and lessons – of that effort. Today we check in with the General Services Administration’s Technology Transformation Services (TTS) operation. […]
A cyber intrusion that occurred at the U.S. Marshals Service in December 2019 exposed 387,000 individuals’ names, addresses, birth dates, and social security numbers to attackers, an agency spokesperson confirmed to MeriTalk yesterday. […]
In a two-week period during the COVID-19 coronavirus pandemic, the Small Business Administration (SBA) processed more total loans than it had in 14 years, according to Melvin Brown II, director of the Enterprise Business Management Office within the agency’s CIO Office. At the May 13 FCW Workshop on Data and Analytics, Brown shared the data management tips that helped the agency succeed. […]