Shalanda Young – currently the Biden administration’s nominee to become deputy director of the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) – attracted key support from congressional Democrats today to become director of OMB. […]
The Defense Innovation Unit (DIU) – which drives the Defense Department’s (DoD) effort to make faster use of emerging commercial technologies – reported a 35 percent year-over-year jump in new projects for 2020. […]
The Federal government’s response to the Russia-backed SolarWinds cyberhack – and the pressing need for government agencies to speed progress on putting in place cybersecurity protections including through the Continuous Diagnostics and Mitigation (CDM) program – […]
Working beyond organizational boundaries and improving access to digital services is critical for IT modernization and the Biden-Harris administration’s Federal IT priorities. […]
The use of telehealth skyrocketed throughout 2020, and while helped stem the spread of COVID-19, its increased use laid bare the logistical and regulatory challenges facing telehealth. […]
The Senate Budget Committee held a hearing today on the nomination of Shalanda Young to serve as deputy director of the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) in which Young voiced her commitment to ensuring investments to the Technology Modernization Fund (TMF). […]
After the House version of the reconciliation bill passed last week, the Senate will bring its version of the bill to a vote by week’s end, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer said. While the Senate is still working on finalizing its draft of the legislation, parameters for votes and amendments have already been set, according to internal Senate communication. […]
In a blog post for the General Services Administration (GSA), Commissioner at GSA’s Federal Acquisition Service (FAS) Sonny Hashmi outlined FAS’ commitment to progressing reform initiatives, administrative priorities, pandemic support, and data management. […]
General Dynamics Information Technology (GDIT) recently welcomed the addition of Amazon Web Services GovCloud services to the milCloud 2.0 lineup under an agreement announced last month. The new partnership gives Department of Defense (DoD) mission partners an easy and effective way to adopt both fit-for-purpose and general purpose cloud capabilities for a wide variety of workloads. […]
The Department of Energy (DoE) has appointed Greg Sisson the agency’s permanent chief information security officer (CISO). […]
MeriTalk recently connected with ViON’s Rob Davies, chief operating officer, and Andy Flick, director of cloud services, to discuss how multi-cloud initiatives, alongside new ways of thinking about IT procurement, can transform Federal IT infrastructure. […]
The Army’s Deputy CIO Greg Garcia retired on Feb. 26, ending nearly four decades in Federal service, Army’s CIO office confirmed. Garcia served as the Army’s first deputy CIO since last August when the CIO and G-6 offices split into separate organizations. […]
The National Security Commission on Artificial Intelligence (NSCAI) published its 2021 report today in which it concludes that “the United States must act now to field AI systems and invest substantially more resources in AI innovation to protect its security, promote its prosperity, and safeguard the future of democracy.” […]
The Department of Veteran Affairs’ (VA) Office of Information and Technology (OIT) has issued an updated request for information (RFI) searching for guidance on developing its Enterprise Strategic Planning and Governance (ESPG) directorate. […]
Sec. of Defense Lloyd Austin announced that President Joe Biden has made a slew of appointments at the Pentagon, including two in the cyber realm. […]
Homeland Security (DHS) found that the Customs and Border Protection (CBP) agency has improved its technology on the U.S. southwest border, but still have challenges to tackle. […]
The Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) has teamed with T-Mobile to deploy 5G capabilities for the Miami VA Healthcare System, providing 5G service to medical staff and patients with capable devices. […]
The Technology Modernization Fund (TMF) would get a $1 billion funding increase in President Biden’s $1.9 trillion American Rescue Act, according to a preliminary draft of the Senate version of the legislation obtained from sources by MeriTalk. The Senate will debate its version of the legislation this week. […]
Government agencies and the private sector will spend $100 billion or more to recover from the SolarWinds hack, which went undetected for at least nine months and may have compromised 18,000 government and private sector organizations using SolarWinds Orion software. Even if breached organizations successfully mitigate the damage from SolarWinds, they know adversaries aren’t going to stop trying to get in. If they plug one vector of attack, the adversary will find another to exploit. […]
This February, milCloud 2.0 – one of the key pillars of the Department of Defense’s (DoD’s) cloud strategy – celebrated its third anniversary, and it continues to offer DoD mission partners a rapid path for cloud migration. […]
The House Homeland Security and Oversight and Reform committees held a joint public hearing today to discuss the Russia-based hack of government and private sector networks via SolarWinds Orion products. During the hearing, both the private sector witnesses and members of Congress called for better cybersecurity practices, legislation, and increased information sharing. […]
The Federal Communications Commission has voted to formally adopt a Report and Order that establishes the Emergency Broadband Benefit Program. The program uses $3.2 billion in Federal funding to provide qualifying households discounts on their internet service bills and an opportunity to receive a discount on a computer or tablet. […]
The House version of the American Rescue Act – born from President Biden’s $1.9 trillion COVID-19 relief proposal unveiled in January – now features a provision that would provide $2 billion for the Department of Labor (DoL) to use to help states upgrade their unemployment insurance (UI) systems. […]
The National Security Agency (NSA) has released Zero Trust security model guidance for organizations to boost security of sensitive data, systems, and services. […]
Federal leaders agreed during a Feb. 25 virtual conference organized by GovExec that the Federal government needs to change its mindset and culture to allow for more telework in the future, even after the COVID-19 pandemic. […]
Sens. Susan Collins, R-Maine, and Jacky Rosen, D-Nev., are introducing legislation that will provide up to $15 billion in matching grants to increase access to broadband services in areas of the United States that are unserved by broadband meeting the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) minimum definition of that service. […]
The bipartisan Cyber Diplomacy Act was reintroduced in the house this week. The legislation, cosponsored by Reps. Jim Langevin, D-R.I., Michael McCaul, R-Texas, Gregory Meeks, D-N.Y., and Mike Gallagher, R-Wis., Adam Kinzinger, R-Ill., and Bill Keating, D-Mass., will require the State Department to open the Bureau of International Cyberspace Policy. […]
Government Operations Subcommittee Chairman Gerry Connolly, D-Va., indicated today that his office is considering the March-April timeframe for a hearing on the most recent FITARA Scorecard that was issued by the House Oversight and Reform Committee in late December 2020. […]
Vice Admiral Nancy Norton will hand over command of the Defense Information Systems Agency (DISA) and Joint Force Headquarters Department of Defense Information Network (DODIN) on Feb. 26, the admiral said today. […]
Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas announced today that DHS will increase the required minimum spend on cybersecurity through the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) grant awards from 5 percent to 7.5 percent – approximately a $25 million increase across the country. […]