Smarter Gov Tech, Stronger MerITocracy
State Department
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More than three dozen Senate Democrats and independents have lined up to support new legislation that would block implementation of President Trump’s controversial executive order that would create a new “Schedule F” classification for Federal employees in policy-making positions and make it easier to hire and fire them. […]

Maria Roat

The COVID-19 pandemic has accelerated IT modernization and leveraged investments in cloud to keep agencies focused on the mission, which in turn is laying the groundwork for further modernization, said Maria Roat, Deputy Federal CIO, during a panel discussion today. […]

The Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency’s (CISA) Continuous Diagnostics and Mitigation (CDM) program is employing a multi-year view on helping Federal agencies to better protect their high-value assets (HVA), CDM Program Manager Kevin Cox indicated today. […]

Cloud

As the continuing coronavirus pandemic puts a spotlight on the need for mission continuity, Federal agencies need to understand their customers’ journeys and smooth the path for them, Deputy Federal CIO Maria Roat said today. […]

A new bill introduced in the House and Senate by two recognized congressional cybersecurity leaders would push Federal agencies to further adopt cybersecurity best practices by making it more difficult to obtain waivers under the Federal Cybersecurity Enhancement Act of 2015. […]

Innovation

MeriTalk recently connected with Dan Chenok, executive director at IBM’s Center for The Business of Government, to discuss the center’s recent “Innovation and Emerging Technologies in Government” research, authored by Alan Shark. This article takes a deeper look at the use cases outlined in the report, the five key mindsets that emerged from the interviews, and the connection found between innovation and technology. […]

CISA

Few things seem to unite Republicans and Democrats these days, but President Trump’s abrupt firing of Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) Director Christopher Krebs seems to be one of the issues bucking that trend. President Trump fired Krebs via his Twitter account on Tuesday evening, prompting a mix of outrage and disapproval from members of Congress […]

Washington DC capitol federal government-min
video conferencing

Now that much of the Federal government workforce has eight months of pandemic-driven telework under its belt, government officials are examining how that experience has changed the future landscape of providing service to citizens, and how to incorporate lessons learned for what may be the longer haul of remote work. […]

Sean Connelly, who heads the TIC Program Office at the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA), said today that his office is aiming to release a remote-user use case for the Trusted Internet Connections (TIC) 3.0 security initiative that will build on interim TIC guidance the agency issued earlier this year to help Federal agencies migrate quickly to large-scale telework. […]

The Department of Homeland Security’s (DHS) U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) component is looking for technology to enable remote exam proctoring, according to a Nov. 16 solicitation post on Beta.Sam.gov. […]

The Office of Management and Budget (OMB) has released guidance for regulating AI applications, pursuant to Executive Order 13859, “Maintaining American Leadership in Artificial Intelligence.” […]

Christopher Krebs under secretary undersecretary DHS Department of Homeland Security National Protection and Programs Directorate NPPD leader CISA cybersecurity and infrastructure security agency
White House
funding

President-Elect Joe Biden this week urged Congress to approve a COVID-19 stimulus bill similar to the HEROES Act approved by the House earlier this year, but didn’t get into further specifics about what he’d like to see in future relief legislation. […]

As the Federal Election Commission (FEC) dealt with oversight of a massive increase in campaign donations during a presidential election cycle, the agency at the same time struggled with its cybersecurity and the absence of a full-time CIO, the FEC’s Office of the Inspector General found in a report released November 13. […]

Budget Federal spending
DOJ Department of Justice
DHS

The Department of Homeland Security’s (DHS) Office of the Inspector General (OIG) has flagged several ongoing IT management issues at the agency as part of its annual report of major management and performance challenges facing DHS. […]

innovation

Federal IT leaders estimate that agencies have advanced modernization efforts by four to five years in recent months, and all hope to continue the momentum. They say improved data sharing between new and legacy systems is the No. 1 opportunity to move modernization forward. […]

The Department of Homeland Security’s (DHS) Office of the Chief Financial Officer recently completed the transition of the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) to a DHS integrated financial, procurement, and asset management system. […]

capitol washington dc senate house congress-min

The chairs of the House Judiciary and Oversight and Reform committees warned the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) and its Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs (OIRA) against engaging in “midnight rulemakings” in the waning days of the Trump administration that don’t give Congress adequate time to review the new rules. […]

Defending HVAs

With network attack surfaces expanding, aggressive adversaries circling, and the Federal government more reliant than ever on the effective functioning of information technology to deliver citizen services, mitigating cyber threats and improving cyber security is a top priority. […]

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