A bill introduced to authorize a study of blockchain technology advanced out of the House Energy and Commerce Committee this week. […]
In a proposed rule change, the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) is seeking to allow agencies to create term appointments in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) occupations to allow for greater flexibility to staff long-term, non-permanent STEM projects. […]
Another piece of the Cybersecurity Maturity Model Certification puzzle has fallen into place with the Accreditation Body announcing 11 companies as Licensed Partner Publishers who will develop curricula for the Department of Defense’s new cybersecurity standard for its supply chain companies. […]
The Office of Personnel Management (OPM) is launching the Federal Employee Viewpoint Survey (FEVS) on September 14 – after months of delays due to the COVID-19 pandemic. […]
Nine more companies have joined the Open RAN Policy Coalition, bringing the total number of members to 54. The coalition, formed in May, is seeking to promote policies to open up the radio access networks– a key part of the architecture necessary for 5G wireless services. […]
The Department of Defense has changed its acquisition policies in a way that marks, according to a DoD release, “one of the most transformational changes to acquisition policy in decades.” […]
The IRS is looking for private sector help in launching a Cryptocurrency Tracing pilot program for tracing and attribution of privacy coins and Layer 2 off-chain transactions, with the aim of assisting the agency’s cyber-crime mission relating to cryptocurrency privacy technologies. […]
In hopes of creating a coherent strategy for growing and sustaining the Federal cyber workforce, the Cyberspace Solarium Commission released a new white paper with recommendations on improving government pay flexibility and implementing more upskilling programs. […]
In preparation for Federal efforts in outer space, the Trump Administration is calling on leaders across government to prepare space IT systems against cyberattacks before launch. […]
The General Services Administration’s (GSA) Federal Acquisition Service (FAS) is in the early stages of efforts to set up an authoritative source for identification verification of U.S. citizens, but is approaching the process in careful and deliberate steps to encourage and maintain the public’s trust in the process, a GSA official said on Sept. 10. […]
With the White House and Department of Defense recently announcing that additional mid-band spectrum will be made available to be shared with industry, the Federal government’s spectrum manager called on the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to do its part to ensure the partnership occurs smoothly. […]
Nearly two years into an ambitious overhaul of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) Cyber Security Center (NCSC), brighter horizons are in sight for the agency in the form of improved cyber analytics capabilities. From the start, NOAA took a holistic approach to the NCSC transformation that encompasses people, process, and technology – in equal parts. […]
The Veterans Benefits Administration (VBA) has automated some processes to streamline administering assistance to veterans, but according to Under Secretary for Benefits Paul Lawrence, the agency’s customer-centric approach to AI and robotic process automation (RPA) is what makes it so successful. […]
The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) reimburses states for most Medicaid costs and is supposed to oversee how states use funds, but its IT systems have had problems with ensuring proper oversight, and CMS no longer supports efforts to reduce duplication by state systems, the Government Accountability Office (GAO) said. […]
While the House and Senate approved their versions of the annual defense funding bill in July, the top Republican on the House Armed Services Committee said this week that a conference report from House and Senate negotiators that settles differences between the bills won’t likely be produced until after the November elections. […]
The Department of Defense’s Joint Artificial Intelligence Center is scheduled to facilitate an international conference on the responsible use of AI for militaries next week, according to DoD CIO Dana Deasy, within whose office the JAIC is housed. […]
Federal Communications Commission (FCC) Chairman Ajit Pai announced multiple staffing changes to the FCC’s data team. […]
The State Educational Technology Directors Association (SETDA), a non-profit association representing U.S. state and territorial educational technology leaders, announced that Christine Fox will serve as the organization’s interim executive director. Fox assumes the role following the passing of Candice Dodson. Fox has been with SETDA since 2004 and most recently served as deputy executive director. The organization’s board of directors is currently searching for a permanent executive director. […]
Continuous Diagnostics and Mitigation (CDM) Program Manager Kevin Cox said Sept. 9 that his office’s high-level aims for Fiscal Year 2021 feature an extensive menu of goals – fuller “operationalization” of CDM data, progress on installing the latest version of the CDM dashboard at the agency and Federal levels, and helping agencies to better understand and handle security for data in the cloud and from mobile services. […]
Ron Ross has seen a lot during his 30-year career in cybersecurity, so asking him to pinpoint new cyber threats is a little like asking Tom Brady to talk about a blitz he has not faced during his NFL tenure. […]
The vice chair of the board of directors of the CMMC-AB said that 25 assessors have been provisionally trained, and estimated that certified assessors for the open market will be released in the first quarter of calendar year 2021. […]
The Government Accountability Office (GAO) has reviewed 16 major Federal IT acquisitions that are critical to government missions – including national security, public health, and the economy – and found that 11 of those acquisitions were re-baselined during development to reflect changes in project costs, schedules and performance goals. […]
The Department of Homeland Security’s (DHS) effort to consolidate its network and security operations centers into a Network Operations Security Center (NOSC) model will improve the agency’s continuity of operations efforts, CIO Karen Evans said today. […]
A majority of the largest Federal agencies will have their inspector general (IG) offices involved in monitoring how agencies plan for and proceed with office reopening plans amid the continuing coronavirus pandemic, Rep. Gerry Connolly, D-Va., said today. […]
Looking ahead to future IT modernization projects at the Defense Department (DoD), CIO Dana Deasy is predicting a bigger emphasis on data and sustaining telework capabilities in the long term. […]
Sen. Mark Warner, D-Va., said the United States has “made improvements since 2016” in election security, but pointed the finger at Congress for not doing even more to secure elections. […]
A proposed rule from the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and its Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) component agency coming out in the Federal Register this Friday would expand the collection of biometrics data by about 2.17 million submissions annually. […]
MeriTalk recently sat down with Chip Carr, Senior Manager of Virtual GPU Technology at NVIDIA to discuss how Federal agencies have transitioned to telework environments while introducing new technologies, applications and collaboration tools – and what Carr sees going forward. […]
Federal agency and private-sector healthcare officials agreed this week that the sharp increase in delivery of telehealth services during the coronavirus pandemic has advanced state of the art in service delivery, along with the need to ramp up cybersecurity protections. […]
Government network operators can’t manage what they are unable to see. But the latest technology developed by Ciena and deployed by CenturyLink is solving that problem by providing network operators with the ability to view their entire IP MPLS networks so they can more easily diagnose and solve network congestion issues. […]