Federal IT’s ability to sustain delivery of vital services to citizens stands out as one of the brightest aspects of the COVID-19 pandemic. MeriTalk is chronicling the untold stories of that heavy lift, and the lessons it holds for the future as the nation embarks on the journey toward a more certain future. In the latest chapter of CIO Crossroads, we look at the U.S. Army’s IT evolution four months into the fight. […]
Director of the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) Christopher Krebs is saying that the 2020 election “will be the most secure election in modern history,” but continued to advocate for backup paper ballots to ensure an accurate count. […]
The House Appropriations Committee this week approved its defense funding bill for fiscal year 2021 on a vote of 30 to 22. The bill includes $694.6 billion in new discretionary spending authority for the Department of Defense, and a slight decrease in funding for research, development, test, and evaluation of new technologies. […]
The coronavirus pandemic hasn’t slowed the government’s progress on managing the Federal background check inventory, which has returned to a stable state of roughly 200,000 cases, according to a quarterly report on the Security Clearance, Suitability/Fitness, and Credentialing Reform Cross-Agency Priority (CAP) goal action plan from the President’s Management Agenda. […]
Per a July 16 inspector general (IG) report, the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) saw use of VA Video Connect increase from 79 calls per week to over 1,100 per week at just one of its facilities during the coronavirus pandemic, despite some bandwidth and scheduling issues reported by facility leaders. […]
The first group of “Responsible AI Champions” in the Department of Defense has completed a nine-week program led by Alka Patel, head of AI ethics policy at the department’s Joint Artificial Intelligence Center. […]
Jim Russo, technical director of the Enterprise Infrastructure Solutions (EIS) program at the General Services Administration (GSA), and Sean Connelly, program manager of Trusted Internet Connections at the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Agency (CISA), reflected this week on the continuous benefits of the EIS vehicle, and explained what each agency brought to the proposal. […]
Efforts to improve the U.S. Coast Guard’s Marine Information for Safety and Law Enforcement (MISLE) data system have fallen short, and the Coast Guard plan to replace the system, according to the Government Accountability Office (GAO). […]
Attorney General William Barr said today that China had plans to “dominate the world’s digital infrastructure,” calling artificial intelligence a main part of China’s “drive for technological supremacy.” […]
The Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) issued an emergency alert late today urging Federal agencies to take fast action on a patch to fix a Microsoft Windows DNS vulnerability. […]
CMMC Academy, an initiative of the cybersecurity firm Celerium, has set a July 22 event to walk companies through the certification process for the Department of Defense’s Cybersecurity Maturity Model Certification (CMMC). […]
Sen. Gary Peters, D-Mich., has joined a growing list of legislators expressing concerns regarding Federal agencies reopening their offices amid the continuing COVID-19 pandemic. […]
The House Government Operations Subcommittee has scheduled a hearing for July 20 at 1:30 p.m. to examine the pressing need for further Federal IT modernization in light of the coronavirus pandemic. […]
Continuous Diagnostics and Mitigation (CDM) Program Manager Kevin Cox said this week that the program is placing particular focus on helping agencies better understand and architect security structures for cloud and mobility-based data. […]
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The U.S. Navy’s COVID Rapid Response Team is seeking information on a potential proximity tracking program to record individuals who may have been too close for too long to a person who tested positive for COVID-19, and whether social distancing policies put in place by Federal employers are effective. […]
While the Defense Information Systems Agency (DISA) says that a pandemic was never a part of its strategic plan, the agency has released figures showing how it quickly prepared its workforce to continue operations including a 1,000 percent increase in virtual private network (VPN) access for its joint partners. […]
Cybersecurity agencies in the United States, United Kingdom, and Canada issued a joint warning July 16 accusing Russian intelligence services of targeting COVID-19 research and vaccine development facilities with cyberattacks. […]
The House Energy and Commerce Committee advanced several bills, including a pair of telecommunications bills that have Senate companions, by voice vote on July 15. […]
The FY2021 Financial Services and General Government (FSGG) appropriations bill approved by the House Appropriations Committee on July 15 asks the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), among other government agencies, to cooperate on a report to Congress that explains limitations to integrating and modernizing Federal health and human services-related IT. […]
Proposed Fiscal Year 2021 funding for the Technology Modernization Fund (TMF) remains stuck at $25 million as the full House Appropriations Committee voted today to approve the FY 2021 Financial Services and General Government (FSGG) appropriations bill that covers a host of executive branch organizations including the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) and the Office of Personnel Management (OPM). […]
A former chairman of the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence and the United States Chamber of Commerce are the latest additions to a growing list of supporters for a key recommendation of the Cyberspace Solarium Commission–a National Cyber Director. […]
In its latest move to clamp down on China-based Huawei’s influence in the United States, the Trump administration is imposing visa restrictions on employees of certain Chinese technology companies. […]
The Department of State was already moving toward accelerated IT modernization in 2019, but the sudden onset of the coronavirus pandemic hastened those efforts and changed the department’s culture in the process, the agency’s CIO said this week. […]
At the Department of Defense’s (DoD) Defense Innovation Unit (DIU), leaders rely on crafting problem statements, quick prototyping, and commercial competition to fuel mission critical innovation, Director of Strategic Engagement Mike Madsen explained at the July 15 FCW DoD Cloud Workshop. […]
The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) hopes to have its contractual support strategy fully transitioned by October 2021—showing no signs of slowed progress due to the COVID-19 pandemic. […]
Since the COVID-19 pandemic brought new attention to the need for a “faster path to maturing data sharing protocols,” government leaders must look ahead to how data can continue to inform decision making as capabilities mature and improve, Deputy Federal CIO Maria Roat said today. […]
AI is transforming the way Federal agencies complete mission objectives, and as the technology becomes more effective and efficient, agency leaders are seeking to utilize AI to reshape the future of government work. […]
Leveraging the value of data through sophisticated and secure sharing, collaboration, and governance technologies represents the next phase – and one of the most important payoffs – of IT modernization, officials from data warehouse provider Snowflake and cloud data integration service provider Talend said July 8 during a webinar hosted by MeriTalk. […]
John Wagner, deputy executive assistant commissioner at U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) – and unofficially the agency’s prime mover behind the use of biometric technologies including facial recognition – is retiring from Federal government service on July 18, after 28 years of service. […]
Deputy Federal CIO Maria Roat this week shared success stories of accelerated IT modernization during the COVID-19 pandemic at the Small Business Administration (SBA) and across the Federal government, while emphasizing the importance of programs such as the Technology Modernization Fund (TMF) to continue long-term modernization. […]