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. […]

The data available to those in the Intelligence Community can be likened to water coming from a fire hose. For an IC analyst, the power can be overwhelming, though in order to act effectively, the surge of data must be controlled. […]

Cloud security provider Zscaler announced that its Zscaler Private Access (ZPA) service has achieved the first-ever FedRAMP (Federal Risk and Authorization Management Program) High Authority designation from the FedRAMP Joint Authorization Board (JAB) for zero trust remote access service. […]

Republican House leadership has its eye on AI, data privacy, and the Internet of Things (IoT) in its newly released emerging tech agenda. […]

The COVID-19 pandemic has altered nearly every aspect of American life, but changes to the way students learn and adults work has presented unique challenges to the U.S. broadband network. […]

The General Services Administration (GSA) revealed a new human-centered design for its Cloud Information Center (CIC) on May 13, in accordance with web design guidelines in the 21st Century Integrated Digital Experience Act.  […]

The Professional Services Council (PSC) said in a press release that it applauds the inclusion of contractor-focused provisions with the House’s latest coronavirus response bill released yesterday. […]

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) is considering a cloud-based solution to improve its Office of the Inspector General (OIG) Management Information System, according to a May 12 request for information (RFI). […]

As the Federal government has shifted to telework, the security of its cloud and mobile environments has grown even more critical. Concerningly, the majority of Federal stakeholders believe the Department of Homeland Security’s (DHS) Continuous Diagnostics and Mitigation (CDM) program isn’t able to keep pace with cyber threats, a new report from MeriTalk found. […]

Sorting through the plethora of rules, regulations, and laws, which apply to the cyber domain can be daunting. The United Nations has designated two groups with the task. Are you wondering how to keep up? […]

DevSecOps, or development security operations, is not a term that rolls off the tip of your tongue in an “agile” way, but it is a process that is gaining momentum across the Federal government. […]

Maria Roat, who currently serves as CIO of the Small Business Administration (SBA), is being promoted to deputy Federal CIO at the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) by the end of the month, MeriTalk has learned. […]

The latest COVID-19 relief legislation being prepared by House Democrats – the HEROES Act – proposes $1 billion for the Technology Modernization Fund (TMF) to help Federal agencies improve their information technology systems. […]

With the COVID-19 pandemic putting significant financial pressure on states nationwide, Rep. Joe Neguse, D-Colo., introduced the Secure Our Elections Act to eliminate a requirement for states to match a portion of Federal funding received for election security.   […]

The Government Accountability Office said in a new report that it has 11 open recommendations to the Defense Department (DoD), among a total of 1,106 outstanding open recommendations to the agency. […]

Federal CIO Suzette Kent provided several examples today of different ways that Federal agencies are using data in the fight against the COVID-19 coronavirus, and emphasized the critical importance of IT modernization in battling the pandemic. […]

The Department of Homeland Security’s (DHS) Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) released two supply chain risk management (SCRM) products on May 6 to help businesses and organizations boost supply chain security. […]

Federal agencies and departments have spent more than $10 billion on COVID-19 related contracts since February – more than doubling the total number of contracts in the past 11 days. […]

The Department of Homeland Security’s Continuous Diagnostics and Mitigation (CDM) program may qualify as one of the most ambitious network security program ever conceived, with a focus on girding Federal agency networks with state-of-the-art security at both the agency and DHS levels – and not just for today’s threats, but also to meet the ever-expanding threat landscape down the road. […]

A bipartisan group of 23 members of the House Armed Services Committee sent a letter to the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) questioning whether the commission’s recent Ligado decision may have violated the law. […]

Thirty-eight members of Congress sent a letter to House leadership asking for funding for Open Radio Access Network (Open RAN) technologies. […]

Four cyber-focused organizations in the Intelligence Community (IC) will be combined into an IC Cyber Executive organization, according to an announcement made by Acting Director of National Intelligence Richard Grenell. […]

With nearly 1.5 million drones and 160,000 remote pilots now registered with the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), the administration continues to look for new ways to ensure safety and security in U.S. airspace. To that end, the FAA announced its industry partners that will help the Federal government establish requirements for future suppliers of Remote Identification (Remote ID). […]

The Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) launched a public safety emergency communications website on May 7 to make resources more readily accessible to the officials that need them. […]

The White House Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP) is advancing Federally-funded research on COVID-19 including research using supercomputers to run simulations. […]

The Department of Defense (DoD) Joint Artificial Intelligence Center (JAIC) is seeking better data management for AI-based predictive maintenance on aircrafts, according to a May 7 request for information (RFI). […]

While the fight regarding the JEDI cloud computing contract between Amazon Web Services (AWS) and the Pentagon drags on, AWS is partnering with the Department of Defense (DoD) in another capacity – the department’s cybersecurity standard for contractors. […]