The National Science Foundation has awarded new CyberCorps Scholarships for Service (SFS) totaling nearly $15 million to four public universities with the aim of boosting the cybersecurity workforces at Federal, state, local, and Tribal government organizations. […]
The General Services Administration (GSA) announced on Dec. 30 that it awarded the Polaris small business-focused governmentwide acquisition contract (GWAC) to 102 small businesses. […]
As the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and the Department of Justice (DOJ) modernize software to meet increasingly complex missions, a collaborative development model – powered by open-source technologies and agile methodologies – speeds the development process. In a recent interview with MeriTalk, Michael Hardee, chief architect for law enforcement and justice at Red Hat, discusses how a container-first and cloud-first approach can help. […]
The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) kicked off a notice of proposed rulemaking on Dec. 27 that it said aims to change the existing Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 (HIPAA) Security Rule with the goal of improving cybersecurity protections for electronic protected health information (ePHI). […]
The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency is setting the stage for a possible new program aimed at developing more robust quantum sensors that can be integrated onto U.S. military platforms, according to a special notice from the agency. […]
A bicameral pair of lawmakers is demanding answers from the Treasury Department following a China state-sponsored breach of some of the department’s sensitive systems. […]
The Pandemic Response Accountability Committee (PRAC) is touting the success of its fraud-fighting abilities and calling on Congress to permanently establish its Pandemic Analytics Center of Excellence (PACE) before the center’s scheduled sunset date of Sept. 30, 2025. […]
The U.S. semiconductor industry’s supply chains face significant vulnerabilities, according to a report issued by the White House and informed by use of the Commerce Department’s SCALE supply chain risk assessment tool that debuted last year. […]
A proposed rule published today by the Defense Department, NASA, and the General Services Administration aims to help streamline the cybersecurity workforce by integrating the National Initiative for Cybersecurity Education (NICE) Framework into Federal IT and cybersecurity contract requirements. […]
The Defense Department’s Office of Strategic Capital (OSC) has released its FY2025 investment plan, outlining priorities for nearly $1 billion of credit-based financial assistance to support development of critical technologies, assets, and their supply chains. […]
The Department of Justice (DoJ) issued a comprehensive final rule on Dec. 27 to help protect Americans’ sensitive data from being sold or transferred to adversarial countries. […]
The Department of the Navy is standing up a new office which will drive a mission-driven, user-focused approach to software development, prioritizing rapid deployment to better support its workforce – Sailors, Marines, and Civilians. […]
Before wrapping up for the holiday season, the Pentagon issued a final mandate to military services and defense agencies instructing them to begin implementing modern internet addressing standards – and closely monitoring progress on that directive. […]
The Office of the National Cyber Director’s (ONCD) newly minted plan to defend against cyber threats across the energy sector is charging the Energy Department to take the lead in executing 32 key initiatives. […]
The Treasury Department on Tuesday announced new sanctions on entities in Iran and Russia over attempted election interference in the 2024 U.S. election – including by using artificial intelligence tools to create and disseminate disinformation. […]
Two pieces of legislation with significant Federal IT implications successfully completed the long legislative process in late December, while a third such bill has been sent to the White House and still requires President Biden’s signature before becoming law. […]
Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA) Chief Information Officer Doug Cossa has taken over as acting CIO for the U.S. intelligence community, according to his LinkedIn post on Dec. 21. […]
The Information Technology Industry Council trade group is offering a slew of technology policy recommendations to the incoming Trump-Vance administration and its Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), including modernizing legacy Federal IT systems and adopting a risk-based approach to AI technology. […]
The increasing use of artificial intelligence technology – both from security threat and protection improvement perspectives – are among the top look-ahead issues for 2025 among officials with providers of security technologies to the Federal government. […]
Former Department of Defense (DoD) chief information security officer (CISO) David McKeown has been tapped as the agency’s first-ever special assistant for cybersecurity innovation, DoD’s CIO Office (CIO) said. […]
As 2024 gives way to the new year, MeriTalk is taking a look back at the year’s biggest tech and cybersecurity policy moves at the Department of Defense (DoD) that set the stage for the Pentagon’s IT priorities in 2025. […]
As 2024 comes to a close, the push for post-quantum cryptography (PQC) and quantum technology is accelerating. With Federal officials warning that quantum threats are approaching sooner than expected, Congress, Federal agencies, and industry have made significant strides toward becoming quantum-ready this year. […]
The Biden-Harris administration released its artificial intelligence (AI) executive order (EO) at the end of 2023, but most of the work to implement the directive took place in 2024. As MeriTalk reflects on the past year – and looks toward the future of Federal IT work during the Trump-Vance administration in 2025 and beyond – AI is positioned to make impactful strides across agencies, policy, and defense. […]
With President-elect Donald Trump set to take office on Jan. 20, the future of CHIPS and Science Act funding flows remains unclear as the incoming president has recently criticized the law. […]
President Joe Biden signed an executive order on Monday to make the 2.0 percent pay raise for civilian Federal employees in 2025 official, marking a significant decrease from last year’s 5.2 percent pay raise. […]
The General Services Administration’s (GSA) Federal Risk and Authorization Management Program (FedRAMP) is exploring creating a new funding source by potentially charging cloud providers as part of their efforts to go through the FedRAMP process. […]
Six new pilot projects will test quantum technologies and further progress in harnessing quantum phenomena for real-world applications, the U.S. National Science Foundation (NSF) announced on Monday. […]
A bipartisan pair of senators is asking the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) for more information on the agency’s efforts to protect Global Positioning System (GPS) technologies from foreign threats to their operation. […]
After a months-long pause of its next-generation background investigation system, the Defense Counterintelligence and Security Agency (DCSA) has outlined a plan to get the system back on track. […]
President-elect Donald Trump announced key appointments on Sunday for his incoming technology team, including leadership for the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP), the Presidential Council of Advisors for Science and Technology (PCAST), and a new “Crypto Council.” […]