With the COVID-19 pandemic stretching on, President Biden signed an executive order (EO) to direct an all-of-agency effort to help those most impacted by the pandemic. In accordance with that EO, the Department of Treasury is working to change the way it delivers economic impact payments, according to a Jan. 22 release. […]

William Evanina has stepped down as director of the National Counterintelligence and Security Center (NCSC), after six years at the helm of the Office of the Director of National Intelligence (ODNI) component that has the leading counterintelligence activities role in defending the intelligence collecting Federal government and private-sector entities that face risk of attack by foreign adversaries. […]

Rep. Gerry Connolly, D-Va., reintroduced the Federal Adjustment of Income Rates (FAIR) Act on Jan. 21, to give Federal employees a 3.2 percent pay raise for 2022. […]

President Biden is asking intelligence agencies for a “full assessment” of Russian involvement in breaches of thousands of government and private-sector networks via SolarWinds Orion products, White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki said Jan. 21. […]

The White House said today President Biden will sign an executive order that cancels a previous order issued by former President Trump last October that created a new “Schedule F” classification for Federal employees in policy-making positions and made it easier to hire and fire them. […]

The Biden Administration has gone to work on stopping the spread of the COVID-19 virus through executive orders (EO) that will enhance data collection capabilities among relevant industries and establish a national testing strategy that includes a contact tracing element. […]

Despite the coronavirus pandemic and the unprecedented move to remote work caused by the public health crisis, Federal employee satisfaction is up, according to preliminary results from the 2020 OPM Federal Employee Viewpoint Survey. […]

The Senate today voted to confirm President Biden’s pick for Secretary of the Department of Defense (DoD) Lloyd Austin. […]

The Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) is conducting market research to find sources for COVID-19 data modeling, according to a Jan. 19 sources sought notice on Beta.SAM.gov. […]

As data continues to drive the future of Federal IT, agency leaders looked ahead to their goals for 2021, while keeping data implementation and cybersecurity top of mind.  […]

Department of Defense information networks (DoDIN) are working to apply a Comply-to-Connect (C2C) initiative that will boost cybersecurity across DoD with future directives by the DoD CIO addressing components of the initiative. […]

President Biden has designated Federal Communications Commission (FCC) Commissioner Jessica Rosenworcel as Acting Chairwoman of the FCC. […]

The Biden administration has suspended for 90 days a May 2020 Trump administration executive order that placed restrictions on the use of equipment made by “foreign adversaries” in the United States bulk-power system. […]

During President Biden’s first day in office, White House Chief of Staff Ron Klain issued a memo halting the implementation of recent Federal regulatory actions taken during the last few days of the Trump Administration. […]

With the Biden administration taking office Jan. 20, the Federal CIO Council has named acting CIOs at five of the seven agencies where the position is helmed by political appointees who are obliged to step down at the end of presidential administrations. […]

The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) is looking for a commercial off-the-shelf cloud-based product that “promotes the management, scheduling, tracking, operation, and reservation of various workspace environments within a current commercial office building setting.” […]

Within hours of the inauguration of President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris, the new administration began issuing marching orders to rein in the COVID-19 pandemic, including an executive order (EO) to mandate face coverings on all Federal property, and other directives to ensure that its national strategy for the COVID-19 response has a data-driven approach. […]

Then-President Trump signed an executive order the day before he left office to target foreign cyber threats and place new reporting obligations on cloud service providers. […]

The Air Force Office of Scientific Research (AFOSR), the National Research Foundation of Korea (NRF), and the Institute of Information & Communications Technology Planning & Evaluation (IITP) announced a joint international partnership that will offer three-year research grants in quantum information science and technologies. […]

President Joe Biden announced 23 acting agency heads after his inauguration, as his Cabinet nominees continue with their confirmation process. […]

Following President Joe Biden’s inauguration, the General Services Administration (GSA) announced the list of political appointees that will lead the agency. According to the GSA, the appointees are a combination of Obama-Biden administration officials and others with public/private sector experience specifically in climate and technology. […]

The Government Accountability Office’s (GAO) annual assessment of acquisition programs at the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) found 10 programs to have been in breach of either baseline cost or schedule at some point in 2020 and five were in breach as of September 2020. […]

The Oregon Army National Guard (ORANG) is seeking a cloud-based shipping and mailing solution for more than 100 users and more than 50 sites. […]

New working conditions have led agencies to adjust AI adoption methods and strengthen data analytics capabilities by leveraging commercially available solutions from industry and implementing other practices during the pandemic. […]

Four lawmakers are criticizing Secretary of State Mike Pompeo’s approval of a new cybersecurity and emerging technologies bureau and calling for President-elect Joe Biden to hit pause when he is sworn in and takes office. […]

Mark Montgomery, senior advisor to the chairmen of the Cyberspace Solarium Commission that last year produced dozens of recommendations to Congress on legislative steps to improve U.S. cybersecurity, said Jan. 19 that the commission is urging Congress in 2021 to adopt a more comprehensive strategy to protect the nation’s information and communications (ICT) supply chain. […]

The Federal Risk and Authorization Management Program (FedRAMP) is looking to make the move from manual processes to automated ones, focusing on two strategic initiatives that will make cloud security even easier for agencies. […]

Ret. Army Gen. Lloyd Austin, President Joe Biden’s nominee for Defense Secretary, faced a barrage of cybersecurity questions during his Jan. 19 confirmation hearing before the Senate Armed Services Committee. […]

In a Senate Homeland Security Committee hearing, Alejandro Mayorkas, President-elect Joe Biden’s nominee for Secretary of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), laid out his vision for the nation’s cybersecurity and promised to make it a priority if confirmed. […]

Maria Roat, who has been deputy Federal CIO at the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) since May 2020, will become Acting Federal CIO and Acting Federal CISO effective Jan. 20, a senior administration official confirmed to MeriTalk. […]