Smarter Gov Tech, Stronger MerITocracy
healthcare cyber-min

Health-focused government agencies are in a good position to lead implementation of Federal Data Strategy initiatives – such as improving data protection – because of their ongoing investments aimed at that goal, Federal CIO Suzette Kent said Jan. 15 at AFCEA Bethesda Health IT Summit. […]

Veterans Affairs VA Vets
Health and Human Services HHS

The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) CIO Jose Arrieta said Accelerate will be able to save the department “somewhere around $33 to $40 million” over the next five years. […]

Smart 2020

Federal policymakers have spent an exceptionally busy couple of years staking out new rules – think Federal Data Strategy, Cloud Smart, TIC 3.0, the National AI Initiative, among others – that will lead the government-wide IT enterprise forward into the next decade. […]

Federal government, cloud computing
.gov website cybersecurity government

The Council of the Inspectors General on Integrity and Efficiency (CIGIE) announced today the release of a new website that will track which Inspector General (IG) positions are currently vacant and for how long they have been vacant. […]

cybersecurity chip AI

The recently promoted Assistant Director for Cybersecurity at the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) Bryan Ware reflected on his first week and shared his top priorities for the agency at the Data Cloud Summit on Jan. 14.  […]

HUD Urban Development

The Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) is missing the mark on records management and privacy requirements to the tune of more than one billion records that contain personally identifiable information (PII), the agency’s Inspector General (IG) said in a recent report. […]

employee hired workforce worker-min
employee workforce federal worker-min

The Department of Energy’s (DoE) Office of Science announced its plan to invest up to $625 million in establishing National Quantum Information Science Research Centers in accordance with the National Quantum Initiative Act, according to a Jan. 10 funding opportunity announcement. […]

Ajit Pai

A group of bipartisan legislators led by Rep. Jerry McNerney, D-Calif., sent a letter on Jan. 10 to Federal Communications Commissioner Ajit Pai to thank him for his December 2019 vote to “modernize the 5.9 GHz band.” […]

The Departments of Agriculture (USDA), Housing and Urban Development (HUD), and Energy are the first three agencies to begin paying back Technology Modernization Fund (TMF) grants, representatives from each agency confirmed to MeriTalk. […]

OPM Office of Personnel Management

The Office of Personnel Management (OPM) is seeking a contractor to assist IT support services for the Office of the CIO’s Chief Information Security Officer (CISO) and to provide support for OPM’s Cybersecurity Program (CSP). […]

NIST

The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) wants to make it easier for grantees and contractors to report on Federally-funded technological inventions through updating the Interagency Edison System (iEdison).  […]

data sharing

MeriTalk recently connected with Cisco’s Will Ash, Senior Director of Security Sales, and Peter Romness, Cybersecurity Solutions Lead, U.S. Public Sector CTO Office, on the current cyber threat landscape, how Zero Trust plays into agencies’ evolving cyber defense plans, and the importance of public-private sector collaboration. […]

Software trade group BSA said the rules proposed under the Securing the Information and Communications Technology and Services Supply Chain executive order may give the Secretary of Commerce “unbounded discretion to review commercial ICT transactions, applying highly subjective criteria in an ad hoc and opaque process that lacks meaningful safeguards for companies.” […]

Reps. Tim Walberg, R-Mich., and Bobby Rush, D-Ill., introduced the Preventing Real Online Threats Endangering Children Today (PROTECT) Kids Act on Jan. 9. […]

At least one low-cost phone model of the type used to access voice and broadband services provided to low-income Americans through the Federal Communications Commission’s (FCC) Lifeline Program has been found to be pre-installed with foreign malware, according to research released by Malwarebytes on Jan. 9. […]

Cybersecurity cyber

The Office of the Director of National Intelligence (ODNI) and the National Security Agency (NSA) are both working on less classified methods of cyberthreat information sharing, according to two officials at a FedInsider webinar on Jan. 9. […]

FTC Federal Trade Commission
5G Broadband rural broadband FCC-min
U.S. Patent Trademark Office USPTO Commerce

Andrei Iancu, director of the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO), raised the possibility of artificial intelligence (AI)-enabled machines qualifying as independent patent holders, during remarks at the Consumer Electronics Show on Jan. 8. […]

The National Cybersecurity Center of Excellence (NCCoE) has invited eight companies to participate as technology collaborators in the Securing the Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT): Cybersecurity for Distributed Energy Resources Project (DERS). […]

Cyber workforce

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