A subcommittee of the President’s Council of Advisors on Science and Technology (PCAST) recommended on June 30 that the Federal government dramatically increase funding for non-defense artificial intelligence technologies in order to ensure U.S. world leadership in development and deployment of the technology. […]

Sen. Mark Warner, D-Va., said today that a bill to promote Open RAN technologies will be included in the Senate’s annual defense bill, but added that appropriators have not committed to fully funding the bill. […]

Sens. Rob Portman, D-Ohio, and Brian Schatz, D-Hawaii, said they are offering the Deepfake Report Act as an amendment to the Senate’s fiscal 2021 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) bill. […]

Anil Cheriyan is stepping down as Deputy Commissioner of the General Services Administration’s Federal Acquisition Service (FAS) and Director of the agency’s Technology Transformation Services organization, effective July 17, the agency said today. […]

The Office of the Inspector General (OIG) at NASA blamed the lack of information security programs, missing contingency plans, and ineffective IT security handbooks for the agency’s Federal Information Security Modernization (FISMA) Act shortcomings in Fiscal Year 2019. […]

As Federal Deputy CIO Maria Roat steps down as president of the American Council for Technology (ACT), starting July 1 Internal Revenue Service Deputy Chief Procurement Officer Harrison Smith has been selected to fill the role, ACT-IAC announced June 30. […]

A collection of trade groups representing the nation’s biggest tech firms is urging Senate leadership to match or exceed the $1 billion in funding for the Technology Modernization Fund (TMF) approved by the House last month as part of the HEROES Act pandemic-relief legislation. […]

The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Science and Technology Directorate (S&T) and the National Information Assurance Partnership with the National Security Agency (NSA) said June 29 that their joint pilot program is showing that cybersecurity for mobile application software for Federal use can be an automated process. […]

The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) lacks a “comprehensive strategic [plan] to guide spectrum policy for 5G deployment,” according to a Government Accountability Office (GAO) report.  The government watchdog agency made recommendations to FCC to improve its strategic plan, but the FCC was luke warm on the reccomendations.  […]

The Open RAN Policy Coalition pushed hard in a recent filing to the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) that the group’s primary mission – promoting openness and interoperability in radio access networks for 5G wireless services – will boost U.S. national security as the U.S. and other nations increasingly roll out those networks. […]

The legislative effort to update the Federal government’s spectrum management processes got one step closer to becoming law when a bipartisan group of four House members introduced a bill identical to the version added to the Senate’s annual defense bill earlier this month. […]

The General Services Administration (GSA) and the Treasury Department have been formally designated as civilian human resources transaction services and financial management services Quality Service Management Offices (QSMOs), respectively, per a June 29 Office of Management and Budget (OMB) press release. […]

The Cyber Threat Alliance (CTA) and the Center for Internet Security (CIS) have signed a cooperation agreement on cybersecurity and threat data issues, according to a June 28 press release. […]

The Department of Justice announced that a Russian national was sentenced on June 26 to nine years in prison for operating two websites devoted to the facilitation of payment card fraud, computer hacking, and other related crimes. […]

Former Federal Deputy CIO Margie Graves, now at MHGraves Consulting, has been elected the executive vice chair of Industry Advisory Council (IAC) Executive Committee, which is the governance body of ACT-IAC’s industry side. […]

New bicameral legislation was introduced aimed at stopping government use of facial recognition and other biometric technology. […]

A leader of the international cybercrime organization Infraud – a group responsible for more than $568 million in financial losses – pleaded guilty to Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organization (RICO) Act charges on June 26. […]

The chairman of the congressionally mandated National Commission on Military, National, and Public Service told a Senate panel that Federal hiring practices need “a major overhaul,” and highlighted three reforms from the commission’s March report. […]

Brodie S. Thomson, a former Virginia-based Federal contracting executive, last week admitted guilt for his actions in a $4.1 million fraud scheme that centered on soliciting bribes and receiving financial kickbacks in connection with prime government contracts and subcontracts awarded to a firm for which he served as senior vice president. […]

Federal IT has played a critical role in sustaining delivery of critical services to citizens during the COVID-19 pandemic. As the government and the nation take the first steps toward recovery, MeriTalk is chronicling the untold stories – and lessons – of Federal IT operations during three months of pandemic. In this latest chapter of CIO Crossroads, we explore cybersecurity operations at the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA). […]

Department of Defense (DoD) agencies are actively leveraging cloud services to better understand and obtain insights from the deluge of data that exists on military networks. […]

President Trump issued an executive order today that the White House said requires Federal agencies “to focus hiring on the skills job seekers possess, rather than focusing on whether they have earned a college degree.” The White House said the order will transform the Federal hiring process “to replace one-size-fits-all, degree-based hiring with skills-based hiring.” […]

The General Services Administration said today it selected three companies to test their e-commerce portals for up to a three-year period in an effort to increase transparency of government purchases and make it easier for agencies to make purchases of less than $10,000. […]

In its markup of the Fiscal Year 2021 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA), the Senate Armed Services Committee is looking to terminate the Department of Defense’s (DoD) Chief Management Office (CMO) position. […]

While the Government Accountability Office (GAO) has recently outlined key considerations for Federal agencies returning to work following the coronavirus pandemic, a GAO official said this week that the agency hasn’t yet seen a comprehensive and detailed plan from government that is comparable to some industry reopening plans. […]

A bipartisan group of six House members this week introduced a bill to establish a National Cyber Director in the Executive Office of the President to coordinate cyber policy across the Federal government. […]

The Department of Defense (DoD) will move to phase two of its reopening plan on June 29, allowing for up to 80 percent of employees to return to offices in the National Capital Region (NCR). […]

The Federal government has worked to expand access to broadband across the U.S. through large investments in the sector and can continue expanding access in rural areas by improving data and broadband access maps. […]

As public and private sector organizations face a heightened threat landscape amid the COVID-19 pandemic, Richard Driggers, deputy assistant director for cybersecurity at the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA), explained how agency efforts have scaled to meet governmentwide cyber needs. […]

Chairperson of the House Committee on Science, Space, and Technology Rep. Eddie Bernice Johnson, D-Texas, introduced legislation on June 18 to fund research into policing activities including the use of emerging tech such as facial recognition. […]