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. […]

After a two-and-a-half-year tenure widely recognized for success in promoting Federal IT modernization – and superb performance in shepherding the government’s quick turn to telework during the COVID-19 pandemic – Federal CIO Suzette Kent said today she will step down from her post next month. […]

NSF’s CIO Dorothy Aronson said moving forward, lessons learned from the pandemic “can’t be unlearned.” “We probably will continue to be much more of a virtual organization in the future than we had been in the past,” she said. […]

The Senate Committee on the Budget held a hearing June 24 to consider Derek Kan to be the next deputy director of the Office of Management and Budget (OMB). […]

While artificial intelligence (AI) has any number of useful applications, Federal government IT leaders believe that AI will be the security technology most valuable to their agencies in the coming years, according to a recent survey conducted by MeriTalk in partnership with security provider Forcepoint. […]

Customs and Border Patrol (CBP) is tasked with protecting U.S. national security and protecting the nation’s borders. When it comes to the technology infrastructure needed to meet mission goals, Sonny Bhagowalia, deputy assistant commissioner with CBP’s Office of Information Technology, has turned to supported open-source technologies. […]

The Trump administration is touting increased broadband deployment in rural communities stemming from financial investments and governmentwide connectivity programs, per the American Broadband Initiative Progress Report released today. […]

The Senate’s annual defense bill puts the Secretary of Defense on the hook for a plan on the U.S.’ “cyber hunt forward operations,” a strategy ostensibly outlined by National Security Presidential Memorandum 13, which governs offensive cyber operations and had not been seen by members of congressional defense committees for months after its 2018 adoption. […]

While schools transitioned to online learning during the COVID-19 coronavirus pandemic, over half of educators said, in a recent nationwide survey, that their students are not learning about cybersecurity. […]

Federal CIO Suzette Kent will be leaving the public sector in July, according to a June 25 announcement from the Office of Management and Budget (OMB). […]

The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) and Small Business Association (SBA) aimed warnings this week at six companies to cease potentially misleading marketing geared toward small businesses seeking COVID-19 relief loans. […]

FedRAMP announced that it has kicked off a new initiative – the Agency Liaison Program – that the FedRAMP Project Management Office (PMO) said is “designed to transform the way FedRAMP informs and collaborates with Federal agencies,” and “help agencies and industry be more efficient in their cloud adoption efforts.” […]

As the COVID-19 pandemic has continued to affect organizations across the United States, officials from the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and the Department of Justice (DoJ) warned of common trends and attack vectors that are being used by malicious actors for financial or informational gain. […]

The Federal Communications Commission said today that the total value of funding grants under its COVID-19 Telehealth Program rose to $157 million, after the agency approved $29.4 million of new grants.  […]

The General Services Administration (GSA) increased the ceiling of the 8(a) Streamlined Technology Application Resource for Services (STARS) II contract to $22 billion today. […]

While the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic has left a flurry of cybersecurity risks in its wake targeting healthcare and other sectors, the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) has scarcely missed a beat in carrying out its mission to protect the U.S. from cyber threats. […]

The group charged with overseeing implementation of new cybersecurity standards for Department of Defense supply chain companies has released its requirements for third-party assessors – the next step in a multi-year process designed to better secure the defense industrial base. […]

Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) Director Christopher Krebs called the COVID-19 pandemic – and the quick switch to telework stemming from efforts to curtail the spread of the virus – one of the “biggest drivers” of IT and cyber modernization in recent times. […]

Michael Griffin, Under Secretary of Defense for Research and Engineering, and Deputy Under Secretary for Research and Engineering Lisa Porter are resigning their posts, effective July 10, according to the Secretary of Defense. […]

The Congressional Budget Office (CBO) estimates that the Identifying Outputs of Generative Adversarial Networks (IOGAN) Act (S.2904) would cost $6 million between 2020 and 2025. […]

The House Armed Services Committee’s Subcommittee on Readiness advanced its portion of the National Defense Authorization Act on June 23 with a few tech, cyber, and IT provisions. […]

The 2020 Service to the Citizens (STTC) Awards are honoring over 70 government and industry officials for their work in driving improvements in the delivery of Federal digital services to citizens. […]

MeriTalk recently sat down with David Egts, Chief Technologist & Director, North America Public Sector at Red Hat to discuss how Federal agencies are meeting the needs of the new mobile workforce, and steps they are taking to drive long term benefits.  […]

As the COVID-19 pandemic made it increasingly difficult for veterans to access in-person healthcare services, the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) quickly scaled its existing telehealth capabilities to accommodate more patients. Now, per several VA officials, the agency is planning to continue investments in and accessibility to its virtual health services even after the pandemic winds down. […]

With the rise in telework, distance learning, and telehealth, the COVID-19 pandemic has shown a spotlight on the importance of broadband connectivity. In a move to promote broadband expansion in rural America, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce’s Technology Engagement Center (C_TEC) released nine policy principles to close the digital divide. […]