The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has delivered two congressionally-requested reports on the agency’s consumer privacy work as part of the fiscal year 2020 spending bill that funds FTC and other agencies. The first report details the way FTC uses its authorities to protect consumer privacy and security and to “deter unfair and deceptive conduct.” The […]

In the past three months, Federal IT has emerged as the indispensable lifeline for delivery of government services to citizens in times of turmoil. As the nation finds its new footing on the road to recovery, MeriTalk is chronicling the untold stories of how Federal IT is paving the way. In the latest chapter of CIO Crossroads, we examine the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD). […]

Microsoft President Brad Smith said the company will “launch some new steps in the next week” to address racial diversity in the technology sector workforce, while calling the industry’s steps to address the issue thus far “not nearly enough.” […]

The Department of Defense’s (DoD) months long search for a new Chief Data Officer (CDO) is over – the new CDO will start Monday, according to the DoD press office. […]

The Department of Defense official charged with integrating cyber activities across the department is no stranger to the international laws which govern the domain – he helped write them more than a decade ago. […]

Technology has played a critical role in keeping government services up and running. […]

The National Security Agency (NSA) updated its telework tech security guidance June 4 with new details for government agencies to consider when selecting which collaboration and video chat services to use to connect employees working remotely. […]

The Senate voted by voice yesterday to confirm academic Sethuraman Panchanathan to be the next director of the National Science Foundation (NSF). […]

In a June 16 court filing, the Defense Department (DoD) said it will need until August 17 for a new award decision in its Joint Enterprise Defense Infrastructure (JEDI) cloud procurement. […]

Across the Federal government, said Peter Ranks, deputy CIO for the information enterprise at the Department of Defense (DoD), and Jeanette Manfra, former assistant director for cybersecurity at the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency, more holistic IT modernization is necessary both during and following government’s reliance on widespread telework. […]

In a letter to the Office of the Director of National Intelligence (ODNI), Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., raised questions on cybersecurity issues across the intelligence community (IC), and suggested that the IC may need to fall under the purview of the Department of Homeland Security’s (DHS) authority of requiring all Federal agencies to adopt specific cybersecurity technologies and policies. […]

The unique ability of government IT operations to ensure the delivery of vital services to citizens has formed the backbone of the larger Federal pandemic response. MeriTalk is chronicling the untold stories of that effort in our CIO Crossroads series. Please join us for our latest chapter: Department of Transportation. […]

“One of the things that we are trying to do with our indictments, and that we’ve been trying to do for a number of years, is to establish norms of nation-state behavior in cyberspace,” said John Demers, the Assistant Attorney General for National Security at the Department of Justice. […]

Two senators introduced a bill this week that would address artificial intelligence (AI) workforce development for the Department of Defense and implement several recommendations from the National Security Commission on Artificial Intelligence. […]

The United States Agency for International Development (USAID) is tentatively scheduling a phase one reopening of its offices in the National Capital Region to start June 22, per a short video presentation for employees obtained by MeriTalk.  […]

Secretary of Defense Mark Esper announced June 16 that President Trump has appointed Navy Vice Adm. Jeff Trussler as the Navy’s new deputy CIO. […]

The National Security Agency (NSA) is conducting a pilot program through a commercial managed service provider that provides secure domain-name system (DNS) services to a group of defense industrial base (DIB) companies. […]

While former Principal Deputy Director of National Intelligence Sue Gordon commended how cloud adoption enabled Federal telework, she cautioned that more work needs to be done to stay secure when working remotely. […]

The chairman of the National Security Commission on Artificial Intelligence said he expects “significant focus” on artificial intelligence workforce development in this year’s defense bill. […]

In selecting which exempt organization returns to examine, the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) should start using data and document the measurable objectives in using it to reduce errors and incomplete procedures. […]

The Department of Commerce announced a rule to allow American companies to participate in international standards setting bodies, an area previously vacated by the United States to discourage commercial cooperation with the Chinese company Huawei. […]

Cost-of-Living-Adjustments (COLAs) from Federal retirement programs, such as Social Security are based on consumer price indexes (CPI) produced by the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), however, the agency hasn’t evaluated whether its data accurately reflects what certain groups pay, purchase, and shop. […]

While the mass shift to telework amid the COVID-19 pandemic caught some organizations off-guard, the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Office of Inspector General (OIG) had already practiced with a full telework workforce just weeks before the maximize telework order came. […]

The National Institutes of Health announced June 15 that it has launched a new data analytics platform to track COVID-19 patient data. […]

Lauren Knausenberger, the chief transformation officer of the United States Air Force, said the pre-pandemic culture in the service was, “you’re not really working if you’re remote,” but explained that the service’s culture has shifted quickly out of necessity.  […]

The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) released Open Security Controls Assessment Language (OSCAL) 1.0.0 Milestone 3, a key step toward finalizing the full initial release of OSCAL v1. […]

It’s hard to fathom the number of critical government processes that have had to evolve – very quickly – to meet the needs of the American people during the COVID-19 pandemic. And if this crisis has a silver lining, it’s the accelerated modernization and innovation being born out of it. MeriTalk is surfacing the untold stories – and lessons – of those efforts. In the latest installment of CIO Crossroads, we turn to the General Services Administration (GSA). […]

Agencies are now up and running with their mobile workforces – which means telework is here to stay. But with this increased number of endpoints and phishing as the top threat vector, Feds must be more vigilant about their approach to mobile security, according to Bob Stevens, vice president of Americas, Lookout. […]

Federal Communications Commission Chairman Ajit Pai asked members of a Senate Appropriations subcommittee for $65 million to implement the Broadband DATA Act, a law signed in March to improve the accuracy of broadband deployment maps. […]

The Social Security Administration (SSA) is seeking information to establish a Customer Identity Credential and Access Management (ICAM) Solution to authenticate external users. […]