A new report from the Department of Defense Office of the Inspector General (IG) found weaknesses in cybersecurity defenses for ballistic missile defense systems, putting technical information on the systems at risk. […]

The Office of Management and Budget (OMB) released a draft of its Trusted Internet Connections (TIC) policy late Friday, with the goals of removing barriers to cloud and modern technology adoption, ensuring that the TIC initiative remains agile, and streamlining and automating verification processes. […]

Federal agencies identified 26 long-range emerging threats to U.S. national security, including emerging technologies and foreign cybersecurity threats, a new report by the Government Accountability Office (GAO) found. […]

The State Department is looking to purchase phone hacking tools for Ghanaian police to help them investigate international crime. […]

The Senate on Dec. 13 approved by unanimous consent HR 6227, the National Quantum Initiative Act, which would create a Federal program to speed quantum research and development “for the economic and national security” of the United States. […]

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., announced on Thursday the Democratic committee assignments for the new congress. […]

The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) announced that it would like to offer up to $600 million dollars in loans and grants, through their ReConnect Program, to assist rural areas in building their broadband infrastructure. […]

Gigi Sohn, who formerly served as counselor to Obama-era Federal Communications Commission (FCC) Chairman Tom Wheeler, is joining the Electronic Frontier Foundation’s (EFF) board of directors. […]

The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has announced the appointment of Brian Harrell as head of the Infrastructure Security Division at DHS’s Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA). […]

Some of the largest federal agencies saw increases in scores for the 2018 Best Places to Work in the Federal Government, released by the Partnership for Public Service, which measures employee engagement. […]

The Federal government spends at least $90 billion annually on IT, according to Performance.gov. And, Chris Liddell, deputy chief of staff for policy coordination, has said that the government could spend more than double that–up to $200 billion on IT each year. That type of spending could lead to innovation and efficiencies for Feds, but the path forward is often obstructed by end-of-life devices and unwieldy maintenance costs. […]

What can the some of the most talented computer science researchers do with $10 million in funding over five years? As the National Science Foundation’s (NSF) Expeditions in Computing program shows, they can explore the deep questions of computer science, and perhaps even create new industries. […]

2018 brought a lot of progress on IT modernization and Federal policies, providing a platform for future IT modernization efforts, said Federal CIO Suzette Kent on Thursday. […]

TechNet announced Wednesday that Ed Knight, executive vice president and global chief legal and policy officer for Nasdaq, has joined TechNet’s Executive Council. […]

Even anonymity doesn’t guarantee privacy. Not even in a crowd of millions. That’s the finding of a new study by Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) researchers who found that anonymized mobility data can still result in privacy risks when that data is combined with data from other sources. Data–lots of it–is widely seen as the key to better planning for cities, transportation lines, and any kind of mobility services. But collecting all that data has an unintended privacy risk, even when taking pains to protect people’s identities. […]

A group of 15 Democratic senators introduced a new piece of data privacy legislation on Wednesday. The legislation, named the Data Care Act, will, according to the bill’s lead sponsor Sen. Brian Schatz, D-Hawaii, “require websites, apps, and other online providers to take responsible steps to safeguard personal information and stop the misuse of users’ data.” […]

Federal CIO Suzette Kent revealed today that the new draft Trusted Internet Connections (TIC) policy will be released next week, and that new policies on data and automation are coming in 2019. […]

While yesterday’s hearing held by two House Oversight and Government Reform subcommittees was a mostly upbeat affair given the better grades earned by several Federal agencies on the committee’s latest FITARA scorecard, committee members also grilled witnesses about impediments that stand in the way of agencies implementing a key aspect of the MGT (Modernizing Government Technology) Act. […]

A presidential advisory council found that existing national plans, response resources, and coordination strategies would be outmatched by a catastrophic power outage. […]

As MeriTalk reported earlier this month, the Senate today took action on the 21st Century Integrated Digital Experience Act (IDEA Act) and passed the legislation under unanimous consent. […]

Expect to see more data breaches, attacks on critical infrastructure in the cloud, and more research into vulnerabilities into cloud computing in 2019, according to studies on upcoming threats in the new year. […]

Federal agencies can earn better grades on their next FITARA (Federal Information Technology Acquisition Reform Act) scorecard by taking action on three items that underpin the scoring–software inventories, CIO reporting lines, and setting up working capital funds for IT improvements as authorized by the MGT (Modernizing Government Technology) Act–members of Congress and an official with the Government Accountability Office said today. […]

An inspector general audit to review a cost-saving database migration project within the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) found that inadequate governance of the project led to poor planning and significant delay, delaying cost savings of $12 million. […]

A panel of Federal government artificial intelligence experts spoke on the importance of AI, ethical concerns, and use cases at the CXO Tech Forum on AI and Big Data in Government on Wednesday. […]

In today’s Senate Judiciary Committee hearing, the Committee dug into what it called “China’s non-traditional espionage against the United States.” During the hearing, senators heard from cybersecurity, and intelligence experts about China’s attempts to use cybersecurity attacks and intellectual property theft to advance its global standing. […]

Federal officials are looking at 2019 as the year of the hybrid cloud, as agencies shift from the Cloud First policy of moving pell-mell into as-a-service models to the Cloud Smart policy, which focuses more on making cloud work with legacy systems and serving agency missions. […]

In written testimony to the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee before the Federal Information Technology Acquisition Reform Act (FITARA) Scorecard hearing on Wednesday, the Government Accountability Office (GAO) highlighted areas where Federal agencies had not implemented recommendations from previous GAO reports. […]

On Wednesday, the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) will host a Proposers Day for leaders within the defense industry base to discuss further developing their five-year, $1.5B investment in an Electronics Resurgence Initiative (ERI) to further technological advancements for Department of Defense (DoD) needs. […]

Today, the House Energy and Commerce Subcommittee on Communications and Technology took a deep dive into the RAY BAUM’S Act and examined how the legislation was helping to bridge the digital divide in the United States. […]

Sundar Pichai, CEO of Google, testified in front of the House Judiciary Committee today, answering questions regarding China, privacy policies, search biases, and data collection. […]