In an interview with MeriTalk, Mike Nash, director of engineering at General Dynamics Information Technology (GDIT), delves into the myriad benefits of digital engineering for defense, civilian, and intelligence organizations, including lower costs, reduced risk, better design quality, and a level of automation that is essential as enterprises accelerate digital modernization. […]

A new report from the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) Office of Inspector General (OIG) reveals that the VA does not have adequate controls in place to prevent “major system incidents” to its electronic health record (EHR) system. […]

The General Services Administration (GSA) and Office of Management and Budget (OMB) need to collect consistent cost data so they can provide a cost estimate to Federal agencies and cloud service providers (CSPs) pursuing Federal Risk and Authorization Management Program (FedRAMP) authorizations, according to the Government Accountability Office (GAO). […]

While a senior CrowdStrike official issued blanket apologies to House lawmakers at a Sept. 24 subcommittee hearing for the widespread Windows outages sparked on July 19 by a faulty software update from the company, leaders of the House Homeland Security Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Protection Subcommittee positioned the CrowdStrike outage – and process improvements the company is undertaking to avoid any repeat performance – also as a teachable moment for all concerned. […]

Legislation introduced in the House on Wednesday aims to create a cybersecurity training program that will provide Federal scholarship support in exchange for two years of service with governments at all levels in cybersecurity roles.   […]

The U.S. Navy’s top admiral last week unveiled a new initiative – dubbed ‘Project 33’ – which is aimed at scaling robotic and autonomous systems across the fleet by 2027 and aims to ensure readiness for evolving technologies and their use in potential conflicts. […]

The increasing prevalence of data localization laws around the world drew several angles of criticism at a Sept. 20 House Ways and Means subcommittee hearing, and a call from some witnesses for the U.S. to press harder for international leadership in technology laws and policy.   […]

The House on Sept. 18 approved the Future Uses of Technology Upholding Reliable and Enhanced (FUTURE) Networks Act by a vote of 393-22. […]

With increasing threats to cyberspace in the era of rising authoritarianism and global competition, technology experts told members of Congress on Tuesday that the United States must increase its technology investments to combat digital authoritarianism. […]

After what feels like an eternity in regulatory limbo, the Department of Defense’s (DoD) long-awaited cybersecurity compliance policy cleared the regulatory review process, moving toward Congressional review before it becomes law. […]

The Office of Personnel Management (OPM) has extended the direct hiring authority for STEM and cybersecurity positions through 2028, the agency announced in a memo on Monday. […]

The Commerce Department is pushing for increased financial resources and policy measures to bolster the U.S. quantum information science sector and the broader technology supply chain, said Commerce Deputy Secretary Don Graves on Monday. […]

In a recent interview with MeriTalk, George Kamis, Chief Technology Officer at Everfox, discussed the importance of mastering the “third dimension” of warfare – secure cross-domain collaboration – to enable data-based decision-making at the speed needed to respond to rapidly changing mission requirements. […]

Resistance in some parts of the Federal government to the use of mobile communications hinders progress and a cultural shift is needed to embrace risk and adapt to emerging technologies to create a more secure and efficient work environment, said Mark Gorak, principal director for Resources & Analysis at the U.S. Department of Defense (DoD). […]

National Cyber Director (NCD) Harry Coker on Sept. 23 updated recent efforts by the Biden administration to further the National Cybersecurity Workforce and Education Strategy (NCWES), which was first released in July 2023. […]

A government watchdog report released on Monday revealed that over 100 of the Federal Aviation Administration’s (FAA) 138 systems are unsustainable or potentially unsustainable – more than half of which have “critical” impacts on airspace operations.  […]

A recent Federal watchdog report is sounding the alarm on the risk of consultants linked to China and other foreign adversaries doing work for government agencies, highlighting that this risk could pose grave threats to national security if left unchecked. […]

The General Services Administration (GSA) has developed an emerging technology “radar” process to help it track the trajectory of emerging technologies from initial research and development to government experiments, according to the Assistant Commissioner of GSA’s Office of Information Technology Category (ITC) Laura Stanton. […]

A new report from MeriTalk – issued in partnership with Rep. Gerry Connolly, D-Va. – reveals that cybersecurity is the top priority for Federal chief information officers (CIOs) in fiscal year (FY) 2025. […]

The Department of Energy (DoE) will soon operationalize its public-private pilot program which aims to secure critical energy infrastructure against threats as it also looks forward to improving security through work within industry sectors, a top DoE security official said on Sept. 17.  […]

Transportation Department (DoT) CIO Cordell Schachter emphasized top findings of the “Digital Dozen” Federal chief information officers whose thinking underpins MeriTalk’s “Tech Tonic: FY25 Federal CIO Forecast” report in remarks at Tech Tonic on Sept. 19, and how important it is for the Federal government to modernize IT systems to address many of those priorities.   […]

The Government Accountability Office (GAO) is issuing more than a dozen recommendations to the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) after it discovered that HHS has failed to implement all the key privacy safeguards for its pandemic IT systems that collect and store personally identifiable information (PII).  […]

What are government agencies’ top tech priorities for 2025? We skipped the speculation and went straight to the real experts – the Federal agency chief information officers (CIO) – for those answers. […]

In this episode of MeriTalking, Mike Nash, director of engineering and Kent Laursen, GDIT’s technology director for digital engineering, sit down with MeriTalk’s Gail Emery to explore how digital engineering provides benefits for Federal organizations. […]

The Pentagon is preparing to re-compete its Advana enterprise data and analytics platform, transitioning from its current contracting vehicle to a new model, with plans for a 10-year, multi-vendor contract worth up to $15 billion, Chief Digital and Artificial Intelligence Officer (CDAO) Radha Plumb announced during an industry day event on Wednesday. […]

Federal agencies received the highest number of ‘A’ grades ever on the 18th edition of the FITARA Scorecard issued on Friday by Rep. Gerry Connolly, D-Va., leading the congressman to make plans to evolve the scorecard with new categories. […]

Eighteen of the 24 largest Federal agencies have failed to establish guidance on service level agreements for their cloud providers – ignoring one of the five key requirements put in place by the White House. […]

House members vented their frustrations on Thursday over the Department of Veterans Affairs’ (VA) action to pause use of the agency’s troubled Program Integrity Tool (PIT) last year, which has resulted in the VA not being able to collect about $665 million in revenue since then and created potential financial impacts for veterans.  […]

CSC 2.0 – the private sector successor to the government’s Cyberspace Solarium Commission – is teeing up a series of cybersecurity-related legislative and policy actions that it says the next administration and Congress still needs to pursue. […]

Federal agency grades were up sharply and nearly across the board on the latest edition of the FITARA Scorecard issued today by Rep. Gerry Connolly, D-Va., who is ranking member of the House Cybersecurity, IT, and Government Innovation Subcommittee and who compiles the scorecard with substantial input from the Government Accountability Office (GAO). […]