Smarter Gov Tech, Stronger MerITocracy
Air Force
security

As artificial intelligence (AI) technologies advance, the applications of AI in Federal agencies are growing as well, expanding beyond pilots to real-world use cases that are heightening operational impact for a variety of Federal missions. […]

DoD

The Department of Defense (DoD) is looking for public comments on how the Defense Industrial Base (DIB) can continually work on adopting and integrating AI technology into its systems, according to a notice published to the Federal Register. […]

army fitness apps

The Army Office of the Chief Information Officer (OCIO) has announced that Maj. Gen. Jan Norris left his position as the Army’s director of cybersecurity late last week. […]

The House Energy and Commerce Innovation, Data, and Commerce subcommittee advanced a revamped draft proposal for a Federal privacy law by unanimous vote on Thursday, sending the bill to the full committee for a vote. […]

Cybersecurity

National Cyber Director (NCD) Harry Coker is promising a strong effort by the Federal government to shore up internet router security – particularly in the area of Border Gateway Protocol (BGP) rules that determine the best network route for data transmission on the internet – in light of attacks over the past 15 years that have leveraged weak BGP security. […]

Budget Federal spending

The chair of a key Senate committee expressed support this week for the Biden administration’s proposal to increase Federal funding to advance artificial intelligence (AI), quantum computing, and other emerging technologies, along with boosting support for the Department of Energy’s (DoE) Office of Science. […]

VA, Veterans Affairs

The Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) and Oracle Cerner have extended the contract for the Electronic Health Records Modernization (EHRM) program for one month as current contract negotiations between the two parties continue. […]

Pentagon Military Defense DoD

The Government Accountability Office (GAO) identified two significant tech-related ways to potentially save taxpayers billions of dollars in its 14th annual report that aims to identify overlap, duplication, and fragmentation across the Federal government. […]

More than half of organizations have been targets of cyberattacks exploiting VPN (virtual private network) security vulnerabilities in the last year, underscoring the growing imperative to move away from traditional perimeter-based defenses and toward more robust zero trust security architecture, according to findings from cloud security provider Zscaler. […]

healthcare cyber-min
Department of Commerce

The Commerce Department said on May 23 that it has reached a preliminary agreement with Absolics to provide the company with $75 million of CHIPS and Science Act funding that will support the company’s construction of a facility in Covington, Ga., where it will develop substrates technology for use in advanced semiconductor manufacturing. […]

A Government Accountability Office (GAO) report released on May 20 is offering some good news: the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) since last year has improved its capabilities to protect personally identifiable information (PII). […]

CDO

The Council of the Inspectors General on Integrity and Efficiency (CIGIE) issued its first-ever capstone report this week on trends in Federal agencies’ cybersecurity performance, and revealing that Feds strengthened their information security programs on average from fiscal year (FY) 2020 to FY2023. […]

Army
taxes, IRS

The IRS has announced the extension of its current Free File program through 2029 under an agreement with Free File, Inc. – a partnership between the agency and several tax preparation software firms – that provides free access to tax prep and online filing software. […]

workforce

While the Department of Defense (DoD) has immense amounts of data on recruitment, retention, and development of its military workforce, the same cannot be said for its civilian workforce. That’s why the Pentagon’s talent management office is pursuing a plan to close that data gap to improve civilian workforce operations. […]

military private sector government contract spending procurement-min 1

As U.S. military veterans make the transition from serving in the armed forces to securing new employment in the civilian workforce, employers need to pay attention to how skills learned in the military can best translate into civilian jobs including those in the IT and cybersecurity fields, a senior Labor Department official said this week. […]

A top Department of Energy (DoE) official presented a sobering portrait of the nation’s cyber readiness this week, saying that a lack of funding is preventing Federal agencies from fully adhering to the Biden administration’s cybersecurity executive order (EO). […]

Robin Carnahan

The General Services Administration (GSA) is making strides in advancing the three pillars of the President’s Management Agenda (PMA), with Administrator Robin Carnahan saying this week that doubling down on efforts to recruit AI talent into the Federal government is “paying off.” […]

USAJOBS, Federal workforce

The Office of Personnel Management (OPM) rolled out a “Talent Pools” tool on the USAJOBS website in December, but an OPM official said on Wednesday that many Feds still don’t know about the new tool and urged agencies to begin using it. […]

TMF

The House passed legislation on Tuesday that aims to reauthorize the Technology Modernization Fund (TMF) until 2031, helping to reinvigorate the Federal government’s investments in technology modernization. […]

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