Rep. Don Beyer, D-Va., said today he’s hopeful that Congress will work together in a bipartisan way to approve between five and 10 meaningful AI-related bills this year, leveraging a proposed House AI working group to help get that job done. […]

The Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) issued 2024 Priorities today for its Joint Cyber Defense Collaborative (JCDC) – aligning its priorities for the first time under three focus areas to help establish resources required and strategic direction. […]

The Biden-Harris administration expects to invest over $5 billion to launch a national semiconductor research consortium to bolster U.S. research and development (R&D) of computer chips. […]

Senate Finance Committee leadership released a bipartisan framework of legislation on Feb. 8 that would make key improvements to the nation’s unemployment insurance (UI) system, including the implementation of new technology. […]

The National Institute of Health (NIH) has tapped Sean Mooney to serve as director of NIH’s Center for Information Technology (CIT), starting in mid-March. […]

The Intelligence Advanced Research Projects Activity (IARPA) – which operates within the Office of the Director of National Intelligence (ODNI) – has launched a new effort aimed at advancing the science behind quantum computing by lowering the number of errors produced in the process of quantum research. […]

The Pentagon’s Office of the Chief Information Officer (CIO) in 2024 will begin to implement and start building out on actions it created solid foundations for last year, a top Defense Department (DoD) official said today. […]

The Pentagon’s Defense Innovation Unit (DIU) said in a report released this week that it’s taking steps toward its next iteration – dubbed DIU 3.0 – that involves shifts in focus, action, and resourcing to accelerate the development and deployment of military technology. […]

A Defense Information Systems Agency (DISA) official said today that the agency’s ongoing pilot efforts to provide cloud services to military service branches outside the continental U.S. (OCONUS) are proceeding well thus far, but that the ultimate goal of the pilots – to make overseas cloud services easy to use for all warfighting use cases – still remains on the horizon.  […]

Top officials from several private sector firms that are helping the Federal government modernize its technology and cybersecurity capabilities told MeriTalk that last week’s FITARA Scorecard gradings for the largest Federal agencies in several IT-driven categories are shining a necessary light on government’s need to make more progress in implementing longstanding cloud policy directives. […]

The Biden-Harris administration this week announced the creation of the AI Safety Institute Consortium (AISIC), which will unite more than 200 AI creators and users, academics, government and industry researchers, and civil society organizations in support of the development and deployment of safe and trustworthy AI. […]

Sens. Mark Warner, D-Va., and John Thune, R-S.D., introduced a new bill on Feb. 7 that would direct the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) to develop cybersecurity guidelines for the Federal government’s use of drone vehicles. […]

One expert in health-related AI technology warned members of Congress on Feb. 8 that guardrails for the emerging technology will only serve the few organizations that are “already on the AI adoption highway,” and called on lawmakers to invest in underserved communities so all people in the U.S. can benefit from AI in healthcare. […]

The House Oversight and Accountability Committee on Feb. 6 voted to approve the Government Service Delivery Improvement Act, which aims to improve customer experience and accountability across the Federal government in part by creating a new senior management position at the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) devoted to improving customer experience. […]

The Technology Modernization Fund (TMF) today announced a call for project proposals centered around the use of artificial intelligence technologies and in support of President Biden’s AI executive order (EO) issued last October. […]

The Department of Defense (DoD) is making a change in how it addresses remote work and telework by adding new preconditions – some focusing on data classification levels – outlined in an updated telework policy that marks the Pentagon’s first formal update to the policy since 2012. […]

The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) is launching a new initiative focused on hiring 50 new artificial intelligence experts to help leverage AI technology across strategic areas of the department. […]

The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) said today it issued a declaratory ruling that bans the use of voice cloning technologies made possible by artificial intelligence in the case of unwanted robocalls to consumers.  […]

Conrad Stosz, the Office of Management and Budget’s (OMB) director of artificial intelligence and a key player in helping OMB formulate final guidance to Federal agencies on implementing President Biden’s landmark AI executive order (EO), told MeriTalk in an exclusive interview that many public comments on the draft guidance have focused on issues of transparency, consistency, and risk management. […]

U.S. Secretary of Commerce Gina Raimondo on Feb. 7 announced key members of the executive leadership team to lead the U.S. AI Safety Institute (AISI) – which will be established at the National Institute for Standards and Technology (NIST). […]

Federal agencies called on all organizations today to urgently implement a series of cybersecurity actions after discovering that a Chinese-based hacking group has compromised the IT environments of multiple U.S. critical infrastructure organizations – with the end goal of a future cyberattack. […]

The State Department said this week it is implementing a new policy creating visa restrictions for people who use commercial spyware technology for illicit purposes. […]

The head of the Defense Department’s (DoD) Zero Trust Portfolio Management Office said this week that he is looking for firms to focus on product integration possibilities as they pitch zero trust security strategies to the Pentagon. […]

The Central Intelligence Agency’s (CIA) talent center is working to expand its workforce diversity by establishing hiring procedures that will help individuals in the neurodivergent community to better present themselves during the hiring process, according to a senior CIA official. […]

During his first public address in Washington, D.C., today, the White House’s newly confirmed National Cyber Director (NCD) Harry Coker keyed on several initiatives ONCD has in the works to further implement President Biden’s National Cybersecurity Strategy (NCS). […]

Top IT experts at the Departments of Treasury and Veterans Affairs (VA) said that the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency’s (CISA) Joint Cyber Defense Collaborative (JCDC) program holds a lot of promise, but is “still in its infancy” with program kinks to be worked out. […]

Federal IT is experiencing an explosion of complexity. At the same time, government is being asked to innovate and move faster. To meet these requirements and reduce complexity, agencies must change the way they work – both technically and culturally. In this episode of MeriTalking, MeriTalk’s Gail Emery is joined by Brian Mikkelsen, Datadog’s vice […]

The National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) will be rolling out a zero trust network access (ZTNA) solution as part of the next step of the agency’s zero trust implementation journey, an agency official said on Feb. 6. […]

Top cybersecurity and critical infrastructure experts voiced concerns to lawmakers today at a House Homeland Security Subcommittee hearing that neither the government nor the private sector are doing enough to secure operational technology (OT) networks of critical infrastructure organizations. […]

The National Science Foundation (NSF) launched its National AI Research Resource (NAIRR) pilot on Jan. 24, and already lawmakers and Feds are optimistic about the program’s ability to serve as a shared national infrastructure to support the AI research community and power responsible AI use. […]