Smarter Gov Tech, Stronger MerITocracy
FITARA
Budget Federal spending

Members of the Senate Committee on Veterans’ Affairs are calling on the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) to provide more transparency on its budget needs just as Congress bailed the agency out on Thursday with billions of dollars in supplemental funding for fiscal year (FY) 2024. […]

OPM Office of Personnel Management

Federal employees reported high satisfaction with available benefit programs according to the Office of Personnel Management’s (OPM) 2023 OPM Federal Employee Benefits Survey (FEBS) released by OPM on Sept. 18.  […]

Army

Private sector tech leaders warned lawmakers on Wednesday of foreign efforts to influence U.S. public opinion ahead of the 2024 election, and emphasized that various “misinformation campaigns” are increasingly being shaped by advanced artificial intelligence (AI) technology. […]

U.S. Cyber Command (USCYBERCOM) last week unveiled its AI roadmap, which aims to improve analytic capabilities, scale operations, and enhance adversary disruption. […]

IT
OMB
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chips

The Department of Defense (DoD) announced on Sept. 16 a $269 million investment to enhance U.S. microelectronics manufacturing capacity and workforce development through the Pentagon’s Microelectronics Commons (ME Commons) initiative. […]

White House Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP) Director Arati Prabhakar called on Congress Tuesday to provide billions in funding for the government’s National Artificial Intelligence Research Resource (NAIRR) so that AI development does not become reliant on the biggest tech companies. […]

The House of Representatives’ Task Force on Artificial Intelligence (AI) is set to release its report with AI policy recommendations by the end of the year, and Task Force Chair Rep. Jay Obernolte, R-Calif., previewed on Tuesday that the report will feature “some of the most comprehensive policy work that’s been done on AI by the legislative branch so far.” […]

Intelligence and defense agencies must not only attract digital-savvy new recruits and upskill their current employees but also need to update their career development processes to retain both groups over the longer term, former Defense Department (DoD) Chief Information Officer (CIO), John Sherman, said on Sept. 16. […]

Artificial intelligence and other automation technologies are essential for the Department of Defense (DoD) to maintain its technological edge over adversaries like China – but increasing the use of both of those will require more funding and leveraging of industry capabilities, witnesses said during a House Armed Services Committee hearing on Monday.   […]

Space NASA Satellites
CISA

The Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) unveiled a new plan Monday to align collective operational defense capabilities across the Federal government and drive down cybersecurity risks to more than 100 Federal Civilian Executive Branch (FCEB) agencies. […]

House Committee on Oversight and Accountability leaders from both sides of the aisle introduced new legislation today to expand and strengthen the Federal Acquisition Security Council (FASC) and give it more authority to keep adversarial technology out of Federal government tech supply chains. […]

semiconductor chips
Cyber-Defenders

Fresh off his induction into the 2024 class of Cyber Defenders, we were thrilled to grab a half hour with Paul Blahusch – who is director of cybersecurity and chief information security officer at the Department of Labor – for a wide-ranging talk about the security opportunities and challenges surrounding artificial intelligence, zero trust security, the coming quantum computing wave, and the importance of collaboration among Federal security leaders.  […]

MITRE Corp. – which operates Federally funded R&D centers focused on scientific and technology issues – published a new report on Sept. 5 that offers recommendations to the incoming administration on how to modernize archaic, legacy IT systems in the Federal government. […]

National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency (NGA)

The National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency (NGA) has awarded 10 vendors a spot on a $290 million contract to supply national security customers with advanced unclassified commercial geospatial intelligence (GEOINT) derived computer vision capabilities, data, and analytic services. […]

Government and industry tech luminaries (all names withheld to protect the muscle-sore) turned out in force on Friday for MeriTalk’s 5th Annual Government and Industry CIO Cricket Match, batting and bowling for bragging rights and everlasting glory on the regulation pitch at Bellapais-on-the-Potomac. […]

With just 50 days left until the 2024 presidential election in the United States, the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) Director Jen Easterly emphasized today that election infrastructure has never been more secure. […]

data

Data can’t be perfect, but it can be managed using a “food label” approach that reflects who and what the data was created for – all of which can increase the useful of data for artificial intelligence (AI) applications, a National Institutes of Health (NIH) official said on Sept. 12. […]

FITARA

The 18th version of the FITARA (Federal Information Technology Acquisition Reform Act) Scorecard is set to be released on Friday, Sept. 20, by Rep. Gerry Connolly, D-Va., ranking member of the House Subcommittee on Cybersecurity, IT, and Government Innovation. […]

Tech Tonic September 2024

If part of your job is to figure out the Federal government’s next wave of technology spend, then please do stop by for a pop with us at MeriTalk’s Tech Tonic on Sept. 19 at Morton’s The Steakhouse in Washington, where we promise you’ll walk out with a sharper edge on Federal agency 2025 IT spend trends. […]

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