In a virtually unnoticed message to Congress this month, President Donald Trump outlined his new guiding principles for reforming the Selective Service process, as called for by the 2017 National Defense Authorization Act. And the Trump approach calls for a renewed focus on “critical skills.” […]

There are strong signals that President Donald Trump’s executive order on cybersecurity may still be weeks, if not months, away from hitting the street in final form. After leaking two draft versions in rapid succession, the White House finds itself struggling to define the metrics it will use to hold agency leaders accountable. […]

Cell Phone Privacy

A new bill would require Federal agencies to obtain a search warrant to access information on citizens without their knowledge. It comes in response to the increasing use of “stingray” devices that Federal, state, and local agencies use to track criminal suspects, capturing data on innocent bystanders as well. […]

President Donald Trump was supposed to sign a sweeping cybersecurity executive order last month, but delayed its release shortly after meeting with senior national security leaders and industry experts. But the timing of the final order is far less important than the changes that are likely being made to the content of the order. […]

Cloud computing has become virtually synonymous with IT modernization throughout the Federal government. But the government’s cloud record has been anything but consistent and predictable, making the effort to measure progress and plan for IT modernization efforts called for by Congress and the Trump administration nearly impossible. […]

What’s really behind President-elect Donald Trump’s very public rebuke of national intelligence agencies? It has very little to do with the intelligence collected on Russian hacking activities. What Americans are watching play out 140 characters at a time is a distasteful game of political retribution orchestrated by Trump’s pick for national security adviser, retired Army Gen. Michael Flynn. […]

One veteran Federal analyst tells The Situation Report that the “average” presidential transition ushers in 5,000 new appointments, 1,000 of which require Senate confirmation. But the upcoming transition promises to be a unique experience, regardless of who gets elected. […]

News broke this week that the FBI in August had arrested another NSA employee for allegedly stealing and hoarding highly classified information in his home and car. Like Edward Snowden, the employee worked for Federal contractor Booz Allen Hamilton, raising questions about the efficacy of the security reforms put in place at the agency. […]

Is the Obama administration’s election year lust for Silicon Valley’s dead presidents destroying the future of the career Federal technology leader?…The pace of the Department of Homeland Security’s Continuous Diagnostics and Mitigation program is frustrating to some….And a near-miss for Snowden? […]

The Secret Service has an interesting class photo….The CIA is taking cues from the advertising technology industry….IARPA is investing in research into homomorphic encryption—a potential game-changer in the worlds of privacy and security that enables encrypted queries of encrypted databases….And synthetic biology is keeping Jason Matheny up at night. […]

The storm clearly has not passed for some big programs run by the General Services Administration, including FedRAMP’s spending of $150,000 in taxpayer money to duplicate an online dashboard capability that had already been developed in the private sector and made available to the government for free….Also, Rep. Will Hurd, R-Texas, is back with another bill aimed at IT modernization. […]

The Situation Report has the benefit of an intelligence collection network that is reporting some interesting twists and turns in the White House’s finally completed search for the government’s first Federal CISO. […]

The Pentagon’s latest buzz phrase is Identity Activities, which means the Pentagon wants to employ data analysis tools that will leverage biographical, biological, behavioral, and reputational data inputs to help the military determine the identity of a person they encounter on the battlefield and whether that person poses a threat. […]