The TSA last week discovered in a carry-on bag a loaded gun that was constructed of parts made with a 3-D printer….The Veterans Administration is actively pondering what it will require to manage transitioning from its legacy electronic health record, known as VistA, to a commercial EHR….And who’s keeping track of that teleworking equipment at the U.S. Patent and Trademark office? […]

Bank regulations focusing on “too big to fail” have ignited a flurry of mergers and acquisitions in the financial industry, which in turn has created a legacy system vulnerability problem that may be responsible for the majority of data breaches reported to date….And over at DoD, as defense contract obligations reached record highs in 2008, the size of the acquisition workforce in the Defense Department actually shrunk. […]

The Department of Homeland Security’s long-standing plans to reorganize the National Protection Programs Directorate to better deal with the growing threat of cyberattacks on national critical infrastructure may have received the boost it needed this week to obtain congressional approval. […]

While some make excuses for Hillary Clinton’s email troubles, it is clear that Americans are not stupid and can see through absurd explanations that attempt to justify the reckless behavior of senior Clinton staff. And the same holds true for every other Cabinet-level official—Democrat or Republican—who put sensitive national security information at risk because of private email use. […]

Federal CIO Tony Scott will again lay out his vision for the $3.1 billion IT modernization fund on July 14 at the Palo Alto Networks Federal Forum. MeriTalk has launched the #GreatScott campaign—an online petition to keep Scott in office through the transition of administrations. Scott’s presence and leadership may be the key to making the fund a reality….CIA’s investments could pay for that modernization campaign….At VA, confusion about what’s a medical device and what’s IT. […]

Federal Chief Information Officer Tony Scott will soon announce his pick as the first Federal chief information security officer. Brian Burns is exiting as CISO at VA. Are these things related?…Speaking of VA, personal data has a way of being carelessly handled. […]

NASA landed its newest spacecraft—the Starship Incredulity—at the Rayburn House Office Building and NASA CIO Renee Wynn had the audacity to report that not a single investment in the agency’s planned $731 million in technology programs is high risk….Get ready for another round of hard-hitting congressional questioning, this time about the government’s addiction to legacy IT systems that continue to drain billions of dollars of taxpayer money away from new investments and modernization accounts. […]

There is concern that the U.S. Digital Service is filling its teams with techies who have been unable to divorce themselves from their former Silicon Valley mission of designing click-bait….Starting May 16, MeriTalk will begin publishing The Federal IT Papers—An Exclusive Insider Account of IT Decision-making Gone Wrong….And it’s no coincidence that GSA’s Superpublic Innovation Lab in San Francisco will be next door to the West Coast 18F. […]

Remember that $7 billion Congress allocated to help establish a nationwide public safety broadband network, known as FirstNet? Well, when was the last time 50 states agreed on anything?…VA might be getting a new deputy assistant secretary for cybersecurity….If Congress eliminates polygraphs for security clearance holders, the result could be new business for the IT industry. […]

A low-key change has taken place that sources say has shifted the National Institute of Standards and Technology Framework for Improving Critical Infrastructure Cybersecurity from a purely voluntary practice to a mandatory standard for Federal agencies….Reactions to the White House’s open source coding push….And grumbling about Silicon Valley imports. […]

Department of Veterans Affairs CIO LaVerne Council has ordered VA CISO Brian Burns to “redirect his exclusive focus on VA’s role in the Interagency Program Office.” Council also tapped Ron Thompson to serve as interim VA CISO. … VA kicked off its 2016 Information Security and Privacy Awareness Week Speaker Series, but problems dogged the online chat and telephone dial-in. […]

Director of National Intelligence James Clapper. (Photo: INSA)

It has become so tough for Federal agencies to find skilled technical talent that the National Security Agency is collecting resumes from “former civilian affiliates” who have the necessary skills, experience, and security clearance to help the agency “augment the existing work force on high priority projects or programs.” … A pilot program is underway to demonstrate the use of federated online identity technologies for use by hospitals and patients. … And DOD continues to make significant progress on its insider threat detection program and the intelligence community’s new continuous evaluation effort. […]

FITARA Fault Lines My Capitol Hill listening post has picked up several encrypted messages from the Government Accountability Office suggesting that the Federal Information Technology Acquisition Reform Act may be widening some major fault lines across government. While the law was designed to strengthen the role of the chief information officer, the Situation Report has […]

Creepy Data It’s no secret that my D.C. network of informants are concerned about the future of the Internet of Things and the potential for major tears in the social fabric if policy does not keep pace with technological development. But some members of the D.C. network have started sounding the alarm over China’s use […]

It has been 15 months since the Federal Information Technology Acquisition Reform Act was enacted and relatively few Federal agencies have taken meaningful steps to integrate the letter and spirit of the law into their day-to-day functions. Sure, there’s been a lot of talk. But when it comes to bridging the FITARA gap—the chasm between the Federal CIO and the rank and file—little has been achieved. […]

The Commerce Department is looking for a Deputy CIO and a CTO. … Andy Purdy, the former acting director of the Department of Homeland Security’s National Cyber Security Division who recently became the chief security officer of Huawei Technologies USA, is now the vice chairman of the Open Group Trusted Technology Forum. … And the FedRAMP Program Management Office held a very efficient all-hands meeting. […]

Former NSA Director Michael Hayden’s new book, Playing To The Edge: American Intelligence In The Age Of Terror, raises tough questions about the Obama administration’s lack of support for the agency following the Edward Snowden revelations. Also, the GSA’s in-house innovation lab, known as 18F, is expanding its consulting services. But is that somehow crossing a line? […]

Apple CEO Tim Cook has vowed to fight Uncle Sam’s request that the company create software that would help the FBI circumvent the security protections on the iPhone used by one of the terrorists in the December massacre in San Bernardino, calling the step “too dangerous.” Also, there’s buzz around the Department of Homeland Security’s social media monitoring. […]

The Obama administration’s last budget before leaving office landed this week with a loud thud on Capitol Hill. And while the Federal IT community can’t stop talking about the big boost in IT modernization and cybersecurity, the reality is there might be a lot less there than you think. […]

Follow The Money A recent audit of the Department of Veterans Affairs’ 2015 financial statements uncovered more than a few problems with the department’s balance sheets. According to the independent public accounting firm CliftonLarsonAllen LLP, the review of VA’s financial statements revealed continuing material weaknesses in the agency’s IT security controls. Although the audit gives […]

Tipping Point @CyberCom My Fort Meade listening post has picked up strong signals that 2016 promises to be a crucial year in the development of U.S. Cyber Command. “You can tell we’re at the tipping point now,” said Admiral Michael S. Rogers, the commander of CyberCom and director of the National Security Agency, speaking Thursday […]

The Situation Report has picked up strong signals from our Office of Management and Budget outpost that senior administration officials are “pissed off” at Sen. Lamar Alexander, R-Tenn., for inserting language into the omnibus spending bill that passed in December. Alexander is responsible for inserting a paragraph into the omnibus spending package that granted the […]