Federal CIO Suzette Kent this morning announced creation of the Federal Cyber Reskilling Academy–a joint effort of the Office of Management and Budget, the Department of Education, and the Federal CIO Council Workforce Committee–to kickstart the Federal government’s efforts to address gaps in the Federal cybersecurity workforce and help retrain Federal employees. […]

A new report from MeriTalk and the American Council for Technology and Industry Advisory Council (ACT-IAC) finds that Federal finance, IT, and procurement experts believe we’ve reached an IT modernization tipping point. […]

The Department of Homeland Security on Oct. 30 announced launch of the Information and Communications Technology (ICT) Supply Chain Risk Management Task Force, which the agency said is charged with developing “consensus recommendations” to identify and manage risk to the global ICT supply chain. […]

Jeanette Manfra, assistant secretary for the Office of Cybersecurity and Communications at the Department of Homeland Security, said today that the new update to Federal Information Security Modernization Act (FISMA) guidance will place even more accountability on department leaders and reflects an evolution in discussions between agencies and DHS. […]

The Department of Energy Office of Inspector General released a report on Oct. 19 that found several weaknesses in the cybersecurity program at DoE in fiscal year 2018, including recurring issues in vulnerability management, patching, and formal cybersecurity training policies. […]

Apple CEO Tim Cook lavished praise Wednesday on the European Union’s data privacy rules embodied in the General Data Protection Regulation implemented in May, and at the same time made a strong case for the U.S. government to put in place similar protections for U.S. citizens.  […]

A team of Federal and industry experts well versed in establishing relationships between the government and private sector spoke Wednesday at NVIDIA’s GTC Conference about how to crack the Federal marketplace with new and emerging technology. […]

Federal CIO Suzette Kent said today that the advancement of artificial intelligence technologies is of primary importance to the Federal government, as agencies begin to determine their AI priorities and a picture of government-wide investment begins to form. […]

Federal cyber pros at Palo Alto Networks’ Federal Ignite conference weighed in today on the cost of cybersecurity and its return on investment, suggesting that government spend may not be properly configured to the risks, threats, and real assets that need to be protected. […]

The U.S. Army on October 18 issued contract awards to 198 companies for its potential 10-year, $37.4 billion Responsive Strategic Sourcing for Services (RS3) contract, which covers a wide range of government programs with Command, Control, Communications, Computers, Intelligence, Surveillance, and Reconnaissance (C4ISR) mission requirements. […]

Department of Energy (DoE) CIO Max Everett said the agency’s Technology Modernization Fund (TMF) project is helping to align the activities of DoE’s wide range of labs and offices, and that the TMF process has helped DoE learn to prioritize all of its future IT projects around cost efficiency and business case. […]

The Office of the Director of National Intelligence, alongside the Justice Department, Federal Bureau of Investigation, and Department of Homeland Security, released a joint statement today that expresses their concern over election interference and calls identification and prevention of interference a “top priority for the Federal government.” […]

The General Services Administration on Wednesday announced a new pilot program that aims to provide more transparency around its schedule contracts and potentially attract more vendors to participate in the Federal marketplace. […]

As fake news threatens to eat the world, a number of government, academic, and private organizations have launched a range of projects to combat its spread, including artificial intelligence systems that can flag fake news by calling out its content. […]

Data from the Federal government’s IT Dashboard website appear to indicate that Federal CFO Act agencies have made some progress but are still more than 1,000 data centers short of their intended closure goals for 2020 under the Data Center Optimization Initiative (DCOI). […]

Emily Murphy, administrator of the General Services Administration (GSA), delivered a keynote address today that provided a glimpse of her vision as the head of GSA, along with recent government IT wins and the path she sees ahead for the agency serving as the Federal facilitator for IT acquisition and modernization. […]

Federal Deputy CIO Margie Graves said today that the forthcoming update to the Trusted Internet Connections (TIC) Initiative is coming “extraordinarily soon.” With the update, there seems to be an acknowledgment that the former ways of TIC–now over a decade old–will be yielding, including the TIC architecture often seen as expensive and inflexible to cloud technologies. […]

A new report from MeriTalk finds that Federal legacy network infrastructure may be struggling to keep pace with the growing demands of agency cloud migrations, next-generation technology, and the continued push to modernize IT systems. […]

Top Federal officials are pointing to new research from MeriTalk and the American Council for Technology and Industry Advisory Council (ACT-IAC) as evidence that the Trump administration’s Federal government IT modernization efforts are making solid progress. […]

Kelly Olson, the new acting director of the General Services Administration’s Technology Transformation Services (TTS) organization, spoke Thursday about ongoing progress with the Centers of Excellence (CoE) initiative that’s being run out of TTS, providing a glimpse into the maturation and coming expansion of the program. […]

The recent Department of Homeland Security alert describing ongoing cyberattacks on global managed service providers highlights the need for the U.S. government to take a lead role in protecting internet infrastructure, according to some industry cybersecurity experts. […]

Mike Duffy, acting deputy director for the Department of Homeland Security’s Federal Network Resilience Division, said today that many Federal agencies are expecting to have all of their .gov domains protected from email spoofing campaigns, ahead of an October 16 deadline to do so. […]

The Federal government is seeing progress in seven out of 10 key cybersecurity metrics that are being tracked quarterly as part of the President’s Management Agenda (PMA), Federal CIO Suzette Kent said today. […]

Agriculture Department CIO Gary Washington laid out his agency’s IT modernization journey today, beginning with USDA’s work as the lighthouse agency for the Centers of Excellence (CoE) initiative, and continuing with the agency’s selection as one of the first three to receive an award under the Technology Modernization Fund (TMF). […]

The hype around cloud services in the Federal government could lead to substantial increases in adoption over the next year, according to new research conducted by MeriTalk. […]

Christopher Krebs, Department of Homeland Security under secretary for the National Protection and Programs Directorate (NPPD), said Thursday that NPPD is focusing on the cybersecurity fight of both today and tomorrow, through the various coordinating centers that fall under NPPD’s purview. […]

Former Department of Homeland Security Secretary Tom Ridge said today that DHS has “become a political piñata” in Washington since his time as the agency’s head, even as the scope of the work and associated challenges have grown across the Department’s vast range of component agencies. […]

Following the long-awaited passage of the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) Act in the Senate, the head of the organization set to be elevated as the nation’s official cybersecurity agency expressed his satisfaction at how congressional approval of a simple name change will reinforce the authority of the Federal government’s lead organization in cyberspace. […]

Federal CIO Suzette Kent called today’s first official test of the National Wireless Emergency Alert System a “historic event,” highlighting the test as evidence of the expanding role of mobile technologies and their impact on a broader effort toward digital transformation in the Federal government. […]

Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen said today that DHS’ National Cybersecurity and Communications Integration Center (NCCIC) will provide a resource center on Election Day that will actively respond to threats of cyber intrusion when voters go to the polls on November 6. […]