MeriTalk, ACT-IAC, and the Partnership for Public Service are issuing a call to the Federal IT community for participants in several virtual roundtable groups that will formulate operating and policy recommendations to promote stronger and more resilient government operations to advance the nation’s post-pandemic recovery. […]
Air Force Maj. Gen. Robert Skinner has been nominated by President Trump to lead the Defense Information System Agency, according to an announcement the Secretary of Defense Mark Esper. His appointment to that post requires Senate confirmation. […]
Since the Air Force’s inception as a separate military branch in 1947, the service’s planes have been designed, tested, and built in primarily a physical environment. Now, a new process is being used – digital engineering. […]
In hopes of creating a coherent strategy for growing and sustaining the Federal cyber workforce, the Cyberspace Solarium Commission released a new white paper with recommendations on improving government pay flexibility and implementing more upskilling programs. […]
The Department of Defense’s Joint Artificial Intelligence Center is scheduled to facilitate an international conference on the responsible use of AI for militaries next week, according to DoD CIO Dana Deasy, within whose office the JAIC is housed. […]
Looking ahead to future IT modernization projects at the Defense Department (DoD), CIO Dana Deasy is predicting a bigger emphasis on data and sustaining telework capabilities in the long term. […]
Sen. Mark Warner, D-Va., said the United States has “made improvements since 2016” in election security, but pointed the finger at Congress for not doing even more to secure elections. […]
Federal agency and private-sector healthcare officials agreed this week that the sharp increase in delivery of telehealth services during the coronavirus pandemic has advanced state of the art in service delivery, along with the need to ramp up cybersecurity protections. […]
With no U.S.-based companies dominating the worldwide market for network equipment that underlies 5G wireless services, and with the U.S. in the midst of a years-long campaign to ban Chinese network equipment makers from U.S. and allies’ markets, perhaps the most important battle for the longer-term future of 5G network infrastructure is gearing up now in and near the halls of power in Washington, D.C. […]
The Department of Defense (DoD) said today it has reaffirmed its decision to award the Joint Enterprise Defense Infrastructure (JEDI) cloud contract to Microsoft, following a “comprehensive re-evaluation” of proposals. […]
The zero trust security model is hardly new – it was already a much-discussed evolutionary concept long before the coronavirus pandemic slammed into the nation and U.S. government operations in early March. The talk on zero trust was not if, but when. But as with many other imperatives in the Federal IT arena since then, […]
Rep. Gerry Connolly, D-Va., released a statement today on the General Services Administration (GSA) Office of Inspector General’s (OIG) report that found the Public Buildings Service (PBS) did not always receive timely notice of positive COVID-19 test results from building occupants or provide timely notification of positive COVID-19 cases. […]
The Office of Management and Budget (OMB) has finalized vulnerability disclosure policies (VDPs) for the Federal government and issued a memorandum to agencies today establishing the processes for identification, management, and remediation of security vulnerabilities. […]
Shane Barney, Chief Information Security Officer (CISO) at the Department of Homeland Security’s U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) component, on Sept. 1 credited increased use of data automation for improving security operation center (SOC) operations at the agency. […]
The Office of Management and Budget (OMB) released a new interim final rule in today’s Federal Register detailing Federal Acquisition Security Council (FASC) guidelines for managing supply chain risk, and recommending the removal and exclusion of IT and communications that fall below the standard. […]
The FY20 deadline is looming for Department of Defense (DoD) fourth estate agencies to migrate more than 100 data centers to milCloud® 2.0. To help advance migration and bring awareness to the new technologies and capabilities available on milCloud® 2.0, GDIT and DISA, in conjunction with MeriTalk, are launching the first-ever milCloud® 2.0 Virtual Bootcamp Event. […]
The Defense Department expects to issue a final request for proposal late next month for its multiyear Defense Enclave Services IT contract worth up to $11.7 billion. […]
Federal IT operations time and again have proved to be the resilient lifeline to vital citizen services during the COVID-19 pandemic. As government and society map the path to recovery, MeriTalk is chronicling the untold stories and lessons of how government IT has innovated on the fly to meet the demands of the crisis and anchor more resilient services going forward. In the latest installment of CIO Crossroads, we turn to the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) five months into the fight. […]
The White House said today it has directed the Department of Energy and the National Science Foundation to spend more than $1 billion over several years to establish 12 new research institutes for the development of artificial intelligence technologies and quantum information sciences. […]
The General Services Administration’s (GSA) FedRAMP Program has made significant strides over fiscal year 2020 and its priorities remain consistent as we look toward FY2021. […]
In a report conducted by the Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration (TIGTA), IRS was found to not have developed specific or long-term plans to modernize or retire most of its IT legacy systems. […]
A group of government tech leaders that have joined together to support Joe Biden for President has kicked off its initial policy discussions, and is picking up steam on fundraising with its third event planned for August 26 headlined by Rep. Gerry Connolly, D-Va., chairman of the House Government Operations Subcommittee. Earlier GovTech4Biden fundraisers featured Tony Scott, former Federal CIO, and Chris DeRusha, Biden Campaign Chief Information Security Officer. […]
Education Department CIO Jason Gray told Sen. Maggie Hassan, D-N.H., that the agency does not have the necessary authorities from Congress to set up a working capital fund under the Modernizing Government Technology (MGT) Act, but said if it received that authority the department would use the money exclusively to finance IT modernization projects. […]
As the U.S. Air Force (USAF) continues along its data management journey, Chief Data Officer Eileen Vidrine said that the agency has implemented new tactics – such as datathons and academic efforts – to empower all service personnel to embrace data science. […]
Department of Energy CIO Rocky Campione has named Emery Csulak Principal Deputy CIO, effective August 31, according to an agency email obtained by MeriTalk. […]
Guy Cavallo is taking over as Principal Deputy CIO at the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) effective Sept. 14. […]
The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) is proposing four principles to determine the degree to which decisions made by AI are “explainable,” and hopes that effort helps to jumpstart debate on what should be expected of decision-making technologies. […]
With a growing cyber workforce gap, Federal agencies need to get creative as they work to shore up their cyber defenses. What skillsets are most valuable for incoming cyber workers? And how can Federal agencies find talent in surprising places and nurture the talent they already have? […]
Jose Arrieta is resigning his positons as CIO and interim chief data officer (CDO) at the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), an agency spokesperson has confirmed to MeriTalk. […]
Reflecting on the seventh iteration of the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency’s (CISA) National Cyber Storm Exercise that concluded late yesterday, Assistant Director for Infrastructure Security Brian Harrell is warning that many organizations fail to understand the security of third-party services that they rely on. […]