The Department of Agriculture (USDA) entered phase one of its reopening plans on June 1 for its offices in the National Capital Region – D.C., Maryland, and Northern Virginia – a spokesperson confirmed to MeriTalk. […]
Keith Bluestein is set to be appointed CIO at the Small Business Administration (SBA), knowledgeable sources confirmed today. […]
Underpinning the delivery of citizen services, funding, and an all-important sense of normalcy during the COVID-19 pandemic, the Federal IT enterprise has provided firm footing in uncertain times. As the nation takes its first steps on the road to recovery, MeriTalk is chronicling the untold stories and lessons of the ongoing IT odyssey. In the latest chapter of CIO Crossroads, we explore the Nuclear Regulatory Commission’s IT operations three months into the fray. […]
Kevin Cox, program manager for the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency’s (CISA) Continuous Diagnostics and Mitigation (CDM) program, confirms that Federal agencies are increasingly integrating CDM into their overall security operations for greater visibility and control. That’s in line with findings from MeriTalk’s latest research, which found 59 percent of agencies incorporating CDM into their broader cyber strategy, rather than viewing it as a standalone function. […]
Russell Vought and Craig Leen shared their priorities as nominees for the permanent director of the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) and inspector general at the Office of Personnel Management (OPM), respectively, at a June 2 Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs hearing. […]
A confluence of trends – including ever-mounting cyber attacks, expanding network attack surfaces stemming from increased teleworking during the coronavirus pandemic, and an enduring shortage of skilled cybersecurity workforce talent – is creating demand for more autonomous cybersecurity technologies. […]
For the first time in 2020, the United States Census Bureau offers an internet response option for the decennial count, and data from the bureau shows that most Americans responding to the survey are taking it online. […]
Today is “Super Junesday,” with primaries in D.C., Indiana, Maryland, Montana, New Mexico, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, and South Dakota. In any other year, this would be a significant day for the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA), the agency tasked with helping ensure election security across the nation. However, the COVID-19 pandemic and ongoing protests across the country have added an additional stressor. […]
The Office of Personnel Management (OPM) is planning to start re-opening its offices and released a facilities preparedness guide on June 2 that provides an enterprise-wide, risk management assessment for its blueprint to send Feds back to the office. […]
The Congressional Budget Office (CBO) said that H.R. 5428, the Grid Modernization Research and Development Act of 2019, would cost the United States $1.2 billion over the next five years if enacted. […]
Americans rely on government services 24/7, and even more so during times of crisis. The COVID-19 pandemic has proven the critical importance of Federal IT in sustaining the nation, but left its tech leaders mostly unsung. MeriTalk is surfacing the untold stories – and lessons – of those agency and leadership efforts. In the latest installment of CIO Crossroads, we turn to the National Science Foundation (NSF). […]
The Department of Defense is planning on moving its network addresses into a bigger house, so to speak, but the Government Accountability Office says that the department needs to take more preparatory steps to plan before the move. […]
While the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has fully planned for its pivot from waterfall to Agile development, about one-third (34 percent) of its planned Agile activities have been deferred to a later start date, according to a June 1 Government Accountability Office (GAO) report. […]
The Department of Homeland Security’s (DHS) Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) released a new cyber essentials toolkit to help small businesses and Federal agencies understand and address cybersecurity risks. […]
The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) developed a mathematical formula that could help wireless networks, including 5G, select and share communications frequencies more efficiently. […]
Quantum technologies have a broad range of revolutionary capability, but to see their full potential, it may require many years of development. […]
The Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) is leading the call for a governmentwide vulnerability disclosure platform, with a request for proposals from agencies coming as soon as summer 2020. […]
Does it really take a team of rocket scientists to rapidly engineer a top-notch line of personal protective equipment (PPE) to protect against COVID-19 spread? And then to open source its production designs for the benefit of anyone with access to a 3D printer? […]
The Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) – largely because of its broad, hands-on healthcare mission – is not the type of Federal agency that can transform to near 100 percent telework. But that didn’t stop the agency from more than tripling its telework capacity to meet the demands of the COVID-19 pandemic, said agency CIO James Gfrerer during a May 28 AFCEA Bethesda webinar event. […]
The Federal government and critical infrastructure owners and operators spend $500 billion annually on information and communications technology (ICT) from thousands of suppliers – small, medium, and large; national and international. Digital transformation and globalization have brought technology advancements and operational efficiencies to Federal agencies. But the increasingly labyrinthine nature of Federal supply chains impacts the security of Federal systems, data, and missions. […]
The Government Accountability Office (GAO) made several recommendations to the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) and others to improve coordination of cybersecurity requirements among Federal agencies to protect data shared with state government agencies. […]
To secure the United States’ place as a global tech leader, a bicameral, bipartisan group of legislators have introduced the Endless Frontier Act. […]
The National Institutes of Health’s (NIH) National Institute of Biomedical Imaging and Bioengineering and National Cancer Institute are looking to develop digital health solutions to address COVID-19 as well as advance new research in digital health technologies to improve public health responses. […]
In a recent report, the Government Accountability Office (GAO) highlighted some of the key variables necessary in COVID-19 vaccine development and what the Federal government is currently working on. […]
While data management is becoming more intertwined with tech initiatives, two data officials at the May 27 Federal Data Strategy Conference said that communication and collaboration between chief data officers and other offices within Federal agencies are keys to their success. […]
Eleven GOP members of the House Science, Space, and Technology Committee have requested a briefing on a cyber alert issued by the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) and FBI on May 13. […]
The United States Government is requesting information about the use and cybersecurity management of Positioning, Navigation, and Timing services, which are critical to the Global Positioning Systems networks that the U.S. manages for use across the globe. […]
As the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) activates its “fourth mission” duties to provide lifesaving aid during the COVID-19 coronavirus pandemic, Chief Data Officer Kshemendra Paul said at a May 27 Federal Data Strategy Conference that scaling telemedicine has been a “huge success story” of the agency’s capabilities. […]
The U.S. government is seeking input for its implementation plan for 5G infrastructure and deployment while also seeking feedback on how the country should collaborate internationally and prepare for future iterations of wireless technologies. […]
The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) hired Mojdeh Bahar, former assistant administrator for technology transfer at the Department of Agriculture’s Research Service, as the second associate director for innovation and industry services (ADIIS), per a May 22 press release. […]