A new Federal agency is in the works to take over the security clearance process from the Office of Personnel Management, according to former intelligence officials with knowledge of the discussions. Word of the plan to create a new National Investigative Service Agency comes as security officials this week are scheduled to brief leaders of […]
The Interior Department has been hacked at least 19 times in the last two years by cybersecurity thieves with IP addresses from Europe and China, said a new report from the DOI’s inspector general. Why would hackers even be interested in an agency that oversees national parks and federal lands? There are plenty of reasons: […]
Just a handful of agencies have accounted for the nearly $2 billion saved by closing Federal data centers through the first five years of the program, according to scorecards distributed by Congress, and that trend is likely to continue. The Treasury Department, Defense Department, Department of Homeland Security, and Commerce Department saved a combined $1.652 […]
The General Services Administration is considering a new, governmentwide acquisition contract that will allow Federal agencies to buy a range of cloud services to replace expiring blanket purchase agreements. The new contract would allow agencies to purchase infrastructure, platform, and software services and purchase integrated delivery solutions like hybrid cloud, Stan Kaczmarczyk, director of the […]
The Treasury Department has been working on redesigning its federal spending data website?USAspending.gov?and is eager to get public input on how well it’s doing.
The Department of Veterans Affairs awarded a little-known contract Tuesday for virtual reality software that could one day have a dramatic impact on the ability of Iraq and Afghanistan veterans to deal with the various symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder, or PTSD. In a relatively small contract of just $77,496, the VA partnered with the […]
Department of Veterans Affairs Chief Information Officer LaVerne Council announced Nov. 6 that Brian Burns has accepted an offer to become the agency’s next chief information security officer. Burns takes over for Dan Galik, who has served as acting CISO since Stan Lowe retired in August. Burns will also continue in his role as deputy […]
Federal agencies are embracing more cloud deployment models as they become more comfortable with cloud computing and their options multiply. “Our default is absolutely public cloud,” said John Skudlarek, deputy chief information officer (CIO) at the Federal Communications Commission. “We get the scalability we want. We get the flexibility we want, and most importantly we […]
Members of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee on Wednesday outlined numerous shortcomings in efforts by Federal agencies to implement reforms in the bipartisan Federal Information Technology Acquisition Reform Act (FITARA). The committee issued F and D letter grades to 17 agencies because of missed opportunities to cut costs and meet other benchmarks. The […]
The House Oversight and Government Reform Committee’s hearing on the Federal Information Technology Acquisition Reform Act (FITARA) produced some good commentary from members of Congress and witnesses alike. Here are five comments from testimony and the subsequent discussion that provide perspective on the hearing. “I am so grateful to this committee for FITARA. I think […]
Almost every day, a news story appears about issues that affect the Federal government–shrinking Federal budgets, the low rate of employees’ job satisfaction, or cyber threats against its networks. The problems facing the Federal government are steep; however, the Federal government can better serve critical mission-support functions (think: financial management, human resources, information technology, procurement, […]
The Department of Veterans Affairs appointed Brian Burns to lead its new Enterprise Cybersecurity Strategy.
Ron Ross, a fellow at the National Institute of Standards and Technology, leads the Federal Information Security Management Act (FISMA) Implementation Project. He developed the first set of unified information security standards and guidelines for all Federal agencies. Ross recently participated in Q&A for Meritalk.com. MeriTalk: Please describe how you developed the first set of […]
Richard Spires, the former chief information officer at the Department of Homeland Security, has been named CEO of Learning Tree International Inc., a Reston, Virginia-based IT and management training provider. Spires, who left DHS in 2013 to lead San Francisco-based security firm Resilient Network Systems, had been an independent member of the board of directors […]
A new study mandated by Congress in the wake of the secret waiting list scandal at the Department of Veterans Affairs has uncovered significant evidence that the department’s IT leaders have for years failed to meet the technology needs of clinical professionals treating veterans on the front lines and that those IT failures, along with […]
Since client server and traditional web enabled IT architectures became popular in large enterprises in the mid 90s, organizations developed the practice of building enterprise applications layer upon layer, acquiring dedicated pools of hardware, middleware, software and applications, based on a previously defined set of requirements. This practice is still in vogue within many government […]
When it comes to mobile apps, don’t bite off more than your users can chew, say new findings gathered from the Federal CrowdSource Mobile Testing Program, a free service provided to Federal agencies by the General Services Administration (GSA). The program has been available since 2013 and has tested 14 agencies so far, with about […]
So the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) admits it’s suffered what just might be the worst data breach in history, with some 4 million Federal employees’ personal data exposed, and China is once again to blame.
Consumers want their privacy, but they’re also willing to sell their digital souls for apps that make their lives easier. And when it comes to sharing information with the government, worries about Big Brother come into play.
Add Alan Davidson to the list of former Google execs taking new positions in the federal government. Davidson is joining the Commerce Department in a newly created position, Director of Digital Economy within the Department of Commerce.
Key Federal leaders share their thoughts on FITARA, cybersecurity, and more.
Federal agencies are using social media as a real-time engagement and response tool and letting politicians make all the gaffes.
The crowd at South by Southwest didn’t stand up and cheer last week when Commerce Department Secretary Penny Pritzker announced that Ian Kalin will become the agency’s chief data officer.
Just one year ago, President Obama gave us an important new cybersecurity solution.
Congress finally passed the Cyber Security Protection Act this month, amending the Homeland Security Act of 2002 to modernize cybersecurity measures for the 21st century.
As promised, on February 12, 2014, the National Institute of Standards and Technology released their “Framework for Improving Critical Infrastructure Cybersecurity.”