The interconnectedness of the energy sector presents both increased challenges and potential, according to panelists at an Institute for Critical Infrastructure Technology briefing. “The energy sector is clearly the backbone of all 16 critical infrastructures,” said Jay Williams of Parsons.
The Department of Veterans Affairs announced that the Department of Homeland Security and Hiring our Heroes have teamed up to offer free online, on-demand cybersecurity training to government employees and veterans via DHS’ Federal Virtual Training Environment.
A month after FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler’s blog post urging wireless and wireline phone companies to offer call-blocking services to their customers at no cost, there are more changes afoot concerning robocalls. The FCC recently issued new rules restricting debt collection companies from calling cellphones to collect on any money owed to or guaranteed by the Federal government, including Federal student loans, mortgages and taxes.
The E-Rate program, which has provided $25 billion in subsidies since 1996 to schools from the Federal government for broadband, internal wiring, and networking equipment, hasn’t correlated with increased test scores among students in North Carolina, a recent study shows. […]
The Department of Homeland Security announced a grant program with a ceiling of $10 million to fight violent extremism. The Countering Violent Extremism Grant Program provides an opportunity for local and state governments to apply for funding that will bolster anti-extremism efforts within their communities. […]
A recent study by a team of National Institutes of Health researchers showed widespread support for the Precision Medicine Initiative Cohort Program, with more than half indicating they would be willing to participate in the program themselves. […]
The FBI is letting everyday citizens get in on bank robbery investigations with its Bank Robbers mobile app, which provides users with location-based information on unsolved bank robberies. […]
The Department of Transportation has released a smartphone app for the Pocket Guide to Transportation, which includes statistics on the movement of people, the movement of goods, the economy, the environment, and safety. The guide used to be available online and in print form only, but now is available for Apple and Android devices.
The Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology released its 2017 draft of the Interoperability Standards Advisory for public comment.
A Government Accountability Office study uncovered a huge discrepancy in Federal reporting on sexual violence because the agencies that collect the data don’t record or label incidents the same way. According to data collection efforts from four Federal agencies, between 244,190 and 1,929,000 rapes or sexual assaults occurred in 2011.
The Salt Lake City International Airport is setting up Data Comm, a tool that will enable pilots to communicate digitally rather than through voice radio conversations. Data Comm will allow pilots to talk to air traffic controllers through a program that’s similar to text messaging.
Unisys announced a $232 million award from the U.S. Department of Agriculture for cloud and application modernization services. Unisys will support USDA’s Rural Development Comprehensive Loan Program.
Partnerships between private companies and government agencies sometimes require more patience than young startups have, according to Rocky DeStefano, cybersecurity subject matter expert for Cloudera. DeStefano will participate in a panel discussion at MeriTalk’s Cyber Security Brainstorm on Sept. 13.
The Federal Railroad Administration gave $25 million in grants Tuesday to 11 companies to develop software that will help prevent train collisions. […]
Federal agencies are putting increasing amounts of time and resources into providing telemedicine for American veterans.
In Netflix’s Stranger Things, the Department of Energy is the villain. So Paul Lester, digital content specialist of DOE’s Office of Public Affairs, wrote a post addressing the show’s depiction of the agency.
The National Institute of Standards and Technology aims to improve communication with non-Federal systems containing Federal data through updates to its guidelines “Protecting Controlled Unclassified Information in Nonfederal Information Systems and Organizations,” also referred to as 800-171.
Civil liberties groups filed a complaint against the Baltimore Police Department, asking the FCC to investigate the department’s use of cellphone tracking devices, which are used in 24 states and the District of Columbia. The Baltimore police, along with other law enforcement agencies, are using stingrays, which are devices that mimic cellphone towers to track suspects’ locations through their cellphone signals. The civil liberties groups argue that this is a violation of Federal law that requires a license. […]
The Department of Energy’s Office of Electricity Delivery and Energy Reliability announced a new Funding Opportunity Announcement for joint research on smart grid and energy storage under the U.S.-India Partnership to Advance Clean Energy Research.
A software upgrade gone wrong caused widespread system outages across the Veterans Affairs Department, officials confirmed Tuesday. The agency’s main website, VA.gov, as well as Vets.gov, associated websites, and apps were temporarily affected, a VA spokesperson told MeriTalk.
An Information Technology and Innovation Foundation report argues that price differentiation based on consumers’ choices to allow their Internet service providers to have access to their data should be allowed.
Over the past 10 years, agencies have made minimal use of their special government employees who do not serve on Federal boards, according to a recent Government Accountability Office report. However, the report also states that not all of these SGEs’ assignments have been reliably documented.
The Department of Homeland Security Science and Technology Directorate awarded 13 small businesses $1.3 million to develop new cybersecurity technology.
On Aug. 8, the Department of Homeland Security’s Science and Technology Directorate announced the 2016 kickoff of its EMERGE 2016: Wearable Technology program. By Aug. 10, TechNexus, the venture collaborative organization tasked with accelerating the program, received about 200 responses from interested companies.
MeriTalk sat down with GSA CIO David Shive to ask some substantial questions about FedRAMP and TTS ahead of MeriTalk’s GSA Forum on FedRAMP and TTS/18F on Sept. 13 at the Newseum in Washington, D.C.
The General Services Administration’s Office of Government-wide Policy released its goals for how it will serve as the managing partner for the Data Center Optimization Initiative.
As floods sweep through Louisiana, lack of information for emergency response teams can be a matter of life and death. With the Federal Emergency Management Agency’s newly updated app, the agency hopes to improve emergency response data for natural disasters.
The National Institute for Standards and Technology (NIST) is working to improve first-responder communications in an emergency through the Rapidly Deployable Public Safety Research Platform, or Nerdcart, as social media has dubbed it.
The Federal Communications Commission gave final approval for Telcordia, a subsidiary of the Swedish company Ericsson, to be the next Local Number Portability Administrator, despite protests from the current LNPA that the FCC ignored national security implications and withheld information when choosing a new company.
The White House Office of Science and Technology Policy released a report that shows that public sector prize competitions for innovative technology in the 2015 fiscal year have increased in capability and impact.