Smarter Gov Tech, Stronger MerITocracy
Federal Cloud Flag

The General Services Administration (GSA) announced today that it has launched the Cloud Information Center (CIC), which will serve as a central repository for cloud resources. […]

capitol washington dc senate house congress-min
FCC

Earlier this week, Sens. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., and Maria Cantwell, D.-Wash., wrote to FCC Chairman Ajit Pai, urging the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to not allow wireless companies to run in a 24 GHz band until weather forecasting is protected. […]

FEMA

The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) tapped Lytwaive Hutchinson to serve as its new CIO earlier this month, after a year-long search to fill the position. […]

The Trump administration will propose legislation on Friday to move the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) under the General Services Administration (GSA) due to a severe need for structural changes and IT modernization, Acting OPM Director Margaret Weichert told reporters on Tuesday. […]

Christine Calvosa stepped down as CIO at the Federal Communications Commission on May 9, an FCC spokesperson confirmed to MeriTalk. […]

The Department for Veterans Affairs (VA) highlighted the efficiency and magnitude that a crowdsourced tool has brought to the agency’s healthcare, human resource, benefits, and financial systems in a blog post last week. […]

The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) is taking heat in a May 7 report from the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) inspector general (IG) which found that FEMA procurement staff used Google, rather than verified firms from FEMA’s Disaster Response Registry, to arrange a sizeable hurricane-recovery contract. […]

Ajit Pai, FCC Commisioner

Federal Communications Commission (FCC) Chairman Ajit Pai announced today that he expects major phone companies to implement the Signature-based Handling of Asserted Information Using Tokens and Secure Telephony Identity Revisited standards this year. The standards, known as SHAKEN/STIR, are caller ID authentication standards which will help combat robocalls. […]

IRS

When it comes to monitoring third-party tax software providers and paid tax preparers, the IRS has limited jurisdiction and controls in place to protect taxpayer information from cyberattacks, according to a report from the Government Accountability Office released Thursday, May 9. […]

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David Redl is resigning his position as administrator of the National Telecommunications and Information Administration – a component agency of the Commerce Department influential in a host of communications technology issues including 5G wireless spectrum – according to three Federal Communications Commission (FCC) leaders. […]

A bipartisan group of senators reintroduced the Artificial Intelligence (AI) in Government Act on Wednesday to improve the use of AI across the Federal government by “providing access to technical expertise and streamlining hiring within the agencies.” The bill was previously introduced by the same group of senators in September of 2018, but didn’t receive a vote in the Senate. […]

Sean Connelly, senior cybersecurity architect at the Department of Homeland Security’s (DHS) Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA), said today that the official version of the Trusted Internet Connections (TIC) 3.0 policy to be issued later this year by the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) won’t be much different than the draft version released by OMB in late December 2018. […]

TMF technology modernization fund gears

While Federal agencies are making progress in moving to the cloud, challenges exist in tracking the cost savings benefits of those moves due to a lack of agency-level guidance and confusion about tracking under guidance from the Office of Management and Budget (OMB), according to a report released by the Government Accountability Office (GAO) on Monday, May 6. […]

Connolly
DoD Pentagon Military

The Department of Defense and the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) announced a memorandum of agreement to provide DoD access to OPM’s USALearning platform for training activities. […]

DOJ Department of Justice

The Department of Justice announced May 3 that it, in partnership with German authorities, has charged three German nationals with operating Wall Street Market (WSM), “which was one of the world’s largest dark web marketplaces that allowed vendors to sell a wide variety of contraband,” including malware. […]

U.S. Patent Trademark Office USPTO Commerce

The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) is requesting information on stabilizing high-priority IT applications, while simultaneously not affecting operational activities. […]

General Services Administration GSA

The General Services Administration (GSA) and the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) today launched a new competition to create a Government Effectiveness Advanced Research (GEAR) Center to address challenges facing the Federal government. The competition runs from today through August 1, 2019. […]

The General Services Administration (GSA) outlined ten tips for Federal agencies to follow in their efforts to migrate to cloud-based systems as part of a cloud smart push. […]

data privacy, people, personal data, binary

The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) released a discussion draft version of the upcoming NIST Privacy Framework on Wednesday, May 1, with principles and practices aligned with the NIST Cybersecurity Framework. […]

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The Defense Department’s (DoD) most senior leadership faced the wrath of one of the House Appropriations Committee’s most senior members today over what Rep. Hal Rogers, R-Ky., a former chairman of the committee, regards as slow progress toward the goal of efficiently linking electronic health records (EHR) systems used by DoD and the Veterans Affairs Department (VA). […]

The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) is in the process of creating a plan for developing standards and tools to support artificial technologies and are currently seeking information on helping NIST “understand the current state, plans, challenges, and opportunities regarding the development and availability of AI technical standards.” […]

Pipeline

The Government Accountability Office (GAO) recommended that the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) revise its pipeline security, cybersecurity guidelines, and risk assessment methodology, and build a more robust cybersecurity workforce to enhance its pipeline security program. […]

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