Think about technology from a restaurant perspective – every Federal agency is a pizzeria, providing citizens with one service. The goal – pivot from pizzeria to GrubHub – allowing citizens to identify essential technology, while agencies serve as the enabler, or “delivery service.” Being a positive digital disruptor will enhance the customer experience, IT experts said Feb. 3 during MeriTalk’s Power of Prediction: Federal IT Operations Management (ITOM) webinar. […]
President Biden’s Labor Secretary nominee – Boston mayor Marty Walsh – emphasized that state unemployment insurance systems are in sore need of technology upgrades during testimony at a Feb. 4 confirmation hearing before the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions. […]
The Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) has extended by six months the term of its Information and Communications Technology (ICT) Supply Chain Task Force, which was set up by the agency two years ago as a venue for government and industry to develop consensus strategies to improve ICT supply chain security. […]
Wayne Jones, CIO of the Department of Energy’s (DoE) National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA), retired Jan. 30, following three decades in public service and 14 years at NNSA. It is not immediately clear who will replace him in the post. […]
The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) is joining the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) and National Science Foundation (NSF) in the Spectrum Innovation Cooperation Agreement, which seeks innovative R&D advancements on challenges facing the United States because of increasing demands for electromagnetic spectrum access. […]
Rocky Campione is resigning as Energy Department CIO effective April 2, capping a 20-month stint at the helm of the agency’s IT operations marked by modernization efforts including a fresh push to cloud services, and helping to chart the agency’s course through the ongoing coronavirus pandemic. […]
Strengthening cloud service capabilities over the past year has been an important step for Federal agencies to both deal with pandemic-era network service demands, and bolster cybersecurity by meeting requirements of the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency’s (CISA) Continuous Diagnostics and Mitigation (CDM) program while using cloud services. […]
The House Committee on Homeland Security today designated cybersecurity as a key priority for the committee in the 117th Congress, and specifically noted the Russian-backed hack of thousands of government and private sector networks via a compromise of SolarWinds Orion products. […]
The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) has issued a Special Publication (SP) to help organizations protect sensitive information on different electronic systems from state-sponsored hacking. […]
The Senate voted today 57 to 43 to approve the nomination of Alejandro Mayorkas to head the Department of Homeland Security (DHS). […]
The Senate Armed Services Committee unanimously voted today to advance the President Biden’s nominee for Veterans Affairs (VA) Secretary Denis McDonough to a full-Senate confirmation vote. […]
In a letter to Rhode Island Gov. Gina Raimondo, nominee for secretary of commerce, Republican Sens. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., Tom Cotton, R-Ark., and Ben Sasse, R-Neb., requested that the Department of Commerce keep the pressure on Chinese telecommunications company, Huawei, during the Biden administration. […]
Taking steps to improve performance planning could help the Department of Energy (DOE) transfer technologies from the agency to private companies, and avoid barriers that can hinder tech transfer, the Federal government’s chief watchdog agency said. […]
Ian Wallace has joined the State Department to serve as a senior advisor for the Office of the Coordinator for Cyber Issues (S/CCI). Wallace tweeted that his new role will focus on cyber capacity building. […]
Agencies are facing a growing backlog of Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests, and the agencies facing the most requests have started notifying the public, according to a report by the Office of Government Information Services (OGIS). […]
The Department of State had notified Congress in 2019 of its plans to create a bureau within the department to focus on cybersecurity, but a lack of data and evidence to justify the proposal may halt its progress. […]
While the COVID-19 pandemic will continue to impact healthcare delivery to veterans well into 2021, the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) and its Veterans Health Administration (VHA) component are already taking into account requirements for telehealth services when the pandemic abates but its mental-health impacts persist. […]
Denis McDonough, President Biden’s nominee for secretary of the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA), plans to make cybersecurity “a key priority” if confirmed, along with IT modernization efforts and expansion of broadband services. […]
Though the legislative machinations may be tricky, the bottom line is that the nomination of Alejandro Mayorkas to head the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) is headed to likely Senate approval early next week. […]
The Department of Justice (DoJ) has launched a coordinated international law enforcement action to disrupt the NetWalker ransomware-as-a-service crimeware product. […]
The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) named Rebecca Piazza as senior advisor for delivery in the office of the under secretary for Food, Nutrition, and Consumer Services. […]
The General Services Administration (GSA) has confirmed the appointment of Amy Hasletine as acting executive director of the Office of Enterprise Technology Solutions (ETS). […]
The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) posted an alert warning that a “US Trading Commission” website is a scam and not associated with the FTC. […]
The IRS announced Ken Corbin will serve as the chief taxpayer experience officer, a new role created to help unify and expand agency efforts aimed at improving customer experience. […]
The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) has developed an AI strategy to enable AI fluency and adoption across the enterprise. The strategy also establishes an AI Council to oversee the agency’s AI implementation efforts. […]
President Biden’s Jan. 25 executive order to direct more of the Federal government’s spending to the benefit of American businesses has a larger focus on commodity and non-tech goods, but may end up extending to commercially available IT products. […]
The White House announced several political appointees to the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) today, including a few tech-focused staffers. […]
The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has named Maribeth Petrizzi as the acting head of the commission’s Bureau of Competition, Politico reported Jan. 25. Petrizzi will now be the lead on enforcing the nation’s antitrust laws. […]
The General Services Administration (GSA) has appointed Josh Sawislak as Senior Advisor to the agency Administrator focused on implementing executive actions. GSA also named Zoe Garmendia Senior Advisor to the Administrator on COVID. […]
Nine Democratic senators are pressing the Department of Justice (DoJ) and the U.S. Courts for a briefing and information about exactly what data was compromised by the SolarWinds hack in a letter to the departments. […]