With the COVID-19 pandemic stretching on, President Biden signed an executive order (EO) to direct an all-of-agency effort to help those most impacted by the pandemic. In accordance with that EO, the Department of Treasury is working to change the way it delivers economic impact payments, according to a Jan. 22 release. […]
The White House said today President Biden will sign an executive order that cancels a previous order issued by former President Trump last October that created a new “Schedule F” classification for Federal employees in policy-making positions and made it easier to hire and fire them. […]
President Biden has designated Federal Communications Commission (FCC) Commissioner Jessica Rosenworcel as Acting Chairwoman of the FCC. […]
With the Biden administration taking office Jan. 20, the Federal CIO Council has named acting CIOs at five of the seven agencies where the position is helmed by political appointees who are obliged to step down at the end of presidential administrations. […]
Following President Joe Biden’s inauguration, the General Services Administration (GSA) announced the list of political appointees that will lead the agency. According to the GSA, the appointees are a combination of Obama-Biden administration officials and others with public/private sector experience specifically in climate and technology. […]
The Government Accountability Office’s (GAO) annual assessment of acquisition programs at the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) found 10 programs to have been in breach of either baseline cost or schedule at some point in 2020 and five were in breach as of September 2020. […]
New working conditions have led agencies to adjust AI adoption methods and strengthen data analytics capabilities by leveraging commercially available solutions from industry and implementing other practices during the pandemic. […]
Four lawmakers are criticizing Secretary of State Mike Pompeo’s approval of a new cybersecurity and emerging technologies bureau and calling for President-elect Joe Biden to hit pause when he is sworn in and takes office. […]
The Federal Risk and Authorization Management Program (FedRAMP) is looking to make the move from manual processes to automated ones, focusing on two strategic initiatives that will make cloud security even easier for agencies. […]
In a Senate Homeland Security Committee hearing, Alejandro Mayorkas, President-elect Joe Biden’s nominee for Secretary of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), laid out his vision for the nation’s cybersecurity and promised to make it a priority if confirmed. […]
Getting in and out of the District of Columbia will likely be more trouble than it’s worth until after President-elect Joe Biden’s inauguration with the Secret Service adding bridge closures to mounting restrictions. The Secret Service announced restrictions on seven bridges Jan. 18, with all but one restricting all access into the city. […]
The costs and consequences of the Russia-backed hack of government and private sector networks via a breach of SolarWinds Orion products are continuing to grow more than a month after the exploit was publicly disclosed, a senior official with the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) said today. […]
The Office of Personnel Management (OPM) published an updated doctrine on Jan. 13 that details new core security vetting principles for the government to use in managing security clearances. […]
The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) has officially named Jeff Seaton as the agency’s permanent CIO. […]
The Office of Personnel and Management (OPM) has issued guidance for Federal agencies to allow employees to telework and use all other “workplace flexibility” to keep employees out of downtown in the District of Columbia for the next week. […]
President-elect Joe Biden’s nominees to head the departments of Defense (DoD) and Homeland Security (DHS) are lined up for Senate committee-level confirmation hearings on Jan. 19 – one day before Biden will be inaugurated as the 46th President of the United States. […]
While the Department of Defense (DoD) has begun the process of compiling a list of acquisition programs, technologies manufacturing capabilities, and research areas critical for preserving U.S. military advantages, it still hasn’t determined how to communicate that list internally and to other agencies, according to the Government Accountability Office. […]
The Office of Management and Budget (OMB) officially designated the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) as a Quality Service Management Office (QSMO) to lead grant management process improvement efforts on a government-wide basis. […]
The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) named Oki Mek, a career public servant, its first Chief Artificial Intelligence Officer (CAIO) in Dec. 2020, according to his LinkedIn. This is a new CXO-level position that puts Mek at the head of AI strategy for the agency. […]
The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has hired Kenneth Bible as its new CISO, a DHS management spokesperson confirmed to MeriTalk. […]
The National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA), along with the Department of Defense (DoD) 5G Initiative is looking to accelerate the development of an open 5G stack ecosystem to support DoD missions through a 5G Challenge. […]
President-elect Joe Biden has nominated Gina Raimondo as his Secretary of Commerce and Don Graves as Raimondo’s Deputy Secretary at the Department of Commerce (Commerce). […]
The Federal Communications Commission on Jan. 6 called for comment on how the agency should proceed with deploying $249.9 million of new funding to support its existing COVID-19 Telehealth Program. […]
Secretary of State Mike Pompeo approved the establishment of the Bureau of Cyberspace Security and Emerging Technologies (CSET) within the Department of State on Thursday to lead diplomatic efforts to deflect cyberattacks from foreign countries. […]
The Department of Commerce Office of the Inspector General (OIG) announced last month that it will be conducting a review of the department’s cyber threat data sharing capabilities, pursuant to the Cybersecurity Information Sharing Act of 2015 which set up structures for sharing threat data with government and private sector entities. […]
General Services Administration (GSA) chief Emily Murphy has asked for the resignations of all agency political appointees in order to demonstrate GSA’s “commitment to a peaceful transition of power” to the incoming Biden administration following the Jan. 6 assault on the U.S. Capitol complex by a mob supportive of President Trump. […]
President-elect Joe Biden has chosen cybersecurity veteran Lisa Monaco as his nominee for Deputy Attorney General at the Justice Department (DoJ), and according to a Politico report, is getting ready to name Anne Neuberger deputy national security adviser for cybersecurity on the President’s National Security Council (NSC). […]
A new audit report released by the Treasury Department’s Office of Inspector General (OIG) has found deficiencies in the agency’s IT controls related to cash management and federal debt information systems. […]
The Federal Communications Commission is seeking public comment on how to best distribute $3.2 billion of funding approved by Congress late last month as part of combined FY 2021 government funding and COVID-19 relief legislation to help low-income Americans access internet services. […]
The General Services Administration (GSA) has released a new draft of its Polaris Governmentwide Acquisition Contract (GWAC) on Dec. 31, 2020 and is seeking feedback from the small business IT community by the end of the month, according to an RFP posted on beta.SAM.gov. […]