In a Feb. 26 letter to Dana Deasy, CIO of the Department of Defense (DoD), Sen. Mark Warner, D-Va., stressed the importance of vulnerability disclosure programs. […]
Congressional staffers on House and Senate committees with strong interest in cybersecurity issues said today they are watching for “low-hanging fruit” in the form of easy-to-enact legislative proposals expected to make up some of the recommendations in the Cyberspace Solarium Commission (CSC) report set to be released on March 11. […]
The National Governors Association (NGA) urged Congress to take action on key pieces of legislation that will help harden state and local government’s (SLGs) cybersecurity defenses. […]
While senators at a Feb. 25 Appropriations Committee hearing agreed with Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Chad Wolf about the agency’s cybersecurity mission priority, election security cuts in the President’s Budget proposal raised questions from committee members. […]
The Congressional Budget Office (CBO) found that the Cybersecurity Vulnerability Identification and Notification Act of 2020 (H.R. 5680) could slightly lower the deficit, but not by a significant amount. The bill, introduced by Rep. Jim Langevin, D-R.I. on Jan. 27, would authorize the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) to issue administrative subpoenas in rare […]
The security clearance backlog is “decreasing, but still problematic,” Rep. Gerry Connolly, D-Va., said at an event held today with industry leaders at George Mason University in Fairfax. […]
In a letter to ShiftState Security Chief Security Officer Andre McGregor, Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., challenged the results of an audit ShiftState was supposed to have conducted of the Voatz voting app. […]
The House of Representatives is looking to strengthen public safety network resiliency with two new pieces of legislation. […]
The Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) IT Reform Act of 2019 passed the Senate Committee on Veterans’ Affairs Feb. 13, paving the way for its move to the Senate floor. […]
In a recent report about 2020 Democratic presidential candidates’ cybersecurity posture, each of the campaigns scored a “B” letter grade or better, and showed increased focus and investment in good cyber hygiene. […]
Rep. Gerry Connolly, D-Va., is hosting a roundtable discussion for private sector companies to discuss what challenges they face when seeking Federal security clearances on Feb. 24 at George Mason University. […]
Sens. Jeff Merkley, D-Ore., and Cory Booker, D-N.J., introduced the Ethical Use of Facial Recognition Act on Feb. 12 which would institute a moratorium on all Federal use of facial recognition technology until Congress passes legislation outlining “specific uses for the data” collected. […]
A Senate bill that would provide government funding for smaller communications service providers to remove equipment in their networks supplied by Huawei, ZTE and other China-based suppliers would cost $726 billion over ten years to implement, the Congressional Budget Office said on Feb. 11. […]
While the 2020 election cycle has been officially underway for less than a month, there have already been significant technology concerns. While the most notable tech concern was the Feb. 3 Iowa Caucus, researchers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) raised additional concerns in a report published Feb. 13. […]
Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, D-N.Y., has drafted a bill that would create a U.S. Federal data strategy agency that would protect citizens’ data and have the authority to enforce data practices across the U.S. […]
The House Homeland Security Committee advanced the State and Local Cybersecurity Improvement Act out of committee on Feb. 12. […]
The House Science, Space, and Technology Committee approved two bills on Feb. 12 to harden the U.S. electric grid against cyberattacks. […]
Reps. Ro Khanna, D-Calif., and Mark Meadows, R-N.C., introduced legislation Feb. 13 to codify the General Services Administration (GSA) Technology Transformation Services (TTS) Centers of Excellence (CoE) program. […]
A new Government Accountability Office (GAO) report found that the Office of Congressional Workplace Rights (OCWR) failed to incorporate cybersecurity management practices into the planning of its Secure Online Claims Reporting and Tracking E-filing System (SOCRATES) project. […]
The Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) electronic health record (EHR) modernization launch in Spokane, Washington was indefinitely delayed on Feb. 10, leaving members of the House Committee on Veterans’ Affairs Subcommittee on Technology Modernization concerned about agency transparency. […]
Members of the House Consumer Protection and Commerce Subcommittee today discussed several major themes of draft legislation that aims to evolve the Federal government’s role in regulating the development of autonomous vehicle (AV) technology, and expanding the ability of industry to do more AV technology testing. […]
During today’s Senate Homeland Security Committee Hearing, both Committee Chairman Ron Johnson, R-Wis., and Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) Director Chris Krebs agreed that CISA’s role is largely similar to the Federal Emergency Management Agency’s mandate. […]
The FedRAMP Authorization Act, sponsored by Rep. Gerry Connolly, D-Va., passed unanimously in the House by voice vote on Feb. 5. […]
The Republican Study Committee (RSC), a caucus of sitting House conservatives, released a framework Feb. 6 of policy solutions for a smaller government that would slash automatic Federal pay raises, eliminate the Federal Employee Retirement System (FERS), and reduce paid leave benefits. […]
Maryann Feldman, an official helping to lead a congressionally-mandated effort to evaluate the Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) and the Small Business Technology Transfer (STTR) programs, said at a Feb. 5 House Science, Space, and Technology subcommittee hearing that the first SBIR assessment will be released in March. […]
Thursday at the FITARA Awards ceremony, a powerful group of government, Hill, and industry leaders will launch the public-private FITARA Forward Initiative. […]
House Republicans introduced a resolution condemning a decision by the British government to allow China-based network equipment maker Huawei a limited role in 5G networks being built out in the United Kingdom. […]
An apparent series of interconnected failures surrounding the use of a key vote-tallying phone app – plus delays associated with a phone-reporting backup system – derailed the reporting of the Iowa Democratic Caucus results last night, even as more states and localities are preparing to add app technologies to some aspects of their election processes. […]
The Congressional Budget Office (CBO) said in a Jan. 31 estimate that the Harvesting American Cybersecurity Knowledge through Education (HACKED) Act of 2019 would cost $57 million to implement over the next five years. […]
Members of Congress have a lot on their plates, and on any given day understanding the nuances of technology issues may not be one of them. […]