The Department of Labor (DOL) on March 13 announced creation of a Chief Data Officer (CDO) position in accordance with the OPEN Government Data Act, which includes directing the heads of each Federal agency to “designate a nonpolitical appointee employee in the agency as the CDO of the agency.” […]
Sen. Kamala Harris, D-Calif., on Thursday introduced the Digital Service Act, which would increase funding for the U.S. Digital Service (USDS) and provide a conduit for state and local governments to get USDS grants to fund information technology (IT) modernization efforts. […]
In another effort from Congress to expand transparency in U.S. election systems after, Sens. Ben Cardin, D-Md., Amy Klobuchar, D-Minn., and Chris Van Hollen, D-Md. announced today that they will reintroduce their Election Systems Integrity Act. […]
The Cyber Diplomacy Act, H.R. 739, was scored by the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) on Wednesday and the CBO found it would not have a material impact on government spending. […]
Two members of the House Armed Services Committee said at a hearing on Wednesday they support continuation of the “dual-hat” command structure which finds Gen. Paul Nakasone heading both U.S. Cyber Command and the National Security Agency. […]
Sens. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., and Tom Cotton, R-Ark., asked the Senate Sergeant at Arms in a March 13 letter to disclose to each member of the Senate “the extent of the cyber threats faced by the U.S. Senate–and by extension, our democracy,” and said disclosure of that information was “imperative in order to help the U.S. Senate address important cyber-security needs.” […]
The Cybersecurity Skills Integration Act introduced in the House last week to jumpstart development of career and technical education training initiatives that incorporate cybersecurity into the curriculum–appears to have one major unresolved issue: competing for qualified instructors in the white-hot market for cybersecurity professionals. […]
A bipartisan AI caucus was announced today, led by Sens. Martin Heinrich, D-N.M., and Rob Portman, R-Ohio. […]
Artificial intelligence (AI), following on the heels of its older sibling RPA (robotic process automation), is no longer waiting to be born, but remains more of a toddler on the Federal IT scene–still learning to walk before trying to run, but bulking up from an appetite for serious Federal government tech interest and investment. […]
Sens. Edward Markey, D-Mass., and Mike Lee, R-Utah, issued a statement on Tuesday urging the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) to “pause” activities to spread the use of facial recognition technologies and develop policy that will further inform U.S. citizens about the technology and what happens to the data that it generates. […]
Sens. Edward Markey, D-Mass., and Josh Hawley, R-Mo., on Tuesday introduced legislation that would update the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA), which became law in 1998 and regulates the ability of website and online service providers to collect information about users under the age of 13. […]
The Defense Department’s FY 2020 budget proposal which was included as part of President Trump’s budget proposal rolled out yesterday, calls for a total of $9.6 billion of cyber spending, up more than $1 billion from the $8.5 billion DoD cyber spending total cited by the White House in FY2019 budget documents. […]
The IoT Cybersecurity Improvement Act of 2019 has gained 12 new cosponsors in the House. […]
The House Committee on Energy and Commerce’s Subcommittee on Communications and Technology met today to hear testimony on H.R. 1644, the Save the Internet Act, which would roll back net neutrality rules to their 2015 level. […]
A bipartisan group of senators and House members reintroduced the IoT Cybersecurity Improvement Act in both chambers, which would require Federal agencies to follow guidelines developed by the National Institute of Standards and Technology’s (NIST’s) on security for Internet of Things (IoT) devices. […]
Rep. Brian Fitzpatrick , R-Pa., on March 7 introduced H.R. 1612, dubbed the “Nonpartisan Bill For The People.” The legislation is the GOP’s answer to the Democrat-backed H.R. 1, which cleared the House last week. Both bills include measures to increase voter participation and election security, among other election-related measures. The House bill does not currently have a companion bill in the Senate. The GOP-backed House bill includes measures to: […]
The House passed the For the People Act, or H.R. 1, on Friday with a party-line vote of 234-193. […]
Sen. Jacky Rosen, D-Nev., said at a Senate Commerce, Science, and Transportation subcommittee hearing yesterday that she plans to reintroduce the Code Like a Girl Act, which the senator sponsored in 2017 as a member of the House. […]
Software-maker trade group BSA sent a letter to leaders of the House and Senate Armed Services Committees on Thursday urging modernization of the Department of Defense’s (DoD) supply chain security and software acquisition approach in the FY 2020 National Defense Authorization Act. […]
House Energy and Commerce Committee Chairman Frank Pallone, Jr., D-N.J., and Communications and Technology Subcommittee Chairman Mike Doyle, D-Pa., said this week they are concerned that the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) may be violating the Federal Records Act (FRA). […]
Senators and witnesses alike took turns criticizing Chinese tech and trade policy, and China-based network equipment maker Huawei, at a hearing on Thursday over the firm’s alleged potential to create security harms if its equipment was included in U.S. 5G wireless networks. […]
Sens. Ron Wyden, D-Ore, Martin Heinrich, D-N.M., and Kamala Harris, D-Calif., wrote Dan Coats, director of National Intelligence, on Monday urging him to declassify information regarding China’s attempts to influence U.S. elections. […]
U.S. Comptroller General Gene Dodaro, who heads the Government Accountability Office, said in congressional testimony on Wednesday he is “hopeful” that Robert Wilkie, who became the Secretary of Veterans Affairs in July 2018, will have more luck cracking the agency’s pressing problems, including IT, than his predecessors. […]
Several senators said today that high-profile private-sector data breaches like those disclosed by Equifax in 2017 and Marriott in 2018 serve to boost the urgency with which Congress should act to approve legislation that would implement the country’s first national private-sector cybersecurity regulations and procedures. […]
With the 2020 election cycle on the horizon, Reps. Gerry Connolly, D-Va., and Jim Langevin, D-R.I., reintroduced the Fair, Accurate, Secure, and Timely (FAST) Voting Act. The legislation, according to the two Congressmen, aims to “enhance voting system security, improve voter participation, and encourage automatic voter registration.” […]
On Tuesday, Rep. Carolyn Maloney, D-N.Y., introduced the Federal Employees Paid Leave Act to give Federal employees 12 weeks of paid leave for the birth, adoption, or foster placement of a child within their families and for other medical reasons. […]
Democratic members of Congress from the Washington D.C. area sent a letter to the heads of the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) and the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) on Tuesday asking when the White House plans to implement the 1.9 percent annual pay raise for Federal civilian workers included in the spending bill passed in February that avoided a further partial government shutdown. […]
In a letter dated Feb. 27, Sens. Mark Warner, D-Va., and Marco Rubio, R-Fla., requested Dan Coats, director of National Intelligence, produce “an unclassified report on the participation of China and other adversarial nations in the international standard setting bodies (ISSBs) for fifth-generation wireless telecommunications technologies (5G).” […]
The United States Transportation Command (USTRANSCOM) is working to improve cybersecurity infrastructures to prevent breaches of industry partners, like those of USTRANSCOM contractors that began June 1, 2012 and resulted in 20 successful intrusions over a period of 12 months by Chinese hackers. […]
During her keynote address at Monday’s Center for Strategic and International Studies event, Rep. Suzan DelBene, D-Wash., urged the U.S. government to increase its global engagement when it comes to tech–saying that was the only way to maintain U.S. technological leadership. With that in mind, DelBene offered a series of steps Congress can take to maintain U.S. global leadership. […]