Ellen Lord, the Defense Department’s (DoD) undersecretary of Defense for Acquisition and Sustainment, provided updates on August 13 on pathfinder projects and database construction for DoD’s Cybersecurity Maturity Model Certification (CMMC) program that aims to strengthen cybersecurity throughout the U.S. defense industrial base (DIB). […]

The National Institutes of Health (NIH) is seeking software to help members of NIH communications offices to monitor, distribute, and analyze social media mentions of the agency. […]

Reflecting on the seventh iteration of the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency’s (CISA) National Cyber Storm Exercise that concluded late yesterday, Assistant Director for Infrastructure Security Brian Harrell is warning that many organizations fail to understand the security of third-party services that they rely on. […]

The U.S. Chief Technology Officer, who recently took on the dual role of Pentagon acting Under Secretary of Defense for Research and Engineering, on August 13 outlined priorities for his DoD role including testing and scaling technologies, partnering with the private sector and academic community, and engaging internationally. […]

From 2017 to 2019, the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) reported that homelessness in the United States has grown increasingly, but an Office of Inspector General (OIG) report found that HUD likely underestimates the count due to poor data quality. […]

Officials from the Marine Corps (USMC) and the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) credited laying the mobility groundwork and hosting remote work drills, respectively, for helping the agencies prepare workers for the telework transition during the COVID-19 pandemic. […]

The Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) has released a new suite of documents that explores the value proposition of Federated Identity, Credential, and Access Management (ICAM) technologies, and highlights ICAM’s potential benefits for the public safety community. […]

To help universities protect COVID-19 research, Reps. Andy Barr, R-Ky., and Frank Lucas, R-Okla., introduced legislation to give those universities and research institutions tools to protect from cyberattacks from foreign cyber actors. […]

Sens. Maggie Hassan, D-N.H., and Bill Cassidy, R-La., introduced bipartisan legislation to streamline patient electronic health record (EHR) matching among healthcare providers using the United States Postal Service (USPS) address-formatting tool. […]

Sens. Ron Johnson, R-Wis., and Gary Peters, D-Mich., have introduced legislation to expand the pool of communications service providers who could apply for Federal government funding to remove and replace network equipment made by firms the government judges to be “untrusted,” such as China-based Huawei and ZTE. […]

Sens. Chris Van Hollen, D-Md., James Lankford, R-Okla., and Kyrsten Sinema, D-Ariz., have introduced legislation that would require Federal agencies to maximize telework for Federal employees for the length of the COVID-19 public health emergency. […]

The Government Accountability Office has submitted a new report to Congress regarding facial recognition technology, but its primary recommendation from a 2013 report remains – update the consumer privacy framework. […]

The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) launched the final version of Special Publication (SP) 800-207 Zero Trust Architecture on August 11. […]

With one week to go until the Pentagon is scheduled to make a decision to re-award its multi-billion-dollar Joint Enterprise Defense Infrastructure cloud computing contract, the Department of Defense asked for a month’s extension. […]

The U.S. Web Design Systems’ (USWDS) maturity model is focused on making it easier for Federal entities to build accessible, mobile-friendly websites for the American public. […]

The Energy Department is funding five artificial intelligence projects totaling an $8.5 million investment in accessible and reusable AI research and development (R&D), per an August 10 announcement. […]

Brookings Institution President John Allen and Vice President and Director of Governance Studies Darrell West are calling for AI policies such as instituting impact statements and reinstating the Office of Technology Assessment (OTA) as the government prepares for the future of AI. […]

The Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) is seeking an in-depth cybersecurity audit of its Financial Services Center to analyze its compliance with Federal statutes, how the agency is adapting processes to support compliance, and cybersecurity sustainment across VA. […]

New data from the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) shows a substantial increase in the use of online VA healthcare tools amidst the COVID-19 pandemic and stay-at-home orders. […]

The U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) has experienced delays in converting facilities to its new electronic health record (EHR) capabilities due to the COVID-19 pandemic, but is now targeting October to implement the changes. […]

Officials with several leading Federal IT service providers applauded government agency grades on last week’s FITARA Scorecard, but also suggested a range of grading category adjustments for the scorecard to better track where agency performance should be going in the future. […]

While 82 percent of Federal IT managers surveyed by MeriTalk agree that the amount of streaming data their agency manages is on the rise, 59 percent also said that their agency is struggling to secure its data consistently between on-premises and cloud. […]

A top U.S. intelligence community leader said today the IC doubts the ability of U.S. adversaries to manipulate the results of U.S. general election voting in any widespread way, while warning that exploits may be attempted against election infrastructure with a goal of interfering with voting processes, stealing data, and casting doubt on the democratic process. […]

The Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) Office of Inspector General (OIG) recently reviewed usage health information exchanges (HIEs) at 48 VA facilities and community providers for possible barriers to their use. […]

A Department of State program is offering up to $10 million to help identify bad actors, individuals who are working with or for a foreign government with the purpose of interfering with U.S. elections through certain cyber acts. […]

Amb. Robert Strayer, the Department of State’s point person for cyber and international communications policy, is leaving government to join the Information Technology Industry (ITI) Council, a global technology trade association. […]

The Department of State launched the Clean Network program on August 5 to promote the protection of American data and telecommunications infrastructure, specifically targeting China-based companies. […]

The Transportation Security Administration (TSA) is seeking other means to identify airline passengers when they cannot provide acceptable identity documentation. […]

Data can come in many forms – census data, tax information, even video footage – but whether data is structured in a spreadsheet or unstructured in myriad other forms used to be the key determinant in what insights could be drawn from it.  Not anymore. […]

Reflecting on tech progress during the COVID-19 pandemic, Deputy Federal CIO Maria Roat advocated for IT transformation culture changes and sustaining modernization projects in the long term to keep up the momentum for Federal IT improvements.   […]