Smarter Gov Tech, Stronger MerITocracy

While business owners told members of the House Small Business Committee at a March 4 hearing how they use blockchain in their operations, a question from the committee’s chairwoman led to talk of bigger operations that could benefit from blockchain ­– state governments. […]

Sen. Roger Wicker, R-Miss., said today he expects President Trump to sign into law “in just a few days” legislation approved by the Senate late last month that will provide up to $1 billion to pay for smaller U.S.-based communications providers to remove and replace network equipment made by China-based suppliers Huawei and ZTE, among others. […]

Innovation

There are many challenges facing defense agencies when it comes to modernizing technologies and establishing an environment for industry and government to effectively communicate is essential to this process. […]

NIST

The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) is seeking comments through May 4 on a draft revision of NISTIR 8183, the Cybersecurity Framework Manufacturing Profile, that includes subcategory enhancements established in the agency’s Framework for Improving Critical Infrastructure Cybersecurity, Version 1.1.  […]

Department of Commerce

Since its 2016 launch, the Opportunity Project, an open-data Federal program that partners public and private organizations to solve tech problems, has completed 100 products via nationwide virtual sprints, Director Drew Zachary announced at a March 3 FCW Citizen Engagement Summit. […]

Sen. Angus King, I-Maine, co-chair of the U.S. Cyberspace Solarium Committee that is set to release recommendations next week on how to better defend the U.S. against cyber threats, indicated today that Federal government coordination and new thinking about deterrence will be among the report’s major findings. […]

VA

The General Services Administration (GSA) and Government Accountability Office (GAO) announced today that they’ve partnered on GSA’s Centers of Excellence (CoE) initiative and are “entering into a sprint-based discovery phase to address strategy, acquisition, and technology challenges and solutions, including cloud architecture and security configuration.” […]

The General Services Administration’s (GSA) release of Federal website standards in December 2019 was intended to aid agency compliance with the 21st Century Integrated Digital Experience Act (IDEA), but Larry Gillick, chief of web and digital strategy at the Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) Farm Production and Conservation Business Center, raised concerns with unintended consequences of the standards. […]

Telehealth

The White House Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP) said today it led a call on Monday with science ministers and chief advisors from several allied nations “to share information on integrating science” into national responses to the COVID-19 virus. […]

DHS

Today’s House Homeland Security Committee hearing on DHS’s Fiscal Year 2021 budget request covered a wide array of topics. However, Chad Wolf, acting secretary of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), spent much of his time defending a budget cut to Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA). […]

Suzette Kent

The Office of Management and Budget (OMB) is seeking comment on a proposal that would order Federal agencies to develop additional IPv6 (Internet Protocol Version 6) implementation plans by the end of Fiscal Year 2021, and sharply boost requirements for agencies to increase the amount of IPv6-only assets on their networks through FY2025. […]

NIH

 The Clinical Center at the National Institutes of Health (NIH), which holds tens of thousands of sensitive patient records, needs to develop a secure data backup site, according to a report from the Office of Inspector General (OIG) at the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS). […]

Washington DC capitol federal government-min
FCC, Chinese suppliers

Acting Secretary of the Navy Thomas Modly shared “one of [his] greatest’s lessons in business” in a recent message to the department. He wrote that the quality of a company’s employee bathroom was a “nearly foolproof indicator” of a good organization. […]

General Motors CEO Mary Barra emphasized at the RSA security conference this week that development of robust cybersecurity technologies for the automotive sector is a crucial factor in the industry-wide push toward autonomous driving technologies and eventually fully self-driving vehicles. […]

Pentagon Military Defense DoD

The Department of Defense (DoD) Joint Artificial Intelligence (AI) Center (JAIC) selected Alka Patel, a pull from the private sector with “diverse skills and experience” to help lead its ethical AI adoption, per JAIC spokesperson Lt. Cmdr. Arlo Abrahamson on Feb. 28. […]

White House flag at half mast

At a Feb. 27 House Science, Space, and Technology Committee hearing, representatives largely criticized the President’s Fiscal Year 2021 budget proposal for cuts to investments in research and development (R&D), but praised funding increases to “industries of the future” like artificial intelligence (AI) and quantum information science (QIS).  […]

The House Appropriations Committee questioned today why the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) is requesting $2.6 billion in funds for Fiscal Year 2021 for the VA’s Office of Electronic Health Records (EHR)— $1 billion more than the FY2020 request— when the EHR Modernization go-live date was delayed and wants better communication on information from the agency to avoid delays and cost more money. […]

cybersecurity

When it comes to adopting artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML) capabilities, it’s important to look at its range of effects from many different viewpoints. […]

Categories