Smarter Gov Tech, Stronger MerITocracy
CDC

As the COVID-19 public health emergency (PHE) is set to end next week on May 11, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) Director Rochelle Walensky warned that this also means the end of data collection and sharing efforts that many Americans have come to expect from the agency on pandemic-related data. […]

AI

The National Science Foundation’s $140 million of fresh funding announced today for seven new National Artificial Intelligence Research Institutes will put top scientific and research focus on a diverse set of uses for artificial intelligence (AI) technology ranging from education, climate science, and cybersecurity. […]

White House

Across the public sector, agencies are seeing increasing demand for faster, digitally enabled service delivery – and a better user experience, for both employees and constituents. In this MeriTalking podcast, MeriTalk’s Gail Emery is joined by Joe Jeter, senior vice president of Federal technology at Maximus, to explore how user-centric approach to digital modernization, coupled with emerging technologies, can dramatically improve the citizen, employee, and user experience – the total experience with government. […]

healthcare cyber-min

The COVID-19 pandemic allowed the Federal government to speed up its AI data integration tools in a way that would have never been possible if it were not for the “all hands on deck” approach, according to Greg Singleton, chief artificial intelligence officer at the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS). […]

lookout-triple-play-800x450

The Federal government and numerous states are concerned that user data collected by some popular apps could be shared with foreign governments, including China. In this episode of MeriTalking, Joe Franco talks with Lookout’s Kristina Balaam about the data that popular apps collect, how it might be used by foreign governments, and how bans on Chinese apps can be enforced. […]

nuclear weapon

Sen. Ed Markey, D-Mass. – along with Reps. Ted Lieu, D-Calif., Don Beyer, D-Va., and Ken Buck, R-Colo. – introduced new legislation on April 26 that would keep humans in the loop in the U.S. nuclear command and control process to prevent artificial intelligence (AI) technologies from having a role in making nuclear launch decisions. […]

AI

The Federal government needs to develop action plans to respond to the potential benefits and risks of a rapidly evolving artificial intelligence (AI) landscape – such as more clarity around internal leadership, more staff, and more funding – according to the National AI Advisory Committee’s (NAIAC) inaugural report released Tuesday. […]

Danny Werfel, Daniel Werfel, IRS commissioner

House Ways and Means Committee member Rep. David Schweikert, R-Ariz., grilled Internal Revenue Service (IRS) Commissioner Daniel Werfel at a hearing this week about what he called the agency’s slow pace in adopting cloud-based technologies. […]

Health

A year after the Biden-Harris administration stood the agency up, the Advanced Research and Projects Agency for Health (ARPA-H) is finally ready to start funding innovative projects aimed at advancing the health sector. […]

State Department
RSA Conference
RSA Conference

Officials from the Department of Homeland Security’s (DHS) Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) and the U.S. Cyber Command’s (USCYBERCOM) Cyber National Mission Force (CNMF) revealed this week that collaboration between their agencies was able to prevent two potentially dangerous cyberattacks, including the disruption of an Iranian effort to target election infrastructure. […]

DoD

The key to combating adversaries in cyberspace and building out more cyber-resilient infrastructures is creating stronger partnerships for those efforts between government and industry, a top Defense Department (DoD) official said on April 24 during the Carahsoft Public Sector Day event at the RSA Conference in San Francisco. […]

workforce federal workers industry-min

The White House is targeting June to release its implementation plan for the National Cybersecurity Strategy (NCS) unveiled early last month, and private sector technology leaders are eager to see the Office of the National Cyber Director’s (ONCD) public strategy that aims to charge Federal agencies, the private sector, and civil society with specific cybersecurity action items. […]

The Defense Department’s (DoD) U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM) is looking to advance its abilities in AI and cloud technology with the recent hiring of Andrew Moore, the former director of artificial intelligence at Google’s cloud business. […]

CX Customer experience -min

Reps. Katie Porter, D-Calif., Gerry Connolly, D-Va., and Kweisi Mfume, D-Md., reintroduced legislation on April 18 that would codify into law parts of President Biden’s 2021 executive order (EO) that directs Federal to make citizen-focused improvements to government services. […]

workforce

Sometimes it takes a cataclysmic event to inspire change in how Federal agencies collaborate across departments, with other agencies, and with other outside partners. After the ferocity of the COVID-19 pandemic – which forced the Federal workforce to operate from different places – the government has increasingly adopted modern technologies to drive better connectivity and information sharing. […]

healthcare cyber-min
workforce federal workers industry-min

Ninety-five percent of Federal IT executives say their agencies are investing in in-house AI skills development – but in the past year, half of agencies had an AI project fail due to lack of in-house expertise, according to research from MeriTalk and Future Tech. […]

Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas told lawmakers during a Senate Homeland and Governmental Affairs Committee hearing today that President Biden’s fiscal year 2024 budget request would allow the agency to invest more in cybersecurity and infrastructure security protection. […]

USDA
GPS

To compel satellite operators to better protect their networks from malicious hackers, a new report from CSC 2.0 – the successor to the Cyberspace Solarium Commission – is arguing that space systems should be officially designated as critical infrastructure by the Department of Homeland Security (DHS). […]

Jen Easterly, CISA

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