AWS to Protest JEDI Award
Amazon Web Services plans to protest the Department of Defense’s (DoD’s) decision to award the contract for its Joint Enterprise Defense Initiative (JEDI) cloud program to Microsoft, according to a statement from a company spokesperson.
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DHS CIO John Zangardi Resigns
John Zangardi, Department of Homeland Security (DHS) CIO since 2017, resigned from the agency effective Nov. 15, according to an internal email obtained by Federal News Network.
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VBA Disclosed Third-Party PII to Privacy Act Requesters
A U.S. Veterans Affairs (VA) Office of Inspector General (OIG) review found unrelated third-party names and social security numbers in a random sampling of Privacy Act responses completed by Records Management Center (RMC) staff.
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Senators Introduce Bill Requiring Court Order for Facial Recognition Police Surveillance
Sens. Chris Coons, D-Del., and Mike Lee, R-Utah, introduced a bill that would require Federal law enforcement to obtain a court-ordered warrant before using facial recognition to surveil the public on Nov. 14.
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House IG Recommends Centralized Procurement, Standardized Tech Support
House Inspector General (IG) Michael Ptasienski recommended “centralizing procurement for commodity items and standardizing office technology and support” at a Committee on the Modernization of Congress hearing on Nov. 15.
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Rep. Langevin Says Lack of Data ‘Baselines’ Hinders U.S. Cybersecurity Efforts
Rep. Jim Langevin, D-R.I., a co-chair of the House Cybersecurity Caucus and one of the few widely acknowledged experts in Congress on cybersecurity, said on Nov. 14 that a lack of data “baselines” on security issues continues to hamper efforts in Congress – and the nation as a whole – to improve security.
Veritas Public Sector Vision Day
Government is laser-focused on understanding its federated data and working toward enterprise-wide visibility so it can act with insight.
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Rep. Thompson: Permanent Agency Heads Would Help Security Efforts
Rep. Bennie Thompson, D-Miss., chairman of the House Homeland Security Committee, suggested on Nov. 14 that Congress and the Trump administration could get more done to improve Federal cybersecurity if more agencies critical to that effort were headed by Senate-confirmed secretaries, rather than acting secretaries.
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CDM Program Chief Charts Progress on AWARE Scoring
Kevin Cox, program manager for the Department of Homeland Security’s (DHS) Continuous Diagnostics and Mitigation (CDM) program, today discussed the program’s progress in generating AWARE (Agency-Wide Adaptive Risk Enumeration) algorithm scores for Federal agencies to track relative security status, and about how the program plans to refine the scoring process in the future.
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CIO Kent: Shared Services Approach Eyes Implementation Stage
The Federal government’s new approach to shared services, outlined in the Sharing Quality Services cross-agency priority (CAP) goal, is moving from planning stages to implementation, while emphasizing customer focus and placing an emphasis on a marketplace model, said Federal CIO Suzette Kent.
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NOAA Issues AI and Cloud Strategies
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) released draft versions of its strategies on cloud and artificial intelligence (AI) today, setting the stage for the agency’s adoption of the emerging technologies.
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White House OSTP Issues National Strategic Computing Initiative Update
The White House Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP) and the National Science and Technology Council (NSTC) released an update to the National Strategic Computing Initiative today.
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HHS Explains its Biometric Identity Login Partnership With DISA
In the agency’s latest effort to protect sensitive information, the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) partnered with the Defense Information Systems Agency (DISA) to develop biometric and behavior-based access credentials for employees.
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OPM, GSA Issue RFIs on App Replacement
As part of its Centers of Excellence (CoE) initiative, the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) is looking to replace the application it uses for annuity claims and move from legacy software to a new web app, according to two requests for information released November 12.
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USCIS Provides Updates on Paperless Transition
As the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) continues working toward a paperless future, the agency has already completed online filing systems for several documents and, and is touting successes with its online account system.
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OIG Report: NASA Vulnerable to Cyberattacks
The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) is a target for cybercriminals, but the agency is failing to adequately protect itself, according to a Nov. 13 report by the NASA Office of the Inspector General (OIG).
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Data Management: Why Saving Everything Is a Risky Strategy
Amid new mandates for government data use and cloud migration, data management is top of mind for agency leaders. But cost, infrastructure modernization and threat prevention remain a challenge. MeriTalk spoke with David Bailey, senior director of U.S. Public Sector Technical Sales at Veritas, about how agencies can plan their first steps toward a cohesive, sustainable data strategy, as well as the factors behind today’s unprecedented data growth.
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Senate Commerce Clears Bill To Boost Federal Cyber Workforce
The Senate Commerce, Science, and Transportation Committee approved by voice vote today the Harvesting American Cybersecurity Knowledge through Education Act (HACKED Act) (S 2775), which aims to boost the Federal cybersecurity workforce with new guidelines for agencies, clearer career paths for the workforce, and improved coordination between agencies.
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Bipartisan House Bill Supports New NIST CoE, Election Security Research
A bill introduced by Rep. Mikie Sherrill, D-N.J., on Nov. 8 would establish a new Center of Excellence (CoE) and fund elections systems research at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) and the National Science Foundation (NSF).
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House Bill Calls for FCC Transition to Machine-Readable Files
Rep. Ben Ray Luján, D-N.M., introduced a bill in the House on Nov. 8 that would direct the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to enact regulations requiring public inspection files to be available online in a machine-readable format.
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Election Security Remains Enduring Priority, CISA Official Says
Election security will remain an operational priority for the Cybersecurity Infrastructure and Security Agency (CISA) “for the foreseeable future,” a CISA official said at a Nov. 12 event.