Diverse Workforces Can Improve Agency Outcomes, Fed CIO Kent Says
Building a diverse workforce that harnesses skills from different backgrounds helps agencies meet their missions and better serve the public, Federal CIO Suzette Kent said at AFFIRM’s Jan. 16 speaker series event.
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Proactive Cyber Work Key to Protecting Health Data, Officials Say
Proactive work by Federal agencies on cybersecurity – with a particular focus on workforce, innovation, and data management – is a key factor in agency success in protecting patient data from security threats, Federal officials said on Jan. 16.
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Bipartisan Bill Aims to Use Broadband Access Data to Improve Maternal Health
A bipartisan group of House members introduced legislation on Jan. 16 that would use broadband service data mapping to identify areas of the country where high rates of poor maternal health overlap with a lack of broadband service access.
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JAIC Director: Future of Defense AI Relies on Global Collaboration
Lieutenant General Jack Shanahan, Director of the Defense Department’s (DoD) Joint Artificial Intelligence Center (JAIC), said Jan. 15 that the future of defense artificial intelligence (AI) relies on international collaboration with United States allies.
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FBI Updates State and Local Notification System for Election Security
The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) unveiled a new, internal policy to improve Federal procedures for notifying state and local officials of election infrastructure cyber threats.
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State Department Unveils New Center for Analytics
The Department of State announced the establishment of a Center for Analytics (CfA) that will be the agency’s first official enterprise-level data and analytics hub.
Juggling the Clouds
While 81 percent of Federal IT decisions makers say their agency already uses multiple cloud platforms, the majority also say managing a multi-cloud environment will be one of their agency’s top challenges over the next five years. What steps should agencies take to better prepare for their multi-cloud future?
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GSA Solicits Public Sector Feedback on Fed Innovation
The General Services Administration (GSA) is asking for government employees’ ideas to improve the public’s experience with the Federal government through technological innovation.
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‘Hack the Army’ Effort Finds More Than 145 Security Vulnerabilities
The latest “Hack the Army” effort has awarded $275,000 in prizes and identified more than 145 security vulnerabilities.
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House Members Launch Caucus Aimed at Impact of AI, Automation
Reps. Lisa Blunt Rochester, D-Del., and Bryan Steil, R-Wis., on Jan. 15 officially launched the Congressional Future of Work Caucus, which they said will focus on “challenges and opportunities prevalent in the U.S. economy,” including those posed by automation and artificial intelligence (AI) technologies.
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NIST Publishes Privacy Risk Management Framework
The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) has published the definitive version of its privacy risk management framework, after seeking comment on a draft version of the framework last year.
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Cyber Caucus Co-Chair Applauds NSA Disclosure of Microsoft Vulnerability
Rep. Jim Langevin, D-R.I., co-chair of the Congressional Cybersecurity Caucus, applauded the Federal government’s handling earlier this week of public disclosure by the intelligence community of serious vulnerabilities it found in Microsoft’s Windows 10 and Service 2016 products, for which the company released patches.
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Interior Department Taps CenturyLink for $1.6 Billion EIS Deal
The Department of the Interior has selected CenturyLink for a task order to provide network services and IT modernization solutions through the General Services Administration’s Enterprise Infrastructure Solutions (EIS) program.
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House Hearing Shows Bipartisan Support for Facial Recognition Rules
House Oversight Committee members from both sides of the aisle expressed support at a Jan. 15 hearing for imposing some level of Federal regulation on the use of facial recognition technologies.
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Senate Bill Aims to Funnel Billions More to AI, Quantum R&D Efforts
A bill introduced in the Senate this week aims to steer tens of billions of new funding toward civilian Federal government research and development efforts involving “industries of the future” including artificial intelligence (AI) and quantum information science (QIS).
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Federal CIO Says Health Agencies “Set an Example” on Data Privacy
Health-focused government agencies are in a good position to lead implementation of Federal Data Strategy initiatives – such as improving data protection – because of their ongoing investments aimed at that goal, Federal CIO Suzette Kent said Jan. 15 at AFCEA Bethesda Health IT Summit.
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VA Aims to Migrate Half of Portfolio to Cloud by 2024
Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) CIO James Gfrerer said today that the agency is “in place to move about half of our portfolio … into our enterprise cloud by 2024.”
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HHS CIO: Blockchain To Yield Millions in Savings
The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) CIO Jose Arrieta said Accelerate will be able to save the department “somewhere around $33 to $40 million” over the next five years.
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In the Balance: Women Who Make Federal IT Work With Real Life
What’s the recipe for success in navigating both a successful IT career and an equally fulfilling “real” life outside of the profession?
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Charting the Course to a Smarter 2020 in Fed IT Policy
Federal policymakers have spent an exceptionally busy couple of years staking out new rules – think Federal Data Strategy, Cloud Smart, TIC 3.0, the National AI Initiative, among others – that will lead the government-wide IT enterprise forward into the next decade.
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GSA CIO Provides Lessons in Cloud Transformation
In establishing an agency’s cloud transformation, the General Services Administration (GSA) can provide lessons in setting up the transition.