To drive down Federal spending and waste, the Office of Management and Budget has released its official Data Center Policy, designed to streamline the process of reducing the number of Federal data centers. By 2018, 52 percent of Federal data centers will close. […]

FBI Director James Comey endured tough questioning by Rep. Darrell Issa, R-Calif., on whether the FBI had pursued every alternative to accessing the San Bernardino shooter’s phone before going to Apple, which has challenged a Federal court order that would force the company to unlock the phone. […]

The Joint Authorization Board branded ServiceNow with its coveted FedRamp Provisional Authority to Operate certification. The Santa Clara, Calif.-based company has more than 100 U.S. Federal government customers. […]

The U.S. and European Union agreed to a data privacy deal known as the Privacy Shield that would ensure greater protection of personal data moving across the Atlantic. The deal, which replaces the Safe Harbor Agreement, implements stronger regulations and repercussions in data exchange between the U.S. and Europe. […]

Fight for the Future protesters gathered outside the FBI building in Washington, D.C., to stand against a court order that Apple create a program that would allow FBI officials to access the San Bernardino shooters’ phone. Apple CEO Tim Cook refused to comply with the order, creating a standoff between the company and the FBI. […]

Donna Seymour, the outgoing chief information officer at the Office of Personnel Management, was forced out of her position under intense pressure stemming from the stalled nomination of Beth Cobert to be the agency’s director, a source close to the matter said. […]

Arthur L. Gonzalez, the Department of Veterans Affairs’ Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary for IT and the deputy chief information officer for service, delivery, and engineering since 2013, will resign from his post March 5. […]

The Justice Department’s 35-page motion to compel Apple to comply with an earlier court order directing the company to assist the FBI in the San Bernardino mass shooting case presents a snappish point-by-point rebuttal of Apple CEO Tim Cook’s public refusal to cooperate with the government on the case. […]

The U.S. Health and Human Services Department has begun its search for a new Chief Information Officer, two months after HHS lost its previous CIO, Frank Baitman, who worked to establish HHS within the 2014 FITARA guidelines. […]

The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission awarded Salient CRGT a task order with a two-year contract for roughly $1.44 million to provide the agency with Master Data Management and Enterprise Data Exchange services. Maureen Conley, NRC public affairs officer, said, “This project utilizes a private cloud, not a FedRamp compliant service.” […]

The National Security Agency announced Monday it is moving ahead with a massive reorganization plan that will consolidate offensive and defensive hacking operations under one command—a move that privacy and civil liberties groups, as well as a presidential review board, have warned would create potential conflicts of interest. […]

The Department of Veterans Affairs is moving aggressively to institute a new system to plan and manage IT projects, effectively replacing the agile development methodology championed by former chief information officers Roger Baker and Stephen Warren. VA CIO LaVerne Council told a MyVA Advisory Committee meeting last week that she has hired the second of three senior executives to lead the new IT Account Management organization. […]

FedRAMP Fast Forward, a Federal IT industry advocacy group, today published a six-step plan to reform and improve the cloud security certification process known as the Federal Risk and Authorization Management Program (FedRAMP). […]

With the deadline looming for Federal agencies to submit final implementation plans for FITARA, the Federal Information Technology Acquisition Reform Act, it’s a good time to look back at the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee’s scorecard, released in November. With no As in sight, what does success look like? […]

Sens. Jerry Moran, R-Kan., and Tom Udall, D-N.M., are planning to introduce the Cloud Infrastructure Transition Act, which is aimed at accelerating cloud adoption throughout the Federal government. Known as the Cloud IT Act, it is focused on reforming the Federal Risk and Authorization Management Program (FedRAMP), which has come under fire on several fronts. […]

Congressman says the one-year old IT acquisition law is a good start, and now Congress will issue its controversial scorecards twice a year to ensure Federal agencies are implementing FITARA appropriately. […]

Federal chief information officers (CIOs) should take full advantage of the Federal Information Technology Acquisition Reform Act (FITARA) to cut costs and transform their agencies, according to panelists at the second MeriTalk FITARA Forum. “We’ve got to seize the moment,” said Steve Harris, vice president and general manager of Dell Federal Systems. “The initial momentum […]

The Federal Information Technology Acquisition Reform Act (FITARA) will allow agencies to run and look like private sector organizations, panelists at MeriTalk’s FITARA Forum said. And that’s a good thing. “I think it’s wonderful that the government and the industry are collaborating and that the government is looking a lot more” like industry, said Jean […]

Should email and other personal electronic data be protected by the Fourth Amendment in the same way that a written letter or other personal effects are protected? This and other questions like it were debated today before the House Judiciary Committee. The hearing comes as HR 699, the Email Privacy Act, approaches a House vote. […]

This article originally appeared Nov. 10 as a LinkedIn post and is printed here with the permission of the author. In late June, I was honored to testify before the Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Financial Services and General Government on the recent Office of Personnel Management (OPM) data breaches. My testimony focused on the broader […]

Department of Veterans Affairs Chief Information Officer LaVerne Council announced Nov. 6 that Brian Burns has accepted an offer to become the agency’s next chief information security officer. Burns takes over for Dan Galik, who has served as acting CISO since Stan Lowe retired in August. Burns will also continue in his role as deputy […]

Ashley Mahan can add “evangelist” to her resume. The Federal Risk and Authorization Management Program (FedRAMP) named her its “agency evangelist” on Oct. 21. Mahan’s familiarity with Federal IT and cloud computing make her an obvious choice to spread the gospel of cloud computing and sing FedRAMP’s praises to an increasingly receptive congregation of Federal […]

Federal Risk and Authorization Management Program (FedRAMP) Director Matt Goodrich on Thursday said the cloud security program has established a solid foundation, but that the program needs to determine whether changes are necessary so it can continue to mature. “If we were on an S-curve, we’re still on our first S-curve,” Goodrich said. “We (have) […]

Members of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee on Wednesday outlined numerous shortcomings in efforts by Federal agencies to implement reforms in the bipartisan Federal Information Technology Acquisition Reform Act (FITARA). The committee issued F and D letter grades to 17 agencies because of missed opportunities to cut costs and meet other benchmarks. The […]

The House Oversight and Government Reform Committee’s hearing on the Federal Information Technology Acquisition Reform Act (FITARA) produced some good commentary from members of Congress and witnesses alike. Here are five comments from testimony and the subsequent discussion that provide perspective on the hearing. “I am so grateful to this committee for FITARA. I think […]

Matt Goodrich, director of the Federal Risk and Authorization Management Program (FedRAMP), has announced the hiring of a new ‘agency evangelist.’ Goodrich, who made the announcement during a webinar with Bloomberg Government Wednesday afternoon, said Ashley Mahan will provide much-needed help and expertise in the FedRAMP Program Management Office (PMO). “She’s been supporting the team […]

Categories