The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) is looking for two “experienced and energetic innovators” to help expand and modernize the National Notifiable Disease Surveillance System (NNDSS). The two new hires?a software platforms architect and a data integration and management architect?would be part of the CDC Entrepreneur-in-Residence (EIR) program and would work hand-in-hand with […]

The Department of Veterans Affairs appointed Brian Burns to lead its new Enterprise Cybersecurity Strategy. […]

Editor’s Note: Richard Beutel is the original author and legislative manager for the Federal IT Acquisition Reform Act (FITARA), a landmark piece of legislation signed into law in December 2014. He is also the former lead acquisition and procurement policy counsel for House Oversight and Government Reform Committee Chairman Rep. Darrell Issa, R-Calif. This column […]

18F product lead Bret Mogilefsky shared some thoughts about cloud.gov with FedRAMP411–what it means for Federal agencies and what it took to build the cloud service. […]

Rep. Ted Lieu, D-Calif., has a unique take on Federal IT. That’s because he’s one of just four members of Congress with a degree in computer science. The congressman likes to joke that he’s a “recovering computer scientist,” but his background gives him credibility when he discusses issues like two-factor authentication or IT innovation. That’s […]

The Government Accountability Office (GAO) has released a report calling for better management of Federal IT service contracts at the Department of Defense, Department of Homeland Security, National Aeronautics and Space Administration, and the General Services Administration. The Oct. 22 GAO report follows a similar directive issued last week by the Office of Management and […]

Chief information security officers (CISOs) and other IT executives have become more proactive in their approach to cybersecurity investment and risk management, according to a new study. “Over the past couple of years the landscape has changed dramatically,” researchers at Southern Methodist University’s Darwin Deason Institute for Cyber Security found. “Cyber risk is now a […]

Retired General Keith Alexander told a group of Federal government and industry experts that the U.S. must do more to protect the Internet and boost cybersecurity. “We are the nation that created the Internet. We ought to be the first to secure it,” Alexander said at the Splunk GovSummitt in downtown Washington on Thursday. Alexander, […]

With Internet security on everyone’s mind and secure cloud on everyone’s bucket list throughout the Federal government, Verizon is expanding secure access to cloud services for Federal customers on its private IP network. Federal agencies now can securely connect to a growing roster of FedRAMP-certified cloud providers via Verizon’s Secure Cloud Interconnect (SCI) service. Featuring […]

Forty-five percent of Federal agencies reported that they were the target during the past year of a digital insider — an employee with authorized network access who knowingly steals or unwittingly exposes sensitive data. And at least a third of those agencies reported suffering an actual loss of data. But as MeriTalk’s recent survey of […]

Rep. Will Hurd (R-Texas) didn’t waste any time at a recent field hearing to say Federal agencies are dragging their feet when it comes to cloud computing. “We deserve a Federal government that harnesses innovative solutions such as the cloud to modernize record keeping, improve critical government functions, maximize security, and be wise stewards of […]

The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has issued a new report on how it can expand its information technology capabilities to meet the relentless and growing demands the agency faces. The report, titled “Mission Possible: How FDA Can Move at the Speed of Science,” is the work of the FDA Science Looking Forward Subcommittee, and […]

Peter Romness, the Cybersecurity Solutions Lead for Cisco U.S. Public Sector, spoke with MeriTalk at this year’s Cyber Security Brainstorm in Washington, D.C., about the security challenges posed by what Cisco refers to as the Digitization of Everything (DoE). Taped on Sept. 23 Peter Romness: The MeriTalk Interview View on YouTube […]

Ron Ross, a fellow at the National Institute of Standards and Technology, leads the Federal Information Security Management Act (FISMA) Implementation Project. He developed the first set of unified information security standards and guidelines for all Federal agencies. Ross recently participated in Q&A for Meritalk.com. MeriTalk: Please describe how you developed the first set of […]

Have you ever wondered why it’s really taking the government so long to move more than basic email services to the cloud? Well, if you have then you are certainly familiar with the standard cultural and security explanations: Federal IT managers like to be able to see and touch the blinking lights on their servers […]

Three members of Congress have been named co-chairs of the Cloud Computing Caucus Advisory Group, the organization supporting congressional efforts to boost cloud computing initiatives throughout the Federal government. Representatives Barbara Comstock (R-Va.), Ted Lieu (D-Calif.), and Mark Walker (R-NC) join founding co-chair Gerry Connolly (D-Va.) on the advisory group. Their participation in the Cloud […]

Richard Spires, the former chief information officer at the Department of Homeland Security, has been named CEO of Learning Tree International Inc., a Reston, Virginia-based IT and management training provider. Spires, who left DHS in 2013 to lead San Francisco-based security firm Resilient Network Systems, had been an independent member of the board of directors […]

Paul Christman, vice president of Dell Software Federal, spoke with MeriTalk at this year’s Cyber Security Brainstorm in Washington, D.C., about the difficulty of establishing baseline security controls and why automation is key to cybersecurity efforts in government agencies of all sizes. Paul Christman: The MeriTalk Interview View on YouTube […]

Rep. Will Hurd (R-Texas) didn’t waste any time at a recent field hearing to say Federal agencies are dragging their feet when it comes to cloud computing. “We deserve a Federal government that harnesses innovative solutions such as the cloud to modernize record keeping, improve critical government functions, maximize security, and be wise stewards of […]

Many senior-level Federal IT managers would like to use big data and think it could improve their missions, but only 16 percent have full-blown big data programs underway, according to a new survey from Unisys Corporation. The survey, conducted this summer by Beacon Technology Partners, was based on interviews with 100 Federal executives, split evenly […]

A new study mandated by Congress in the wake of the secret waiting list scandal at the Department of Veterans Affairs has uncovered significant evidence that the department’s IT leaders have for years failed to meet the technology needs of clinical professionals treating veterans on the front lines and that those IT failures, along with […]

A new global survey by Deloitte Digital aims to understand what factors contribute to digital transformation success in government and the barriers that lead to some agencies becoming digital laggards. In a 44-page study based on the survey and more than 140 interviews with public sector officials from more than 70 countries, Deloitte authors William […]

The CIA’s new Digital Innovation Directorate — the first new directorate established by the agency in more than 50 years — began official operations Thursday, marking what the agency is characterizing as a major milestone in the comprehensive modernization effort announced in March. The new so-called DDI is tasked with accelerating the integration of advanced […]

Rep. Will Hurd (R-Texas) last week urged Federal agencies to stop wasting money on legacy computer systems and move more quickly with cloud computing initiatives. “Legacy systems are expensive to operate and often make sensitive information vulnerable to cyber attacks,” Hurd said at the House Oversight Committee’s subcommittee on Information Technology field hearing at the […]

The world is a big place and we can learn a lot by studying how different governments and business cultures approach the pressing technology challenges of the day. David Bray recently had a chance to do just that. As a 2015 Eisenhow Fellow, Bray spent 5 weeks visiting with senior government and industry leaders in […]

Insiders remain a significant threat to Federal agencies. A recent report, “Inside Job: The Federal Insider Threat Report,” illustrates the ongoing danger Federal agencies face from insider threats and the work agencies need to do to protect data. In the past year, 45 percent of Federal IT managers say their agency has been a target […]

Greg Godbout, the Chief Technology Officer (CTO) at the EPA since April, is bringing a new way of thinking to the Federal IT community. His goal is to create a more agile system and improve everyday processes, serving the customers, not the stakeholders. Formerly the Executive Director and Co-Founder of 18F at the General Services […]

The Father of the Internet sees the potential of the Internet of Things. But there are also risks associated with having billions of connected devices, Vint Cerf said at the Fourth Annual Cyber Security Brainstorm. “The headline I worry about is ‘100,000 Refrigerators Attack Bank of America,’” said Cerf, who helped develop the TCP/IP protocols […]

Preventing cyber attacks requires focusing on adversaries rather than the technology used to stop those adversaries, the retired deputy director of the National Security Agency (NSA) said Wednesday at MeriTalk’s Fourth Annual Cyber Security Brainstorm. “It’s about more than technology,” said Chris Inglis, who retired from the NSA last year and now teaches at the […]

Rep. Will Hurd (R-Texas) on Tuesday urged Federal agencies to stop wasting money on legacy computer systems and move more quickly with cloud computing initiatives. “Legacy systems are expensive to operate and often make sensitive information vulnerable to cyber attacks,” Hurd said at the House Oversight Committee’s subcommittee on Information Technology field hearing at the […]