FCW Insider: March 1

Big changes are coming to the security clearance process. The federal government rolled out Trusted Workforce 2.0 -- a new framework to improve a current clearance process that is slow, inefficient and overly reliant on manual procedures. Derek B. Johnson has the story.

Come midnight March 1, the Merit Systems Protection Board will be in uncharted territory: without a single appointed board member. Is that a big deal? Chase Gunter takes a look.

Robotic process automation is a big part of the federal government's plan to pivot federal employees to high-value work. Mark Rockwell explains how "entry-level AI" is helping automate tedious back office processes at federal agencies.

Artificial intelligence could help federal employees better focus on their agencies' core missions, but leadership must step up to manage that change. Dan Chenok takes a look at how government can best harness AI's potential to transform public sector operations, services and skill sets in this FCW commentary.

As the DOD's $10 billion cloud procurement winds through a protest lawsuit, the Pentagon's top tech officer told Congress said the delays could contribute to federation and sprawl when it comes to IT modernization. Adam Mazmanian has more on the impact of JEDI delays.

Quick Hits

*** The Senate Select Committee on Intelligence once again approved the nomination of Bill Evanina to serve as Director of the National Counterintelligence and Security Center in the Office of the Director of National Intelligence. Evanina is currently in the post on an acting basis. The committee previously advanced his nomination in May 2018.

"Absolutely no one questions Bill Evanina's qualifications for a job he has been doing for years already in an acting capacity, which is why the Senate Intelligence Committee has once again unanimously approved his nomination to be Director of the National Counterintelligence and Security Center," committee vice chairman Sen. Mark Warner (D-Va.) said in a statement. "Bill Evanina should be confirmed without further delay."

*** Sens. James Lankford (R-Okla.) and Maggie Hassan (D-N.H.) introduced a bill designed to end government shutdowns by using official travel as leverage. The Prevent Government Shutdowns Act would eliminate taxpayer-funded travel for Office of Management and Budget staff and leadership as well as for lawmakers and staff if a new fiscal year opens without a slate of signed appropriations bills in place. This doesn't include travel around the D.C. metro area.

The bill would also put into place an automatic continuing resolution on Oct. 1 at the previous year's spending levels until superseded by appropriations bills. It would also prohibit votes except on spending bills in both chambers of Congress, other than those required for procedure.

"Americans have suggested that simply cutting Member pay would help prevent or quickly end shutdowns. I believe the real way to punish Washington dysfunction is to prevent Congress, the White House and relevant staff from leaving until the job is done," Lankford said in a statement.