FCW Insider: July 10
Top stories, quick hits and other updates from FCW's reporters and editors.
Steve Kelman notes in his latest blog post encouraging signs that the essential function of IT product management is being taken more seriously.
The National Security Agency is lagging in all eight of the security areas measured by FISMA and still holding onto illegal call records, an Inspector General report to Congress found. Derek B. Johnson has more.
Members of the House Veterans Affairs Committee want to use the must-pass 2020 defense authorization bill to advance interoperability and joint management of the electronic health records systems at the Departments of Defense and Veterans Affairs. Adam Mazmanian reports.
While small satellites can expand broadband access, they will also fill increasingly crowded airwaves. Ajit Pai, the chairman of the Federal Communications Commission wants to make new rules for the small, low-orbit devices but as Mark Rockwell explains, it's complicated.
Quick Hits
*** Roger Greenwell, risk management executive and authorizing official at the Defense Information Systems Agency, has taken on the role of agency CIO, a spokesperson confirmed to FCW. David Bennett previously performed CIO duties.
*** The Pentagon's $10 billion cloud acquisition seems to be the target of an amendment to the National Defense Authorization Act proposed by Rep. Tim Ryan (D-Ohio). Ryan is looking to prevent the Department of Defense from including location restrictions in IT procurements over $2 million. Any acquisition that includes requirements that a contractor be located within a specific distance of the site of the performance has to come with a justification to Congress from the secretary of defense. The location requirements included in the Joint Enterprise Defense Infrastructure request for proposals generated objections from multiple bidders.
*** Rep. Jim Langevin (D-R.I.) proposed an NDAA amendment that would require the White House to release to Congress copies of all national security presidential memoranda that relate to Department of Defense operations in cyberspace. The Trump administration rescinded a policy directive last year that set down interagency rules governing approval for offensive cyber operations in favor of a new presidential memorandum that officials said wouldn't "tie the hands" of the military. Langevin, who chairs the House Armed Services Subcommittee on Emerging Threats and Capabilities, has repeatedly pressed the administration for more information on the new policy and how the military is using the new authorities.
*** The National Institute of Standards and Technology describes the basics of hybrid and community cloud deployment models in a draft architecture released July 9. Get more from GCN.