FCW Insider: Jan. 17

The FBI briefed reporters on an internal policy change to notify states and not just municipalities in the event of cyber intrusions of elections systems. The change is intended to increase "visibility and transparency" around voting system intrusions during the 2020 election cycle, but at least one lawmaker would like to see the FBI do more. Derek B. Johnson reports.

After two rounds of zero-based budgeting, the Army's 2021 budget request is likely to contain fewer steep cuts to underperforming or legacy programs, according to Army Secretary Ryan McCarthy. Lauren C. Williams has more.

The Defense Information Systems Agency is leading a migration to a new single service network and will bring on the first agency later this year. Lauren updates on efforts to streamline the Fourth Estate's network footprint.

After a protest from rival Verizon failed, CenturyLink emerged as the winner of the Interior Department's $1.6 billion telecom modernization task order under the governmentwide Enterprise Infrastructure Solutions contract. Mark Rockwell has the latest.

Quick Hits

*** The Agriculture Department's National Finance Center, which handles payroll service for 650,000 federal employees, is working to correct an error that resulted in some feds receiving smaller than expected paychecks during the pay period ending Jan. 4, 2020. The error had to do with federal tax withholding for certain employees.

*** Customs and Border Protection is ramping up the use of facial recognition technology in support of its Global Entry program, an expediting processing system which allows pre-vetted air passengers to use special lanes and kiosks. According to a privacy impact assessment from the Department of Homeland Security, facial recognition will replace fingerprint collection as a biometric marker at certain Global Entry kiosks at select airports.

*** The National Institute of Standards and Technology released version 1.0 of its privacy framework on Jan. 16, which built on draft efforts that incorporated stakeholder comments. The document spells out risk management concepts and explains links between NIST's privacy and cybersecurity guidance.

*** Department of Health and Human Services Chief Data Officer Mona Siddiqui is leaving the department. In a Jan. 16 farewell post on LinkedIn, Siddiqui declared herself "immensely proud of everything that the Data Team has accomplished," and said "I leave HHS knowing that few places can have this level of impact." She did not share any details regarding her post-HHS plans.