FCW Insider: July 28

DHS tests anti-drone tech

The tests by the Border Patrol are designed to gather information about the use of drones by drug smugglers and other criminal organizations at the border and to determine what agents need by way of response.

Pentagon issues contract guidance on China tech ban

The Defense Department outlines how it will implement the upcoming government ban on doing business with companies that use certain Chinese telecommunications equipment.

Does the White House need a new risk management chief?

Recommendations from an ACT-IAC paper for the next presidential term include a chief risk management officer based at the Office of Management and Budget.

Mixed success for House Democrats looking to parry Trump's workforce initiatives

The proposed elimination of the Office of Personnel Management as an independent agency appears to be on hold indefinitely, but executive orders and agency relocations have altered the federal workforce landscape.

Comment: Digital government is the vital prerequisite to a 'new normal'

As the dust settles and pandemic restrictions ease in the coming months, government agencies have a prime opportunity to shift from a state of reactivity to proactivity.

Quick Hits

*** Facial recognition algorithms are challenged in identifying faces partially concealed by masks, the National Institute of Standards of Technology found. While the lower success rate won't come as much of a surprise, NIST's study also reported that that false matches are also reduced by masks. NIST was able to test recognition prowess on datasets of 6.2 million images of 1 million individuals using 89 different algorithms. The most accurate algorithms posted failure rates of 5% against masked targets but NIST found that some algorithms notched 20% to 50% failure rates.

*** The Federal Emergency Management Agency wants to buy an off the shelf public alert and warning tool to try out at one of its testing facilities in suburban Washington, D.C. The system, it said in a July 23 request for information, will provide emergency managers at FEMA's Indian Head, Md. Integrated Public Alert and Warning System app with 24/7 capabilities to send or cancel an emergency alert and warning message on behalf of State, Local, Tribal, and Territorial emergency managers. The acquisition, said the agency, will help determine if an off-the-shelf can contact federal officials who can then issue federal-level public alerts and emergency warning emergencies.