Quick Hits
*** President Donald Trump affirmed a proposed 1% pay raise for civilian federal employees for 2021. In November, the Trump administration backed away from the increase in pay, and supported a pay freeze contained in a Senate appropriations bill. Military personnel will receive a 3% pay hike in 2021.
*** The scope of the penetration into government and private sector networks is broader than was previously believed according to a Jan. 2 report in the New York Times. The massive hack, which was first flagged by cybersecurity vendor FireEye, targeted vulnerabilities in the technology supply chain, including at IT services firm SolarWinds and Microsoft. The hack may have compromised up to 250 government and commercial networks, according to the report.
*** The new rules package for the House of Representatives in the 117th Congress extends the life of the Select Committee on the Modernization of Congress. The bipartisan committee passed 97 recommendations in the last Congress, including several focused on the technology used in constituent services and streamlining the process by which outside technology vendors are selected.
*** House Speaker Nancy Pelosi announced the selection of Catherine Szpindor to serve as Chief Administrative Officer of the House of Representatives. Szpindor, who served as House CIO from 2015 to 2020, is the first woman to hold the CAO post. "As a leading expert on innovation and technology, she will be a trusted and effective force as our institution continues to adjust to remote and virtual work during the pandemic and to continue meet the needs of the American people," Pelosi said in a statement.