Cybersecurity

Senate passes 2022 defense authorization bill

The Senate passed the 2022 National Defense Authorization Act, 88-11, authorizing $740 billion for Defense Department spending, and $28 billion for other national security programs.

Acquisition

Why NSA has to rebid its $10 billion top-secret cloud buy

Evaluation mistakes sunk NSA's first try at the $10B cloud award known as Wildandstormy.

Cybersecurity

Senators Ready to Write Clarifying Legislation to Maintain U.S. Leadership in Crypto

Stakeholders fear an overly broad application of the tax provisions beyond virtual currency exchanges.

Digital Government

Legislation Could Mandate DOD to Review How it Categorizes Drones

The lawmaker that proposed it said he hopes to make it easier for the military to operationalize new UAS technologies.

Policy

Data Broker Sales To Law Enforcement Violate Fourth Amendment, Senator Argues

A Democratic senator promoted his pending privacy legislation as he spoke about the sales of American data to law enforcement agencies.

Emerging Tech

Army Bring-Your-Own-Device Experiments Test New Security Concepts

The service is “setting the stage” to try new communications ideas in the Pacific.

Ideas

Cream Cheese is the Just the Smooth Tip of a Sharp Problem

With ransomware hackers varying their targets to include operational technology used by U.S. factories and manufacturers, is an OT executive order needed to help combat them?

Digital Government

FCW Insider: December 15, 2021

The latest news and analysis from FCW's reporters and editors.

Digital Government

Army Will Let Unvaccinated Soldiers Be Home for Christmas

About 45,000 of the newest soldiers, and their instructors, are expected to travel during holiday leave.

Cybersecurity

Federal Cybersecurity Advisor Floats Executive Order on Cloud Service Providers

The idea sprung from a sense of moral outrage Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency Director Jen Easterly identified with.

Digital Government

Better Collaboration Needed Between 18F, USDS To Reduce Overlap, GAO Says

A GAO audit suggests the two offices need to improve communication of IT guidance to reduce overlap and contradiction for federal agencies.

Modernization

JWCC is not a cloud ‘competition’

The Pentagon’s latest multi-cloud effort , the Joint Warfighting Cloud Capability program, could change how the department buys enterprise services, according to a top defense IT official.

Emerging Tech

Army Plans to Award Millions for Digital Night Vision Technology

The technology would improve servicemembers’ ability to collect, disseminate, display, and respond to digital information.

Cybersecurity

DHS scales up bug bounty program

Department of Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas announced a plan to pay vetted cybersecurity researchers between $500 and $5,000 for identifying cybersecurity vulnerabilities within agency systems.

Ideas

Modernizing FISMA. Again.

The federal government needs to improve its information security to keep pace with the dynamic threats to federal networks and supply chains. 

Digital Government

GAO: NSA Erred in Technical Evaluations of $10 Billion Cloud Contract

The Government Accountability Office recommended the NSA reevaluate bids from Microsoft and Amazon Web Services.

Cybersecurity

DHS gets nearly 2,000 applications for new cyber cadre

The goal is for DHS to onboard the first 150 feds into the system next year.

Digital Government

FCW Insider: December 14, 2021

The latest news and analysis from FCW's reporters and editors.

Digital Government

Biden Orders Agencies to Take Steps to Improve Government Customer Service

The people-first approach tackles everything from federal benefits to passport services to disaster recovery.