Artificial Intelligence

How Well Can AI Pick Targets From Satellite Photos? Army Test Aims to Find Out

The Scarlet Dragon exercise is evaluating ways the service might put new tools to use in the very near term.

Digital Government

Senate Votes to Punt Debt Crisis to December After Lawmakers Strike Deal

Congressional leaders have yet to spell out how they will avoid potential delayed paychecks for feds in the long term.

Digital Government

FCW Insider: October 8, 2021

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

Digital Government

Quick Hits

None

Cybersecurity

Federal CISO Considers Including Technology Modernization in Cybersecurity Metrics

Chris De Rusha is also thinking about how to use the Technology Modernization Fund to create a new shared services program for zero-trust implementation.

Digital Government

State Department Wants Data at the Core of its Strategic and Diplomatic Operations

Chief Data Officer Matthew Graviss detailed how the new guidelines came together—and data-centered work that’s already unfolding.

Digital Government

VA Officials and Lawmakers Have (Different) Issues With Push to Collect More Veteran Data

Republicans worried collection of religious, sexual and gender information would violate veterans’ privacy; agency officials said they already collect that data. 

Cybersecurity

CISA chief looks to new system to attract cyber talent

Despite increasing competition among the public and private sectors in hiring top cyber talent, CISA Director Jen Easterly said she has high hopes for a new personnel management system which reduces friction in hiring and offers new career paths.

Acquisition

IT spend expected to trend up, acting DOD CIO says

Rising IT and cyber budgets may lay ahead as the Defense Department moves forward with implementing zero trust architecture and begins relying more on artificial intelligence.

Digital Government

Survey: Federal IT workers say agencies are lagging with digital transformations

In a survey, 88% of federal employees working full-time in technology or IT-focused roles say agencies have fallen behind on modernization plans, citing cultural resistance to change and the inability of contractors to quickly implement new initiatives.

Digital Government

Survey: 46% of U.S. Organizations Will Institute Vaccine Mandates

Tech companies are among those taking the lead following federal guidance on vaccine mandates.

Cybersecurity

DOJ Announces Cryptocurrency Enforcement Team

The group will include cybersecurity and anti-money laundering experts looking to crack down on ransomware and other criminal efforts. 

Digital Government

FCW Insider: October 7, 2021

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

Digital Government

Quick Hits

None

Cybersecurity

Senate Committee Passes Major FISMA Changes—Including a New Definition of ‘Major Incident’ 

The Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee also passed an incident reporting bill with increased liability protections for companies, drawing praise from industry.  

Artificial Intelligence

NSA Cyber Chief Spells Out Near-Term Priorities

Ransomware is a top concern, but the agency is also looking ahead to defending networked weapons and post-quantum encryption.

Ideas

Augmented and Virtual Reality Step Up for Military Maintenance

"We have seen in similar scenarios at a large aerospace and defense company where technicians with hardly one year of experience have been able to outperform technicians with four or five years of experience," GridRaster Co-Founder and COO Dijam Panigrahi said.

Modernization

Supreme Court Ends Oracle’s JEDI Challenge

Oracle first challenged the Pentagon’s Joint Enterprise Defense Infrastructure cloud contract in 2018.