Modernization
IT modernization for the COVID era
Crises are clarifying events, and the pandemic is making clear the limits of IT systems built for a different era.
Cybersecurity
CMMC Official Backs Light-touch Option for Continuous Monitoring of Defense Contractors’ Cybersecurity
The Pentagon’s certification program is looking for a way to keep tabs on companies during the three-year intervals between independent audits.
Digital Government
FCW Insider: July 30
The latest news and analysis from FCW's reporters and editors.
Cybersecurity
Was the Pentagon’s Blacklist of Chinese Companies Justified?
An independent study of the list found China uses its favored companies to wipe out competition and spread economic influence.
Digital Government
GAO: More Than Half of COVID-19 Government Contracts Not Competitively Awarded
While some of that spending went through existing IDIQs, some $7.7 billion in new contracts were awarded “using the unusual and compelling urgency exception.”
Modernization
Could a new academy solve the AI talent problem?
The National Security Commission on Artificial Intelligence is recommending a new academy to train feds to take on federal agency jobs involving emerging technologies including AI.
Modernization
Senate Dems join push for $1B TMF boost
A group of Democratic senators are asking top appropriators to include a sixfold increase to an IT modernization revolving fund in the next round of pandemic relief and stimulus legislation.
Digital Government
Survey: Tech Employees Less Comfortable Negotiating Salary in COVID-19 Era
Fewer employees at large tech companies are talking salary with their managers during the pandemic.
Cybersecurity
With furloughs looming, union pleads for deal on USCIS funding
The immigration agency is seeking $1.2 billion to keep employees working through an anticipated financial shortfall it links to the pandemic.
Artificial Intelligence
Facial Recognition Algorithms Struggle to Detect Faces Under Masks, NIST Study Finds
A new study from the National Institute of Standards and Technology found facial recognition algorithms developed pre-pandemic struggle to identify masked faces.
Ideas
Lawmakers Keen to Break Up 'Big Tech' Like Amazon and Google Need to Realize the World has Changed a Lot Since Microsoft and Standard Oil
Those cases may seem similar to today’s situation, but this era is different in one crucial way: the global technology marketplace.
Emerging Tech
How the Energy Department Is Powering NASA’s Soon-to-Launch Mars Rover
Undersecretary for Science Paul Dabbar offered a glimpse into the agency’s efforts beyond Earth.
Acquisition
DHS seeks permanent flexible acquisition authorities
Temporary acquisition authorities that aid the Department of Homeland Security in getting innovative commercial technologies and goods in response to the COVID-19 crisis should be lasting tools in the department's acquisition toolbox, the agency's top acquisition official told a Senate panel.
Ideas
Racing the Clock on Election Security
There are less than 100 days left until the presidential election.
Cybersecurity
Researchers disclose widespread bootloader vulnerability
New research from Eclypsium details a simple buffer overflow bug that could impact billions of devices using Linux and Windows operating systems.
Digital Government
FCW Insider: July 29
The latest news and analysis from FCW's reporters and editors.
Modernization
CBP Gets $15M from Modernization Fund to Ditch Its Last Mainframe
The Customs and Border Protection Agency plans to upgrade a system that tracks imported goods and still relies on COBOL.
People