People

OPM CIO announces retirement

Guy Cavallo is the agency’s longest serving CIO in the past decade.

Exclusive Cybersecurity

GAO mulls cost evaluation of nationwide telecom hardware replacement

One major vulnerability exploited by China’s Salt Typhoon hacking unit is a Cisco hardware flaw that can’t be patched and requires physical replacement, according to a person with knowledge of the intrusions.

Artificial Intelligence

HHS’ 2024 AI use case inventory shows move toward internal chatbots

The agency reported 271 AI use cases in 2024, which it said represented a 66% increase from its reported 2023 total.

Cybersecurity

US sanctions Chinese company that helped facilitate espionage hacks

Integrity Technology Group, known to researchers as Flax Typhoon, contracted with China’s Ministry of State Security to carry out infiltrations into internet of things devices, the FBI previously said.

People

Submit your Fed100 nominations by Jan. 7

We’re approaching the final few days to nominate your colleagues in the federal tech space for exemplary work in 2024.

Artificial Intelligence

DOD announces completion of pilot to identify medical AI vulnerabilities

The Pentagon’s red teaming effort identified more than 800 “potential vulnerabilities and biases” in the use of large language models for clinical note summarization and for a medical advisory chatbot.

Cybersecurity

Lawmakers request briefing from Treasury secretary on Chinese hack

The compromised third-party offering was a commercial remote services tool not listed in the marketplace for FedRAMP, the government’s cloud security compliance framework.

People

Biden to close federal agencies Jan. 9 for Carter day of mourning

The White House unveiled an executive order Monday giving federal employees Jan. 9 off in recognition of the death of the 39th president.

Cybersecurity

Chinese-sponsored hackers accessed Treasury documents in ‘major incident’

The incident comes in the final days of the Biden presidency and as officials work to root out China-tied hackers from U.S. telecommunications systems.

Emerging Tech

Buckle up for an odd couple of 2025 government and technology predictions

From multiversal theories to human-like AI, 2025 could have plenty in store for technology.

Cybersecurity

Major cyber news drops under the buzzer for 2024

A ninth U.S. telecommunications provider fell onto Salt Typhoon’s victim list, and the UN’s controversial cybercrime treaty was adopted.

People

Fed 100 deadline extended to Jan. 7, 2025

You have a little extra time to get nominations in for federal IT superstars from the past year.

Digital Government

Unemployment isn’t recession-ready — but it’s getting better, says acting Labor secretary

Julie Su, the acting Department of Labor secretary, has often been scrutinized for her role in California during the pandemic. She sat down with Nextgov/FCW to talk about unemployment four years later.

Ideas

Breaking data silos to achieve AI readiness

COMMENTARY | Data siloes can be a real drag on innovation.

Modernization

VA plans to restart EHR rollouts in mid-2026, despite viability concerns

VA Secretary Denis McDonough previously told Congress that the department was looking to end its pause on new deployments of the Oracle Cerner software in fiscal year 2025.