Policy
White House Chides Senate For Not Funding Modernization Fund
The administration says the Senate version of the Financial Services and General Government spending bill is too high but doesn’t cover priorities.
Artificial Intelligence
Google Is Building “Virtual Agents” to Handle Call Centers’ Grunt Work
The company is working with at least a dozen partners.
Digital Government
White House looks to GEAR up
The Trump administration wants input on a new center that would bring together government and industry researchers and academics to help modernize processes and services.
People
Powner to exit GAO
After 16 years working at the Government Accountability Office, IT oversight expert Dave Powner is taking his talents to MITRE.
Modernization
Pentagon to Increase Health Records Contract Ceiling By Another Billion
The increase includes looping the Coast Guard into the contract, as well as additional capabilities.
Policy
NDAA Conference: Congress Spares DISA, Bans Chinese Firms and Orders JEDI Review
Congress packed a lot of tech and cyber changes in the NDAA.
Cybersecurity
Homeland Security Committee Forwards Bill to Prevent the Next Kaspersky
The committee also forwarded legislation to codify Homeland Security’s CDM program.
Cybersecurity
Google's Secret to Avoid Phishing? A Physical Key.
The security tech has been adopted by every employee.
Modernization
GSA's Property Database Contract Isn't Really Worth $8 Billion
A typo in the solicitation led people to believe the agency planned to spend $8.2 billion. The agency doesn't even want to spend $8.2 million.
Emerging Tech
NOAA’s Next-Gen Weather Satellite is Still Malfunctioning and May Not be Fixable
The second satellite in NOAA’s $11 billion GOES program continues to experience issues with its most important instrument and officials still aren’t sure what’s wrong.
Digital Government
Officials push for more election security dollars
A $380 million appropriation for election security is going to run out before the November elections, and House Democrats and some state officials are looking to renew the funding.
Modernization
Are Russian hackers going to turn off the lights?
Although Russian-backed groups have hacked hundreds of infrastructure providers, possible power grid outages stemming from those hacks aren't expected in the near future.
Modernization
White House Seeks Input on Reskilling Feds and Upgrading Agency Services
As part of its government reorganization, the administration wants advice on how to establish the tech-focused GEAR Center.
Modernization
Congress demands more openness from DOD on cloud
The conference report for the fiscal year 2019 defense spending bill looks to the Pentagon to open the books on its cloud acquisition strategy.
Digital Government
Are Universities Training Socially Minded Programmers?
Four Stanford engineers started a club for students interested in using their skills for social-good. But then came job-recruiting season.
Digital Government
Urban Broadband Needs Upgrading, Too
Digital redlining denies as many city residents access to the internet as it does rural Americans in some states, an advocacy group says.
Cybersecurity
Computers Have Found a Better Way to Spot Emailed Malware, Researchers Say
Somehow no one thought of applying machine learning to malicious email in exactly this way. But the results are big.
Cybersecurity
IRS makes infosec strides after Get Transcript breach, but challenges remain
IRS officials charged with protecting and authenticating taxpayer data are getting better at their jobs – but so are fraudsters.
Ideas