Ideas

The Federal Government is Using 20th-Century Responses to a 21st-Century Problem

Policymakers have been working on implementing continuous monitoring of its human assets with access to top secret information for several years, and the government should do the same for its digital assets.

Ideas

Bitcoin Will Soon be ‘Legal Tender’ in El Salvador – Here’s What that Means

Does making bitcoin legal tender mean every store and merchant in El Salvador will now have to accept digital payments?

Emerging Tech

Navy Expands Uniform Policy to Permit Fitness Trackers and Smartwatches

Such announcements are made when the need for standards revisions have been confirmed and approved by leadership.  

Ideas

How to Make Unemployment Insurance Work for Gig Workers

The share of workers who have traditional full-time jobs is shrinking but the ways to verify identity and income have not kept up.

Digital Government

Annual Defense Policy Bill Includes Repeal of Two-Year Probationary Period for Pentagon Hires

The reduction of the probationary period to one year is among several provisions in the 2022 National Defense Authorization Act that will affect civilian personnel.

Ideas

Data Privacy Laws in the US Protect Profit but Prevent Sharing Data for Public Good – People Want the Opposite

People produce mountains of data every day, but not all data is treated the same under the law.

Cybersecurity

OMB Provides Tiered Instructions on Logging Requirements in Executive Order

A memo for agencies assigns criticality levels to monitoring activities along various categories and sets deadlines for compliance. 

Digital Government

WeWork and Other Co-Working Spaces to Be an Option for Feds 

GSA will issue guidance to agencies on how to take advantage of this first-ever contract. 

Cybersecurity

CISA Encourages Mitigations in Face of OnePercent Group

The Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency shared an FBI flash report on the group which provides insight into the extent of the ransomware business ecosystem.

Emerging Tech

Facial Recognition Tech Use Increasing Among Federal Agencies

Use cases included criminal investigations, building security and access to digital assets like smartphones and security agency websites.

Emerging Tech

House Bill Aims to Bridge Acquisition ‘Valley of Death’ In Race to Counter China

A draft of the House NDAA markup outlines two provisions to fix the gap between research and acquisition.

Cybersecurity

White House Tasks NIST with Producing Another Cybersecurity Framework

The administration touted private-sector commitments to improve cybersecurity through training and design.

Digital Government

Survey: More than 40% of Employees Support Higher Insurance Rates for Unvaccinated

The responses indicate vaccinated working Americans are calling for more punitive measures against the unvaccinated.

Cybersecurity

White House Announcements to Focus on Advancing Cybersecurity Talent

Commitments are also expected from the public and private sectors for improving the security of foundational technology.

Digital Government

Customer Experience Legislation Clears Senate Committee

The legislation would make significant changes to how federal agencies engage the public.

Emerging Tech

Senators Look to Continue Government-Led Research into Strange UFO Sightings

There appears to be a nexus between unidentified aerial phenomena-aligned activity and U.S. nuclear technology sites, a former fed said.

Artificial Intelligence

Critical Update: When Seeing No Longer Means Believing, What’s a Government to Do?

Agencies and lawmakers are moving to combat deepfakes and other synthetic media used as powerful tools in disinformation campaigns.