Modernization
House panel subpoenas Oracle heads over VA health record overhaul’s ballooning costs
The House Veterans’ Affairs Committee voted 19-0 to subpoena Oracle Chairman and Co-founder Larry Ellison and Oracle CEO Mike Sicilia after VA announced plans to boost its contract with the tech giant by $17 billion.
Acquisition
Microsoft Fabric integration platform launches for select federal customers
The platform is now available on a preview basis for Government Community Cloud High environments and is designed to support the needs of agentic AI tools.
Acquisition
CMS taps Mathematica, Deloitte to improve effectiveness of its healthcare models
An agency spokesperson said the four-year Learning Insights for Action project “will enable CMS to efficiently target resources across models with varying periods of performance and support cross-model learning.”
Artificial Intelligence
Judge rules Anthropic supply chain risk designation was ‘illegal and baseless’
A Northern California judge found that the AI company’s products did not represent a meaningful threat to national security, making the Pentagon’s designation “unlawful retaliation.”
Artificial Intelligence
NSA wants access to ‘all’ AI models, top official says
The spy agency is taking a key role in the government’s new voluntary model-testing program, though its deputy director did not say which companies are participating.
Artificial Intelligence
Dem lawmaker hopes to add AI containment language to FRONTIER Act
Rep. Suhas Subramanyam, D-Va., is pushing for a September markup of the landmark AI legislation along with new language on model containment following the OpenAI-Hugging Face incident.
Cybersecurity
The Russian hurdle in Trump’s new offensive cyber program
The White House wants private companies to help take down cybercriminals overseas. But in Russia, the line between criminal hackers and the government is difficult to draw.
People
L3Harris promotes Mehta to CEO in abrupt leadership change
Chris Kubasik, L3Harris’ CEO since June 2021, has left the company following a code of conduct investigation.
Cybersecurity
As warfare becomes engineering, the era of the digital mercenary dawns
The White House revives “privateering for the digital age” by authorizing cyber firms to strike foreign targets.
People
Amazon Web Services’ Dave Levy departs for Google
The senior executive worked at AWS since 2017.
Acquisition
Cloudflare to seek DOD IL4 authorization after new FedRAMP, GovRAMP designations
The connectivity cloud giant recently achieved FedRAMP High certification and GovRAMP Moderate authorization.
Cybersecurity
New ‘Water Watch Center’ launched to help small utilities stop cyberattacks
The initiative comes as multiple states grapple with intrusions into their water systems that some officials suspect could be tied to Iran.
Cybersecurity
CISA cautions against rigid rules for future of cyber vulnerability program
A top agency official said formal backing from Congress could strengthen the global vulnerability-tracking system but warned against measures that may limit its ability to adapt to ever-changing hacking threats.
Acquisition
Palantir calls on GSA to withdraw draft AI acquisition rule
The stance is more aggressive than that of many groups representing contractors, who told GSA to revise, rather than withdraw, the proposed large language model acquisition rule.
Artificial Intelligence
OpenAI agents rebuilt internal message board in lead-up to Hugging Face breach
Models in separate experiments used the channel to exchange exploits as they repeatedly compromised OpenAI systems.
Cybersecurity
Hugging Face AI breach is ‘most consequential hack’ since Morris Worm, former NSA cyber chief says
AI may let hackers exploit newly disclosed software flaws so quickly that organizations should weigh whether to immediately patch internet-connected devices, even at the risk of causing outages, Rob Joyce said.
Artificial Intelligence
OpenAI's advanced models have gone live for government use
OpenAI’s latest GPT-5.6 models were made available for government work via the FedRAMP-authorized ChatGPT Enterprise offering, weeks after one of the advanced models was involved in executing an autonomous digital attack.
Cybersecurity
Cyber industry coalition urges federal action after suspected Iran-linked water hacks
The group called on CISA to impose baseline security standards across federal operational technology systems and pressed Congress to revive several stalled cyber initiatives.
People
Greg Barbaccia to return to Palantir after leaving government
The federal CIO’s departure comes after a turbulent period for the federal technology workforce where thousands of technologists left the government.
Cybersecurity