People
SSA announces leadership team light on government experience
The agency’s new leadership roster — announced alongside a reorganization plan sources say is short on details — is intended to bring a fresh perspective into SSA, its commissioner said. Critics argue they lack the expertise usually required of most agency leaders.
Artificial Intelligence
Agencies and industry announce efforts to further Presidential AI Challenge
The Trump administration is angling to leverage private sector partnerships and an all-hands agency approach to establish a robust U.S. AI workforce and education platform.
Cybersecurity
House panel advances bill to extend bedrock cyber info-sharing law
Some Republicans want to ensure there’s language that would prevent the nation’s core cyberdefense agency from engaging in alleged “censorship” of Americans’ free speech.
Acquisition
ServiceNow, GSA strike OneGov deal to drive government AI adoption
Government customers can access discounts of up to 70% off select ServiceNow products through the deal.
Emerging Tech
Oak Ridge announces new quantum computing installation
Oak Ridge National Laboratory and Quantum Brilliance are marrying quantum and classical systems to advance research in multiple domains.
Acquisition
Microsoft offers major discounts to government customers in latest ‘OneGov’ deal
The discounts could be worth as much as $3.1 billion in year one, according to the General Services Administration.
Artificial Intelligence
Advocacy groups ask OMB to axe Grok AI procurement
Citing vulnerabilities and biased outputs in the program, multiple advocacy organizations and nonprofits signed a letter to the Office of Management and Budget asking it to bar Elon Musk’s Grok from federal workflows.
Exclusive
People
Meet the Trump appointee apparently maintaining 'unheard of' ties to Tesla
Thomas Shedd, who heads the Technology Transformation Services at the General Services Administration, reported on his public financial disclosures that he is “on a leave of absence” from Tesla in a rare arrangement, according to experts.
Emerging Tech
Microsoft announces plan to transition to quantum resilience by 2033
Microsoft is taking a phased approach to ensuring its products meet a post-quantum cryptography standard.
Cybersecurity
UK ‘agreed to drop’ backdoor encryption demand for Apple, DNI says
Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard said the United Kingdom has abandoned its effort to require that Apple provide its law enforcement and intelligence personnel with “blanket capability” to access customers’ encrypted files.
Artificial Intelligence
Senate Democrats decry Trump decision to allow advanced chip sales to China
Upper chamber lawmakers want answers from the Trump administration on the 15% fee Trump said NVIDIA and AMD must pay to be able to sell their more advanced products to a major U.S. adversary.
Artificial Intelligence
NVIDIA, NSF join forces with nonprofit to bring AI to scientific research
NVIDIA and the National Science Foundation will work alongside nonprofit artificial intelligence center Ai2 to create bespoke multimodal large language models tailored to scientific research.
Artificial Intelligence
GSA introduces USAi.Gov to streamline AI adoption across government
The new platform will be available to all agencies beginning Thursday, allowing government users to explore, experiment with and adopt a variety of AI tools.
Artificial Intelligence
GSA and Anthropic ink deal for Claude AI across all government branches
Anthropic has followed in OpenAI’s footsteps to offer federal agencies its Claude model versions for $1.
Cybersecurity
In pitch to hacker community, Trump’s NSC cyber lead says AI key to future of cyberdefense
At DEF CON, Alexei Bulazel said AI-powered tools will give software developers “incredible abilities” to harden networks by adding multilayered checks to the code-scanning process and catching flaws that might otherwise slip through.
Cybersecurity
CISA officials commit to supporting top vulnerability cataloging program
Organizations around the world rely on the Common Vulnerabilities and Exposures Program, whose contract with CISA almost expired in April. It serves as the worldwide, de facto standard for vulnerability identification and management.
Cybersecurity
Small defense industrial base firms pose tempting targets for nation-state hackers, NSA official says
Some 80% of the defense industrial base are actually small firms, according to the NSA’s head of DIB security, who has helped over 200 providers identify thousands of vulnerabilities in their systems.
Updated
Cybersecurity
‘High-severity’ Microsoft Exchange vulnerability disclosed on heels of Black Hat talk
Parts of the federal enterprise are likely susceptible to the flaw that allows hackers to hijack on-premises versions of Active Directory. CISA plans to release an emergency directive on Thursday, according to a person familiar with the matter.
Cybersecurity
Federal CISO urges cyber community to start sharing and scaling their solutions
The Trump administration wants to ease regulatory burdens on the cyber industry with a mindset where there is still room for policymaking. It largely begins with the private sector.
Defense