Tech

Bipartisan bill calls for NOAA to use AI to forecast wildfires and extreme weather

The bill’s introduction comes amid Trump administration efforts to scale back the agency’s workforce and operations.

Spending and workforce cuts will harm VA’s modernization work, Democrats say

Rep. Mark Takano, D-Calif., said cuts across VA are forcing the department “to decide between keeping staff on the floor, and investing in expensive equipment that may sit idle without enough personnel to operate it.”

Signalgate spurs government interest in chat-archiving services

Top staffers across the government have reached out to Whiterock Technologies about its electronic communications preservation service amid a court ruling tied to last week’s Signal chat with top administration officials that accidentally included The Atlantic’s Jeffrey Goldberg.

What the federal workforce could look like with AI government employees

Planning will determine how effectively AI agents are incorporated to streamline agency processes and systems, government technology experts argued.

SSA tech shop to be led by another DOGE associate

Scott Coulter will replace the agency’s previous CIO, who has been moved to a senior advisor position at SSA.

USPS plans to use AI to enhance customer service 

USPS Vice President for Customer Experience Marc McCrery said the agency is looking to switch its call center platform to a cloud-based application this summer, which he said will be “the start of our AI journey.”

US spy chief probing classified chat rooms to pursue leakers

Tulsi Gabbard said recent examples of unauthorized leaks involve data about Iran, Israel, U.S.-Russia relations and activities in ODNI’s counterintelligence office.

OPM skirted agency norms in assessing the privacy of its new email system

Anonymous federal employees filed a lawsuit alleging that the new email system could be placing their sensitive personal information at risk.

Gregory Barbaccia named federal CIO

The Palantir alum has also served in the Army and as an intelligence analyst.

HHS pause on external comms delaying upcoming health summits

Two planned events have been indefinitely postponed as a result of the Trump administration’s freeze on HHS-related mass communications and public appearances.

OPM awards $149M cyber, network operations support contract

The Office of Personnel Management wants to more heavily lean on cloud-based technologies and a zero trust approach.

US has ‘a lot of work to do’ on cyber defenses, departing cyber czar says

Outgoing National Cyber Director Harry Coker thinks his office needs more influence over the federal cyber budget but not necessarily more authority on offensive cyber operations.

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.

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.

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.