Tech

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.

Tech

Gregory Barbaccia named federal CIO

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

Tech

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.

Tech

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.

Tech

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.

Tech

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.

Tech

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.

Tech

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.

Tech

VA plans to restart EHR rollouts in mid-2026, despite viability concerns

VA Secretary Denis McDonough previously told Congress that the department was looking to end its pause on new deployments of the Oracle Cerner software in fiscal year 2025.

Tech

Tech leader says DOGE has Washington ‘inspired and fired up’

ServiceNow CEO Bill McDermott believes there is genuine momentum building behind President-elect Donald Trump's Department of Government Efficiency.

Tech

DHS launches internal GenAI chatbot to leverage non-public data

Agency Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas said the tool, known as DHSChat, “will help men and women across DHS draft vital reports, summarize critical information, develop new software, streamline administrative tasks and much more.”

Tech

Intelligence CIO moves to helm IT at the National Institutes of Health

Adele Merritt, who served as CIO for the Office of the Director of National Intelligence since January 2022, took over as the NIH CIO on Dec. 16.

Tech

Republican lawmakers ask Trump to kill IRS Direct File

The new program intended to enable free, online tax filing directly with the government has garnered controversy and praise since its inception.

Tech

Protecting the civil service and tech upgrades are top priorities for Virginia's new House Democrat

Virginia’s first Indian-American congressman-elect will bring some tech policy chops to Capitol Hill.

Tech

House passes agency software licensing bill

Saving on software licensing appears to also be on the radar of the new DOGE caucus.

Tech

Lawmakers want to enhance HHS cyber engagement with health care orgs

The bipartisan proposal, introduced by Sen. Bill Cassidy, R-La., came out of the efforts of a working group focused on protecting medical institutions from digital attacks.

Tech

Could states’ cyber get trickier under a Trump administration?

Some Republicans have proposed eliminating CISA altogether, which could complicate information sharing efforts. More pressing, though, is the ending of federal cyber grants.