Fed Gov Today

This edition of Fed Gov Today, from the Edge23 Security Summit in San Diego, is sponsored by Hitachi Vantara Federal and Carahsoft.The Computer Crime and Intellectual Property Section at the Justice Department is more than halfway through its third decade fighting cyber crime. It’s taken down some of the biggest dark web and cyber crime organizations in the world. Mick Stawasz is Deputy Chief for Computer Crime at CCIPS. At Edge23, I asked him how the threat landscape is changing.You heard Mick Stawasz talk about the evolution of cyber crime, and what he and his team are doing to stay competitive. The key element, though, may not be technological. Phil Fuster is Chief Revenue Officer at Hitachi Vantara Federal. At Edge 23, I asked him what agencies should do to defend against cyber crime better.The Federal Government Zero Trust Strategy includes deadlines for goals agencies have to meet by next September. The goals come out of the Zero Trust Maturity Model from the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency. La Monte Yarborough is Chief Information Security Officer at the Department of Health and Human Services. At Edge23, I asked him about where HHS came from, and where it’s going, on its zero trust journey.Photo: HHS CISO La Monte Yarborough at Edge 23 in San Diego

This edition of Fed Gov Today, from the Edge23 Security Summit in San Diego, is sponsored by Okta and Carahsoft.The motto of Edge 23 is “Managing Risk in Turbulent Times.” Zero trust is the primary driver of cyber policy and action in government right now. At Edge 23, Barry West, Founder and CEO of West Wing Advisory Services, and former Chief Information Officer at FEMA and the Commerce Department, tells you where else cyber leaders in government should focus beside zero trust.Those zero trust strategies Barry West discussed include specific steps that agencies must take. To take those steps, government leaders are asking industry what tools they need to get the job done. At Edge 23, Jim Lambert, Area Vice President for Civilian at Okta, tells me what pieces agencies need to execute their strategies.The Department of Homeland Security’s Burden Reduction Initiative is saving time and hassle for people who interact with the department and its components. The initiative is part of a broader customer experience effort at the agency. At Edge 23, Beth Cappello, Deputy Chief Information Officer at the Department of Homeland Security tells me about a milestone DHS has hit with the initiative.Photo: DHS Deputy CIO Beth Cappello at Edge 23 in San Diego

This edition of Fed Gov Today, from the Edge23 Security Summit in San Diego, is sponsored by Splunk and Carahsoft.Civilian and military agencies across government are building systems to collaborate more closely with industry. One of the goals of most of these cells is to learn what’s possible from industry, instead of writing lists of requirements. Don Upson is Founder and Chairman of the Government Business Executive Forum, host of Edge 23. At the conference, I asked him if he thinks government leaders are hungry to learn about solutions from industry.The White House’s Zero Trust Strategy is generating strategies at individual agencies. Some of the timelines in the White House strategy, and the agency strategies, mean those agencies are already in tactical mode on ZT. At Edge 23, I asked Bill Rowan, Vice President of Public Sector at Splunk, what tactical steps he sees agencies taking to deliver on those strategies.A new list of artificial intelligence competencies from the Office of Personnel Management includes 44 general competencies and 14 technical competencies. OPM says agencies can “use the AI competencies to select, assess, and train AI talent as confirmed by a job analysis.” At Edge 23, I asked Jamie Holcombe, Chief Information Officer of the Patent and Trademark Office, what mature use of AI looks like in the federal government, and when he thinks that’s coming.Photo: USPTO CIO Jamie Holcombe at Edge 23 in San Diego

The Office of Management and Budget’s new cyber investment priorities for fiscal 2025 match the National Cybersecurity Strategy. Those priorities align with the Federal Zero Trust Strategy too. Karen Evans, Partner at KE & T Partners, Managing Director of the Cyber Readiness Institute, and former E-Gov Administrator at OMB, explains what’s in the priorities list for the federal government enterprise, and individual agencies.The Defense Department could get $1 billion to fund hedge capabilities. The House Appropriations Committee has approved the fund in its version of the fiscal 2024 spending bill. Michael Brown, partner at Shield Capital and former Director of the Defense Innovation Unit, helped develop the fund’s concept while at DIU. He tells you why he believes it’s more important now than ever.The Army is moving closer to replacing one of its core platforms. Five vendors are developing concept designs for the Optionally Manned Fighting Vehicle to replace the Bradley Fighting Vehicle. Mona Sehgal, Acting Director for Contracting and National Security Acquisitions at the Government Accountability Office, reviews what her team found in an in-depth look at the OMFV planning process.Photo: Bradley Fighting Vehicle M2A4, photo courtesy of U.S. Army Acquisition Support Center

The leader of the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency, Jen Easterly, says her agency is “not tracking a significant impact against the civilian .gov enterprise” because of the MOVEit hack. But there is more CISA can do to help civilian agencies fight cyber attacks, according to Ron Sanders, the President and CEO of Publica Virtu; former Associate Director at OPM; and former Chief Human Capital Officer at the IRS, and the intelligence community. He’s writing about what CISA can do that it’s not in Gov Exec, and he tells you what steps he thinks CISA can - and should - take.The revival of legislation that would bring back Schedule F has the spotlight on poor performers again. But some experts are leveraging that revival to talk about broader human capital management reform. Jenny Mattingley, Vice President of Government Affairs at the Partnership for Public Service and former Day 1 Impact Fellow at the Office of Management and Budget, reviews some possible points to watch for.Three aviation crashes since 2015 have reshaped the way the U.S. military operates. One aircraft accident investigator has played a critical role in all three. Dave Clark, Air Safety Specialist and Aircraft Mishap Investigator for Naval Safety Command, and finalist for a Service to America medal from the Partnership for Public Service in the Career Achievement category, tells you about his office’s mission, and his work.Photo: Dave Clark, courtesy of Partnership for Public Service

The Department of Veterans Affairs and the IRS are two agencies dealing with backlogs for citizen services. The VA has a claims backlog in the Veterans Benefits Administration; the IRS has a backlog of tax returns. Paul Lawrence, former Undersecretary for Benefits at the Department of Veterans Affairs and his co-author Mark Abramson have a piece in Gov Exec titled “Helping Production Agencies Deliver.” They’re also co-authors of the book “Succeeding as a Political Executive: 50 Insights from Experience.” Paul explains how production agencies can get ahead of their workloads - and stay ahead.Several Department of Homeland Security components are collaborating on vetting programs. One of the components involved is the Transportation Security Administration. Neal Latta, Assistant Administrator for Enrollment Services and Vetting Programs at TSA, discusses the technologies that are changing the vetting process, and how his agency is working with others inside DHS to deploy and maximize them.Photo: Neal Latta, Assistant Administrator for Enrollment Services and Vetting Programs, TSA, testifies at a House Transportation and Maritime Security subcommittee hearing, May 10, 2023 (screengrab from committee web site)

The Department of Veterans Affairs is rolling out its new Workforce Dashboard. The agency has set a monthly update schedule for the dashboard. Tracey Therit, Chief Human Capital Officer at VA, tells you what the dashboard tracks, who its customers are, and what they can do with the information there. She also describes how the dashboard will continue to evolve over time.Photo: Tracey Therit, Chief Human Capital Officer, Department of Veterans Affairs, at Senate Veterans Affairs Committee hearing “Strengthening Methods of Recruitment and Retention for VA’s Workforce”, March 22, 2023 (screengrab from committee web site)

The nominee to become the next Commandant of the Marine Corps says technology is integral to preparing his service for the future fight. The Senate Armed Services Committee questioned Gen. Eric Smith, the current Assistant Commandant of the Marine Corps, at his confirmation hearing Tuesday. In this highlight of the hearing, the Chairman of the Committee, Sen. Jack Reed (D-RI) asks Gen. Smith about the Marine Corps’s tech posture. Gen. Smith also answers questions from the committee’s ranking member, Sen. Roger Wicker (R-MS).The Department of Homeland Security and its components are looking at 32 startup companies and the technology they can deliver in critical areas. Those companies demonstrated what they can do at the Silicon Valley Innovation Program Demo Week 2023. Melissa Oh, Managing Director of the SVIP at DHS’s Science and Technology Directorate, tells you what her office took away from Demo Week, and what it will do next.WATCH: “Innovation in Government from GEOINT” on demandPhoto: Gen. Eric Smith testifies to the Senate Armed Services Committee, June 13, 2023 (screen grab from committee web site)

This edition of Fed Gov Today, featuring the ACT-IAC Health Innovation Summit 2023, is sponsored by Red Hat and Carahsoft.Innovation is coming fast for health care providers all across the federal government, according to speakers at the Health Innovation Summit. The people who run the support infrastructure will benefit from innovation too. Ryan Dempsey Argentieri is Deputy Director of the Office of Technology at the Office of the National Coordinator for Health IT. At the Summit, I asked her if health innovation right now is mostly patient centric, or provider centric.The work Ryan described is just some of the tactical work that’s going on at the agency level. Strategic opportunities will explode in health care IT in the coming years too. Ben Cushing, Chief Architect for Health and Life Sciences at Red Hat, and former Application Engineer at the National Institutes of Health, tells you what to look for in the coming months and years.The Deputy Chief Information Officer at the Department of Health and Human Services is new to the agency, and to health IT, but she’s not new to the Federal government. Jennifer Wendel joined HHS recently from the FBI. At the Health Innovation Summit, she described her portfolio at HHS.Photo: Speakers at the ACT-IAC Health Innovation Summit 2023 (L-R): Amanda Lienau, VA; Ryan Dempsey Argentieri, ONC; Col. Thomas Cantilina, DHA; Srini Iyer, Leidos (photo credit Ben Marglin via LinkedIn)

On the latest episode of the Innovation In Government television show from SOF Week, you learned about five pillars the Operator Relief Fund bases its help around for Special Operators. The pillars are sleep; alcohol; hormones; nutrients; and psychological. At SOF Week, I asked Derek Nadalini, Beneficiary Advocate for the Operator Relief Fund, how his group settled on those five pillars.Defense department leaders say their supply chains are one of their most important priorities. A lot of the discussion focuses around the continuity of those supply chains, but capacity is becoming more important too, according to those leaders. Jerry McGinn, Executive Director of the Baroni Center for Government Contracting at George Mason University and former Acting Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Manufacturing and Industrial Base, writes about the DIB in Breaking Defense, and tells you more about his prescription for the supply chain.The Chief Information Officer of the United States says she is “super optimistic” about the potential of artificial intelligence for citizen experience. She describes a numbers game that could deliver big impact for citizens. Pam Isom, Founder and Chief Executive Officer of IsAdvice & Consulting, former Executive Director of the Artificial Intelligence and Technology Office, and former Deputy Chief Information Officer at the Energy Department, offers ideas to maximize that potential.Photo: Francis Rose and Derek Nadalini at SOF Week, May 10, 2023