Fed Gov Today

Dr. Raj Iyer's last day as the first civilian Chief Information Officer of the Army was Sunday, February 12. He leaves after a two-plus-year tenure as Army CIO. He took the job after former Army Secretary Ryan McCarthy split the former CIO/G-6 job when Lt. Gen. Bruce Crawford retired in 2021. Raj reviews the progress he believes the Army has made under his tenure, and where his successor should take the Army's IT portfolio next.More on Iyer's departure at C4ISRNet.Photo: Francis Rose & Dr. Raj Iyer, September 16, 2022, FedScoop event, Ritz Carlton Hotel, Pentagon City, VA

Reinvestment in the G Fund in the Thrift Savings Plan is on hold for now. It’s because of a debate in Congress. Kim Weaver, director of external affairs at the Federal Retirement Thrift Investment Board, explains why TSP participants shouldn't worry. (0:59)The leader of the Defense Information Systems Agency is asking industry to "be invested" in working with his organization. Lt. Gen. Robert Skinner made that comment at AFCEA DC’s luncheon event at the Army Navy Country Club in Arlington last week. In a highlight from that event, Lt. Gen. Skinner lays out his message for industry. (10:54)Photo: Glenn Robinson via LinkedIn

The passwords of 5% of employees at the Interior Department include the word "password." That’s one of a number of issues the Interior Inspector General’s office found on the department’s network. Kate Ledesma is Senior Director of Public Policy and Government Affairs at SecurityScorecard, and former Senior Advisor at CISA. She covers some tools agencies have to protect themselves against their own employees making bad cyber choices. She also previews the forthcoming National Cyber Strategy; and CISA's internal digital transformation. The software meltdown at the Federal Aviation Administration that grounded thousands of flights recently is 30 years old. NBC News reports a senior government leader told them it’s not scheduled for replacement for six more years. Kevin Walsh is a Director of the Information Technology and Cybersecurity Team at the Government Accountability Office. He has contributed to GAO's work on legacy IT. He explains how agencies can get ahead of legacy IT applications, and how to set priorities for funding and execution.The State Department says one of the goals behind its new EVOLVE contract will be to "enable the department to buy technology services from companies with track records to implement Secretary Blinken’s modernization agenda." Dr. Kelly Fletcher recently celebrated her three-month anniversary as the Chief Information Officer at the State Department. She lays out what she found when she joined State; how she's simplifying the agency's infrastructure through the "Tech For Life" initiative; and how EVOLVE will help her hit her goals for IT transformation at Foggy Bottom and around the world.Photo: Kelly Fletcher, delivering a keynote last year at AFCEA's TechNet Cyber conference, when she was acting Defense Department CIO, is now the new CIO at the State Department. Credit: Michael Carpenter

The Navy is three months into execution of its Cyberspace Superiority Vision. The Navy's Principal Cyber Advisor, Chris Cleary, signed out the vision at the end of October. The vision includes three core principles: Secure, Survive, and Strike. Cleary describes how he and his Navy colleagues devised the vision, how they're implementing it, and how they'll measure its success.Read the Navy's Cyberspace Superiority Vision here.Photo: SAN DIEGO (Mar. 4, 2020) Mr. Chris Cleary, Department of the Navy Chief Information Security Officer, provides opening remarks at the inaugural Command Information Security Officers (CISOs) Forum, hosted onboard Naval Information Warfare Systems Command’s Old Town San Diego Complex. CISO’s from Navy and Marine Corps systems commands got together to share experiences and discuss a variety of topics including risk management framework, cybersecurity and information assurance. (U.S. Navy photo by Rick Naystatt/Released)

The newest edition of the FITARA scorecard shows seven agencies increased their scores, 17 agencies held steady, and no agencies went down. The latest edition of the scorecard includes new cyber metrics. Federal CISO Chris DeRusha, USAID CIO Jason Gray (whose agency was the only one to get an A on the scorecard) and GAO Directors Carol Harris and Jennifer Franks testified about the new scorecard at a hearing of the House Oversight and Reform Government Operations subcommittee Thursday.Part One of this episode includes questions for the witnesses from Rep. Shontel Brown (D-OH); ranking member Jody Hice (R-GA); Chairman Gerry Connolly (D-VA); and Rep. Andrew Clyde (R-GA).Part Two features one of the architects of the FITARA scorecard, David Powner, former Director at GAO and now Executive Director of the Center for Data-Driven Policy at MITRE. He was also part of the team that developed recommendations for updating the scorecard for ACT-IAC.Hearing video here.Federal News Network story David Powner and I discussed here.ACT-IAC recommendations here.Photo: USAID CIO Jason Gray; Federal CISO Chris DeRusha; GAO Directors Carol Harris and Jennifer Franks. Screenshot of hearing video, House Oversight and Reform Committee

The Defense Department will use four vendors to provide cloud services through the Joint Warfighter Cloud Capability contract. The Department made the announcement Wednesday afternoon; the official rollout was at a news conference Thursday with DoD CIO John Sherman; DISA Director Lt. Gen. Robert Skinner; DoD Deputy CIO for Information Environment Lily Zeleke; and the Director of DISA's Hosting and Compute Center, Sharon Wood. Today's show leads off with a highlight of the news conference; you can watch the entire news conference here.More on JWCC from Federal News Network, DefenseScoop, and Nextgov.Acquisition experts Joe Jordan, former Administrator of Federal Procurement Policy, and Stan Soloway, a member of the Defense Business Board, explain why they're not surprised by the award, and what comes next for the agency, and the vendors who will compete for task orders on the contract.PHOTO: Department of Defense Chief Information Officer John Sherman, Defense Information Systems Agency Director U.S. Air Force Lt. Gen. Robert Skinner, Department of Defense Deputy CIO for Information Environment Lily Zeleke, and DISA Hosting and Compute Center Director Sharon Wood hold a press briefing on the Department of Defense’s award of the Joint Warfighting Cloud Capability (JWCC) contract at the Pentagon, Washington, D.C., Dec. 8, 2022. (DoD photo by U.S. Navy Petty Officer 2nd Class Alexander Kubitza)

The Defense Department is launching an investment office to channel money to the technologies it needs for the future fight. The Office of Strategic Capital will live inside the office of the Under Secretary of Defense for Research and Engineering Heidi Shyu. Michael Brown led the Defense Innovation Unit for four years; he’s a visiting scholar at the Hoover Institution at Stanford University now. In this exclusive conversation on the sidelines of an event the Navy League’s Center for Maritime Strategy co-hosted in Arlington Tuesday, he lays out his vision for the next generation of innovation in national defense.