The Daily Scoop Podcast

A consolidated list of federal artificial intelligence use cases released by the White House on Wednesday shows agencies more than doubled the amount of uses reported last year. Per the 2024 consolidated inventory, which is available on the Office of Management and Budget’s GitHub, 37 federal agencies have reported 1,757 public AI uses. A consolidated list released by the White House last year documented 710 use cases. The top three categories of uses, per a Chief Information Officer Council post Wednesday, were “mission-enabling (internal agency support), health and medical, and government services (includes benefits and service delivery).” The consolidated inventory is the product of an annual AI inventory process that was initially established in December 2020 and has continued to evolve. It gives the latest snapshot of how the federal government is handling the rapidly growing technology and reflects the Biden administration’s safety-based approach to AI. Federal civilian agencies have a new list of cyber-related requirements to address after the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency on Tuesday issued guidance regarding the implementation of secure practices for cloud services. CISA’s Binding Operational Directive (BOD) 25-01 instructs agencies to identify all of its cloud instances and implement assessment tools, while also making sure that their cloud environments are aligned with the cyber agency’s Secure Cloud Business Applications (SCuBA) configuration baselines. CISA Director Jen Easterly said in a statement that the actions laid out in the directive are “an important step” toward reducing risk across the federal civilian enterprise, though threats loom in “every sector.” The Daily Scoop Podcast is available every Monday-Friday afternoon. If you want to hear more of the latest from Washington, subscribe to The Daily Scoop Podcast  on Apple Podcasts, Soundcloud, Spotify and YouTube.

House AI task force members on Tuesday touted the long-awaited release of their report outlining recommendations to Congress on the federal government’s adoption of AI, while confirming that lawmakers are in conversation with the incoming administration about the very same topics. The nearly 300-page report digs into a plethora of areas that the emerging technology touches, including the government’s own use of AI, along with recommendations concerning AI governance and the AI workforce. Rep. Jay Obernolte, R-Calif., co-chairman of the task force, said during a press conference Tuesday that legislators and the incoming Trump administration are discussing what could be done to the executive order that the Biden White House released last fall, what items need legislative action and how efforts might be “harmonized” between the legislative and executive branches. Adele Merritt has been named the top IT official for the National Institutes of Health, giving the agency a permanent chief information officer for the first time in roughly two years. Merritt, who was most recently the CIO of the intelligence community, began her roles as CIO and director of the agency’s Office of the Chief Information Officer on Monday, NIH Director Monica M. Bertagnolli said in a written announcement. According to Bertagnolli, Merritt comes to NIH with more than 20 years experience in cyber and national security operations and has held positions across the government intelligence community. The Daily Scoop Podcast is available every Monday-Friday afternoon. If you want to hear more of the latest from Washington, subscribe to The Daily Scoop Podcast  on Apple Podcasts, Soundcloud, Spotify and YouTube.

As the federal government journeys into uncharted territory with the adoption of AI, it’s no surprise that the nation’s space exploration agency is one of the most innovative among the bunch. Krista Kinnard is NASA’s Digital Transformation, Culture and Communications Lead and was recently promoted to that agency's deputy chief AI officer, where she'll continue to play a key role shepherding the cultural push behind the agency’s AI revolution. The Daily Scoop recently caught up with Kinnard at ACT-IAC’s Imagine Nation ELC event in Hershey, Pa. During our conversation, we touched on her role at the agency and how it relates to AI, the progress the agency has made in adopting AI, and what’s ahead. The Department of Homeland Security has built an artificial intelligence-based chatbot it’s calling DHSChat, the latest in a string of agency experimentations with generative AI. DHSChat is designed as a chatbot meant for internal use within the agency, according to a press release shared Tuesday. The tool was developed by DHS’s AI Corps and its director, Michael Boyce, after employees experimented with commercial generative AI tools, including Claude and ChatGPT. In a statement, Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas said that the “cutting-edge tool” would help workers across DHS “draft vital reports, summarize critical information, develop new software, streamline administrative tasks, and much more." The Department of Health and Human Services was among the first federal agencies to release its 2024 AI use case inventory Monday, reporting a roughly 66% increase in uses from the previous year. In a post accompanying the inventory, Steven Posnack, HHS’s principal deputy assistant secretary for technology policy and principal deputy national coordinator for health IT, highlighted the health agency’s increase from 163 to 271 use cases and noted the varying stages of development. The new figure, for example, includes uses for operation and maintenance and in acquisition and development, as well as 16 uses that are retired. The inventory comes as agencies across the federal government are expected to release new and expanded lists of AI use cases for 2024. The Daily Scoop Podcast is available every Monday-Friday afternoon. If you want to hear more of the latest from Washington, subscribe to The Daily Scoop Podcast  on Apple Podcasts, Soundcloud, Spotify and YouTube.

The Defense Department doesn’t know who has been flying drones recently near its military installations in New Jersey, and the Pentagon is “frustrated” by this type of activity, according to a senior official. In recent days and weeks, there have been thousands of reports and tips about drone sightings in New Jersey as well as other states. Law enforcement agencies have been investigating the reports. In many cases officials believe that manned aircraft were misidentified as unmanned aerial systems. However, there have been instances of mysterious drone activity over New Jersey, including recently at two U.S. military facilities, federal officials told reporters during a background call Saturday afternoon. A Defense Department official said on condition of anonymity that the Pentagon has had confirmed sightings at Picatinny Arsenal and Naval Weapons Station Earle. NASA is researching options to replace an existing electronic health record system that supports some unique patients: astronauts. In a request for information, the agency said it’s looking to replace a system that currently holds roughly 30,000 records for NASA employees that date back to the founding of the U.S. Space Program. The request, which is purely information-seeking and may be used to finalize a request for quotes, was initially posted in November and responses were due Friday. While that current system, which is installed primarily at the Johnson Space Center in Houston, is understood well and configured for the agency’s current workflows, it’s limited in its “patched together work arounds,” “manual processes and procedures,” and “single points of failure in both system and human terms,” NASA said in response to questions on the request posted to SAM.gov Thursday. The Daily Scoop Podcast is available every Monday-Friday afternoon. If you want to hear more of the latest from Washington, subscribe to The Daily Scoop Podcast  on Apple Podcasts, Soundcloud, Spotify and YouTube.

The FBI and Department of Homeland Security disclosed Thursday that they are supporting New Jersey law enforcement with “numerous detection methods” as part of the response to recent mysterious aircraft sightings in the state’s skies. Thus far, however, the federal agencies “have not corroborated any of the reported visual sightings with electronic detection,” according to a joint statement shared with FedScoop and DefenseScoop. “To the contrary, upon review of available imagery, it appears that many of the reported sightings are actually manned aircraft, operating lawfully. There are no reported or confirmed drone sightings in any restricted air space,” the FBI and DHS statement said. The Department of Energy has to invest in and establish enterprise-wide data analytics to mitigate risk better and take action to begin implementing artificial intelligence capabilities in its Office of Intelligence and Counterintelligence, two Office of Inspector General reports this week recommended. In a report made public Monday, the OIG reported that DOE does not use an enterprise-wide approach for examining risks, and instead looks at risks in a “fragmented fashion” through aggregating risks identified by each “element,” which comprises field and headquarters organizations. The Daily Scoop Podcast is available every Monday-Friday afternoon. If you want to hear more of the latest from Washington, subscribe to The Daily Scoop Podcast  on Apple Podcasts, Soundcloud, Spotify and YouTube.

As members of the Biden administration wrap up their duties ahead of next month’s transition, the Office of Management and Budget’s IT office is touting the “innovative” technological progress it’s made over the past four years in the face of “unprecedented challenges.” In an impact report shared exclusively with FedScoop, OMB’s Office of the Federal Chief Information Officer highlighted several of its tech-focused accomplishments throughout President Joe Biden’s time in office, pointing specifically to work in artificial intelligence, open data, cybersecurity and quantum, all in service of further modernizing the federal government. Lawmakers in the House and Senate introduced a bipartisan bill Wednesday that would create an advisory panel aimed at developing a national strategy for technologies such as virtual and augmented reality. Under the United States Leadership in Immersive Technology Act, the Department of Commerce would be directed to establish such a panel that would advise the president on how to use those technologies, known collectively as immersive technologies or XR, for commerce, trade and economic competitiveness. That panel would also study XR and its impact on national security, according to a release from sponsor Rep. Suzan DelBene, D-Wash., announcing the bill. The Daily Scoop Podcast is available every Monday-Friday afternoon. If you want to hear more of the latest from Washington, subscribe to The Daily Scoop Podcast  on Apple Podcasts, Soundcloud, Spotify and YouTube.

The Pentagon announced Saturday that it selected five small, non-traditional defense contractors to receive funding to help move their emerging technologies into production. Each company will receive $10 million under the Accelerate the Procurement and Fielding of Innovative Technologies (APFIT) pilot program overseen by Heidi Shyu, undersecretary of defense for research and engineering. The awards mark the first batch of APFIT funding distributed in fiscal 2025 and they’re being bankrolled through continuing resolution appropriations. Shyu said in a statement: “With the backing of APFIT, these companies have an opportunity to push their innovations over the finish line. We look forward to supporting additional projects important to warfighters as more funding is appropriated.” APFIT is intended to steer existing innovation projects across the so-called “valley of death” — a phenomenon in which emerging technologies that have successful research-and-development efforts with the Defense Department fail to receive additional funding for production.

In this episode of The Daily Scoop Podcast, Sunny Wescott, CISA ISD Chief Meteorologist at the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, provides an in-depth look at her critical role managing extreme weather impacts on national infrastructure. She blends her expertise in meteorology, cybersecurity, and artificial intelligence (AI) to address some of the most pressing challenges of our time. Wescott discusses the growing intensity of extreme weather events and their direct impact on critical infrastructure, including supply chains, energy grids, and data centers. She also explores the role of AI in enhancing weather forecasting while tackling challenges like misinformation and computational demands, as well as sustainable solutions to balance the environmental toll of data centers and AI facilities with operational needs. Additionally, she highlights CISA’s collaborative efforts with public and private sectors to bolster resilience and preparedness. Throughout the episode, Wescott emphasizes her work in integrating advanced climate data into actionable strategies, ensuring stakeholders are equipped to navigate the evolving challenges of a warming world. The Daily Scoop Podcast is available every Monday-Friday afternoon. If you want to hear more of the latest from Washington, subscribe to The Daily Scoop Podcast  on Apple Podcasts, Soundcloud, Spotify and YouTube.

A package of bills introduced by Sen. Marsha Blackburn, R-Tenn., last week would freeze federal hiring and salaries for one year and reintroduce a merit-based compensation structure for federal employees, among other provisions. Blackburn on Thursday announced a single bill as part of her DOGE Act, but a spokesperson from her office clarified in an email to FedScoop that she plans to introduce seven bills under that umbrella. The package would establish a pilot program for civilian employees in the federal government, codifying what President-elect Donald Trump attempted to establish during his first term with Schedule F. The House and Senate Armed Services Committees moved forward a provision paving the way for an independent study assessing the potential creation of a sixth U.S. military service focused on cyber. Both houses of Congress passed nearly identical provisions in their respective versions of the fiscal 2025 National Defense Authorization Act earlier this year, and they were incorporated into the final conferenced bill that was reconciled between both chambers and released Saturday evening. The House passed a similar provision last year that was axed during this conference process for the annual defense policy bill, effectively killing it until it was revived this year. The Daily Scoop Podcast is available every Monday-Friday afternoon. If you want to hear more of the latest from Washington, subscribe to The Daily Scoop Podcast  on Apple Podcasts, Soundcloud, Spotify and YouTube.

David Sacks, a venture capitalist, former CEO of enterprise social network firm Yammer and podcaster, will join the incoming administration in a new role President-elect Donald Trump referred to in a Thursday night announcement as the “White House AI & Crypto Czar.” In a series of posts on Trump’s own Truth Social platform, he said Sacks “will guide policy for the Administration in Artificial Intelligence and Cryptocurrency, two areas critical to the future of American competitiveness.” Trump said that Sacks will “focus on making America the clear global leader in both areas” while safeguarding free speech online and steering the nation away from what he referred to as Big Tech bias and censorship. Another key priority for Sack will be working on a legal framework so the crypto industry has “the clarity it has been asking for, and can thrive in the U.S. A handful of federal agencies missed deadlines to complete Internet of Things cybersecurity requirements called out in a 2020 law, a new congressional watchdog report found. The IoT Cybersecurity Improvement Act of 2020 required the National Institute of Standards and Technology and the Office of Management and Budget to develop guidance for securely procuring IoT — networked technology and devices typically connected to physical objects like buildings, vehicles and other infrastructure. The law also required 23 civilian federal agencies to implement IoT cybersecurity requirements, though a waiver process was to be established by OMB. The Daily Scoop Podcast is available every Monday-Friday afternoon. If you want to hear more of the latest from Washington, subscribe to The Daily Scoop Podcast  on Apple Podcasts, Soundcloud, Spotify and YouTube.