FCW Insider: December 13, 2021
The latest news and analysis from FCW's reporters and editors.
Top House Republican pushes back on government telework
House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) isn’t the only Republican lawmaker asking questions about the productivity of teleworking federal employees.
What’s next for security clearance reform?
Expect new milestones from the DOD’s governmentwide vetting IT and new policies on vetting criteria in 2022.
Grady talks spectrum, cyber concerns in nomination hearing
Adm. Christopher Grady told senators that Defense Department moves to free up swaths of spectrum would have consequences when it comes to operations, training, and readiness.
Quick Hits
*** The Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) advisory committee held its inaugural meeting on Friday, as nearly all 23 of the members convened in Virginia to begin planning a unified vision and long-term goals. Hackers, financial experts, information technology professionals and other members across more than a dozen various industry sectors make up the new federal advisory committee, which CISA Director Jen Easterly announced earlier this month.
The committee members include cybersecurity journalist Nicole Perlroth, lawyer and Lawfare contributor Robert Chesney, George Stathakopoulos, vice president of corporate information security at Apple, and Stephen Schmidt, chief information security officer of Amazon Web Services.
National Cyber Director Chris Inglis spoke to the gathering, saying increased information-sharing, cross-agency collaboration and a cohesive federal cyber defense strategy were all necessary components for any significant progress towards improving U.S. cybersecurity.
“We need to reframe what is believed to be possible and appropriate in terms of how we bring resilience, robustness and a proper defense to digital infrastructure so that we no longer let fear be our pacing function,” he said.
*** C3 AI has booked a five-year, $500 million production contract with the Department of Defense to further deploy the company’s portfolio of artificial intelligence software across the agency. DOD signed this Other Transaction Authority agreement to accelerate the timeline for acquiring the company’s enterprise AI products for agencies and other components to use in modeling and simulation, C3 AI said Thursday. Washington Technology has more on this story.
*** A report released Friday by the Government Accountability Office urges government digital services consultancies USDS and 18F, operated by the Office of Management and Budget and the General Services Administration respectively, should do a better job coordinating the guidance they provide to federal agencies.
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