Tag: Federal

July 3, 2017

Just as the Trump administration is preparing to seek repeal of a long-disputed Obama-era clean water regulation, a conservative legal group is suing the Environmental Protection Agency to obtain documents it says demonstrate that EPA illegally used a social media […]

June 30, 2017

Susan Gordon, who has spent her entire professional career working for intelligence agencies, is poised to add another agency to her lengthy resume as the Trump administration’s nominee to be principal deputy director of national intelligence. Since January 2015, Gordon […]

June 28, 2017

There is a lot to like in Veterans Affairs Secretary David Shulkin’s recent decision to combine forces with the Defense Department to establish modernized electronic health records (EHRs) for our nation’s veterans. Hopefully, that path goes beyond being the start […]

June 28, 2017

While a coalition of technology and professional services companies agreed with the White House’s overall effort to get rid of old, unnecessary regulations, it has a bone to pick. The Professional Services Council told the White House in a letter […]

June 27, 2017

Some taxpayers are receiving advice to borrow against their homes or retirement savings to pay off their tax debts under a new program that has outsourced that collection to private companies. The Internal Revenue Service has contracted with four debt […]

June 26, 2017

Kevin Patrick Mallory told law enforcement officials that he wrote two unclassified “white papers” and delivered them to individuals he suspected were Chinese intelligence officials. Messages and documents found on Mallory’s electronic device, however, told a different story. According to […]

June 26, 2017

The Federal Communications Commission has approved the benchmarks it will use to evaluate alternative network proposals for states that choose to opt out of FirstNet, the national, AT&T-built nationwide, interoperable wireless network planned for emergency responders. The unanimous June 22 […]

June 23, 2017

The White House’s budget proposal for fiscal year 2018 cuts civilian spending to offset proposed defense increases, but it also includes a slight uptick in funding for the Office of Management and Budget. The reason why, director Mick Mulvaney explained […]

June 22, 2017

The ranking member of the Senate Homeland Security and Government Affairs Committee wants answers from Booz Allen Hamilton about its security posture and ability to manage sensitive intelligence data. In the wake of reports that an employee of the government […]

June 20, 2017

Alaska’s newly-consolidated Office of Information Technology could face its first true test this summer if the state government can’t agree on an operating budget for the upcoming fiscal year by July 1. The budget standoff in the Alaskan legislature has […]

June 20, 2017

The National Security Agency is still not fully implementing all necessary security protocols to minimize the potential of another Edward Snowden-like data breach, according to a newly declassified 2016 Pentagon watchdog report. In the wake of the Snowden breach, the […]

June 19, 2017

Rod Rosenstein is having a strange week. The deputy attorney general is under pressure from all sides as the Russia investigation has escalated into direct scrutiny of the president himself. President Trump directly criticized the deputy attorney general on Friday, […]

June 16, 2017

Agency chief operating officers can and should take the lead in improving government efficiency and service delivery, according to a new report from the Partnership for Public Service and Booz Allen Hamilton. But first, agencies have to hire some COOs. […]

June 15, 2017

More than four years have passed since the CIA announced its watershed deal with Amazon Web Services to build out a private cloud for the intelligence community. According to CIA CIO John Edwards, “it’s the best decision we’ve ever made.” […]

June 14, 2017

After steady improvement on previous scorecards, agencies’ progress on implementing the Federal Information Technology Acquisition Reform Act stalled on the fourth round. For the first time, more agency grades declined than improved, while 15 agencies’ grades remained neutral. However, there […]

June 13, 2017

On Monday, a federal appeals court is ruling against President Donald Trump’s revised travel ban. This decision is based, in part, on the commander-in-chief’s statement on Twitter. The 9th US Circuit Court of Appeals, based in San Francisco, said Trump’s […]

June 13, 2017

Countering the notion that the large number of high-level agency vacancies is hindering President Trump’s efficiency reforms, the key White House management adviser on Sunday told a television audience a “good dialog” is taking place between agency career staff and […]

June 12, 2017

The election of Donald Trump, and the early days of his presidency, have driven many Americans to rummage through history in search of context and understanding. Trump himself has been compared to historical figures ranging from Ronald Reagan to Henry […]

June 12, 2017

James Comey’s testimony before the Senate on June 8 hinged on one key phrase: “I hope you can let this go.” According to the former FBI director, US president Donald Trump used these words to request that he back off […]

June 8, 2017

The General Services Administration is backtracking on a 2016 reorg that established the Technology Transformation Service as a separate agency division. Under a reorganization announced June 7, the technology shop is being folded into the Federal Acquisition Service. The TTS […]