Smarter Gov Tech, Stronger MerITocracy
Sen. Jerry Moran

As the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) plans to cut 15 percent of its workforce, Sen. Jerry Moran, R-Kan., the chairman of the Senate Committee on Veterans’ Affairs, announced on Tuesday that he plans to introduce legislation to ensure the VA remains “well-staffed.” […]

CISA

The White House has officially nominated Sean Plankey to become the next director of the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA), which is a component of the Department of Homeland Security. […]

DoD Pentagon Military

As a former senior Social Security Administration (SSA) official is claiming that the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) cut cybersecurity and privacy corners when accessing sensitive data at the agency, a Federal judge is requiring DOGE to take steps to release its internal documents that will shed more light on how the White House department operates. […]

A Federal judge on March 6 clarified his decision about a temporary restraining order against the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) based on its directives to fire probationary employees across several Federal agencies. […]

State Department

Long-time Federal data and artificial intelligence leader Matthew Graviss has landed at Atlassian, a maker of software collaboration tools, after 17 years of Federal government service. […]

Federal money spending government

House Republicans unveiled a spending bill on Saturday that would fund Federal agencies through Sept. 30, setting up a vote on the bill to avoid a government shutdown. The six-month funding bill largely tracks with fiscal year 2024 spending levels, with some notable exceptions that impact technology and cybersecurity. […]

The inspector general (IG) of the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) said his office is taking a look into the impact that the White House’s Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) is having on cybersecurity and data privacy practices at OPM.   […]

Space NASA Satellites

President Donald Trump’s ambitious plan to build a “Golden Dome” missile defense shield over the U.S. will require widespread national support – akin to the level of commitment seen during World War II to support the Manhattan Project’s development of nuclear weapons, a top U.S. Space Force official said on March 5. […]

Treasury

Ryan Riedel, who was named chief information officer (CIO) at the Department of Energy (DoE) in early February, has stepped down from that position and returned to Elon Musk’s SpaceX where he has held senior technology roles since 2020, a knowledgeable source told MeriTalk. […]

OPM Office of Personnel Management

The Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) is planning to roll out its Electronic Health Records Modernization (EHRM) program to nine additional medical facilities in 2026, bringing the total number of deployment sites in 2026 to 13. […]

General Services Administration GSA

The General Services Administration’s (GSA) FedRAMP program that evaluates the security of cloud computing services used by Federal agencies is shrinking dramatically in size but remains operating at reduced size as part of GSA’s stable of technology-driven programs. […]

Cybersecurity

Secretary of Commerce Howard Lutnick announced on March 5 that the agency will be conducting a review of the Federal government’s Broadband Equity, Access, and Deployment (BEAD) Program with an aim to provide internet access for the lowest cost. […]

Tech Tonic-March 2025

The days are getting longer and the pull is getting stronger for Feds and techies of all stripes to put on a little green and join us at Tech Tonic on March 13 from 5 p.m. to 9 p.m. at Morton’s the Steakhouse in Washington, D.C., to get brand-new intel on Federal AI plans and take an early swing at celebrating St. Paddy’s Day. […]

The Merit Systems Protection Board (MSPB) issued an order on March 5 that blocks – at least for 45 days – actions by the Agriculture Department since mid-February to fire nearly 5,700 of the agency’s probationary employees – or employees that generally have less than two years on the job. […]

Defense Information Systems Agency, DISA

The Defense Information Systems Agency (DISA) has unveiled its highly anticipated updated data strategy that details the agency’s plans to optimize data usage over the next two years. […]

VA, Veterans Affairs
DoD Pentagon Military

The U.S. military’s Indo-Pacific Command (INDOPACOM) and European Command (EUCOM) are first in line to receive new generative artificial intelligence (GenAI) capabilities to help tackle some of the combatant commands’ tech-related challenges. […]

House Oversight and Reform Committee Democrats are looking to find out more about top White House advisor Elon Musk and his potential conflicts of interest while guiding the Department of Government Efficiency’s (DOGE) actions to root out what the Trump administration has called widespread government waste and corruption.  […]

A Federal district court judge in Rhode Island ruled today to approve a preliminary injunction that blocks the Trump administration from pursuing a freeze on trillions of dollars of congressionally approved grant and loan funding.    […]

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