Today’s House Homeland Security Committee hearing on DHS’s Fiscal Year 2021 budget request covered a wide array of topics. However, Chad Wolf, acting secretary of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), spent much of his time defending a budget cut to Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA). […]
After facing IT challenges with the implementation of the Forever GI Bill, Secretary of Veterans Affairs (VA) Robert Wilkie said during a Budget Request hearing for Fiscal Year 2021 that the department needed to look at its entire IT infrastructure’s readiness. […]
In a Feb. 26 letter to Dana Deasy, CIO of the Department of Defense (DoD), Sen. Mark Warner, D-Va., stressed the importance of vulnerability disclosure programs. […]
While senators at a Feb. 25 Appropriations Committee hearing agreed with Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Chad Wolf about the agency’s cybersecurity mission priority, election security cuts in the President’s Budget proposal raised questions from committee members. […]
While the 2020 election cycle has been officially underway for less than a month, there have already been significant technology concerns. While the most notable tech concern was the Feb. 3 Iowa Caucus, researchers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) raised additional concerns in a report published Feb. 13. […]
The House Homeland Security Committee advanced the State and Local Cybersecurity Improvement Act out of committee on Feb. 12. […]
The House Science, Space, and Technology Committee approved two bills on Feb. 12 to harden the U.S. electric grid against cyberattacks. […]
The Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) electronic health record (EHR) modernization launch in Spokane, Washington was indefinitely delayed on Feb. 10, leaving members of the House Committee on Veterans’ Affairs Subcommittee on Technology Modernization concerned about agency transparency. […]
Members of the House Consumer Protection and Commerce Subcommittee today discussed several major themes of draft legislation that aims to evolve the Federal government’s role in regulating the development of autonomous vehicle (AV) technology, and expanding the ability of industry to do more AV technology testing. […]
During today’s Senate Homeland Security Committee Hearing, both Committee Chairman Ron Johnson, R-Wis., and Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) Director Chris Krebs agreed that CISA’s role is largely similar to the Federal Emergency Management Agency’s mandate. […]
Maryann Feldman, an official helping to lead a congressionally-mandated effort to evaluate the Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) and the Small Business Technology Transfer (STTR) programs, said at a Feb. 5 House Science, Space, and Technology subcommittee hearing that the first SBIR assessment will be released in March. […]
Thursday at the FITARA Awards ceremony, a powerful group of government, Hill, and industry leaders will launch the public-private FITARA Forward Initiative. […]
Members of Congress have a lot on their plates, and on any given day understanding the nuances of technology issues may not be one of them. […]
Former Google CEO Eric Schmidt urged lawmakers on Jan. 29 to consider action on several steps the U.S. could take to extend its technological leadership in the world and fend off tech competition from China, including expanding a National Science Foundation (NSF) program to connect agency-sponsored researchers to more cloud computing resources. […]
Witnesses at today’s House Communications and Technology Subcommittee hearing agreed that closing the digital divide and increasing internet adoption in the U.S. requires a combination of private sector competition, and financial and regulatory help from the Federal government. […]
Members of Congress and officials from the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) discussed the value of data-driven suicide prevention strategies at a Jan. 29 House Committee on Veterans’ Affairs hearing led by committee Chairman Rep. Mark Takano, D-Calif. […]
The House Homeland Security Committee today voted to approve two bills important to the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) and its leadership and legal authorities. […]
A new report from the State Department’s Office of Inspector General (OIG) says that the agency made some headway on addressing IT problems in Fiscal Year 2019, but not enough to quell the internal watchdog’s concerns that lingering issues are leaving the agency exposed to major cybersecurity vulnerabilities. […]
While touting the Federal Communications Commission’s (FCC) efforts to smooth the path for 5G wireless infrastructure and service deployment, FCC Commissioner Brendan Carr told the Senate Commerce, Science, and Transportation Committee today that “accelerating infrastructure deployment [has] created a new challenge and opportunity.” […]
Sen. Mark Warner, D-Va., urged Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) Acting Administrator Uttam Dhillon in a Jan. 17 letter to release a “long-delayed rule” that will “ensure providers can successfully use telehealth to treat individuals with substance use disorders.” […]
House Oversight Committee members from both sides of the aisle expressed support at a Jan. 15 hearing for imposing some level of Federal regulation on the use of facial recognition technologies. […]
A group of bipartisan legislators led by Rep. Jerry McNerney, D-Calif., sent a letter on Jan. 10 to Federal Communications Commissioner Ajit Pai to thank him for his December 2019 vote to “modernize the 5.9 GHz band.” […]
In a nearly three hour hearing, the Committee on House Administration heard expert testimony regarding U.S. election security, with a specific focus on voting system security. […]
The Senate on Dec. 19 voted to confirm the nominations of Dana Deasy as Defense Department CIO, and Lisa Hershman as DoD’s chief management officer, following up on a confirmation hearing by the Senate Armed Services Committee on Oct. 29. […]
The Senate Commerce, Science, and Transportation Committee is poised to take action next week on a range of tech-related legislation including bills dealing with making available spectrum for 5G wireless services, and further action to rein in robocalling. […]
The House Oversight and Reform Committee’s Government Operations Subcommittee has scheduled a hearing for Dec. 11 at 2:00 p.m. to discuss results of the subcommittee’s upcoming release of the ninth edition of its FITARA (Federal Information Technology Acquisition Reform Act) Scorecard. […]
Days after Sen. Brian Schatz, D-Hawaii, introduced data privacy legislation to the Senate, the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation held a hearing to examine legislative proposals to protect consumer data privacy. […]
With election security firmly in place as the popular policy de jour on Capitol Hill in the ramp-up to the 2020 election cycle, House members from both sides of the aisle voiced support at a Nov. 19 hearing for more focus on cyberattacks targeting election infrastructure, with a particular focus on ransomware exploits. […]
The Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) is making progress on improving cybersecurity, but with past weaknesses and upcoming modernization efforts, the department needs to address outstanding issues and set a solid security foundation, witnesses testified to the House Veterans Affairs Subcommittee on Technology Modernization on November 14. […]
Sen. Jacky Rosen, D-Nev., announced Nov. 7 that she has joined the Senate Cybersecurity Caucus, a bipartisan group that is intended to “provide a platform for Senators and their staffs to stay informed on major policy issues and developments in cybersecurity.” […]