The House Oversight and Government Reform Committee on Thursday voted to approve bills that would elevate the role of the Federal CIO, and create a series of minimum functionality and security requirements for all Federal government agency public-facing websites and digital services. […]
The Department of Energy’s new office of Cybersecurity, Energy Security, and Emergency Response (CESER) has already begun work to provide support to the nation’s energy grid and critical infrastructure cybersecurity, and the head of the new office appeared in front of the House Energy and Commerce Committee Thursday to discuss the role of CESER within DoE. […]
Rep Will Hurd, R-Texas, chairman of the House IT subcommittee, questioned today whether Google’s decision in June to not renew a contract with the Defense Department for development of artificial intelligence technologies was influenced by what the congressman characterized as possible “influence operations” by the Chinese government. […]
With artificial intelligence (AI) the topic du jour on Capitol Hill, Sens. Brian Schatz, D-Hawaii; Cory Gardner, R-Colo.; Rob Portman, R-Ohio; and Kamala Harris, D-Calif., on Wednesday introduced the Artificial Intelligence in Government Act that would establish a Federal AI advisory board that aims to chart paths forward in the technology’s development. […]
The Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee on Wednesday voted to approve a handful of bills that place a strong emphasis on cybersecurity, IT supply chain security, and the enhancement of digital citizen services. […]
The House late Tuesday voted to approve H.R. 6229, which would reauthorize the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST). […]
A gaggle of tech and communications sector bellwethers presented a united front today at a Senate Commerce, Science, and Transportation Committee hearing on data privacy and protection issues, saying they support a bill to address those issues but sharing strong preferences for federal legislation that would preempt state law and appoint the Federal Trade Commission as the chief watchdog. […]
House IT Subcommittee Chair Will Hurd, R-Texas, and Ranking Member Robin Kelly, D-Ill., today introduced legislation to reauthorize, rename, codify, and elevate the role of the Federal CIO, a position initially created as part of the E-Government Act of 2002. The bill, called the Federal CIO Authorization Act of 2018, is designed to create a “clearer IT reporting structure within the Administration,” the lawmakers said in a release. […]
House Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., has appointed Rep. Jim Langevin, D-R.I., and former Rep. Patrick Murphy, D-Pa., to the recently created Cyberspace Solarium Commission, a 14-member public-private panel charged with developing consensus and actionable strategy to protect and defend the U.S. in cyberspace. […]
Funding needed for further U.S. research and development of quantum information sciences (QIS) and the computing and other advances that QIS is expected to yield, along with the pressing need to develop a highly skilled workforce to leverage those expected advances, dominated discussion today at a hearing of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee examining the Department of Energy’s (DoE) efforts in the QIS field. […]
Reps. Will Hurd, R-Texas, and Robin Kelly, D-Ill., today released a new white paper on artificial intelligence (AI) that urges the Federal government to increase its engagement with the technology. The paper focuses its attention on four key issue areas–workforce, privacy, biases, and malicious use of AI–and provides concrete recommendations for each area. […]
The software industry group BSA | The Software Alliance offered its support for the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Act in the Senate. […]
Sen. James Lankford, R-Okla., told Politico to expect an updated version of the Secure Elections Act to hit the Senate floor next month. […]
A multi-agency appropriations bill signed into law by President Trump on Friday provides funding for a new office at the Department of Energy focused on protecting critical infrastructure, along with a range of smaller IT-related projects. […]
Rep. Suzan DelBene, D-Wash., has introduced a consumer data privacy bill that would require online service providers to provide “opt-in” rights to consumers whose “sensitive personal information or behavioral data” they collect, store, process, sell, or share with third parties. […]
The Senate today approved H.R. 6157, a minibus funding bill which provides full-year FY 2019 funding to the departments of Defense, Education, Health and Human Services, and Labor, and provides a continuing resolution for short term funding for the entire Federal government until December. […]
The House Homeland Security Committee on Thursday voted to approve S. 1281, the Hack the Department of Homeland Security Act, that would establish a bug bounty pilot program within DHS. […]
The House on Thursday approved by voice vote H.R.6227, the National Quantum Initiative Act, which would coordinate a Federal program to accelerate quantum research and development “for the economic and national security” of the United States. […]
Rep. Jacky Rosen, D-Nev., introduced a new bill in the House on Thursday that “would establish a grant program within the Department of Labor to support the creation, implementation, and expansion of registered apprenticeship programs in cybersecurity.” […]
Sen. Ron Johnson, R-Wis., chairman of the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, led his committee today through a hearing aimed at finding “practical solutions” to a host of homeland security threats, but didn’t appear to land many easy or novel solutions. […]
A bipartisan group of senators wrote to Secretary of State Mike Pompeo on Tuesday questioning the State Department on what they called its failure to meet Federal cybersecurity standards, including a “near total absence of multifactor authentication (MFA).” […]
The Senate Judiciary Committee is ready to markup S. 2785, the DETER Act, on Thursday. […]
A significant trickle of Republican House members are joining ranks with Democrats to oppose President Trump’s August 30 declaration that he will freeze Federal civilian pay for calendar-year 2019. […]
A bill introduced by Rep. Blaine Luetkemeyer, R-Mo., chairman of the House Subcommittee on Financial Institutions and Consumer Credit, on Sept. 7 aims to create a national standard for financial institutions to notify consumers of data security breaches. […]
Airport and private sector cybersecurity officials warned House members on Thursday of persistent cyber threats to the aviation sector, with two witnesses saying they regard such threats as the most dangerous that the industry faces currently. […]
The U.S. Chamber of Commerce on Thursday released its set of legislative recommendations for Congress to consider if and when it tackles data privacy issues, and placed maximum emphasis on the ideas that “sensitive personal information” of individuals deserve the highest level of protection, and that state data privacy statutes should be preempted by new federal law. […]
The National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine (NASEM) is the latest in a string of organizations to release its recommendations on how Federal, state, and local officials can best secure U.S. elections, including the use of paper-ballot components. […]
The chairman and ranking member of the Senate Intelligence Committee today voiced some interest in considering Federal government regulation of social media companies and their services, but offered no concrete steps on how to do so. […]
A group of eight House Democrats representing districts in Maryland, Virginia, and the District of Columbia urged House and Senate leaders in a letter dated today to back an FY2019 pay increase of at least 1.9 percent for Federal workers–the amount included in legislation already approved by the Senate–following President Trump’s declaration last week that he would freeze Federal civilian pay for calendar-year 2019. […]
Today the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation approved, among other measures, a STEM-focused bill and two technology-related nominations. […]