Members of Congress are looking for answers from both Federal agencies and U.S. telecommunications service providers following a report from the Wall Street Journal last week that says Chinese government hackers may have breached major U.S. phone and broadband companies’ wiretapping systems. […]

Sen. Charles Grassley, R-Iowa, said this week he sent letters to 15 Federal agencies – along with the FBI and the White House – demanding information about their exposure to an AT&T data breach disclosed by the company last month that includes most wireless customer call and text records from May to October 2022. […]

The Department of Homeland Security’s U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) component has awarded an 11-year, $119 million task order to AT&T to help the agency modernize its networks and ensure reliable, high-speed wireline and wireless connectivity. […]

The Army National Guard has awarded a $15 million contract to AT&T via the General Services Administration’s Enterprise Infrastructure Solutions (EIS) contract to modernize the GuardNet command and control network. […]

The U.S. Coast Guard has selected AT&T to consolidate different data communications networks onto a single modernized data communications platform under a task order worth up to $161 million over 11 years. […]

The Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) has awarded a 12-year $725 million contract to AT&T to modernize the agency’s IP-based data communication platform and drive mission outcomes. […]

In a letter on Aug. 7, Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., wrote to telecom giants AT&T, T-Mobile, Sprint, and Verizon and urged them to store less sensitive customer data. […]

The Department of Justice (DoJ) announced Aug. 6 that it has extradited Muhammad Fahd, who allegedly bribed AT&T workers to plant malware and illegally unlock cell phones. […]

The Department of Justice (DoJ) has awarded a 15-year, $984 million task order on the Enterprise Infrastructure Solutions (EIS) contract to AT&T, the company announced in a July 29 press release. […]

Despite a lot of press in recent months about threats that China-based communications equipment maker Huawei may pose to the developing global 5G communications ecosystem because of the company’s close ties to the Chinese government, the U.S. is continuing to lead the world in 5G technology innovation, panelists at a Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) event said on July 10. […]

The Consumer Technology Association (CTA) announced May 1 that it has signed on to the Trump administration’s Pledge to America’s Workers. […]

The Department of Education announced its intent to extend its current contract for mobility services on Monday due to the delay in the Authority to Operate (ATO) process for vendors on the Enterprise Infrastructure Solutions (EIS) contract. […]

President Trump in Twitter postings this morning called for the rollout of 5G wireless services in the U.S., and took it one “G” further by saying he’d also like to see deployment of “6G” technology – an idea that is still largely hypothetical. […]

Sens. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., Kamala Harris, D-Calif., and Mark Warner, D-Va., along with FCC Commissioner Jessica Rosenworcel voiced strong opposition Tuesday and Wednesday to the reported sale of user location data by telecom service providers including Sprint, T-Mobile, and AT&T. […]

On Tuesday, Federal Communications Commission (FCC) Chairman Ajit Pai announced an investigation into how wireless services providers responded to Hurricane Michael, which devastated the Florida Panhandle and surrounding areas–along with service provider infrastructure–last week. […]

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. […]

Retired Gen. William Bender, who was Air Force CIO from 2014 until 2017, said on Thursday that while the pace of IT modernization across the services may be somewhat uneven, the military is making progress toward its modernization goals. […]

Welcome to MeriTalk News Briefs, where we bring you all the day’s action that didn’t quite make the headlines. No need to shout about ‘em, but we do feel that they merit talk. […]

California lawmakers on Thursday passed the California Consumer Privacy Act of 2018, one of the toughest U.S. laws governing data privacy. The legislation specifically targets information companies, including Google, Facebook, Amazon, and AT&T–many of whom are headquartered in California. […]

MeriTalk compiles a weekly roundup of contracts and other industry activity. Here’s what happened this week in the Federal Information Technology community. […]

The General Services Administration on Aug. 1 awarded a maximum 15-year, $50 billion Enterprise Infrastructure Solutions (EIS) contract to 10 telecommunications companies. The awardees include AT&T, BT Federal, Qwest Government Services (doing business as Centurylink QGS), Granite Telecommunications, Level 3 Communications, Manhattan Telecommunications, and Verizon. […]

Several states have started weighing alternative plans to the First Responder Network Authority’s initial outlines to create and operate a broadband network that supports first responder groups. Here’s what Arizona, Colorado, and New Hampshire are considering. […]

The Federal Communications Commission last week approved guidelines it will use to evaluate network proposals for states that want to opt out of FirstNet, the wireless broadband public safety network that AT&T is developing. AT&T was awarded the $6.5 billion contract earlier this year. […]

The First Responder Network Authority announced March 30 that it has selected AT&T to build and manage the nation’s first broadband network dedicated solely to first responder groups. […]

As IBM continues a strategic rebound under CEO Ginni Rometty, cloud already accounts for 17 percent of its business. But with cloud still in its early stages of development, IBM is doubling down on a few key aspects of the IBM cloud that make it different and potentially a game-changer for its corporate and government clients. […]

Ed tech startups can apply for the 2017 AT&T Aspire Accelerator through Feb. 7. The goal is to support innovations that can help every student achieve. […]