Government Executive - Tech

America at 250: What the Census reveals about our journey

John Breeden II — Wed, 01 Jul 2026 06:00:00 -0400

On July 4, 2026, the United States will celebrate its 250th birthday, a milestone that belongs to all 342 million of us. But one of the more interesting ways to think about that anniversary is through the federal institution that has spent almost the entire life of the republic trying to count, describe and understand who “we” actually are. The Census Bureau’s new Freedom 250 Project frames the semi-quincentennial as a chance to look back at 250 years of “measuring America’s journey,” which is a pretty good way to describe what the agency has been doing almost from the start.

The decennial census itself is nearly as old as the country. The first one was taken in 1790, only 14 years after the Declaration of Independence. It took 18 months to complete and counted 3,929,214 people, including 697,624 enslaved people, or 17.8% of the total population. It covered our 13 original states along with Kentucky, Maine, Vermont and the Southwest Territory, which later became known as Tennessee. That first count was not just a bureaucratic exercise. It was one of the earliest ways the new nation tried to understand its own size, shape and future.

That first census also reminds us how much the country has changed, and how much of today’s changes were already underway right from the start. For example, the Census Bureau’s America 250 story notes that people’s westward movement showed up early in the counts. By the time the 1890 census rolled around, officials who studied the totals concluded that the so-called “frontier line” no longer existed because people had already spread deeply into the American West. In other words, the census was not just recording static numbers on a page. It was documenting the physical movement of the country as Americans pushed outward, claimed more land and reshaped the map.

The scale of the nation’s growth is still striking. According to Census Bureau estimates for July 2025, about 342 million people now live in the United States, almost 123 times more than in 1780, the closest population benchmark to when independence was declared in 1776. That number alone says a lot. The United States did not simply get older over the past 250 years. It grew, spread and multiplied on a scale the founders could not have possibly predicted.

Just look at the number of people who lived in the original 13 colonies compared with today. Georgia had one of the biggest population swings, going from just 82,548 people in 1790 to 10.7 million today. Virginia had the largest population of the 13 colonies at 691,737, growing to 8.6 million as of the 2020 Census. Meanwhile, New York was a middle-of-the-road colony in terms of population with 340,120 residents in 1790. Today it’s the fourth most populous state in the country with 20.2 million residents.

And yet even with all of that growth, some things are oddly durable. One of the more humanizing details in the Census Bureau’s recent names data is that eight of the nation’s top 15 last names in 2020 were also among the most common in 1790. If your last name happens to be Smith, Johnson, Williams, Brown, Jones, Miller, Davis or Wilson, then you are carrying a name stretching back to the earliest days of the republic. Despite a more than 84-fold increase in population since then, those names remained among the top 15 in the 2020 Census. Today they are joined by others at the top of the list including Garcia, Rodriguez, Lopez and Anderson.

That mix of change and continuity may be the most American part of the story. The census has recorded territorial expansion, urban growth, industrialization, migration and the long movement of population toward new regions and opportunities. At the same time, it has preserved quieter patterns that make the country feel connected to its own past. Names endure. Places rise and fall. New populations arrive, move and settle. And every 10 years, the census catches another snapshot of a nation that is never entirely still.

There is also something fitting about using the Census Bureau as a lens for the nation’s 250th anniversary because the agency’s work has always been about more than population alone. Its Freedom 250 materials emphasize both people and the economy, and that broader mission helps explain why census data has been so useful for understanding the nation over time. It does not just tell us how many Americans there are. It helps tell us where they are, how the country has expanded and how one generation’s America gradually turned into another’s.

That is why the Census Bureau feels like such an appropriate federal companion to the nation’s 250th birthday. For almost 236 years, census-taking has helped document how the United States kept becoming itself. It has counted the country’s growth, tracked its movement and quietly preserved the evidence of how far America has traveled. And as the nation gets ready to celebrate a quarter millennium of independence, that may be one of the clearest ways to see both where our country began and how much of our journey is still unfolding.

John Breeden II is an award-winning journalist and reviewer with over 20 years of experience covering technology. He is the CEO of the Tech Writers Bureau, a group that creates technological thought leadership content for organizations of all sizes. Twitter: @LabGuys

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Pentagon launches ‘War Force’ initiative to onboard tech talent

Edward Graham — Tue, 30 Jun 2026 09:36:50 -0400

The Office of Personnel Management and the Pentagon jointly announced the launch of a new initiative on Tuesday to bring top software engineering talent into the Department of Defense, part of a broader governmentwide push to hire more skilled technologists.

The recruitment effort, called War Force, operates under OPM’s larger Tech Force program. That initiative launched in December 2025 to onboard tech and cybersecurity professionals across federal agencies, although it notably followed Trump administration moves to let go of thousands of tech-focused workers and shutter several innovation-focused units.

OPM Director Scott Kupor said in a statement that War Force “builds on the momentum of Tech Force by connecting outstanding engineers with opportunities to solve complex challenges alongside the War Department.”

President Donald Trump signed an executive order last September that authorized DOD to use the “secondary title” of War Department — framing that is also reflected in the initiative's name.

OPM said the War Force recruitment effort “will launch with a targeted hiring campaign,” with a focus on bringing in applicants who have experience “deploying and integrating advanced technologies — including frontier AI, machine learning, automation, and data systems — and designing, building, and maintaining reliable software solutions that directly support operational needs on behalf of the American warfighter.” Job applications will be accepted through July 10.

Pentagon Chief Technology Officer Emil Michael said in a statement that the War Force will help with “executing the key tenets of the War Department’s AI Acceleration Strategy.” That guidance was released in January and outlines the department’s plans for rapidly integrating AI capabilities into its operations.

The War Force recruitment effort also comes after DOD announced in April that it was launching a cyber apprenticeship program this summer to bring more skilled personnel into the agency.

During public remarks at the SAP NOW summit in Washington, D.C., last week, Pentagon Chief Information Officer Kirsten Davies said the apprenticeship program “has already generated more than 70,000 inquiries,” despite the effort not officially launching until July.

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Secret Service phone security lapses put US officials at risk, watchdog says

David DiMolfetta — Fri, 26 Jun 2026 14:18:00 -0400

The Secret Service failed to effectively secure and manage mobile devices used for official business, including during protective operations, creating risks that adversaries could intercept sensitive communications and use them to target U.S. leaders and other protectees, according to a watchdog report issued Thursday.

The Department of Homeland Security’s inspector general determined Secret Service employees routinely relied on personal phones for official work, including during domestic and overseas protective assignments, because government-issued devices lacked key tools needed to communicate with law enforcement, foreign partners and other officials.

Those personal devices were not managed or secured by the government, creating vulnerabilities that could expose operational details, employee information, contacts, location data, photos and other sensitive material, the report said.

Adversaries “could have intercepted and exploited Secret Service information, placing at risk our Nation’s leaders, other protectees, and employees — especially when unsecured devices were used overseas,” the inspector general wrote.

The audit grew out of broader reviews of the Secret Service following the July 13, 2024 attempted assassination of then-former President Donald Trump at a campaign rally in Butler, Pa. During those reviews, the watchdog said it learned that Secret Service personnel frequently used personal cellphones for official business, raising security and federal records concerns.

One episode described in the report connects the issue directly to the Butler security breakdown. Shortly before the attempted assassination, a Secret Service employee used a personal device to receive a picture message from local law enforcement of the would-be assassin because of reliability concerns with the employee’s government-issued phone. The employee told investigators that prior issues had prevented them from sending text messages with images using government equipment.

The watchdog also found that, after the attack, another employee had to take extra steps to email a photo of the would-be assassin to colleagues because a known issue prevented them from simply forwarding the image by text on a government-issued device.

The report points much of the blame at the Secret Service’s Office of the Chief Information Officer, which is responsible for setting mobile device security standards, managing government-issued devices and ensuring compliance with agency policies.

Secret Service employees told investigators that government-issued devices often lacked commercial messaging apps commonly used by foreign police, military officials, embassy drivers, State Department personnel and other partners overseas. Some also said they needed personal devices to access websites blocked on government phones, including sites used to research restaurants where a protectee was scheduled to dine.

Employees also cited reliability problems. According to the report, government-issued devices frequently disconnected from the Secret Service virtual private network, and about 12% of wireless help desk tickets involving mobile devices were related to VPN issues.

The watchdog found that the use of personal devices had become routine and expected during foreign assignments. Of 24 employees and supervisors interviewed about international travel reimbursement records, 23 said they relied on personal devices, with most saying they needed them during nearly every foreign assignment.

The inspector general also reviewed call and text records and found more than 15,000 instances in which employees sent or received calls from colleagues’ personal phones while working protective events. It found about 24,000 text messages between personal devices and government-issued phones, though its analysis did not include communications made solely between personal devices or through messaging apps.

The report also found that Secret Service mobile devices used overseas lacked required mobile threat defense software designed to provide real-time protection from malware, cyberattacks and other threats. The Secret Service did not begin installing that software on any government-issued mobile devices until August 2025, despite DHS policy requiring it for devices used outside the United States.

The watchdog also found that the Secret Service did not consistently wipe data from government phones after employees returned from international missions, even though agency policy required employees to wipe devices within 24 hours of returning to the United States. One employee told investigators their phone had never been wiped over the course of eight years and 20 international trips, including travel to high-risk countries. Another employee reported 15 trips over eight years and estimated their phone had been wiped only four times.

The Secret Service concurred with all five watchdog recommendations, including recommendations to improve its process for identifying mobile device needs, strengthen cybersecurity training, communicate that personal devices are not allowed for official business and update app vulnerability testing policies.

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Artificial intelligence is cutting months off nuclear licensing review times, official says

Edward Graham — Fri, 26 Jun 2026 10:00:00 -0400

Artificial intelligence has already helped the Nuclear Regulatory Commission shave years off its typical licensing review process, an agency official said on Thursday. Now, the NRC is looking at how it can safely adopt other emerging capabilities to further speed up its review processes.

Speaking at the ATARC AI for impact summit in Virginia, NRC Chief Data Officer and Deputy Chief AI Officer Basia Sall said uses of AI have built upon recent regulatory changes and federal guidance to turbocharge the once drawn-out procedure for granting licenses for nuclear facilities.

“I’m happy to report we've already reduced the amount of time it takes for licensing,” Sall said. “For example, one type of licensing would take four years. We said we're going to get it down to 18 months. We just finished that first round of that licensing in nine months.”

Not all of this is strictly due to AI. President Donald Trump issued an executive order in May 2025 to reform the NRC, which included setting an 18-month deadline on licensing reviews. But AI has helped the agency further shorten those licensing timelines, and Sall said internal personnel believe they can use the technologies to make the process even more efficient.

“I think some of our AI gurus at our agency were like, ‘Oh, yeah, we can do it better,’” she said.

NRC is also using AI to help with drafting documents “to make sure we look at the precedent” of previous decisions, Sall added.

Engaging with industry partners who are developing their own AI tools has also helped NRC conduct faster regulatory reviews. Sall said the agency has allowed some of these actors “to take our NRC public data and curate those data sets” for their own relevant applications.

“What that means is we receive a much better application than we have in the past,” she said. “We don't have as many questions. It's clear once we get it into our hands, we start our process, we accept it and then we start to do our review process.”

Using GSA’s AI offerings

NRC has also been leveraging some of the software and products made available through the General Services Administration’s OneGov initiative, which launched in April 2025 and provides agencies with significant discounts on select private sector technologies by treating the entire government as one customer. More than 20 companies have reached deals so far with GSA to offer their services at discounted rates.

Through OneGov’s offerings, Sall said NRC has already been testing AI tools like Anthropic’s Claude, Azure OpenAI and Google Gemini “for limited use cases with public data” and added that “we're finding some good success with that.”

GSA said in May that agencies have placed more than 120 orders for AI offerings through the strategy, which has made these technologies available for use to around 3.4 million federal employees.

NRC is also just beginning to take advantage of GSA’s USAi platform, which launched last August and serves as a testing ground for agencies to experiment with AI tools. A GSA official said earlier this month that “over 25 different agencies” were already using USAi, with an additional 16 others expected to begin using the platform before the end of 2026.

“We're looking at various tools about what makes sense,” Sall said, adding that “it’s going to be a menu” when it comes to testing out the various models on the platform.

Beyond experimenting with additional AI use cases, Sall said NRC has also been developing its own services. She cited the agency’s internally-built tool, known as SimplifAI, as something "which we're really proud of,” adding that it was built off Azure OpenAI and “we are finding that we're using that for our regulatory documents.” NRC recently moved to a 2.0 version after the initial model became deprecated.

NRC’s most recent AI use case inventory says the text retrieval and generation tool enhances the agency’s “efficiency and consistency in licensing, oversight, and other regulatory activities.”

Sall said some employees have also been training SimplifAI to help them write speeches.

“We're really proud that tool continues to develop,” she said, adding that “having those tools — a menu of tools — is going to be key, we think, moving forward.”

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FAA awards software and AI contract as part of air traffic control modernization

Edward Graham — Tue, 23 Jun 2026 17:26:47 -0400

The Federal Aviation Administration announced on Monday that it awarded Air Space Intelligence a 12-year, $875 million contract for new software and artificial intelligence capabilities, part of the agency’s ambitious effort to modernize the nation’s outdated air traffic control system.

The software company will provide “two complementary, cutting-edge technologies that will improve how flights are scheduled and managed throughout the National Airspace System,” according to the FAA.

These include Flow Management Data and Services, which the agency said will serve as “the new technological backbone” of a modernized Air Traffic Control System Command Center. ASI is also tasked with delivering a Strategic Management of Airspace, Routes and Trajectories — or SMART — system.

In a fact sheet, the agency said “Using AI, SMART analyzes airline schedules, weather, airport capacity, airspace conditions, and operational constraints to predict traffic flows and identify potential conflicts before they occur.”

The FAA said it is hoping to begin initial deployments of SMART as soon as this fall. ASI said it expects both systems to be rolled out over the next 12 to 24 months.

“Every day, our air traffic professionals knowingly manage thousands of scheduling conflicts across the National Airspace System, which ultimately end up as delays for the traveling public,” FAA Administrator Bryan Bedford said in a statement. “FMDS with the SMART capabilities will help us address that challenge by improving how we manage airspace before flights depart, reducing congestion, easing controller workload, and directly cutting down delays across the system.”

The contract is a part of the FAA and the Transportation Department’s broader push to upgrade the nation’s air traffic control system.

Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy announced the launch of the ambitious effort in May 2025, saying at the time that it would entail some brick-and-mortar upgrades but that “everything else that controls the airspace is going to be brand new.” A key part of this effort, he said, will be replacing legacy systems and antiquated technologies with new capabilities, such as a modernized flight management system and updated ground radar systems at U.S. airports.

The initiative’s launch came on the heels of several high-profile air traffic control outages in the last few years, as well as the crash of an Army Black Hawk helicopter and a commercial airliner near Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport in January 2025 that killed all 67 people on both aircraft.

During an April event held just shy of the modernization effort’s one-year anniversary, Duffy said a few project workstreams were a “little behind,” but added that “for the most part, we’re on track to have this project completed before President [Donald] Trump leaves office.”

The FAA announced in December that it had selected Peraton as the project’s prime integrator to oversee the new Air Traffic Control System contract.

The One Big Beautiful Bill, which Trump signed into law in July 2025, allocated $12.5 billion for the air traffic control modernization effort, although the agency in December called that amount a “down payment” and said at the time that it would need an additional $20 billion for the initiative.

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Jim Flyzik helped transform government IT from back-office function to mission enabler

Nick Wakeman — Mon, 22 Jun 2026 07:00:00 -0400

The federal government went through tremendous changes in the late 1990s and early 2000s.

The Clinton Administration’s National Partnership for Reinventing Government to streamline processes and cut bureaucracy was one of them. Then there was the Y2K threat and the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001.

These were large momentous events that became watershed moments and elevated the role of information technology from a back-office function to a mission-enabler.

Jim Flyzik, who died on June 4 at age 72, played a critical role in this transformation as a long-time IT executive at the Treasury Department and one of the government's first chief information officers. He helped stand up the infrastructure for the launch of Homeland Security Department.

Flyzik is being remembered by colleagues and friends for his many accolades and accomplishments and for his character and integrity.

“Jim Flyzik was the rare kind of colleague who quietly made everyone around him better,” said Ira Hobbs, a long-time government executive and former Treasury CIO. “He possessed a beautiful combination of selflessness and dedication.”

Charles Armstrong, another former government CIO, described how Flyzik built his career around hard work, determination, and relationship building.

“During the 1990s, Jim pushed for adoption of the internet in government. He helped leaders from the vice president to the rank-and-file program leader under the value of new technology in terms they could understand,” Armstrong said.

Flyzik’s career also intersected with the passage of the 1996 Clinger-Cohen Act, which created the CIO position across the agencies. That law also led to the formation of the Federal CIO Council and more governmentwide cooperation.

Flyzik was one of the early leaders of the council and was recognized as a proponent of finding common solutions across agencies.

His accolades included being selected for the Federal 100 and Eagle awards given by FCW, now part of NextGov and GovExec.

It is hard to imagine how disconnected government IT was then, but Flyzik was a driving force at the CIO Council that he served as vice chair for.

Flyzik came into his own with the passage of the Clinger-Cohen Act, said Ed Meagher, a former Veterans Affairs Department staffer.

“Many of us post Clinger Cohen CIOs were zealots who wanted to storm the bastions of entrenched resistance to change,” Meagher said. “But Jim was the ultimate pragmatic tactician. He knew how to calm us down and work methodically to get every CIO reporting directly to the secretary of their department.”

Flyzik's ability to speak in a non-threatening way to those entrenched bureaucrats was a key to his success, Meagher said.

“One could count on the monthly council meetings having a packed agenda, be high energy and sprinkled with zingers and humor. And then Jim summing up, "Okay, so this is how things will go down,” said Alan Balutis, a long-time government official and a former senior director and distinguished fellow at Cisco Systems.

“He was a leader in getting the CIO Council up and running, especially making the link between the newly created agency CIOs and the Office of Management and Budget,” said Mark Forman, a former federal CIO. “He was always positive, a person with humor and class.”

Meagher said that it was Flyzik who lured him back into government service to take VA CIO post.

“He was the master of the soft sell,” Meagher said.

While Flyzik was a leader who saw the value of IT and how it can contribute to the mission of government, many of his former colleagues talked about what he meant to them as a person.

“He cared about people both personally and professionally. He taught many of us to think beyond the boundaries that we set for ourselves,” Armstrong said.

Rob Guerra, another former government executive, shared how Flyzik liked to mentor young people. After Flyzik retired from government, he joined a consulting firm that Guerra formed with Phil Kiviat.

“Jim was a very talented and impactful guy,” Guerra said.

“One of our brightest stars went out,” said Bob Woods, a former General Services Administration official. “He was open-minded and a collaborative kind of guy. He knew that you got a better product when you had more people involved.”

After his retirement, Flyzik also joined Tom Trezza as part of the Federal Executive Forum radio program to showcase government leaders who make an impact. Flyzik became the host and moderator.

“I can’t remember a single person who would ever refuse him because of his reputation and the respect for what he accomplished while in government,” Trezza said.

Flyzik’s obituary speaks about his love for his family. His wife Candace and a daughter were by his side when he died June 4 in Myrtle Beach, S.C., with his wife.

A celebration of Flyzik’s life was scheduled for June 19 at the Tower Club in Vienna, Va.

A second celebration of life is set for July 25 in Flyzik’s hometown of Lansdale, Pa., at the Cannoneers Sports Club. That event will run from 3-6 p.m.

In lieu of flowers, the family asks that donations be made in his name to the Pulmonary Fibrosis Foundation at pulmonaryfibrosis.org or March of Dimes at marchofdimes.org/dmv.

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HHS plans AI pilot for employees who need more than chatbots

Alexandra Kelley — Thu, 18 Jun 2026 08:00:00 -0400

The Department of Health and Human Services is seeking industry feedback on the formation of a short-term, fixed-price pilot program to inform how the agency can best employ artificial intelligence solutions across the enterprise, focusing on tools that go beyond the basic chat and summarization technologies.

In a Request for Information published on June 8, HHS is focusing on how to implement an AI product that can cater to the department’s “power users,” or individuals that leverage advanced functions in technologies and systems. The goal is for HHS to empower these users to explore advanced AI models and capabilities to see how they can acclimate to and accelerate HHS workflows.

“HHS needs to observe how power users utilize advanced AI capabilities, how those capabilities map to HHS mission workflows, what guardrails and administrative controls are necessary, what can be enabled immediately, what requires configuration or integration, and what requires additional security, privacy, records, accessibility, or authorization work before enterprise scaling,” the draft RFI reads.

HHS specifies the need for a fixed-price contract that offers “inclusive, all-you-can-eat-style access bundles” to try a variety of solutions for power users. This approach is intended to help the agency determine baseline power-user AI usage, along with an operational methodology that works for the agency as a whole.

The pilot will also examine what advanced AI models and their features will require customization to work effectively with agency workloads; how to establish security and authorization logic; and ways to contribute to a shared operational AI use framework for HHS. Specific capabilities HHS wants its power users to access and investigate include premium reasoning, long context, agentic-capable models and more.

“The pilot is intended to generate operational evidence that cannot be obtained from paper market research alone,” the RFI reads. “HHS needs to observe how power users utilize advanced AI capabilities, how those capabilities map to HHS mission workflows, what guardrails and administrative controls are necessary…and what requires additional security, privacy, records, accessibility, or authorization work before enterprise scaling.”

As the pilot begins, the RFI states that the chosen model may be accessed by up to 1,000 authorized, portable HHS power users, but includes an option to scale access to up to 10,000 power users within the agency, depending on what the developer offers.

HHS’s endeavors follow the workforce reductions at the agency that were part of the Trump administration’s Department of Government Efficiency efforts to reduce bureaucratic bloat and backlog. In May, the agency experienced more layoffs and also began undergoing job reclassifications that would shift which positions have civil service job protections and which can be more easily terminated.

In light of the staff reductions, HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. said in April that the agency intends to hire 12,000 employees in an effort to “rightsize” the agency.

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AI skills are becoming part of the hiring baseline at the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency

Thomas Novelly — Thu, 18 Jun 2026 07:00:00 -0400

As the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency rebuilds its workforce after last year’s DOGE cuts, job applicants need to bring some AI proficiency, the agency’s associate operations director said Tuesday.

“We're hiring now, and every single new person we hire has to prove some capability of AI and data management,” Navy Rear Adm. Michael Baker said at the Defense One Tech Summit. “Every single new hire has to go through AI and data management training.”

It’s not just the new employees, Baker said: “Every single old hire has to go through AI training and data management so that all of us are operating inside of the reality of what this ecosystem is.”

NGA leaders have grand visions for weaving AI into the agency’s operations. For example, officials are exploring its use for human resources tasks, a move Baker said would take “the burden off of the operator.” (Recently, a deputy director of human development at NGA expressed fears that employees would get so dependent on AI that their skills would atrophy.)

Baker said he uses an AI agent at work.

“And a real ideal is, in the future, that agent is also helping to train me.” Baker said. “We're working together as we go back and forth to think through a problem. That's been the power of, really, this agentic AI, generative capabilities that you can have as you're thinking through things … In the past, maybe you are using the machine to help you understand history. We're moving to the place where I'm using the machine to help me try to predict and understand the future.”

The Navy admiral said AI agents might eventually be used for high-level strategic planning, and said it could be used to navigate the “insatiable requirements that the intelligence community” demands when calculating risk.

Baker said it’s a balancing act when adopting that technology, and said he wants the agency to rapidly innovate but also wants to be mindful of security and avoid “chaos.”

“That is the complex pace that we're in,” Baker said. “That's a really hard challenge for leaders, but it's a pretty fun space to be in.”

NGA currently has about 14,500 civilian, military and contract employees, according to its website. It’s not clear how many people left in the Trump administration’s rush to reduce intelligence-community headcount by thousands of workers last year. Employment figures for the community’s largest agencies are classified, Reuters has reported.

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AI is taking parts of background checks from 'months to hours,' clearance agency says

David DiMolfetta — Wed, 17 Jun 2026 08:00:00 -0400

The nation’s largest counterintelligence unit aims to use artificial intelligence tools to speed security clearance reviews for people and companies seeking to do sensitive work on behalf of the government.

The Defense Counterintelligence and Security Agency can use AI to reduce parts of the vetting process from “months to hours,” said Mark Nehmer, an agency analytics and innovation chief who spoke Tuesday on a panel at the Defense One Tech Summit in Virginia.

DCSA is the Defense Department’s main agency for conducting background investigations and vetting personnel for access to classified information, and serves as a key determinant for whether companies are eligible to work with military and intelligence agencies.

A recent congressionally approved acquisition overhaul, which encourages defense officials to prioritize goods and services from the commercial market, means that the counterintelligence agency will have to process some 43,000 clearance requests per year, he estimated.

“We’re trying to use AI exquisitely, use AI to make these little tiny decisions, and then bring that up to a human, so they can actually have a package of evidence to say, ‘I asked, and this is exactly the conclusion I will come to as a senior analyst that has to make those decisions day-in and day-out,’” Nehmer said.

He did not specify what AI systems would be used for the efforts.

The remarks are significant because they highlight how the government is applying AI to a key national security function that determines who has access to clearances, and they add another case to a long list of examples showing how the federal enterprise is using AI to speed operations.

DCSA has led the government’s background check process since 2019, when the Office of Personnel Management handed off its National Background Investigations Bureau to the Pentagon.

DCSA’s use of AI builds on a years-long effort to automate and overhaul the federal background-check system. The agency has enrolled millions of clearance holders in continuous vetting under an initiative known as Trusted Workforce 2.0, though the broader modernization effort has faced repeated delays, cost overruns and congressional scrutiny.

Over the weekend, the U.S. invoked an export control mechanism to essentially ban two major Anthropic frontier models, escalating debates over how Washington could exert itself over AI usage in the government. The decision has been widely criticized.

GovExec Editor-in-Chief Frank Konkel contributed to this report.

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Sen. Warner probes whether cyber agency workforce cuts weakened state support

David DiMolfetta — Tue, 16 Jun 2026 12:02:13 -0400

Sen. Mark Warner, D-Va., is pressing the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency for records on staffing levels and vacancies across its regional offices, warning that workforce cuts over the last year may have weakened the agency’s ability to support state and local governments facing cyber threats.

In a Tuesday letter to acting CISA Director Nick Andersen that was first shared with Nextgov/FCW, the vice chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee asked the agency to provide both headquarters and regional organizational charts from January 2025, October 2025 and the present day, along with details on vacancies and explanations as to why employees left their posts.

The letter also asks CISA for data going back to January 2023 on services provided to state and local governments, including how many requests the agency received and fulfilled, as well as how quickly it responded.

The request comes after Warner introduced the Guaranteeing Universal Access to Cybersecurity Act — legislation first reported by Nextgov/FCW — that would restore funding for the Multi-State Information Sharing and Analysis Center, or MS-ISAC, a key cyber intelligence-sharing hub used by many state and local governments.

“The Trump administration’s dramatic reduction of Cybersecurity & Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) staff, defunding of the MS-ISAC, and cutting over $700 million in CISA’s proposed fiscal year 2027 budget demonstrates a dangerous underestimation of the threats facing our nation from adversaries and criminals who seek to destabilize our national security, economy, public health, and safety,” the senator wrote.

CISA is working to hire around 330 employees in the coming months, Andersen said last week. The agency has lost a significant share of its workforce over the past year after the Trump administration moved to reduce and restructure the cyber shop through a mix of layoffs, early retirement offers, transfers and program cuts. Some 180 job offers are expected by the end of June.

Warner said efforts to boost staffing are “welcome” but “they appear insufficient given the scale of threats facing our nation’s cybersecurity and critical infrastructure, particularly at the state level.”

His letter asks CISA to respond by June 26. The agency did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The letter flags concerns from governors, mayors, state chief information officers and others about CISA’s ability to provide services. State and local officials, cybersecurity groups and former officials have repeatedly warned that reductions in federal support leave smaller governments more vulnerable to cyberattacks, especially with midterm elections coming in November.

CISA has encouraged state and local governments to seek help from its regional teams, though half of the agency’s 10 regional directors are serving in an acting capacity, the letter adds. One CISA regional website also appears to misspell the name of its acting director, Warner wrote, referring to the spelling of Region 2 Director Mohamed Telab, whose first name is written as “Mohammed.”

Cybersecurity has long drawn bipartisan support in Washington, but CISA has become a recurring target of GOP scrutiny over its past work countering election-related disinformation. Since last year, Trump administration officials have sought to “refocus” the agency’s mission, arguing that CISA had strayed too far from its core tasks.

Last week, the House Appropriations Committee approved some $2.35 billion for CISA in the coming 2027 fiscal year — around $253 million below its fiscal 2026 level and about $135 million below the Trump administration’s initial FY27 budget request.

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White House cyber office hire triggers leadership changes inside infrastructure security agency

David DiMolfetta — Mon, 15 Jun 2026 07:00:00 -0400

Steve Casapulla, an infrastructure security executive in the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency, is being detailed as the assistant national cyber director for policy in the White House’s cyber office, prompting a slew of leadership shifts inside CISA, sources tell Nextgov/FCW.

With Casapulla pivoting to the Office of the National Cyber Director, Scott Breor — an associate director for the agency’s security programs — will take up his post leading the Infrastructure Security Division, according to one current U.S. official, one former U.S. official and a third person familiar with the matter.

Sean Haglund, an associate director in CISA’s Office of Bombing Prevention, will serve as ISD’s acting deputy director, added the sources, who requested anonymity to communicate their knowledge of the new positions.

Chip Abernathy, who has served in the agency’s Office of the Chief of Staff, is moving to the National Risk Management Center to serve as an acting assistant director, while leadership for CISA’s Strategy, Policy and Plans office will be announced in the coming days, the people familiar also said.

Casapulla’s pivot comes shortly after Thomas Lind left his post heading policy at ONCD. The move was first reported by Politico. Alexandra Seymour also recently left her role as a deputy policy official in ONCD, Nextgov/FCW first reported.

A CISA spokesperson said the agency "does not comment on ongoing personnel matters.” ONCD did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Significant morale decline at ONCD — attributed in part to misgivings from government and industry over the office’s handling of cyber-AI issues under director Sean Cairncross — has plagued the White House office, with some staff weighing departures, multiple people have described to Nextgov/FCW in recent weeks.

CISA, meanwhile, is working to hire a few hundred staff in the coming months, acting Director Nick Andersen said this week. CISA has lost a significant share of its workforce over the past year as the Trump administration has moved to reduce the size of and restructure the agency through a mix of layoffs, buyouts, early retirements and program cuts.

Andersen told a largely private sector audience on Tuesday that CISA is poised for renewed growth and “significant investments,” citing Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin’s recent testimony that the agency needs to hire about 600 more employees. CISA has already begun work on an initial plan to fill 329 “mission-critical” roles, with about 180 tentative job offers expected by the end of June, he said.

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Surveillance authority nears historic lapse as House deadlock meets intelligence leadership fight

David DiMolfetta — Fri, 12 Jun 2026 11:49:58 -0400

The House failed to approve an extension of a powerful foreign spying authority on Thursday, putting it on course to statutorily lapse for the first time in its history, even as President Donald Trump has named his choice for a permanent spy chief in an apparent bid to defuse a fight over the intelligence community’s leadership.

Hours after the 218-198 vote on Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act — which was fraught with bipartisan objections to Bill Pulte’s appointment to serve as acting director of national intelligence — President Donald Trump said he would name Jay Clayton, the U.S. attorney for the Southern District of New York and former chairman of the Securities and Exchange Commission, to serve in the role permanently.

Section 702 lets agencies like the NSA and FBI collect communications of foreigners abroad without a warrant, but the calls, texts and phone calls of Americans communicating with foreign targets can also be gathered, a caveat that has long raised constitutional concerns with privacy advocates.

“Few people anywhere in the Legal Community are respected at the level of Jay,” Trump said in a Truth Social post Thursday. “I encourage the United States Senate to confirm Jay as soon as possible.”

An impasse between the White House and Democrats has persisted, with Democrats warning that Pulte’s role in mortgage fraud reviews last year could foreshadow an abuse of intelligence tools to target the president’s political opponents. Speaking to reporters in the Oval Office, Trump praised Clayton, and said Pulte would only be in his post “for a short while.”

It’s unclear how the appointment of Clayton, who appears to not have prior national intelligence experience, would affect the outcome of a 702 extension. After Thursday, the House is scheduled to recess until June 23, making it likely that the spying power would statutorily lapse for the first time in its existence for at least a week.

In a statement, Sen. Mark Warner, D-Va., the vice chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee, said that he has “known and respected Jay Clayton for many years” and believes “he is a capable public servant.”

But he said the timing of the announcement is suspicious, noting that “the president could have put forward a qualified nominee from the beginning. Instead, he waited until the House of Representatives went out of town, choosing a path that raises the risk of an entirely avoidable lapse in a critical national security tool.”

Warner added that there needs to be a guarantee that Pulte will not serve as acting DNI in order for the Senate to take up a FISA extension.

“Either Director [Tulsi] Gabbard must remain in place or the administration must designate the Senate-confirmed Principal Deputy DNI as the acting head through any transition,” he said, referring to Aaron Lukaas, a number two official in that office.

“I have known Jay Clayton for decades and worked with him during his time as Chairman of the Securities Exchange Commission,” Rep. Jim Himes, D-Conn., the top Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee, said in a statement.

“During that time, he had the independence of mind and respect for the law that are necessary for any Director of National Intelligence,” added Himes. “I am hopeful that he will maintain that independence and provide apolitical high-quality intelligence to policymakers. The Senate should evaluate and confirm his nomination quickly. It is critical that we have a permanent DNI in place and move past the Bill Pulte disaster.”

Section 702 of FISA, enacted in 2008, codified parts of the once-secret Stellarwind surveillance program created under the Bush administration after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks. In 2013, former NSA contractor Edward Snowden disclosed documents detailing how the authority was used, fueling a global debate over privacy and mass surveillance. The program is frequently used to track myriad national security threats.

In March, the Trump administration notified Congress that the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court renewed certifications for the surveillance program, letting it operate for another year even amid an expiration. The certifications can cover broad categories of national security risks, such as nuclear weapons and cyber threats.

But the split between the court’s recertification process and Capitol Hill’s role in extending the authority itself can create uncertainty for providers — such as AT&T and Microsoft — who are required to comply.

A congressional aide, speaking on the condition of anonymity to communicate private discussions, said staff on the House intelligence committee are assessing how the spying authority can still be used in the event of a lapse. One concern, said the aide, is that data collected under the 702 authority could become increasingly out-of-date, and, therefore, be less effective.

Civil liberties advocates contend that Section 702 collection can continue even after a statutory lapse because of the way annual certifications are approved, and that other authorities remain available to support national security operations.

A former intelligence official told Nextgov/FCW that, while collection activities would immediately, lawfully continue, firms may enter an “odd legal space” where providers mandated to comply with the law could argue that they don’t need to supply information. If access under 702 is curtailed, the intelligence community would likely explore ways to lean on other lawful collection authorities, the former official added.

Glenn Gerstell, former general counsel at the NSA, echoed these points.

“Companies may say they are not 100% certain the authority still applies,” he said in an interview.

Two areas — terror attacks and cyberattacks — might present a higher risk with the authority having lapsed, Gerstell added, because they are fast-moving developments that often rely on single tips that intelligence analysts must run down.

“702 is a great way to find and pursue that tip. It’s a great tool for quickly getting an answer,” he said. “If the FBI hears a ransomware attack has been made, and they believe it to be foreign-generated, they’re going to want to move with lightning speed to figure out where it’s coming from.”

“It feels like we’re playing Russian roulette with national security,” he later added.

The NSA, CIA, FBI and the Office of the Director of National Intelligence — which all have authority to access Section 702 data — did not return requests for comment.

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DOJ shutters alleged China-linked operation targeting current and former feds

David DiMolfetta — Thu, 11 Jun 2026 08:00:00 -0400

The FBI and Justice Department seized 13 websites allegedly used by Chinese intelligence operatives to target current and former U.S. officials and military personnel with access to classified government information.

In a press release, the DOJ said the domains were designed to look like legitimate consulting firms and were used to advertise vague, well-paid consulting roles aimed at security clearance holders. The campaign, which allegedly began in November 2023, sought to entice Americans into producing research reports or sharing insider information on topics of interest to the Chinese government, according to court documents.

The seized domains included sites associated with firm names like Centrik Global Consulting, Rightinfo Consulting, Finnacle-Vesper Consulting, CYDF Consulting, Pulse Wave Global, Catalyst Global Solutions, Horizzen, GeoIndopacific, SafeSec Group and others.

The campaign relied on familiar job-market platforms and freelance sites to advertise positions such as “Senior Analyst” and “International Affairs Consultant.”

The Justice Department said the operators used aliases, fake personas, stolen identities and artificial intelligence-generated photographs to make the companies appear credible. The alleged scheme also involved encrypted messaging apps, including Telegram, overseas payments, cryptocurrency and online payment accounts registered under false names, according to an affidavit filed in support of the seizure warrants.

The takedowns mark the latest U.S. government effort to disrupt foreign intelligence schemes that blend online recruiting and financial incentives to reach Americans with access to sensitive national security information.

Waves of federal layoffs over the past year have pushed thousands of government employees and contractors into an uncertain job market. That disruption has created renewed collection opportunities for foreign intelligence services.

Nextgov/FCW reported in January that a suspected Chinese intelligence outfit contacted a former senior State Department official late last year and offered payment for an assessment of U.S. policy priorities in Venezuela. The person who contacted the former official claimed to be affiliated with a sham consulting firm that had previously surfaced in research first reported by Nextgov/FCW last September, that assessed the firm was part of a broader network of fake companies tied to China.

The U.S. has sought to further publicize targeting efforts. In a rare public disclosure, Army Deputy Chief of Staff for Intelligence Lt. Gen. Anthony R. Hale issued a memo in November warning that foreign adversaries are targeting soldiers, civilians and their families through fake companies and phony recruiters. The advisory was sent to more than a million personnel across the Army, and later to members of the media, marking an unusually direct acknowledgment of the threat.

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Return-to-office push put GSA’s network infrastructure to the test

Edward Graham — Thu, 11 Jun 2026 07:00:00 -0400

Telecommunications services provider MetTel announced on Wednesday that it successfully completed network upgrades to 11 General Services Administration offices across the U.S. to help meet the needs of the Trump administration’s return-to-work mandate.

President Donald Trump signed a January 2025 executive order requiring that federal agencies “take all necessary steps to terminate remote work arrangements,” the vast majority of which evolved out of the COVID-19 pandemic that began in 2020. But an influx of employees back into offices also means that existing bandwidth and broadband services often need to be modernized.

MetTel said it outfitted the GSA offices “with Software-Defined Wide Area Network technology, 22 new high-capacity network circuits and Voice over IP services,” with the circuits being “tailored to the unique needs of each site.”

The work was conducted through GSA’s $50 billion governmentwide Enterprise Infrastructure Solutions contract to modernize its existing operations. MetTel received a $230 million task order under EIS in 2020 for network and voice infrastructure services.

A GSA spokesperson said in a statement to Nextgov/FCW that, “as the government’s needs continue to evolve, EIS contractors remain a dedicated partner, ready to respond to new requirements and support digital transformation efforts.”

MetTel has already taken steps to help modernize GSA’s operations, including announcing in November 2025 that it deployed “a nationwide network and voice infrastructure modernization” across the agency under the EIS contract.

In an interview with Nextgov/FCW, Don Parente — MetTel’s vice president of public sector — said that, “because we moved them to a software-defined architecture, it made it easier for us to very quickly spin up the dial and get additional bandwidth flowing for them.”

Parente said GSA’s previous SD-WAN adoption and embrace of faster broadband internet services, including Starlink, enabled it “to really pivot quickly when they needed to bring all these people back in the new office.”

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OPM's long-planned HR overhaul moves ahead with $396M award to Oracle

Nick Wakeman — Wed, 10 Jun 2026 16:01:26 -0400

The Office of Personnel Management is sticking with the incumbent as the agency moves forward with a plan to modernize human resource systems across the government.

OPM has picked Oracle for the 10-year, $395.8 million Federal HR 2.0 contract that will cover more than two million federal employees. Oracle faced challengers such as Workday, IBM, SAP and Economic Systems Inc.

IBM and Economic Systems filed protests earlier this year objecting to terms in the solicitation. IBM withdrew its protest and GAO denied Economic Systems’ protest on June 1. Once the protests were resolved, OPM was clear to make its award.

Much of what OPM uses to manage HR functions is run on PeopleSoft, which Oracle acquired in 2005. Oracle recently extended its support for PeopleSoft through 2037, which includes updates and fixes.

The contract is structured as a firm-fixed-price award with a 10-year ordering period. Requirements include core HR and personnel action processing, payroll and benefits integration, audit-ready reporting, and time and attendance tracking.

The system also has to comply with security standards such as FISMA and FedRAMP, as well as be interoperable with existing federal IT systems.

OPM wants the core implementation to be completed by the fall. Other phases will follow for agency transitions, and then licensing and sustainment.

More than 100 HR systems currently operate across the federal government. Federal HR 2.0 is OPM’s attempt to wrangle all that into a single, integrated platform.

The goal of the program is to centralize HR functions across government agencies. OPM wants a platform that can be the infrastructure for a data-driven federal HR ecosystem, according to solicitation documents.

Some of the functions OPM wants include position management, personnel action, records processing, workforce analytics, and employee and manager self-service capabilities.

Given that the award was announced Wednesday, the clock is ticking for competitors to file protests. Companies generally have 10 days to file after a debriefing.

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Building cyber-resilient payroll systems in government

Linda Jones — Wed, 10 Jun 2026 06:00:00 -0400

Payroll systems don’t usually make headlines, but in 2024, the State Department warned employees about a payroll fraud scheme where cybercriminals posed as staff to reroute direct deposits.

It started with spoofed emails that looked like they came from real employees and retirees, and some included fake 1099 forms loaded with malware. The goal was simple: Get in, change payment instructions, and disappear before anyone noticed.

It’s a sharp reminder that payroll is a high-value target. Essential, but vulnerable.

What the Threat Landscape Looks Like Now

Cybercriminals are increasingly targeting payroll and HR platforms because they know exactly what’s inside: credentials, Social Security numbers and bank details — prime ingredients for identity theft. Phishing attacks are the most common, but business email compromise is also rising. In these cases, attackers impersonate vendors or internal departments to reroute funds or gain access to sensitive files.

And while external threats get the most attention, internal risks shouldn’t be overlooked. Overly broad access or outdated permissions can lead to accidental exposure or worse. Then there are third-party tools that connect to payroll systems, like file transfer software or benefits integrations. These add convenience but also risk.

Take the 2023 MOVEit breach, for example. A vulnerability in a file transfer tool allowed attackers to steal sensitive data from government contractors, including personal information tied to Medicare. The breach showed just how damaging a weak link in the software supply chain can be.

Core Cybersecurity Measures Every Payroll System Needs

There’s no single fix for these risks, but there are clear priorities. Multi-factor authentication should be standard for everyone with access to payroll platforms, especially admin users. Role-based access controls help limit exposure and keep users from seeing more than they need to.

Encryption is critical, with masking and tokenization adding protection. Agencies should scan for vulnerabilities, log activity, and flag unusual access.

The good news is that there are solid frameworks out there. The National Institute of Standards and Technology’s Cybersecurity Framework and the CIS Controls give agencies clear starting points. The latest NIST update even highlights the need to embed cybersecurity into HR practices like employee onboarding, offboarding, and system deprovisioning. That’s especially important when payroll and HR platforms overlap, as they often do.

Security vs. Compliance: Where Agencies Get Stuck

Just because a system checks the compliance boxes doesn’t mean it’s secure. Some legacy platforms technically meet Federal Information Security Modernization Act or Fair Labor Standards Act standards, but still rely on outdated security protocols or lack support for basic protections like MFA.

Another common issue is access sprawl: giving employees more permissions than they need “just in case.” It may help in the short term but makes lateral attacks easier. The best approach is one where IT, HR and compliance teams work together — not separately — to close these gaps.

Why it’s Hard to Fix but Worth it

Upgrading payroll is tough. Legacy systems, limited budgets and staffing gaps all slow progress. But the risk of doing nothing keeps growing. As more agencies move to cloud-based systems, there’s a real opportunity to rethink not just how payroll works but how it’s secured. Modern platforms offer stronger baselines and make it easier to adopt tools like MFA, encryption, and behavioral monitoring.

At its core, payroll is personal. It touches every employee in the agency. When it breaks down, people feel it fast.

That’s why cybersecurity shouldn’t stop at the perimeter or the server room. It needs to extend into the systems that keep the government workforce running. Treat payroll like the critical system it is, and you’ll be protecting more than just data. You’ll be protecting trust.

Linda Jones, SHRM-CP, is the Vice President of Administration and a Board Member at Software Solutions Inc., where she has provided leadership for nearly 20 years. In her role, Linda oversees human resources, facilities management, vendor negotiations, and special projects.

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Trump memo pushes national security agencies to move faster on AI

David DiMolfetta — Mon, 08 Jun 2026 14:16:17 -0400

President Donald Trump on Friday signed a national security memo aimed at speeding up government use of advanced artificial intelligence across the military and intelligence community, while also trying to harden those systems against foreign theft and manipulation.

The National Security Presidential Memorandum reflects a growing view inside the White House that U.S. security agencies are moving too slowly to adopt frontier AI tools, even as the evolving technology improves rapidly and rivals like China seek ways to craft their own versions.

It calls for agencies like the FBI, the Office of the Director of National Intelligence and the Office of the National Cyber Director to build “deep, proactive” relationships with AI companies so that cutting-edge models can be made available to national security personnel faster.

It also instructs officials to identify areas where AI could improve government operations, including intelligence analysis and cyber threat detection. At the same time, the memo says the tools cannot be used for unlawful surveillance of Americans, language that speaks to long-running civil liberties concerns over how agencies collect, analyze and process data.

The memo also focuses heavily on protecting U.S.-developed AI models from foreign adversaries. It directs senior officials, including Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and NSA Director Gen. Joshua Rudd, to work with private-sector companies on security protocols meant to prevent advanced models from being stolen, copied or compromised.

One area of concern is model distillation, a technique in which an AI system repeatedly queries another AI system in an attempt to mimic its performance and build out a separate model. The White House in April accused China of carrying out “industrial-scale” distillation attacks on U.S. AI systems.

The memo also directs agencies to work with industry to secure the infrastructure that supports frontier AI, including the data centers that store the enormous amounts of computing power needed to run advanced models. Data centers have recently become more attractive targets during periods of geopolitical tension.

Trump recently signed an AI security executive order that leans heavily on voluntary cooperation with industry. That order encourages developers to submit powerful new models to a 30-day government review before public release.

More AI-related guidance is expected soon. Nick Andersen, CISA’s acting director, said last week that the cyber agency is preparing a binding operational directive focused on AI-enabled cyber threats.

The administration’s approach to AI has shifted in recent months as officials confront a new class of cyber-focused models, including Anthropic’s Mythos, that can rapidly identify vulnerabilities across computer networks. The model has become a major driver of government discussions over how advanced AI systems could reshape both defensive and offensive cyber operations.

Last week, Anthropic said it is expanding Project Glasswing — its controlled-access program for giving trusted organizations early access to Mythos — to about 150 additional entities. The new group spans more than 15 countries and includes organizations in water, healthcare, communications and other critical infrastructure sectors.

OpenAI’s recent release of GPT-5.5-Cyber, which also demonstrated sophisticated cyber capabilities, has further heightened concerns in Washington over how quickly these systems are advancing and how they could reshape both cyber defensive and offensive operations.

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Electronic health record modernization needs better cyber and privacy collaboration, GAO says

Edward Graham — Thu, 04 Jun 2026 17:34:23 -0400

The Government Accountability Office said on Tuesday that the unit overseeing the federal government’s new electronic health record system is not collaborating enough with its partner agencies to secure the software against digital threats or ensure that patient data is sufficiently protected.

In a watchdog report, GAO said the Federal Electronic Health Record Modernization office “doesn't fully follow leading practices for collaboration” when it comes to the cybersecurity and privacy of data with the new EHR system.

The office oversees the government’s effort to deploy one common, interoperable system across the Department of Veterans Affairs, the Defense Department, the U.S. Coast Guard and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. GAO said the completed system is expected to have “more than 500,000 users providing care to over 18 million servicemembers, veterans, and their families, making it one of the nation’s largest electronic health record systems.”

FEHRM was created through a joint charter signed by DOD and VA in December 2019, with the four participating agencies taking on varying levels of cyber and privacy responsibilities.

DOD is primarily responsible for managing the cybersecurity of the EHR software and the network used to access the system. GAO said VA also has “responsibility for the cybersecurity of its own network.” Each of the four agencies is also responsible for managing their own networks and following applicable privacy laws when it comes to handling users’ data.

While GAO said that FEHRM has “initiated a number of efforts to promote collaboration” with the four agencies, it added that “it has done so without well-defined common goals and outcomes.” The watchdog added this includes concerns that the office does not “monitor, assess or communicate on performance measures” to hold its partners accountable.

“Articulating clear and measurable goals would better position the FEHRM to oversee the coordinated cybersecurity of the federal EHR by providing insight into the specific resources, skills, or time needed to address shared responsibilities,” the report said. “Further, these goals would help hold the FEHRM accountable for demonstrating how its activities, such as the development of the Joint Incident Management Framework, align with the common outcomes it seeks to achieve.”

FEHRM has been working to create the framework since 2021 to streamline agency responses to EHR-directed cyber threats, with GAO saying the guidance was most recently scheduled to be released in April.

Without outlining clear goals and outcomes, the watchdog said “progress on planned efforts, such as the Joint Incident Management Framework, may be impeded or further delayed.”

GAO’s concerns about planning extended to the office’s logistical operations, with the report saying that FEHRM “has not fully articulated specific short- or long-term goals or intended outcomes related to the cybersecurity of the federal EHR or the privacy of health data within it.” This included office officials telling GAO in January 2026 that it was still developing its goals for fiscal year 2026.

The watchdog made two recommendations, including calling for both DOD and VA leaders to press FEHRM “to define common goals, outcomes, and associated performance measures, and monitor, assess, and communicate progress on collaboration efforts toward ensuring the cybersecurity and privacy of the federal enclave.”

DOD did not concur with the report as it was written. VA neither agreed nor disagreed with GAO’s takeaways, but said it initially focused on establishing a unified culture to build trust with partner agencies, which it called “the essential first step.”

While the joint EHR system has reportedly not been directly targeted by a cyberattack, previous cyber incidents have underscored the impact these types of breaches and digital assaults can have on healthcare delivery.

A February 2024 ransomware attack on Change Healthcare — a subsidiary of UnitedHealth Group and the largest healthcare payment system in the U.S. — disrupted payments and prescription processing at medical facilities across the U.S. This included VA’s systems, with an agency official saying at the time that it affected just over 40,000 veterans’ medications.

That attack also affected “interface assessments” at the Captain James A. Lovell Federal Health Care Center in North Chicago, Illinois, a joint DOD-VA facility that was in the process of switching over to the new federal EHR system. That rollout, which occurred in March 2024, was the Pentagon’s last site rollout of the new software.

DOD and NOAA have completed their deployments of the new software, and the Coast Guard is reportedly in the final stages of its rollout. VA, however, has faced numerous missteps in its own EHR implementation effort.

VA paused most rollouts of the EHR system in April 2023 to address a host of safety, technical and usability concerns. The agency and DOD subsequently conducted the Lovell deployment during the reset period, which was the sixth VA facility to receive the new software.

The agency recently resumed EHR software rollouts at four Michigan-based medical facilities in April and plans to deploy the system at nine more sites in 2026. VA Secretary Doug Collins told Congress last month that the new rollouts were “phenomenal,” although he said the agency needs to go back and fix issues at the first five sites that received the software.

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GSA lays out step-by-step guide for agencies to cut, streamline and automate work

Frank Konkel — Wed, 03 Jun 2026 08:00:00 -0400

The General Services Administration published a new playbook Wednesday to provide federal agencies and executives tools, strategies and a modern blueprint to automate repetitive tasks and give employees time back to perform mission-critical work.

The Elimination, Optimization and Automation playbook, developed by GSA, builds on lessons learned from federal pilots, mature automation programs and the agency’s own extensive internal enterprise efforts to improve operations.

While a new product, the playbook is already foundational to the agency’s moonshot goal to save and automate 1 million hours of workload for its staff—a goal it’s more than halfway toward achieving, according to GSA Deputy Administrator Mike Lynch.

Yet Lynch said there’s tremendous potential value in taking what’s worked at GSA and “putting those best practices out back to the broader federal government,” with many agencies grappling with similar problems. In this way, he said GSA is serving as a force multiplier for other agencies.

“I think from what I've seen, at least working in government, is so many of the challenges [agencies] are trying to solve are incredibly consistent,” Lynch said in a recent interview with Government Executive. “So there may be unique nuances based on the mission of the agency, but everyone's trying to understand how to deploy technology and use AI and drive efficiencies within our workflows.”

“We just don't have to start from go every time,” Lynch added. “There are learnings that we can provide from our experience at GSA, where we've had a more formalized process that allows other parts of the government to go faster and better. Hopefully, the results we’ve been able to produce through these types of programs makes it compelling and something that other agencies can use as appropriate within their groups.”

An early copy of the 37-page playbook viewed by Government Executive includes best practices based on technology implementation efforts at GSA and a handful of other agencies, including NASA and the Education Department, during this administration as well as the previous Trump administration. Collectively, the handbook “is formatted to follow a typical EOA project through its lifecycle, from ideation to deployment.”

It outlines a multi-phased approach to EOA projects — opportunity assessments, solution planning and design, implementing and sustaining — as well as an EOA toolkit with tools and templates “to help accelerate your agency’s launch of an effective EOA initiative.”

The playbook lists Lynch, GSA Chief Financial Officer Nimisha Agarwal and Larry Allen, Associate Administrator of the Office of Government Policy as executive sponsors; Chris Grigsby, Executive Director of Digital Finance, Mehul Parekh, Principal Deputy Associate Administrator of OGP, Anthony Cavallo, Division Director of the Business Modernization Division, and program analysts Gabrielle Perret and Will Spelker as EOA subject matter experts; and Andy Stegmaier, President of Management Science & Innovation and Nick Surkamp, Chief Delivery Officer of Management Science & Innovation as EOA playbook authors.

“It is incredible the work the team has done to set this up and provide a top-down framework for the program,” Lynch said.

Once published, Lynch said the next step is evangelizing the playbook across government. Internally, those efforts began with a May 12 Emerging Tech Showcase held at GSA’s Washington, D.C. headquarters and attended virtually by more than 2,000 people. The showcase featured several panels on the playbook featuring many of its contributors, as well as panels on GSA’s internal AI-powered chat platform, AI use cases across the agency and an industry-focused panel.

Lynch said he hopes to host a governmentwide showcase with an even larger audience sometime in July.

Other ‘force multipliers’ at GSA

Lynch said governmentwide demand for USAi has increased steadily since GSA launched the shared service to streamline AI adoption last August. Thus far, the agency has inked 24 agency agreements with USAi with 40 more in the works. Another 82 agencies have asked for demos of the technology available on USAi.

“USAi continues to be a really strong platform for us that's meant to be in very similar fashion to the EOA playbook, where we're trying to host and help provide a safe sandbox for other agencies to start to explore how they deploy AI within their workflows,” Lynch said.

Another governmentwide program, OneGov, has generated some $1.15 billion in savings through negotiated discounts on a variety of AI and software tools using the collective power of the entire federal government. More than two dozen companies, including most leading AI firms, are selling their software at a discounted price to agencies through OneGov. In total, nearly 3.4 million users across government have access to that software through OneGov.

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OPM moves one step closer to HR system overhaul for 2 million federal workers

Nick Wakeman — Wed, 03 Jun 2026 07:00:00 -0400

With one protest withdrawn and a second one denied, the Office of Personnel Management is now free to move forward with its plan to award a 10-year contract to modernize the government’s human resource systems.

OPM released the final solicitation in October for the Federal HR 2.0 contract to modernize systems that cover 2 million employees across the government. The agency wants a single integrated platform that will be the infrastructure for a more data-driven federal HR ecosystem, according to solicitation documents.

Bidders had to submit proposals by Oct. 31 and OPM followed a two-step process for evaluation. After step one, IBM Corp. and then Economic Systems Inc. filed their protests.

IBM filed its protest on Feb. 25 but withdrew without explanation on April 3. Meanwhile, Economic Systems filed a protest on March 2. On Monday, the Government Accountability Office posted on its public docket that it had denied Economic Systems protest.

OPM could not make an award while the protests were active, but it could continue to evaluate proposals. Now it can pick a winner with the protests out of the way.

While no dollar value has been disclosed, the undertaking is massive.

OPM wants the platform to have functions such as position management, personnel action, records processing, workforce analytics, and employee and manager self-service capabilities.

The agency will pick a winner based on four technical factors including past experience and solution readiness, a written implementation approach, systems testing, and a virtual live demonstration.

Last year, OPM awarded a sole-source contract to Workday to fast-track the modernization effort. OPM later rescinded it amid criticism and instead moved to create the current solicitation for a broader, government-wide solution.

Workday is one of several companies in the running for Federal HR 2.0. An award could come anytime this month, according to GovTribe data.

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What DOGE taught us about AI and federal workers

Kristen Cordell and Adrian Brown — Wed, 03 Jun 2026 06:00:00 -0400

Last year, the U.S. Agency for International Development lost 97% of its staff in a matter of weeks. An article published in The New York Times last month found the majority of these former employees were still out of work a year later — not between jobs, but out of the market entirely, with some managers who once earned six-figure salaries applying for part-time retail positions.

I watched this happen. I worked at the State Department until August 2025 and helped create a pro bono coaching network for impacted colleagues, many of whom were deeply traumatized. After thousands of hours of those conversations, one question kept surfacing: who am I now?

The cuts were political, not technological. But strip that away and what remains is the most concrete demonstration we have of what happens when a large category of federal professional work disappears faster than any system can absorb it — and why the standard policy response is not enough to cover these numbers. Over 270,000 federal employees separated from the U.S. government through layoffs, forced resignations and buyouts.

Most impacted workers did not lack skills. They lacked a place where those skills made the most sense. Federal workers who spent careers running HIV programs or managing humanitarian operations did not simply need to update their LinkedIn profiles. They lost the institutional context that made their expertise meaningful. The formal policy response was minimal. Workers relied on informal networks. The DC labor market, despite being one of the most credentialed in the country, has not absorbed their talent.

This is where the federal story becomes a story about artificial intelligence. As deferred resignation agreements were being signed in August 2025, the U.S. government licensed ChatGPT to all federal agencies for a dollar. The State Department reframed AI as the vehicle for development outcomes that USAID's human expertise previously delivered. OpenAI began offering grants to NGOs in regions where USAID once operated.

This is not a Washington anomaly. The Economist devoted its cover earlier this month to a question that was once considered alarmist: whether AI could produce the most significant disruption to working life in a generation. The answer, even among economists who were recently skeptical, is increasingly, possibly ‘yes’ — and governments should not wait to find out.

New data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics show AI-exposed occupations are already losing jobs, and government employees could be among the most vulnerable, given the large concentration of workers handling the analytical, administrative and policy roles where AI capabilities are advancing fastest. The official numbers are not catching up fast enough. By the time they do, the adjustment will already have failed for the workers caught in the first wave.

There are three things federal agencies and policymakers should be doing now: First, plan for the fiscal squeeze. Federal workforce costs are not just a spending question — they are a revenue question. As AI shifts work from human labor to automated systems, the income tax base that funds agencies, benefits and services erodes at exactly the moment demand for support rises. Brooking Institution modeling shows this fiscal pressure could be severe. Agencies need fiscal scenario planning now, not after the trend is visible in budget projections.

Second, design workforce transition for what people lose. The Office of Personnel Management’s current transition support is built for skills retraining. The evidence from the DOGE displacement, and from every serious study of mass professional job loss, is that the harder problem is purpose and identity, not capability. Transition programs that ignore this will produce the same frustration the DOGE coaching networks documented.

Third, ensure that AI deployment decisions in federal agencies are not made solely by the vendors supplying the technology. The informal support networks that emerged in Washington show what community-level resilience looks like when institutions fail. They deserve federal attention and funding, not just admiration. Workers, communities and agencies affected by AI deployment decisions need a meaningful voice in how those decisions are made.

The DOGE cuts were political, but what they demonstrated is not. Federal agencies are the first institutions in America to run this experiment at scale. The question is whether anyone in government is paying attention to the results.

Kristen Cordell served as Senior Advisor at the US Department of State until August 2025 and is currently Senior Director of Policy at Grand Challenges Canada. Adrian Brown is Founder and CEO of Windfall Trust, a nonprofit working with governments and policymakers on AI economic preparedness.

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Cyber Force? Senator pushes to create service branch under the Army

Thomas Novelly — Mon, 01 Jun 2026 17:16:13 -0400

A new cyber-focused military service branch would sit under the Army if one senator’s proposal comes to fruition.

Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, D-N.Y., is spearheading a markup amendment to the Senate’s 2027 National Defense Authorization Act that would create a “Cyber Force” as the next armed service branch. The senator’s office confirmed that the amendment proposes to establish the branch under the Army, just as the Space Force and Marine Corps sit under the Air Force and Navy.

Similar provisions are reportedly being floated in the House, according to two people familiar with policy discussions. Earlier this year, Rep. Pat Fallon, R-Texas, told the Center For Strategic and International Studies that a “Cyber Force is inevitable” and “we’re going to get this done.” A Fallon spokesperson did not respond to multiple requests for comment on Friday asking about a potential amendment.

“New and escalating cyber threats on the battlefield demand a change to our current approach. The status quo and years of incremental changes are not meeting the current threat and are insufficient as that threat grows,” Gillibrand told Defense One in an emailed statement. “I believe, and many experts agree, that the creation of a dedicated Cyber Force will ensure the United States is ready to fight and win on the modern battlefield and protect our national security.”

The proposed amendment marks the latest push in a years-long effort. Gillibrand and House lawmakers have backed the idea before. In the 2025 National Defense Authorization Act, lawmakers commissioned the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine to study “alternative organizational models for the cyber forces of the Armed Forces.” Those findings have not been released. Details from the amendments showing what a Cyber Force might look like are not yet public, but think tanks and national security experts have already been pitching their own force designs.

A 2024 Foundation for Defense of Democracies report concluded that a Cyber Force could sit under the Army, muster about 10,000 personnel, and need a budget of around $16.5 billion. In August 2025, the FDD and the Center for Strategic and International Studies announced a commission on Cyber Force Generation. A report from those think tanks is scheduled to be released next month.

One former military official said there would be strengths to a cyber-focused service, but putting it under the Army is a bad idea. They argued that cyber would remain a secondary priority amid the branch’s many missions.

“The Army is the largest service by far,” the former official said. “Manpower-wise, it's like half the department, and it's like, ‘we'll put it under because it'll be easy for the Army to just put in another force.’ It's already hard enough to run the Army as it is.”

Mark Montgomery, a retired Navy rear admiral and an FDD senior fellow who advocates for a Cyber Force, argued that this year is an ideal time to create a new service.

“Timing-wise, you need to do this in the beginning or middle of an administration, not at the end of an administration,” Montgomery said.

The proposed amendment would need to survive multiple Senate and House edits to make the final compromise NDAA.

It’s not clear if the Trump administration would support the latest bipartisan push. Last year, the Pentagon rolled out CYBERCOM 2.0, a series of policy changes aimed at beefing up the recruiting, training, and missions of the existing U.S. Cyber Command.

Katie Sutton, the assistant defense secretary for cyber policy and principal cyber advisor to Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, defended the Cyber Command reforms during a January Senate hearing, and said a renewed command and a new service could co-exist.

“I think this is a really important debate for us all to be having about the future of the cyber warfighting domain,” Sutton told the Senate Armed Services Committee in January. “I do think one of the most common misconceptions about Cyber Command is that it is a debate between Cyber Command 2.0 and a cyber force, and they are actually separate debates that I believe both need to be had, and we need to look closely at the pros and cons of both.”

Advocates for a separate and independent cyber-focused service branch say it aligns with the Trump administration’s calls for “offensive cyber operations against those planning to kill Americans,” the White House’s new counterterrorism strategy said. It also comes as President Donald Trump and Gen. Dan Caine, the Joint Chiefs chairman, acknowledged the growing role of cyber effects in U.S. military operations in Iran and Venezuela, Defense One and sister publication NextGov/FCW have previously reported.

“The president says, ‘We've got to be more offensive’ but then you got to better generate forces to be offensive, and we don't generate enough forces to do both offensive cyber and defensive cyber operations,” Montgomery said. “A cyber force is clearly necessary.”

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Tech Force set out to hire 1,000 technologists last year. It’s onboarded 10 so far

Natalie Alms — Fri, 29 May 2026 08:00:00 -0400

Late last year, the Trump administration began an effort to recruit early-career software and data engineers after pushing almost 20,000 technology employees out of their government jobs under widespread downsizing imperatives.

The goal of that new effort, called the U.S. Tech Force, was to hire a 1,000-strong cohort — potentially as soon as the end of March, Scott Kupor, the head of the Office of Personnel Management, said in December.

So far, the program has onboarded only 10 new hires, Tech Force Director Kevin Hennecken said during a Thursday event held by the Alliance for Digital Innovation trade association. Overall, the program has made 180 to 200 hires.

“I would love to have everybody here yesterday,” Kupor told Nextgov/FCW in an interview. “But I’m learning the government hiring process does take time.”

OPM is managing the program centrally, working with agencies across the federal government to place fellows into two-year stints. OPM is also partnering with about 40 companies, like Amazon Web Services and Nvidia, to train the new hires, as well as provide managers from within their own ranks to take a leave of absence to work for the government.

Onboarding these new managers has also lagged. Three or four managers are in the process of onboarding now, said Kupor.

The Justice Department issued a memo in March blessing OPM’s plan to allow those private sector managers to keep their deferred compensation packages while working for the government — a setup that’s made ethics experts nervous.

“It’s always going to be slower than we would have wanted, but I don't think we’re discouraged by that at all,” said Hennecken, who said that the goal is to hire 300 to 500 fellows by the end of the summer. “I think it just takes time to build a program.”

A ‘heavyweight process’

Federal hiring is governed by strict rules and processes, some of which were established centuries ago and were meant to move the government from the spoils system to one based on merit.

It’s a “heavyweight process” that moves more slowly than the private sector, said Kupor, who previously worked in venture capital.

Kupor often laments the relatively small number of young workers in the federal government compared to the private sector. How to recruit and hire early-career talent within the federal system has long been a difficult challenge that has intersected with efforts to move the government away from antiquated technology into the 21st century.

Other efforts to hire cybersecurity talent or fill the gap by re-training existing employees with new skills have also stumbled.

For Tech Force, OPM has had to clear up “confusion” among HR officials in agencies about how some of the typical government hiring rules apply, said Kupor. The government typically prioritizes federal employees who have been laid off if they apply for other, open jobs that they’re qualified for.

That could have been welcome news for feds displaced last year as the Trump administration sought to shrink the size of the government workforce, many of whom are still searching for new jobs. But those rules don’t apply to Tech Force because of the type of hiring authority being used, said Kupor.

Government agencies also aren’t used to hiring off of centralized lists like those OPM is using to share Tech Force candidates after centrally testing and screening applicants, said Kupor, although doing more centralized hiring is one of his goals.

The hurdles have inspired an effort to drive a “tighter alignment” between agencies’ HR heads and senior political officials as part of OPM’s broader early career hiring push, said Kupor, so that any questions can be worked through more quickly.

A higher entry point

Eric Sidle, chief information officer and chief artificial intelligence officer at the Department of Housing and Urban Development, said Tuesday that delays in getting the new program going aren’t OPM’s fault.

The government’s HR agency is doing a "phenomenal job,” he said, noting that agency personnel shops themselves are busy balancing this effort against other priorities.

The early career talent that the government does hire as part of Tech Force — which may include cybersecurity-focused employees after OPM added that focus in April — will be making between $150,000 and $200,000, which is more than early-career hires in government typically make.

The government already has an early career tech program, called the U.S. Digital Corps, although it hasn’t onboarded a class since Trump took office for his second term. It pays its D.C. fellows a starting salary of $86,000.

While Tech Force is bringing employees into the government at a GS-14 level on the government’s pay and classification system — one of the highest available on the General Schedule — Digital Corps hires fellows at a GS-9 with the potential for promotions.

For Tech Force, agencies are getting resumes ranging from recent college graduates to people with a few years of experience on the job, one person familiar with the program told Nextgov/FCW.

Whether the relatively high pay being offered to those joining the program will affect the morale of the teams they’re joining is an open question, that person said. The Tech Force applicants being shared with agencies don’t have the typical experience and skills of someone at a GS-14 level, they added.

Those running Tech Force have emphasized that the government often struggles to compete for in-demand tech talent against the private sector, in part because the latter can usually pay more.

Unlike the U.S. Digital Corps, which was designed to funnel early-career talent into permanent roles, keeping the talent recruited by Tech Force in government service isn’t necessarily an expectation.

By working with OPM, private sector companies are meant to prove to potential applicants that the experience they get in the government will be valued on the market when they’re done.

While in the government, many of the new hires will be working in agencies on wholly contained Tech Force teams, but, in some cases, they’ll be integrated into existing units at government agencies, said Kupor.

Three weeks ago, OPM itself onboarded the first Tech Force fellow, who graduated college last year.

Kupor said he’s planning to bring more fellows into OPM to work on the Trump administration’s ‘War on Fraud’ by using data science to flag potential fraud in the government’s health insurance portfolio that is run for federal employees.

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Lacking data policy is more than a research problem, it's a government performance problem

David C. Wilson and Christopher Jackson — Fri, 29 May 2026 07:00:00 -0400

Effective democracies require modern data policies that direct the country’s ability to govern and hold legitimacy. Data policies offer information justice by providing formal guidelines and rules for the collection, management, protection, and disposal of public information — quantitative and qualitative. They can also bolster trust by setting oversight of information quality — ensuring accuracy and accountability. This policy domain of “data” is understudied, undervalued and underemphasized, despite the accelerated use of data against a backdrop of growing public mistrust.

The federal statistical system has long operated as background infrastructure, as something agency leaders and program managers relied on without much thought, the way they rely on relevant domains like electricity or broadband. Data from the Census Bureau, the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the Centers for Disease Control, the National Center for Education Statistics, and their counterparts across the government showed up when needed most in democracy: to justify budget requests, measure program outcomes, allocate resources and demonstrate results to oversight bodies and the public.

That infrastructure is now under serious strain with pain being felt inside and outside government, at federal, state and local levels. Earlier this year, the social science research company SSRS conducted a survey of more than 500 users of federal statistical data across academia, nonprofit organizations, state and local governments and the private sector. The core question was "have changes to the federal statistical system impacted your ability to do your work?" The findings were resounding, with 93% of respondents reporting that changes to the federal statistical system since the start of 2025 have damaged their ability to do their work. It is quite likely staff inside the government are experiencing similar difficulties.

These respondents describe specific challenges. They report datasets have been taken offline without notice. Expected data publications have been delayed or canceled. Restricted-use data approvals that once took days are now taking months, if they happen at all. Staffing cuts at federal statistical agencies have hollowed out the technical assistance functions that helped users work with complex federal datasets. These stories are not just about citizens, they also represent real breakdowns in the informational infrastructure that federal agencies themselves also depend on to manage programs, respond to Congress and serve the public. These are not failings of politics, they are failings of policy.

For federal leaders, the implications of not having earnest data policy cut in several directions.

The data crisis is a workforce crisis

Respondents to the survey were consistent on this point: the most immediate source of their difficulties is not missing datasets but missing people. When experienced staff depart, they take with them decades of applied knowledge about how data collections work, where the edge cases are and how to help users get reliable answers from complex products. One respondent described the situation plainly: institutional knowledge has been forever lost, and the data user community will suffer in ways that may not be fully known or even detectable. Agency leaders managing through the current period of workforce reduction should treat the departure of statistical expertise as a long-term operational risk, not just a position that can be filled in the next appropriation cycle.

Broken time series are not self-correcting

One of the most consequential findings from the survey involves longitudinal data, the long-running collections that allow agencies, researchers and policymakers to track trends over time. Respondents were clear about what interrupted collections mean in practice. A gap in a time series is not simply a missing data point, it undermines the comparability of all subsequent data, potentially for years. The government shutdown in fall 2025 produced the first interruption to the Current Population Survey in more than 70 years. The October 2025 Consumer Price Index was lost entirely. These are not recoverable losses. They are permanent holes in the historical record, with downstream consequences for economic forecasting, policy evaluation and program management that will persist long after the immediate disruptions are resolved.

There are no adequate substitutes

Public data users in this survey are doing their best to adapt. They are delaying programs until data is available, turning to older archived datasets or private sector sources, leveraging state and locally collected data or building statistical models as workarounds. But they are nearly unanimous that none of these options adequately replace timely, high-quality federal data.

Trust, once lost, is hard to rebuild

More than 70% of these public data users express concern about the long-term erosion of public trust in federal statistics. This is not a soft concern. Trust in official statistics is the foundation on which their practical utility rests. When state and local government planners, nonprofit service providers or academic researchers begin to doubt the integrity or continuity of federal data, they stop building systems that depend on it. The downstream effects on evidence-based management inside agencies are real and compounding.

What would it take to stabilize the situation? Beyond appropriations decisions, effective data policy should direct agencies to preserve statistical expertise as national security and workforce retention priorities, not afterthoughts. Where staff departures are unavoidable, structured efforts to document institutional knowledge, how data collections work, where errors arise and what common user needs exist, could help preserve at least some of what would otherwise be lost.

These public data users are instructive for data policy, they tell us that the federal statistical system is not only a research amenity, it is operational infrastructure. This is equally true for the federal workforce in general. When the data system degrades, government's capacity to know what is working, who needs help and whether resources are reaching their intended targets degrades with it — affecting how ordinary people experience democracy and their government. Rebuilding that capacity will require sustained attention from federal executives who recognize the need for serious data policy that modernizes America’s data infrastructure and take steps to safeguard it.

David C. Wilson is dean and professor at the Goldman School of Public Policy, UC Berkeley, and Chris Jackson is senior vice president at SSRS.

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Top White House cyber policy official to soon depart

David DiMolfetta — Thu, 28 May 2026 12:24:29 -0400

Alexandra Seymour, a top policy official in the White House Office of the National Cyber Director, intends to leave her position soon, according to two people familiar with the matter.

Seymour, who serves as principal deputy assistant national cyber director for policy, is expected to depart within the next week, said the people, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to provide details about the move. It’s not clear where she is headed next, or when she would start a new role.

An ONCD spokesperson did not return a request for comment by publishing time.

Seymour previously served as staff director for the House Homeland Security Committee’s cybersecurity subcommittee, where she worked on cyber and critical infrastructure policy issues. She also advised the Senate Commerce Committee on artificial intelligence, quantum technology and CHIPS and Science Act implementation matters, and she co-founded the Congressional Staff Association on Artificial Intelligence.

During President Donald Trump’s first term, Seymour served on the White House National Security Council and at the Pentagon, where she worked on transnational organized crime issues and also served as a speechwriter for the deputy defense secretary.

Her anticipated departure comes as ONCD has sought to take a leading role in AI-related cyber policy matters and as officials in industry and government increasingly question whether the office’s leadership has been able to respond effectively to rapidly advancing artificial intelligence models with potentially dangerous hacking capabilities. A cyber-focused AI executive order was shelved last week amid overregulation concerns from industry.

“Alexandra is one of the nation’s top national security policy executives, and frankly, it wouldn’t be a surprise to see a top company move quickly to bring her on board,” Anjelica Dortch, vice president of operational risk and cybersecurity policy at the Independent Community Bankers of America, told Nextgov/FCW in response to the news.

“She has been an invaluable collaborator on efforts including the National Cyber Strategy, the reauthorization of the 2015 Cybersecurity Information Sharing Act, and ensuring that industry perspectives are meaningfully integrated into our nation’s cyber policies,” added Dortch.

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