Tech
SSA tech shop to be led by another DOGE associate
Scott Coulter will replace the agency’s previous CIO, who has been moved to a senior advisor position at SSA.
USPS plans to use AI to enhance customer service
USPS Vice President for Customer Experience Marc McCrery said the agency is looking to switch its call center platform to a cloud-based application this summer, which he said will be “the start of our AI journey.”
US spy chief probing classified chat rooms to pursue leakers
Tulsi Gabbard said recent examples of unauthorized leaks involve data about Iran, Israel, U.S.-Russia relations and activities in ODNI’s counterintelligence office.
OPM skirted agency norms in assessing the privacy of its new email system
Anonymous federal employees filed a lawsuit alleging that the new email system could be placing their sensitive personal information at risk.
Gregory Barbaccia named federal CIO
The Palantir alum has also served in the Army and as an intelligence analyst.
HHS pause on external comms delaying upcoming health summits
Two planned events have been indefinitely postponed as a result of the Trump administration’s freeze on HHS-related mass communications and public appearances.
OPM awards $149M cyber, network operations support contract
The Office of Personnel Management wants to more heavily lean on cloud-based technologies and a zero trust approach.
US has ‘a lot of work to do’ on cyber defenses, departing cyber czar says
Outgoing National Cyber Director Harry Coker thinks his office needs more influence over the federal cyber budget but not necessarily more authority on offensive cyber operations.
Agencies still struggle with online accessibility, GSA says
The landscape under Trump 2.0 isn’t clear, either.
HHS’ 2024 AI use case inventory shows move toward internal chatbots
The agency reported 271 AI use cases in 2024, which it said represented a 66% increase from its reported 2023 total.
Here are the tech bills the 118th Congress passed right before the new session
Some proposed tech legislation didn’t make it into law.
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Lawmakers request briefing from Treasury secretary on Chinese hack
The compromised third-party offering was a commercial remote services tool not listed in the marketplace for FedRAMP, the government’s cloud security compliance framework.
Chinese-sponsored hackers accessed Treasury documents in ‘major incident’
The incident comes in the final days of the Biden presidency and as officials work to root out China-tied hackers from U.S. telecommunications systems.
VA plans to restart EHR rollouts in mid-2026, despite viability concerns
VA Secretary Denis McDonough previously told Congress that the department was looking to end its pause on new deployments of the Oracle Cerner software in fiscal year 2025.
Tech leader says DOGE has Washington ‘inspired and fired up’
ServiceNow CEO Bill McDermott believes there is genuine momentum building behind President-elect Donald Trump's Department of Government Efficiency.
DHS launches internal GenAI chatbot to leverage non-public data
Agency Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas said the tool, known as DHSChat, “will help men and women across DHS draft vital reports, summarize critical information, develop new software, streamline administrative tasks and much more.”
Intelligence CIO moves to helm IT at the National Institutes of Health
Adele Merritt, who served as CIO for the Office of the Director of National Intelligence since January 2022, took over as the NIH CIO on Dec. 16.
OMB releases its federal technology impact report as the Biden administration winds down
Clare Martorana, the federal CIO, says she expects federal IT to stay bipartisan.
Republican lawmakers ask Trump to kill IRS Direct File
The new program intended to enable free, online tax filing directly with the government has garnered controversy and praise since its inception.
Protecting the civil service and tech upgrades are top priorities for Virginia's new House Democrat
Virginia’s first Indian-American congressman-elect will bring some tech policy chops to Capitol Hill.
