Adopting a zero trust policy has become imperative for agencies aiming to safeguard their digital assets against increasingly sophisticated threats. It represents a true paradigm shift, away from traditional perimeter-based security models to a more dynamic, trust-never always-verify approach. One critical part of implementing zero trust is managing digital identity – ensuring that access to resources is securely managed and continuously...

Every four years, the Presidential transition from one administration to another presents the Federal Government with one of its most daunting challenges. The planning for this enormous undertaking starts months before the actual election and swearing-in of the President. Behind the scenes, this change has a profound impact on how the Departments function and how they address immediate needs and plan for the future. It is not just a change in...

Federal agencies collect vast amounts of data that often goes untapped because unlocking its full value is complex. But as agencies move to comply with the White House Executive Order on the Safe, Secure, and Trustworthy Development and Use of Artificial Intelligence, harnessing the potential in their own data can help meet the EO’s objectives. Agencies can facilitate the use of AI by using their data to train custom large language model...

With a growing number of dams approaching their design service life, dam safety engineers are looking for ways to mitigate the risks related to public safety, aging infrastructure and rising maintenance costs. Modernizing dam monitoring and maintenance practices with digital advancements, including the latest automated condition monitoring solutions, drone-captured reality modeling and digital twins, are giving public sector dam operators tool...

After the events of the past few years, security is in the forefront of election officials’ minds. The individual states are responsible for conducting elections, so the National Association of Counties (NACo) at its annual legislative conference just conducted a series of workshops and panels on the range of threats facing election workers and voters alike. While physical threats, intimidation and harassment are primary concerns, there...

Building a diverse workforce is about more than ensuring that different demographic groups are represented. There is increasing evidence in the global business community that companies with greater diversity in their employees significantly outperform those with little diversity. The same is true of federal agencies. For state, local, tribal, and territorial agencies, especially when job markets are tight, recruiting, training, and retaining a...

In an era where cyber threats are increasingly sophisticated, the need for robust cybersecurity strategies in government IT departments is more pressing than ever. These threats are continuously evolving, leveraging new technologies and exploiting vulnerabilities in innovative ways. As a result, there is an urgent need for IT sectors to adapt and enhance their cybersecurity strategies. This adaptation isn’t just about implementing new te...

Educational institutions and state and local agencies historically have been challenged to keep up with technological advancements – their budgets are tight, their users are increasingly distributed post-pandemic, and they face significant operating expenses from maintaining legacy architectures and equipment. Digital transformation is appealing, but for many organizations the challenge is where to start. As the generation of data has ex...

The whirlwind of artificial intelligence tools in 2023 proved the government is eager to embrace the technology as soon as possible. An overwhelming 99% of agency leaders agree investing in safe and effective AI is essential to fulfilling their mission, according to a recent survey conducted by Wakefield Research on behalf of ICF. Despite being rich in data, many agencies are lagging in the data modernization needed to support AI – and c...

It is hard to think of a technology that has taken over the IT ecosystem faster than artificial intelligence. OpenAI released ChatGPT in November 2022, and yet it already has evolved so much that it bears little resemblance to v .0. The federal government has been moving quickly by its standards to address AI’s challenges and capabilities, including a Blueprint for an AI Bill of Rights, an AI Risk Management Framework from the National I...