With aging IT infrastructure, outdated job classification system and a greying government workforce, agency executive and human capital officers face a trifecta of challenges in the years ahead. Soaring demand for cybersecurity experts and data scientists are just two examples of the newer professional specialists that the government is struggling to hire. With the rise of vaccinated workers, questions have arisen about the reopening of federa...

The Continuous Diagnostic and Mitigation (CDM) program has matured and broadened its offerings and full deployment of agency dashboards is on the horizon. In the last year, however, ominous high profile breaches in commercial and critical infrastructure networks have highlighted the continued importance of strong cybersecurity across federal networks. In the wake of the pandemic, federal IT managers are faced with an increasingly complex cyber...

Supply Chain Risk Management (SCRM) and Cybersecurity Supply Chain Risk Management (C-SCRM) have gained increased attention recently as several high profile incidents compromised a number of federal systems. In the wake of those incidents, The White House, the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency and the National Institute for Standards and Technology have all stepped in to provide new guidance and tools for agencies to improve the...

The Federal Risk and Authorization Management Program (FedRAMP), the government-wide plan to secure cloud products and services, is almost a decade old. It is still evolving, however. Early in 2021, the House of Representative passed a bill that would have codified a number of its provisions into law, standardizing its processes for agencies to on-ramp cloud computing technologies. To date, the Senate has not acted on the bill. At the same tim...

The two letters “AI” have caused confusion and hesitation for some organizations, and excitement and success for others. A key problem is that Artificial Intelligence encompasses a variety of technologies that address different goals. Successful agencies don’t implement AI; they implement a flavor of AI that is targeted to solve citizen problems, address a business opportunity, or improve the agent experience. Join Brian Mist...

Shifting to cloud services has brought new resiliency to state and local governments’ IT operations, making essential systems location-agnostic and enabling far more affordable continuity-of-operations planning. Cloud comes with risks of its own, however, and data protection in particular can vary widely. To ensure real resiliency, government agencies must choose and configure their services carefully, and craft a cross-service strategy...

As the global pandemic continues and countries wait for a vaccine, estimates about when federal employees will return to their offices in force range from Summer 2021 to Never. Many organizations have discovered the advantages of telework and now plan on expanding its use, even when there is not a snowstorm or health crisis. Although some jobs require on-site personnel, the Office of Personnel Management said that 42% of federal employees are...

In October of 2020, then-Defense Secretary Esper defined defense readiness as "our military’s ability to answer the nation’s call, and to fight and win, anytime, anywhere. … The question we must answer is this: if called upon to fight tonight, are we ready?" Ensuring that answer is "yes" demands change in every corner of the Department of Defense, and especially in the technology that will power tomorrow's military. Cybersec...

The Defense Information Systems Agency is an essential hub for DOD IT, with a staff of more than 9,000 and an annual budget approaching $10 billion. With new leadership coming in for both DISA and the government as a whole, 2021 looks to be a busy year of executing key existing initiatives and setting new priorities for the agency. In this editorial roundtable webcast, FCW will explore DISA’s roadmap for milCloud 2.0, Defense Enclave Ser...

Having a positive culture in an agile organization is crucial to delivering value to key stakeholders. Without a strong culture, individuals may not work together as a team and their efforts can even work against each other. However, having a strong culture with delivering value at the forefront of the team’s goals helps agile organizations thrive, especially in highly regulated industries.But how do organizations learn to put value and...