FCW Insider: Dec. 3

The latest news and analysis from FCW's reporters and editors.

Congressional leaders push back on NDAA veto threats

Defense committee leaders plan to vote on the annual defense bill without key items on President Trump's wish list.

DOJ's China hack indictments offer businesses key threat intel, officials say

A Justice Department official today disclosed that 1,000 Chinese researchers have been expelled from the country for hiding their affiliation with the Chinese military.

Prepping the cyber workforce of the future

Big picture skills like digital literacy and critical thinking are more important to building a public-sector cybersecurity workforce than small gains in federal hiring procedure, experts say.

Ousted CISA chief would consider role in Biden administration

Chris Krebs, fired by President Trump via Twitter in November, continued to re-enforce his message that the 2020 elections were secure.

Quick Hits

*** The White House is backing a provision in the Senate funding package for fiscal year 2021 to freeze civilian federal employee pay. The White House does support a 3% hike in military pay. This move walks back a 1% pay raise floated in the president's February 2020 budget request. The House funding package is in line with that request. A new appropriations package or continuing resolution needs to be signed into law by Dec. 11 to avoid a government shutdown.

*** Andrew Wheeler, administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency, announced on Twitter that he'd set up an EPA account on Parler, the right-wing social media network.

*** Washington Technology reports that after two rounds of protests, IBM has another chance to land a $786.7 million Army contract to consolidate several enterprise resource planning contracts. IBM is the incumbent on one of the contracts slated for consolidation.