FCW Insider: November 4, 2021
The latest news and analysis from FCW's reporters and editors.
CISA orders civilian agencies to fix known flaws in six months
The binding operational directive issued Nov. 3 requires federal agencies to remediate known exploited vulnerabilities on their networks under specific timeframes is also intended to serve as guidance for the private sector and state and local governments.
Former Microsoft exec DelBene tapped for top tech job at VA
Kurt DelBene, a former senior executive at Microsoft and husband of a Democratic congresswoman, is being tapped by the Biden administration to serve as CIO of the Department of Veterans Affairs.
Training the diplomats of the future
The pandemic pushed much of the department's training online and the Foreign Service Institute is looking to adapt some of the lessons of virtual education for the future.
ICYMI: Morale plunges at site of VA's new electronic health record
A survey conducted by the Department of Veterans Affairs found plummeting morale at the Mann-Grandstaff VA Medical Center arising from the adoption of a new electronic health record system.
Quick Hits
*** Google is interested in a spot on the Defense Department's Joint Warfighting Cloud Capability (JWCC), the multivendor contract vehicle envisioned as a replacement for the scrapped $10 billion JEDI program, according to a report in the New York Times. Google opted not to bid on JEDI (Joint Enterprise Defense Infrastructure) when it went up for bid, in part because of employee backlash against a Google-DOD effort called Project Maven which explored the use of artificial intelligence-powered warfare. The JWCC effort, still in the presolicitation phase, is expected to make awards to Microsoft and Amazon Web Services, but DOD intends to make awards "to all Cloud Service Providers…that demonstrate the capability to meet DOD's requirements."
*** Denise W. Ross was named U.S. Chief Data Scientist at the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy. Ross previously served in the Obama administration and also as a Beeck Center fellow at Georgetown and at the Center for American Progress.
*** The Senate Homeland Security and Government Affairs Committee advanced a bipartisan bill to establish new rules around the dismissal or administrative sidelining of federal agency inspectors general. The Inspector General Independence and Empowerment Act also gives agency watchdogs the authority to subpoena former federal employees and contractors to testify.