Cybersecurity
What’s Next for Iran’s Cyber Actors?
The country has grown as a talented, and destructive, network threat over the last several years.
Policy
Trump Signs Law to Boost Girls’ Access to STEM Education at Earlier Ages
The law calls for more research and grants to expand existing National Science Foundation initiatives.
Emerging Tech
Transportation Challenge Aims to Create Universally Accessible Automated Vehicles
The agency plans to award up to $5 million in prizes.
Digital Government
What U.S. Intelligence Thought 2020 Would Look Like
A 2004 National Intelligence Council report was eerily prescient in some ways, and totally off in others.
Cybersecurity
Government Makes Strides Sharing Cyber Threat Information
The government’s only laggard complying with the Cybersecurity Information Sharing Act of 2015 is the Defense Department.
Modernization
IRS Reforms Free File Program, Drops Agreement Not to Compete With TurboTax
The changes come after ProPublica’s reporting showed how TurboTax maker Intuit tricked customers into paying for tax prep they could have gotten for free.
Emerging Tech
How the U.S. Made Hops, Skips and Leaps in Quantum Computing in 2019
Game-changing results may not be so far off.
Policy
Yeah, It’s an Uber. Buckle Up Anyway.
States since 2015 that passed laws requiring rear seat belt use: two.
Policy
President Trump Signs Law to Curb Unwanted Robocalls
The law supports several federal agencies in more aggressively combating the annoying, automatic calls.
Cybersecurity
New Funding for Election Security Assistance Doesn’t Go Far Enough, Experts Say
Ahead of the 2020 presidential election, Congress appropriated $425 million for states to help secure election infrastructure.
Ideas
Why Saying 'OK Boomer' at Work Is Considered Age Discrimination – but Millennial Put-Downs Aren't
Workers aged 40 and older are protected by a federal statute that prohibits harassment and discrimination on the basis of age.
Emerging Tech
Proposed FAA Rule Would Kickstart New Economy For IDing Drones
The new remote ID rule would require all unmanned aircraft systems to have a unique identifier that can be tracked by the FAA, law enforcement and the general public.
Policy
OMB Finishes Major Tech Policy Overhauls in 2019
The Office of Management and Budget reworked several policies—some of which hadn’t been updated in a decade.
Digital Government
Trump Finalizes Pay Raise for Feds in 2020
The new pay tables are out: Federal employees will see a 2.6% increase in basic pay next year, with an average 0.5% increase in locality pay.
Digital Government
OPM Proposes Making It Easier to Rehire Former Feds
Under a new plan from the Office of Personnel Management, federal agencies would be able to rehire former federal workers at a higher pay grade than their previous job, provided they were high performers.
Digital Government
Agencies Will Start 2020 With 20 Data Actions to Complete by Year’s End
The administration released the Federal Data Strategy Action Plan for the next year, adding four more action items from the draft released in summer.
Cybersecurity
Homeland Security Releases TIC 3.0 Use Cases with Additional Guidance
The government’s cybersecurity department released a draft set of use cases and other guidance to help agencies build secure networks in the age of cloud and mobile.
Emerging Tech
Lawmaker Asks DHS Secretary to Reassess Facial Recognition Programs After NIST Report
A National Institute of Standards and Technology report found age, race and gender could impact the accuracy in some commonly-used facial recognition algorithms.
Digital Government
Trump Signs 2020 Spending Bills, Averting Midnight Shutdown
The $1.4 trillion measures boost funding for most agencies and provide a 3.1% pay raise to civilian feds.
Policy