The trending stories this week in government technology media focused on congressional concerns about planned cuts to federal spending related to cybersecurity and quantum technology. We also saw reports from media outlets at this week’s AFCEA TechNet Cyber 2025 conference in Baltimore. Here are the highlights:
CISA Takes to The Hill
The Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) was back in the news this week, with Department of Homeland Security officials appearing before Congress in an attempt to justify significant budget cuts the Trump administration proposed for the agency:
- “CISA, under the last administration, got involved in being somewhat of the role of the ministry of truth,” Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem told senators this week in defense of cuts proposed for the agency, according to a report by Weslan Hansen for MeriTalk.
- In a related story, David DiMolfetta wrote in Nextgov/FCW that House appropriators on both sides of the aisle questioned CISA’s leaders on why they plan to cut nearly $500 million from the agency’s budget amid escalating tensions with cyber adversaries. DiMolfetta also reported this week on comments he heard last week at the RSA Conference from federal contractors who told him they have been forced to rethink how they deliver their cybersecurity services to agencies with diminished budgets.
- In his coverage of the hearing, Tim Starks of CyberScoop quoted a key Republican who questioned the cuts: “What is the plan? When somebody says, ‘Hey, you guys presided over cutting half a billion dollars to do other stuff, what was that based on?’” Starks also covered the Senate hearing, reporting that a top appropriations Democrat accused the administration of “illegally gutted funding for cybersecurity.”
A Quantum Quandary?
Cybersecurity was not the only topic of concern on Capitol Hill this week. Similar hearings focused on anxiety about the impact of budget cuts related to government programs supporting quantum technology, according to several media outlets:
- Leaders of the quantum computing industry testified before Congress this week, urging lawmakers to stave off quantum-related cuts to the budget of the National Institute of Standards and Technology and other science agencies, according to an article by Madison Alder in FedScoop.
- Covering the hearing for Nextgov/FCW, Alexandra Kelley reported that the officials urged Congress to pass the National Quantum Initiative Reauthorization Act, which they described as integral for the U.S. to maintain its competitive edge in quantum technology.
- As with the CISA budget cuts, Democrats criticized the administration’s approach to quantum technology. MeriTalk’s Hansen quoted a ranking Democrat on the House Science, Space, and Technology Committee: “The administration claims to support quantum research funding in its budget proposal, but in practice, the president is actively cutting…programs that underpin our nation’s quantum industry.”
DOD Moving “SWFT-ly”
We saw continuing coverage on efforts by Department of Defense (DOD) officials to remake the way the Pentagon acquires software and other services, including several articles reported from this week’s AFCEA TechNet Cyber conference:
- At the AFCEA conference, Carley Welch of Breaking Defense interviewed Katie Arrington, currently performing the role of the Defense Department Chief Information Officer, who extolled the Pentagon’s new secure-by-design Software Fast Track (SWFT) program. Arrington said SWFT will provide a “better, faster way with the tools that we have to evaluate software rapidly to get it to the warfighters.”
- SIGNAL Media, AFCEA’s official publication, reported on Arrington’s keynote speech from the conference. Lydia Antonio-Vila wrote that Arrington’s comments covered the importance of non-kinetic warfare, zero trust and the Cybersecurity Maturity Model Certification (CMMC) initiative in addition to SWFT.
- In MeriTalk’s coverage of the keynote, Lisbeth Perez reported that Arrington told attendees that SWFT will officially launch on June 1 “so that we in the government can get to software faster.”
- Mikayla Easley also attended the conference for DefenseScoop, sharing comments by DOD speakers on the department’s new software modernization efforts, which will prioritize actions to accelerate and scale the Pentagon’s enterprise cloud environment by providing cloud infrastructure overseas and at the tactical edge.
- In an effort to promote consumption-based contracting, the Defense Department identified an initial set of product and service codes that it will target for a new “Anything-as-a-Service” pilot program, according to reporting by Jon Harper for DefenseScoop.
Finally, in late breaking news this week, Nick Wakeman of Washington Technology wrote that the General Services Administration has asked an additional nine consulting services companies to provide detailed information on their government contracts in an effort to identify savings and efficiencies. A similar request went out to 10 other companies in February.
That’s all for now. As always, I invite you to listen to the “Gov & Beyond” podcast for interviews with media leaders in the government tech space. Please subscribe to this newsletter on LinkedIn or via the form below. I’ll be back next week with another update.
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