This Week in Government Tech Media – October 10, 2025 

By Brad Bass /

As we entered the second week of the government shutdown, we might have expected a dearth of news for the government tech media to cover. But that wasn’t the case. Besides covering the continuing saga of the shutdown itself, reporters covered new developments emanating from Capitol Hill related to cybersecurity, artificial intelligence (AI) and national security technology. Below, you can find my weekly roundup of the latest trending news:

The Shutdown Continues

As noted in last week’s roundup, we present this synopsis of the latest shutdown-related news with the caveat that the situation could change at any time. But at the time of publication, here’s the latest:

  • With no end to the shutdown in sight, government agencies are revisiting their contingency plans and considering additional employee furloughs, Jory Heckman noted in Federal News Network. Late in the week, The Washington Post reported that the Trump Administration began laying off federal workers.
  • A federal workers’ union is suing the Education Department after agency employees on furlough or leave discovered that their automatic email replies had been changed to a message blaming Democratic lawmakers for the ongoing government shutdown, according to coverage by Miranda Nazzaro in FedScoop.
  • Alexandra Kelley of Nextgov/FCW interviewed policy experts who said the shutdown could trigger a delay in the implementation of federal requirements related to artificial intelligence (AI) and other technologies.
  • Looking at the shutdown’s implications to national security, Angus Loten of The Wall Street Journal wrote that it could exacerbate the effects of the steady drawdown of federal cybersecurity resources of the past eight months, “putting the U.S. at risk of falling behind China, Russia and other global adversaries on the digital battlefield.”
  • In Defense One, Meghann Myers reported that the Association of the U.S. Army’s (AUSA) annual conference was set to kick off next week but with questions lingering as to the extent Army personnel would participate due to the shutdown.
  • In a podcast interview with Ross Wilkers of Washington Technology, Stephanie Kostro of the Professional Services Council (PSC) discussed what typically happens after contractors receive orders to stop work during a shutdown and how contractors should prepare for when work resumes. In other PSC news, Terry Gerton of Federal News Network spoke to Jim Carroll about how the association is advising members on how to weather the uncertainty around staffing, deliverables and compliance related to the shutdown.
  • Wilkers’ colleague Nick Wakeman wrote about the importance for contractors to track their shutdown costs now to help them determine what they can recover when funding is back.

The Latest From the Hill

With the shutdown slowing down news announcements from government agencies, it appears that reporters in the government tech media turned their attention to Congress this week:

  • Key congressional leaders said new efforts to reinstate the cyber information-sharing law that expired last month should protect companies that are still providing threat data to the government despite the lapse in authority, according to an article by Martin Matishak in tech publication The Record.
  • Tim Starks wrote in CyberScoop that the new proposed legislation would extend the Cybersecurity and Information Sharing Act of 2015 and be renamed the Protecting America from Cyber Threats (PACT) Act.
  • Writing in Nextgov/FCW, David DiMolfetta noted that Sen. Gary Peters, the bill’s sponsor, said he does not have a projected timeline in place for when this new measure could be brought to a vote, and that the ongoing government shutdown complicates those efforts in the short term.
  • In other security-related news from Capitol Hill, a congressional committee warned that billions of dollars’ worth of advanced semiconductor equipment continues to flow to China despite U.S. export controls – and some of those semiconductors are coming from America, Weslan Hansen noted in MeriTalk.
  • Hansen also shared details on a letter from members of Congress to the Secretary of Homeland Security seeking information on Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s use of spyware that can access mobile phones without knowledge or consent.
  • Matt Bracken of FedScoop covered remarks on the Hill from Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Lee Zeldin that the agency’s pledge to “get out of the way” on chemical reviews to accelerate the buildout of AI data centers doesn’t mean those reviews would be any less robust.
  • At his Senate confirmation hearing, Gen. Kenneth Wilsbach, the nominee for U.S. Air Force chief of staff, said the Air Force isn’t having trouble recruiting cyber experts — the main problem is with retention and training, according to a piece by Jon Harper for DefenseScoop.
  • A congressional working group on the national security ramifications of biotechnology is set to deliver new policy recommendations to the Trump administration on how the U.S. can optimize its biotechnology research and development ecosystem, Nextgov/FCW’s Kelley reported.
  • Writing about the group’s work in Defense One, Myers noted that the working group’s goal is to help the U.S. catch up with China’s push to incorporate technologies like gene editing for human performance on the battlefield.
  • Jason Miller of Federal News Network talked to Jamie Crotts, the chief information officer for the House of Representatives, digging into the House’s zero trust cybersecurity journey and how Crotts works to protect the hundreds of end points in member offices across the country.

Upcoming Industry Events

Although the shutdown will have some impact on government-focused events, it appears that our event calendar is remaining full. Here’s a sampling of a few you might want to attend next week:

That’s a wrap for this week. As always, I urge you to share this newsletter with colleagues whom you think would be interested. They can subscribe on LinkedIn or via the form below.