This Week in Government Tech Media – April 17, 2026

By Brad Bass /

If you haven’t done so already, I strongly encourage you to take a look at the list of stellar nominees for the inaugural Echo Awards recognizing excellence in public sector reporting – and show your support by casting your vote here. Also, make sure to buy your ticket for the awards luncheon on June 11 at the Carahsoft Conference and Collaboration Center in Reston, Virginia!

This week, the trending news in the government tech media revolved around various announcements from federal officials at a major space industry event as well as a few announcements related to scaled-back federal cybersecurity programs.

Space Symposium Blasts Off

The annual Space Symposium, held this week in Colorado Springs, produced headlines across defense, space and government tech media outlets. High-ranking officials from the Pentagon and the White House presented updates to attendees, covered closely by reporters who attended. Here’s a sampling of that coverage:

  • In a keynote address at the conference, the Pentagon’s Chief of Space Operations Gen. Chance Saltzman directed industry to review two new forecasting documents describing what the service expects the space environment will look like in the year 2040 and laying out the force structure it will need to operate in that environment, according to coverage by Courtney Albon in Air & Space Forces Magazine.
  • Noting that this year’s symposium will be the last in which Saltzman will appear in his current position, Sandra Erwin quoted him in Space News stating the documents present a “conceptual view of a future where our space superiority efforts must contend with new technologies, new threats, new missions and new ways of war.” 
  • Theresa Hitchens wrote in Breaking Defense that Saltzman told reporters at the event that the service is working very closely with the Space Command on orbital warfare, and exploring the technology and the operational concepts to enable on-orbit maneuverability and satellite refueling as part of its 15-year plan. 
  • Saltzman told attendees that the organization needs more money and people to address evolving threats from space-based adversaries, Thomas Novelly reported in Defense One.
  • In ExecutiveGov, Kristen Smith noted that Saltzman’s speech signaled that the service’s current structure is insufficient for the threat environment it expects by 2040, emphasizing that future competition in space will be defined by speed, scale and resilience. 
  • Air Force Secretary Troy Meink told reporters at the conference that the service is pushing for a space-based system to detect airborne threats – systems that have recently been targeted by Iran, according to coverage from the symposium by Novelly for Defense One.
  • Albon noted in Air & Space Forces Magazine that Meink said the Space Force has selected an initial pool of vendors that will compete to build sensors and satellites that track airborne targets.
  • Lt. Gen. Dennis Bythewood, commander of U.S. Space Forces – Space (S4S),  spoke to attendees about how his organization is addressing the growing threats in space, “whether it’s jammers coming from a base on the planet, anti-satellite weapons that would take out our capabilities on orbit, orbital satellites that are holding our assets at risks, and all of the cyber domain things,” according to a report by David Hodes in Via Satellite.
  • Hodes’ colleague Calvin Biesecker covered remarks by Gurpartap “GP” Sandhoo, acting head of the Space Development Agency (SDA), on the Space Force’s rollout of its new acquisition structure.
  • Sandhoo said the reorganization could have an acute impact on the SDA, which “probably won’t” carry the same name in the future as a result, according to a piece by Michael Marrow in Breaking Defense. 
  • In related SDA news, Erwin reported on comments by Meink that the agency is poised to be folded into a broader reorganization of Space Force acquisition offices after details are worked out with congressional overseers.
  • Jeff Foust wrote in Space News that Michael Kratsios, director of the White House’s Office of Science and Technology Policy, gave a speech announcing a policy directing NASA, the Pentagon and the Department of Energy to develop space nuclear power systems that could launch as soon as 2028. 

Scaled-Back Cyber 

Some of the leading federal cyber agencies announced they were scaling back some initiatives due to budget issues and other concerns. Still, there were reports of new cyber-related actions coming from the White House in the near future:

  • The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) this week announced that, due to the overwhelming task of analyzing the growing number of cybersecurity vulnerabilities, it has narrowed the priorities for its National Vulnerability Database initiative, according to a report by Matt Kapko in CyberScoop. 
  • NIST is adopting a risk-based model for adding details to vulnerability entries in an attempt to clear the growing backlog of submissions associated with the effort, Ionut Arghire wrote in Security Week. 
  • Writing for ITPro, Emma Woollacott reported that some experts worry that NIST’s move will “leave many [vulnerabilities] on the table.”
  • In another example of scaling back federal cyber programs, Greg Otto of CyberScoop noted that the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) informed participants of the federal government’s Scholarship for Service program that it has canceled this year’s summer internship programs due to the funding issues.
  • In his coverage of the announcement, David DiMolfetta reported in Nextgov/FCW that the cancelled program was intended to provide college tuition and a stipend to awardees, who, in return, commit to working in a government cybersecurity role upon graduation. 
  • In other CISA budget-related developments, the agency has told furloughed workers to report to work despite an ongoing funding lapse due to the partial government shutdown, according to a piece by Chris Riotta in GovInfoSecurity.
  • Grace Dille of MeriTalk noted that budget issues are filtering down into state and local governments, where shrinking federal grant support and tighter local budgets are forcing them to rethink how they fund and scale zero trust efforts as cyber threats continue to grow.
  • In other cybersecurity news, National Cyber Director Sean Cairncross said this week he expects more executive orders (EOs) coming from the White House as part of implementing the national cybersecurity strategy, Tim Starks reported in CyberScoop.
  • Covering those remarks in Nextgov/FCW, DiMolfetta quoted Cairncross stating that there are “more [EOs] coming and we expect that it will be relatively soon.”

Upcoming Industry Events

If you weren’t able to attend the Space Symposium and get in on the action noted above, you might be able to make up for it at one of the upcoming local industry events listed below:

If you would like your event included in this list, please fill out this form.

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