Picking up from last week, the flood of last-minute guidance around federal government cybersecurity and AI continued throughout this week, including the Biden administration’s sweeping cybersecurity executive order (EO) – which was expected last week but appeared yesterday.
Here’s what’s been trending in the government tech media this week:
More Last-Minute Guidance
The cybersecurity EO was published about a week later than expected, and the administration also issued orders and guidance around AI, sparking loads of media coverage:
- The highly-anticipated White House cybersecurity EO touched on “at least a dozen major areas, with federal agency systems, cloud services, and software emerging as prominent topics,” according to an article by John Curran at MeriTalk.
- Matt Bracken of FedScoop explained what the EO will mean to agencies in areas such as open-source software use and requirements for selling software to the government.
- In his take for Federal News Network, Justin Doubleday noted that the EO calls for more centralized federal cyber defenses; sanctions against nation-state hackers; and greater focus on digital identity fraud and artificial intelligence (AI) tech.
- David DiMolfetta at Nextgov/FCW followed up on the publication’s coverage last week with a piece noting the EO’s focus on giving CISA more resources for government-related threat hunting and its call for transparency related to software security.
- In Breaking Defense, Carley Welch reported on the EO’s call for better protected government space systems.
- And in StateScoop, Colin Wood looked at the EO’s implications related to digital drivers licenses.
- But that wasn’t the only EO making headlines this week. The President also issued an EO aimed at shoring up the nation’s AI infrastructure, including through the operation of data centers, as reported in FedScoop by Madison Alder. Alexandra Kelley wrote in Nextgov/FCW that this EO looks to leverage federally protected lands to develop data centers to support AI software, while prioritizing clean energy. Curran’s coverage in MeriTalk notes the EO’s focus on the roles of the Departments of Defense and Energy in building new infrastructure. In a related move, the White House also issued guidance this week with requirements for cybersecurity, resiliency and availability for government data centers, according to a report from Natalie Alms in Nextgov/FCW.
- The administration also this week published guidance for agencies to follow in making their data accessible and machine-readable by default, covered by Weslan Hansen in MeriTalk. Along similar lines, the Commerce Department issued guidance this week to ensure public data can be used with generative AI tools, reported by Alder in FedScoop.
- Commerce also published an interim rule tightening AI exports – action that received mixed reviews, according to Sydney J. Freedberg Jr. in Breaking Defense.
- The Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) also issued guidance this week. Bracken published a piece in CyberScoop on the agency’s new AI-focused playbook Tuesday that aims for a “unified” approach to handling AI-related cyber threats. In coverage by Axios, Sam Sabin wrote that the playbook represents a new plan for reporting and trading details about ongoing security threats targeting AI models.
Defense Innovation
We saw several articles focused on recommendations around innovation at the Department of Defense (DOD):
- A report from the DOD’s Defense Innovation Board recommended an expanded role and increased budget for the Defense Innovation Unit (DIU) to help more non-traditional companies navigate the Defense Department’s bureaucracy, reported by Courtney Albon in Defense News. In Breaking Defense, Welch noted that the report asked Congress and industry to divest from legacy systems and change procurement processes. Anastasia Obis covered the story in Federal News Network, noting the recommendation to expand the DIU into a central office serving as an entry point for vendors.
- Sandra Erwin of Space News reported on comments this week by departing Air Force Secretary Frank Kendall calling for a “dramatic expansion” in space-based capabilities to counter growing threats from China and Russia. Kendall warned that AI will play a crucial role in shaping future global conflicts, according to a MeriTalk article by Lisbeth Perez. Perez also contributed a comprehensive look at tech issues that came up in the contentious Senate hearing for Pete Hegseth, President-elect Trump’s pick to become the next Defense secretary.
- In related DOD AI news, the U.S. Indo-Pacific Command launched a project to look at how commanders can use generative AI to make battlefield decisions more quickly, according to an article by Patrick Tucker in Defense One.
Those are the highlights of the week. Come back next week for more trending government tech news. And if you still haven’t, check out W2 Communications’ “Gov & Beyond” podcast for interviews with Troy Schneider of Billington CyberSecurity and Nick Wakeman with Ross Wilkers of Washington Technology.