I’m back with our latest roundup of the stories that captured the most attention within the government technology media space this week. As is often the case, cybersecurity and artificial intelligence were the trending topics, with new guidance around cybersecurity from the White House and lots of buzz around AI at a large government tech industry conference in Washington, D.C. You can find more detail on these stories below:
Trump 2.0 Cyber Order
Late last week and early this week, we saw broad coverage of the President’s executive order (EO) on cybersecurity. Some reporters focused on changes that the new EO makes compared to those from previous administrations, while others saw commonalities:
- The Trump cybersecurity EO aims to streamline previous policy directives to focus on concrete technical measures, including secure software development, quantum-resistant encryption and labeling standards for IoT devices, according to an article by David DiMolfetta in Nextgov/FCW.
- DiMolfetta’s colleague Natalie Alms wrote in a separate article that the order rolls back Biden-era digital identity policies while “citing false claims about immigrants.”
- Tim Starks noted in CyberScoop that the EO also emphasizes adopting the latest encryption protocols, securing internet routing as well as rolling back aspects of EOs from Biden and Obama.
- In his take for MeriTalk, John Curran reported that the new EO “makes modest changes” to previous administrations’ orders, adding that it retains “two of the most significant issues” in Biden’s 2021 EO pushing agencies to adopt cloud services and zero trust security architectures.
- In an analysis for Axios, Sam Sabin wrote that the EO represents a “less prescriptive, more decentralized approach to cybersecurity — focused on paring back federal mandates and shifting more discretion to agencies and state governments.”
AI at the Summit
Thousands of attendees converged in Washington, D.C. this week for the Amazon Web Services (AWS) Public Sector Summit, including several reporters and editors from government tech media outlets. Many of the sessions they covered focused on AI and statements from high-ranking federal leaders:
- Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard spoke at the event, telling attendees that the ability to use AI applications such as an intelligence community chatbot in top secret clouds “has been a game changer,” as quoted by Grace Dille in MeriTalk. Covering the same speech, Ross Gianfortune of GovCIO Media reported on Gabbard’s remarks that tasks that used to require months or years of page-by-page review by analysts are now accomplished in a matter of hours using AI tools.
- In a related session at the Summit, the CIA’s Chief AI Officer Lakshmi Raman discussed the agency’s potential use of AI agents – systems that are designed to act autonomously to achieve stated goals with minimal human intervention, according to a piece by MeriTalk’s Curran. Billy Mitchell of FedScoop quoted Raman’s assertion that AI agents can assist the agency with its help desk and to “help us fill out forms automatically.”
- Additionally, Alexandra Kelley reported in Nextgov/FCW on a speech by David Sacks, the White House special advisor for AI and crypto, highlighting the administration’s industry-friendly policies designed to maintain the U.S. lead in AI development. Mitchell’s coverage in FedScoop highlighted Sacks’s assertion that the federal government should trash its traditional regulatory playbook in favor of a private sector-friendly model for AI innovation. Dille also covered remarks by Sacks focused on the critical need for the U.S. to beat China in “the AI race.”
- Patrick Tucker reported in Defense One on remarks by Greg Avicola, a program manager at the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) on the Navy’s vision for a strike force built around a “heterogeneous” mix of robotic assets of varying size, role and capability. In a related story, Brandi Vincent of DefenseScoop wrote about comments by Navy officials at a separate Scoop News Group Live event this week on plans to expand emerging generative AI capabilities for sailors, Marines and civilians in support of their daily operations.
The Washington Technology Top 100
Finally, we’d like to note that Washington Technology published its highly anticipated annual rankings of the top 100 federal government tech companies. In his analysis of the rankings, editor Nick Wakeman noted that the listing indicates a market going through a “major upheaval.” Congratulations to all of the companies that made the list!
That covers it for this week. I’ll be back next week with our next edition. If you’re finding these updates helpful, please share them with your colleagues. You can subscribe to this newsletter on LinkedIn or via the form below.
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