This week saw a wave of news on executive orders from the White House related to security, resilience and procurement. While the updates are just beginning to trickle in, coverage in the government technology media points to potentially significant impacts resulting from these actions. Here’s a roundup of what they’ve written on these and other issues this week:
A New Wave of Executive Orders
All of the top government tech media outlets had their eyes on the White House this week, as several executive orders were announced:
- We can expect the General Services Administration (GSA) to overhaul the Federal Risk and Authorization Management Program (FedRAMP) to ensure cloud providers meet the government’s cybersecurity requirements, according to reporting from David DiMolfetta of Nextgov/FCW. According to the article, changes to the program would automate its approval workflow while shifting more control to the private sector. In MeriTalk, John Curran noted that the FedRAMP changes might focus more on “larger security issues” and less on “lengthy checklists of details.”
- Natalie Alms reported in Nextgov/FCW on another executive order that would centralize government procurement within GSA, quadrupling the size of the agency. GSA will take over as the executive agent of all government-wide acquisition contracts (GWACs) for IT, according to coverage by Billy Mitchell in FedScoop. Veteran editor/reporter Jason Miller of Federal News Network pointed out in his article that the order would return agencies to “the pre-acquisition reform days of the 1990s.”
- State/local government publication Route 50 covered yet another executive order that calls on state and local governments to take on greater responsibilities to prepare for natural disasters and cyberattacks, as reported by managing editor Chris Teale. The order calls for a new National Resilience Strategy within the next 90 days that would outline priorities and methods to improve resilience to disasters – including those caused by cyberattacks, according to a piece by Weslan Hansen in MeriTalk.
- Hansen also reported this week on industry reaction to a previous White House executive order on artificial intelligence (AI), two major industry groups submitted recommendations to the Office of Management and Budget advocating for a deregulated approach to IT.
The AI Push Continues
AI continues to be a focal point for the Trump Administration, and we saw several articles on the ongoing push to leverage chatbots and generative AI tools within government:
- The GSA this week unveiled a new generative AI chatbot designed to automate repetitive tasks and boost efficiency; an announcement that was covered in FedScoop by Rebecca Heilweil.
- Edward Graham wrote in Nextgov/FCW about plans by the U.S. Postal Service to adopt generative AI tools in the coming months to improve customer experience and service delivery.
- Within the Defense Department, the U.S. Space Force released a new strategy blueprint outlining how it plans to integrate AI into its operations and improve AI literacy among its personnel, covered in industry publication Space News by Sandra Erwin. The plan will transform the service branch into a more data-driven and AI-enabled force and improve its ability to maintain space superiority, Lisbeth Perez noted in her coverage for MeriTalk.
- In ExecutiveGov, Jane Edwards published a piece on the U.S. Central Command’s launch of CentGPT, an AI-powered chatbot and document analysis platform.
- Alexandra Kelley of Nextgov/FCW covered a speech this week by Vice President JD Vance in which he rebutted concerns about AI displacing workers. Kelley quoted Vance’s assertion that “there’s too much fear that AI will simply replace jobs, rather than augmenting so many of the things that we do now.”
I’ll be keeping an eye on these and other topics that are trending in the government tech media in the coming weeks. Check back every Friday for the latest roundup. See you then!