Federal Drive with Tom Temin

When it comes to cybersecurity, the government has plenty of defensive capabilities, but they're so scattered throughout various agencies that no one quite knows how to use them all in concert. That's the unsurprising conclusion from a federal cybersecurity advisory panel. But these authors say their recommendations are different, because they tell agencies specifically how to fix the problem. Federal News Radio DoD Report Jared Serbu shares the details on Federal Drive with Tom Temin.

Comptroller General Gene Dodaro likes to say the Government Accountability Offices High Risk List isn't meant to shame agencies but rather to help them operate more efficiently and effectively. Sound familiar? Dodaro says the government reorganization ordered by President Donald Trump is a perfect opportunity for agencies to address the GAO's recommendations. Federal News Radios Meredith Somers has more on Federal Drive with Tom Temin.

The Defense Department has 15 different regulations for the Freedom of Information Act. It has 21 assorted rules for privacy. That's just a small sample of why the White House ordered agencies to reduce and reform regulations with a goal of getting rid of two for every new one they write. Federal News Radio's Executive Editor Jason Miller tells Federal Drive with Tom Temin how DoD is taking on this huge task of getting rid of regulations, some of which go back to its War Department days.

The Pentagon has just wrapped up its third bug bounty. This one on behalf of the Air Force. The competition turned out to be DoD's largest yet: 272 white hat hackers found 207 verified vulnerabilities in Air Force systems, including some very serious ones. Marten Mickos is the CEO of HackerOne, the firm that coordinated Hack the Air Force. He talked with Federal News Radio's Jared Serbu about the results on Federal Drive with Tom Temin.

Like a bad stretch of roadway, the defense procurement system vexes generation after generation of federal and contractor practitioners. Undaunted, the Section 809 Panel, named for the defense authorization act paragraph that chartered it, has been working hard at recommendations for comprehensive reform. Section 809 Panel Commissioner David Drabkin gives Federal Drive with Tom Temin a progress report.

U.S. nuclear forces have become top of mind lately in the standoff with North Korea. Coordination of those forces relies on some very old information technology. Rumor has it strategic command still uses 8-inch floppy disks. Stories of systems at Veterans Affairs and the IRS are legend. Now the Partnership for Public Service and Accenture have put together some advice for getting this situation off the dime. Mallory Barg Bulman, the vice president for research and evaluation at the partnership, provides details on Federal Drive with Tom Temin.

When you're the chief information security officer of an agency of 166,000 people, you've got to worry about 166,000 people. But you don't do it alone. You've got a cybersecurity workforce to deal with everything from foreign hackers to disgruntled insiders. For a view of cyber workforce trends, Federal Drive with Tom Temin spoke with Chris Wlaschin, chief information security officer at the Health and Human Services Department.

The annual end-of-year buying rush might be a bit more pronounced than usual this year. Budget uncertainty is running higher than ever. One technique lots of agencies use near the end of a fiscal year is reverse auctions. Joe Jordan, former federal procurement policy executive and now CEO of FedBid, gives Federal Drive with Tom Temin a status update.

When Congress returns from its August recess next week, it faces a heavy agenda. The budget and the looming debt ceiling top the list of things to do. But will members get bogged down with items like the population of Statuary Hall with just a few days to go? For our September curtain opener, Federal Drive with Tom Temin turns to Roll Call Senior Editor David Hawkings.

Allegations about Kaspersky Lab and its connections to the Russian government have brought the spotlight on the federal IT supply chain over the last couple of months. But the latest issue is really just part of a long-term effort to better secure the federal technology agencies are buying. In his weekly feature, the Reporter's Notebook, Executive Editor Jason Miller writes about how the federal supply chain risk management effort is coming together across several initiatives. He discusses it on Federal Drive with Tom Temin.