CISA’s “secure by design” framework is helping software manufacturers bake cybersecurity into products as part of an effort to implement the National Cyber Strategy that the White House released earlier this year. Cybersecurity has traditionally been treated as an afterthought in technology. CISA wants to change that. CISA Senior Advisor Lauren Zabierek discusses what it means to be secure by design, what the new framework outlines and what it means for vendors and the development community. You...
Dec 19, 2023•20 min•Season 6Ep. 38
GovCast had a banner year in 2023, featuring dozens of interviews with federal IT leaders, officials and experts. We take a look back at the year’s work around AI, zero-trust implementation and many other issues and topics facing all IT staffs throughout government. On this year-end episode of GovCast, Managing Editor Ross Gianfortune, and Staff Writers Jayla Whitfield and Jordan McDonald as they reflect on the most memorable episodes and themes of 2023. Featured conversations include: 1:00: Bri...
Dec 12, 2023•23 min•Season 6Ep. 37
Former Federal Deputy CTO Jennifer Pahlka who helped found the U.S. Digital Service and other major technology programs like the Presidential Innovation Fellows has ideas for how government can leverage the opportunities in technology to advance critical services for the public. Often there is a gap between policy and implementation, especially in digital government, which can slow down modernization. But agencies can reevaluate how they provide benefits and services to the public online and str...
Dec 05, 2023•38 min•Season 6Ep. 36
This episode we're diving into some defense technology perspectives, specifically for the Indo-Pacific region. We recently had the opportunity to connect with leaders at the AFCEA TechNet Indo-Pacific conference in Honolulu where they shared how they're thinking about the quickly changing landscape and what it means for defense programs, software factories, cloud modernization and data centricity. Featured interviews include: Rob Vietmeyer, Chief Software Officer at DOD. https://governmentciomed...
Nov 28, 2023•20 min•Season 6Ep. 35
Part of tackling defense and national security challenges requires engaging academia, developing the workforce, and bringing in the next commercial technical capability or process. That’s the aim of the Technology Advancement Center, a nonprofit innovating around some of the Pentagon’s toughest cybersecurity and technology challenges. CEO Gregg Smith, a longstanding technology leader, discusses how the organization fits into some of the Defense Department’s newest strategies such as those around...
Nov 21, 2023•20 min•Season 6Ep. 34
Every agency and every office is in a different place in their modernization journey. At the Office of Personnel Management, this path has been full of challenges that Deputy CIO Melvin Brown has worked to solve through a four pillar approach in people, process, technology and learning. Around its workforce challenges, Brown has reinvigorated an intern program to get more early-career technologists into the office and also deployed hybrid-work environment to widen the hiring net. Brown discusses...
Nov 15, 2023•19 min•Season 6Ep. 33
President Joe Biden’s executive order on artificial intelligence tasks agencies with driving the safe, secure and trustworthy development of AI. The order notes that the technology, if harnessed properly, has the potential to transform privacy, cybersecurity and health care. Biden said that the order is "the most significant action any government anywhere in the world has ever taken on AI safety, security and trust." GovCIO Media & Research Managing Editor Ross Gianfortune, Staff Writer/Rese...
Nov 07, 2023•19 min•Season 6Ep. 32
Good ideas can come from anywhere, including the millions of public servants in the federal workforce. The General Services Administration's 10x program invests in ideas from civil servants to improve government technology and better serve the public. Sites and projects like code.gov, login.gov and the U.S. Web Design System started from ideas funded through 10x. Unique to 10x is its venture capitalist-style funding model to steward these ideas, including applying lean development principles and...
Oct 31, 2023•26 min•Season 6Ep. 31
Behind large agencies like NASA is a backbone of technologists and shared services that enable the organization to seamlessly conduct its numerous missions that include those such as the high-profile Artemis and Moon to Mars. Shenandoah Speers, associate CIO of applications at NASA, has been on a mission of his own over the past five years to bring in scaled Agile frameworks that speed up its software development cycles and bridge the data among NASA’s systems. We caught up with Speers at the re...
Oct 24, 2023•26 min•Season 6Ep. 30
The Administration for Strategic Preparedness and Response (ASPR) at the Department of Health and Human Services leads the nation’s medical and public health preparedness for all disasters and public health emergencies. After spending more than a decade at the Government Accountability Office, Brian Mazanec is taking on a new challenge as the Deputy Assistant Secretary and Director, Office of Security, Intelligence, and Information Management at ASPR. In the newly-appointed position, Brian will ...
Oct 17, 2023•18 min•Season 6Ep. 29
Last month, the Office of Management and Budget released a guidance on digital customer experience. The policy guidance sets policy recommendations for agencies to make digital government services "easy to use, trustworthy and accessible." The White House's corresponding fact sheet lays out successes, challenges and the future of digital government as it evolves. GovCIO Media & Research Managing Editor Ross Gianfortune, Staff Writer/Researcher Jayla Whitfield and Staff Writer/Researcher Anas...
Oct 10, 2023•19 min•Season 6Ep. 28
The Defense Department recently released an unclassified summary of its 2023 cybersecurity strategy. The previously classified document was submitted to Congress in May. The document outlines updates to the department’s plan to “operationalize the priorities” in cyberspace. GovCIO Media & Research Managing Editor Ross Gianfortune and Staff Writer/Researcher Anastasia Obis discuss what is inside the plan and what it means for the future of DOD’s cyber posture.
Oct 03, 2023•17 min•Season 6Ep. 27
The Air Force Research Laboratory, the hub of innovation for the Department of the Air Force, has created a new directorate that will improve business processes to enable faster research and better decision-making. Leading this Digital Capabilities Directorate is the newly-appointed Alexis Bonnell, who concurrently serves as AFRL’s first CIO. She is now charged with making the digital dominance the service is working to achieve a reality. A longstanding federal and industry technology leader fro...
Sep 26, 2023•35 min•Season 6Ep. 26
The U.S Mint is the primary manufacturer of coinage in America. In 2019, the Mint produced more than 12 billion coins. As the sole producer of coinage, the Mint also creates additional markets to improve profitability. Chief Information Officer Francis O’Hearn overseas an IT budget of nearly $60 million and breaks down how his previous leadership roles have prepared him to succeed at the Mint. While O’Hearn understands the importance of emerging technology like artificial intelligence, he says k...
Sep 19, 2023•24 min•Season 6Ep. 25
The U.S. Navy has a keen interest on the space domain. This is where key technologies like spacecraft and ground-and-control stations play an integral part in passing on intelligence and other information about the world to U.S. military services globally. The Naval Research Laboratory’s Naval Center for Space Technology is one of four research directorates, and the focal point and integrator for the lab’s technology development used in space systems. Director Steven Meier breaks down some of th...
Sep 12, 2023•54 min•Season 6Ep. 24
The leader behind Defense Department programs like “Hacking for Defense” returns to GovCast to break down the principles behind how large organizations can innovate at speed. This speed is often cited as being the critical pace needed at the Pentagon to stay ahead of the adversary across key issues in cybersecurity, IT modernization, data sharing and more. Steve Blank co-founded the Gordian Knot Center for National Security Innovation at Stanford University, which teaches the next generation of ...
Sep 05, 2023•45 min•Season 6Ep. 23
GovCast turns 5! The first episode published Aug. 29, 2018, featured a wide-ranging discussion with Jose Arrieta, who at the time served as the Department of Health and Human Services assistant deputy secretary. In the five years since, GovCast has hosted many leaders across the federal government, academia and industry to discuss everything from modernization to health IT to artificial intelligence in government. To mark the podcast’s five-year anniversary, GovCIO Media & Research’s Alexand...
Aug 29, 2023•34 min•Season 6Ep. 22
Government IT has so many specific words and phrases that it can seem like its own language. In a special GovCast, Production Lead Alexander Bulova acts as a quiz show host to test Staff Writer/Researcher Anastasia Obis and Managing Editor Ross Gianfortune on government IT jargon on the different phrases and words everyone needs to know to keep current on government IT news.
Aug 22, 2023•24 min•Season 6Ep. 21
U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) Assistant Commissioner and CIO Sonny Bhagowalia is a longstanding leader in federal government and industry. By trade, his roots are in engineering — which has largely shaped how he views technology’s and especially artificial intelligence’s impact across various government missions. With technology being pervasive in “everything we do,” Bhagowalia breaks down where he sees AI helping the agency counter cyber threats, tag video and image data automaticall...
Aug 15, 2023•42 min•Season 6Ep. 20
The latest reorganization of the Defense Innovation Unit is bringing together innovation arms under one umbrella at the Defense Department. Among these efforts includes a shift at the National Security Innovation Network (NSIN) led by Cheryl Ingstad — a longstanding leader who led initiatives in artificial intelligence innovation in the public and private sectors. In her new role as deputy director of digital platforms and developer ecosystem at DIU, Ingstad is focused on bridging the “valley of...
Aug 08, 2023•37 min•Season 6Ep. 19
There’s been quite a bit of development around AI in the federal government over the past year. We take a look back at how various federal leaders from different agencies are grappling with its challenges and benefits to agency missions. Tune in for more insights featuring: Taka Ariga, Chief Data Scientist, GAO Frank Indiviglio, CTO, NOAA Keith Sonderling, Commissioner, EEOC Elham Tabassi, Chief of Staff, Information Technology Laboratory, NIST Dan Folliard, CDO, SOCOM...
Aug 01, 2023•12 min•Season 6Ep. 18
Vice Adm. Jeffrey Trussler is wrapping up his last months as deputy chief of naval operations for information warfare and director of Naval intelligence. He joins us to talk about the challenges that lie ahead of the Navy and the Defense Department at large in the cyber domain, as well as the importance of radio frequency spectrum to maintaining the Navy's information and intelligence dominance. Plus he reflects on the lessons learned from his current position and what’s next for him.
Jul 25, 2023•50 min•Season 6Ep. 17
Artificial intelligence is making big waves at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration when it comes to providing forecasters with more accurate weather data and climate modeling. NOAA CTO Frank Indiviglio said in addition to AI, the agency has been modernizing its edge-computing capabilities by sending devices equipped with sensors into the ocean to collect critical hurricane data. Indiviglio also highlighted NOAA's Open Data Dissemination Program, which is making it easier for the ...
Jul 18, 2023•38 min•Season 6Ep. 16
The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI)'s Criminal and Cyber Division in its Washington Field Office is putting itself in a position to better tackle the new cyber attack landscape that is growing evermore sophisticated with the widespread use of things like wearables and social media that threat actors are exploiting. This includes emerging threats like “cybercrime as a service.” The office’s Special Agent in Charge Wayne Jacobs, whose career as a law enforcement agent includes tackling viole...
Jul 11, 2023•21 min•Season 6Ep. 15
The Department of the Air Force recently released its zero trust and ICAM implementation roadmap, and now it is laser-focused on implementing different pillars of zero trust. While the technology is there, the amount of execution and coordination is enormous as the service works toward fully implementing zero trust by 2027. Air Force CTO Jay Bonci briefs how the service is planning to get to that goal, the relationship between zero trust and initiatives such as JWCC and JADC2, as well as his pri...
Jun 27, 2023•44 min•Season 6Ep. 14
With artificial intelligence growing in popularity, there also is a growing interest in regulating AI to both protect American rights and ensure the technology is used and deployed fairly. The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission has an inherent interest in shaping policies and enforcing laws to ensure the American workplace remains fair for all. Commissioner Keith Sonderling, a lawyer by trade, discusses the legal and federal interests behind how the agency is focused on AI, including what p...
Jun 20, 2023•27 min•Season 6Ep. 13
As Don Yeske is wrapping up his last days as the Navy’s acting chief technology officer, he joins us to talk about how the Navy is working to transform its legacy global network systems to be able to move information securely anywhere in the world. Plus, he reflects on the lessons learned from his current position as he is preparing to step into a new position at the Department of Homeland Security.
Jun 13, 2023•58 min•Season 6Ep. 12
NASA's Acquisition Innovation Launchpad (NAIL) is helping the agency make major progress in its procurement process by amplifying innovation and creating agile acquisition practices to get technology in more quickly. Technology at the agency means potential to support major space exploration programs like Artemis and Juno. Karla Smith Jackson, NASA’s senior procurement executive and deputy chief acquisition officer, said NAIL, which was modeled after the Procurement Innovation Lab (PIL) at the D...
Jun 06, 2023•50 min•Season 6Ep. 11
As the Air Force bids goodbye to CIO Lauren Knausenberger, she joined us for a live podcast recording to discuss her perspectives on how she built an agile team that is primed to tackle the service’s most pressing priorities around cybersecurity, software development, data sharing and more. Plus, she provides tips and tricks for succeeding in the defense industry, the highs and lows of her time at the Air Force, and how she’s positioned the Air Force tech shop to continue its momentum.
Jun 02, 2023•1 hr 11 min
Customer service continues to be a key focus for the Department of Education. As part of its Strategic Plan, the agency has fully executed the 21st Century Integrated Digital Experience Act to provide millions of customers with ease of access to digital services. Tune in to this special update from Education CIO Luis Lopez about the progress made on digital services and other IT and cybersecurity priorities, including the implementation of zero trust architecture.
May 24, 2023•20 min•Season 6Ep. 10
