Critical Update

The National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency’s mission is no small feat: The agency maps and models activity on Earth from the sea to space to support combat missions and disaster response. NGA Director Vice Adm. Robert Sharp discusses the agency’s recently unveiled 2025 priorities, where technology and partnerships fit in, and how the coronavirus helped the agency rethink its operations.

“What do you need help with today?” That’s how the Veterans Affairs Department’s first chatbot starts a conversation with a user. The department launched the bot to help vets navigate health care and benefits during a surge of coronavirus-related inquiries. CTO Charles Worthington and Presidential Innovation Fellow Dr. Kaeli Yuen discuss creating the bot with vet input and under an intense time crunch.

As the coronavirus interrupted the daily lives of millions of Americans and shuttered the offices of most federal agencies, the Veterans Affairs Department relied on technology to help meet the moment. Deputy Chief Veterans Experience Officer Barbara Morton explains how her office is using data, customer experience tools, technology and engagement to help VA—and the veterans the agency services—meet new challenges.

As governments of all sizes respond to the novel coronavirus pandemic, scientists and researchers at U.S. national laboratories are harnessing advanced technologies—and creating new networks of collaboration—in the global fight against COVID-19. In addition to their own work with gene-editing and advanced modeling, the labs are opening up their cutting-edge systems and supercomputers to other scientists through the COVID-19 High Performance Computing Consortium. Nextgov’s Brandi Vincent talks with the Energy Department’s Undersecretary for Science Paul Dabbar, Director of IBM Research Dario Gil, Argonne National Laboratory’s Rick Stevens, and Sandia National Laboratories’ Joe Schoeniger and Oscar Negrete. 

Before the end of the year, the Defense Department intends to finalize a rule change that will require any contractor it engages with to have obtained a certification of its cybersecurity practices from an approved external auditor. The program—known as Cybersecurity Maturity Model Certification—looks to eventually cover 300,000 contractors and subcontractors, many of which are anxiously waiting for the costs and details. Nextgov’s Mariam Baksh dives into the issue with DOD’s Katie Arrington, CEO of the Professional Services Council David Berteau, senior vice president of policy for the Information Technology Industry Council Gordon Bitko and principal director of strategic programs at the National Defense Industrial Association Corbin Evans.

Critical Update contributors Heather Kuldell and Brandi Vincent recently appeared on the GovExec Daily podcast and we’re sharing the full episode with you. Listen to hear about how CISA advice to federal employees for safer teleworking, NSA’s input on how to choose a video conferencing platform and other ways tech may smooth the way for workers to return to offices.

One year into managing IT for the entire State Department—his first government job—the agency’s chief information officer, Stuart McGuigan, is starting to see his early initiatives pay off. For example, a shift to the cloud paid off during the current COVID-19 crisis, as his staff and bureaus are well-suited to remote, distributed working. McGuigan shares his plans for the department, as well as which IT and budget management principles from the private sector he’s found still apply in government and the parts of his management style he’s had to adjust.

The USPTO aims to approve patents and register trademarks as quickly as possible and CIO Jamie Holcombe is leading a massive technology modernization effort to make that happen. Even though the agency still relies on some COBOL and legacy systems, Holcombe’s team is rolling out automation, artificial intelligence tools and user-centered design to allow the workforce to finish their work faster.

Federal agencies can’t just connect their systems to the internet; they need to follow a policy called Trusted Internet Connection to ensure a certain level of security. The policy was recently updated and the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency was tasked with providing use cases for guidance and a reference architecture explaining key concepts. The draft documents for the latter include a concept called “trust zones,” which caused confusion about whether it was related to a popular cybersecurity concept called “zero trust.” Nextgov Senior Editor Aaron Boyd talks to the people shaping the program—and a critic—to set the record straight.

With the coronavirus pandemic gripping the nation—and the world—federal employees and contractors are dealing with unprecedented times while trying to work from home. To kick off Critical Update Season 5, Nextgov reporters came together for a roundtable discussion of our latest reporting on how the federal IT workforce is dealing with COVID-19 and leading the charge in response to a global crisis. GovExec Senior Correspondent Eric Katz also breaks down how the stimulus bill affects the federal workforce. Sponsored by Booz Allen Hamilton

We rely on a variety of different encryption techniques to keep our digital lives safe as we bank, chat and conduct business online. It takes today’s most powerful computers thousands, if not millions of years to break the strongest codes, but quantum computers threaten to crack through them in a fraction of the time. The National Science Foundation’s Thyaga Nandagopal explains where quantum efforts are now and where they’re going. Sponsored by Raytheon

If 4G networks connected everyone, 5G promises to connect everything—self-driving cars, service robots, wearable devices and sensors. But with more connectivity comes greater cyber risk and serious national security questions about network infrastructure, including how Chinese telecoms fit in. Nextgov talks to former Federal Communications Chairman Tom Wheeler, current FCC Commissioner Geoffrey Starks, and former National Security Council Senior Director for Strategic Planning Robert Spalding about risks, benefits and whether America can keep the edge it established during the 4G boom.   Sponsored by Raytheon

Salary caps, lengthy onboarding and rigid career ladders have historically made it hard for federal agencies to recruit top cyber talent, and as threats increase, the competition is only going to get stiffer. Nextgov talks to Homeland Security Department’s Chief Human Capital Officer Angela Bailey and former undersecretary for the National Protection and Programs Directorate Suzanne Spaulding about the challenges the agency faces when recruiting cybersecurity pros and how officials have tried to overcome them.    Sponsored by Raytheon

They say you catch more flies with honey, and a research team at Sandia National Laboratories has taken that to heart. The team—led by Vince Urias, a distinguished member of the technical staff, Caleb Loverro, principal member of the technical staff, and Will Stout, senior member of the technical staff—created a massive honeypot to lure hackers into a fake environment. From there, defenders can gain valuable insight into who is attacking the system and what they appear to be after.   Sponsored by Raytheon

Critical Update is coming back! Heather and Aaron preview Season 4, “The New Cyber Landscape.”

In the late 1990s, Eric Schmieman, then-chief engineer at Battelle Memorial Institute, and his team were tapped to head to Chernobyl—the infamous site of the largest nuclear accident in history—to build a never-before-attempted containment system for the radioactive facility. The New Safe Confinement team faced difficult bureaucratic conditions left in the wake of the Soviet Union’s collapse plus other barriers that may sound familiar to many federal employees trying to solve problems in innovative ways.

“If you care about people, they’ll care about their work,” Labor Department Director of Employee Engagement Kristin McNally told Nextgov. Figuring out clever ways to engage employees can pay off big for agencies. Engaged employees perform better, but in the long run, the agency wins by being able to retain great workers.

In the latest episode of Critical Update, USDA’s Undersecretary for Farm Production and Conservation, Bill Northey, joins Nextgov’s Brandi Vincent to highlight how the agency is leveraging new technologies to enhance its service to farmers and producers across America. For Northey, such an endeavor—continuing to operate while simultaneously making improvements and introducing new tech—is “like driving a car down the road 70 miles an hour and changing your tire at the same time.” You can read more about USDA’s modernization efforts and its centerpiece—Farmers.gov—on Nextgov.

The Pentagon’s research wing, the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, was created when Russia launched Sputnik and the U.S. had no response. And within DARPA, the Defense Sciences Office tackles big, forward-looking technology issues so the country is never caught off guard by another “technology surprise.” Nextgov’s Jack Corrigan chats with DSO Director Valerie Browning to discuss the implications of machines that can think for themselves, when we should expect our first personal quantum computer and why more money doesn’t always mean more results when it comes to government research.

The Defense Digital Service has a simple motto: Get shit done. But within the government's largest agency, that’s easier said than done. Nextgov’s Aaron Boyd talks to then-Director Chris Lynch (who announced he would leave government shortly after our interview) and former Chief of Staff and current Hack the Pentagon program manager Reina Staley about the projects and challenges the team has been working on since its inception in 2015.