Today, we look at the proper way to manage the hybrid cloud for federal projects.

Our guest is the Chief Technology Officer for Thundercat Technology, Kurt Steege. Kurt has an extensive background that includes a stint as the Chief Enterprise Architect at the FBI.

An argument can be made that the move to the hybrid cloud can increase flexibility and reduce cost; an equally valid argument can be made that the increasing complexity of the hybrid cloud can cause poor visibility, insecure data transmission, and compliance issues.

We see federal agencies not getting boxed into a corner by using more than one cloud service provider. This may be great for financial reasons, but the hybrid cloud, by definition, is going to be much more difficult to observe. The risks are always changing, some cybersecurity experts say that Application Program Interfaces are the new attack vector; a multi-cloud system makes accounting for all of them hard.

Another obvious fact, if your agency moves to the “XYZ” cloud, there is a transmission of data. If they go ahead and send another application to the “ABC” cloud, there is another communications port. Each one adds to the attack surface for an agency.

Finally, each cloud service provider has diverse ways of offering compliance. At the end of the day, a federal official must sign off on the compliance. Understanding the subtilities of these differences may cause excessive delays.

Thundercat Technology has a white paper that could help. It is titled “Cloud Transformation Leads to Better Outcomes for Government Agencies.” 

If you do a Google search on “Leadership” you get five billion results. Seems like a topic that has been given tons and tons of attention.

A better way to gain an understanding of leadership is to seek out examples of poor leadership and try to avoid them. Enter, How NOT to Lead: Lessons Every Manager Can Learn from Dumpster Chickens, Mushroom Farmers, and Other Office Offenders. The latest book from Dr. Chase Cunningham

This is an interview with Dr. Chase Cunningham where he gives his reasons for authoring the book and the origin of many of his stories. He has a fascinating background that includes being raised on a farm in Texas, working in sensitive military areas, and completing a Ph.D.

Some of the chapter titles look like a setup from a professional comedian. He has chapter titles like

Do not be a Dumpster Chicken

Go Slow to Be Fast

Beware the Brilliant Jerk

Do not be a mushroom farmer.

Do not chase unicorns.

Yes, the chapter titles are brash and so are Chase’s recommendations.

Let us one tiny aspect of the book:  the idea of starting a company, getting investors, and becoming a millionaire.  That certainly is the goal of millions and millions of entrepreneurs.

Chase has seen investors and innovators in action. He has seen naïve startups get dazzled with investment dollars give up control of companies, and become employees to a demanding task master. Wait a minute, one of the reasons for starting a company was to become independent.

Chase tells the untold part of the “rags to riches” story of technology startups. An innovator may produce an idea and surround themselves with a core group that develops and makes the company grow. Many are hired with the promise of riches when the company goes public.

What can happen is the founder falls for the trap where the company’s value gets diluted, and the promises made to the initial group have been cast aside.

When you buy and read this book you will be drawn into memorable stories about roping cattle, small boar maintenance, and keyboard warriors.

Buy this book today to help you become a successful entrepreneur, a better leader, and a decent human being.

Over the years some technical terms are easy to understand for mere mortals – data centers, high-speed internet, and even identity management. However, when you mention the term “Kubernetes,” a normal professional eye would glaze over. Some technical professionals may have to revert to making up some applications.

Well, the wait is over. Today, world-famous Paul Smith from Rancher Government Services will give a working definition of Kubernetes and show how efficiently using this technology can reduce costs and improve security for federal systems.

We begin the interview from 40,000 feet with a general guide to open-source software and Paul Smith gives an overview of Linux and Red Hat. That parallel seems to ring some chords.

Next, the concept of “container” was expounded upon. A container is merely a bundle of software, this is portable. It can be used as plastic blocks children use. You can pick up the container and run it anywhere. When it comes to three-year-olds, the blocks end up all over the house!

Now that the foundation is set, Paul Smith indicates that in and of itself, the open-source Kubernetes provides high availability and scaling; on the other hand, it can be difficult to install, complicated, and needs to be monitored.

Today’s federal hybrid clouds need a way to manage these containers. Enter, Rancher Government Solutions.

During the interview, Paul Smith presents some of the challenges in a multi-cloud world. He includes comments on legacy systems, edge computing, and orchestration.

If you would like more information on Rancher Government Solutions, please download the free whitepaper titled Pioneering Secure by Default Open-Source Kubernetes Solutions

If you would like to attract customers to your company on your next podcast appearance, then should fill out the Podcast Appearance Scoreard.  See where you stand and get some pracical tips and suggestions so you can leverage that next podcast appearance. 

When people think of Amazon Web Services, they normally think of a data center. This was certainly top of mind when AWS hosted 10,000 at its Public Sector Summit in 2023.

Today, we go in a different direction. Dave Rubal is a well-known innovator in the Washington DC technical community. He has decided to throw his hat into the ring with something called the Secure Tactical Edge.

It makes sense. If you look at how storage and computing are changing. In a recent study, IDC predicts that in the future 75% of data will be collected at the “edge.” 

The federal government has a myriad of ways to manage this “edge” concept. Civilian agencies may have one approach, and the DoD has another. In addition to being on the edge, they need to be able to deploy this concept in a tactical as well as secure method.

During today’s interview, Dave Rubal sketches out one aspect of that movement to the edge. He talks about how the DoD can securely use edge cases. In other words, the Secure Tactical Edge.

Let us take a small task as an example, storage of video feeds. The DoD has facilities all over the world and needs physical security. It would be ridiculous to store these feeds in a data center across the globe. Further, there are retention policies that are in place to reduce the burden of storage.

Another example may be unstructured data being collected all over the earth, and even above. Agencies must be able to architect a solution that takes advantage of innovation on the edge to reduce cost, improve flexibility, and provide data rapidly so warfighters can make decisions quickly.

Here is a hashtag summary:

#TacticalEdge  #OperationalEdge #HybridCloud  #EdgeComputing

This is the episode that introduces the tried and true, “Up close and personal” Dave’s avocation is to volunteer at his local fire station. He is a licensed EMT and has saved lives with his skills.

Follow John Gilroy on LinkedIn  https://www.linkedin.com/in/john-gilroy/

Listen to past episodes of Federal Tech Podcast  www.federaltechpodcast.com

James Eselgroth will lead a discussion about innovation and change in federal technology.

Normally, one would think about solutions to problems. Traditionally, develop a list of changes, check each off the list, list, and move on. That may be a fantastic way to build a house, not that it simply does not work in today’s dynamic software environment.

 In today’s fast-moving technical climate, one approach is to use something called an MVP. No, not the National Football League kind of MVP, not Most Valuable Player, but a “Minimal Viable Product.”

A “Minimal Viable Product” is a concept that originated in agile software development. The idea was not to submit a complete, finished product but to present the essence, framework, or basics of a product and get feedback.

This initial offering had to include working elements but omitted many of the details like user interface concerns and complex integration projects.

During the interview, Jim explains how this concept applies to the federal audience. He references a quote from Federal CTO Clare Martorana who said “Demos, no memos.”    This temporary solution would be presented to stakeholders and see if it was a good fit. Alterations are made and the next iteration is presented.

Listen to the interview to hear how Jim provides an overview of his innovation lab. This results in the MVP approach allowing for solutions to be built in two to four weeks.

Highlight has a new offering called EdgeWerx. Look for announcements at 

https://highlighttech.com/

AI? Process mining? We owe it to the listeners to put the strange title into perspective.

Some will argue that a federal agency is a collection of business processes. For example, a company turns in its taxes; a laboratory applies for a grant; and even federal agencies must comply with cybersecurity requirements. Some will label this process management.

Because the federal government deals in billions of dollars these processes can be quite complex. Experts have evolved who can examine these processes and determine ways to improve the process. Because there are stacks and stacks of petabytes of data to be concerned with, the term “mining” has become popular to describe this kind of examination.

OK. Step Two. We all know that artificial intelligence is trying to be applied to as many aspects of federal technology as possible. Many are talking about potential savings. However, this may be true with simple tasks like creating reports; however, complicated processes may present a challenge to artificial intelligence.

If someone arbitrarily slaps an AI Process into a system, it could wreak havoc. Please remember that AI is derivative, and can absorb previous systems but not necessarily offer anything new.

During this interview, Christopher Radich breaks down some concepts that Celonis uses to gain a deep understanding of complicated processes before AI gets a chance to work.

For example, they have pioneered applying the concept of digital twins to processes. This is a way that a process can be evaluated to discover the implications of process change.

Follow John Gilroy on LinkedIn  https://www.linkedin.com/in/john-gilroy/

Listen to past episodes of Federal Tech Podcast  www.federaltechpodcast.com

Process Mining for Dummies  https://www.celonis.com/ebook/process-mining-for-dummies/

In today’s interview, Guarv “GP” Pal from stackArmor presents a warning call to let people know that a sudden jump into any technology can present unintended consequences. He offers suggestions to make AI meaningful, safe, and dependable.

Everyone remembers Bill Murray on Groundhog Day having the same experience over and over. After a few years of experience in federal technology, we are looking at something similar.

First, the commercial sector I dazzled. Next, federal technology leaders feel like they must get in the same boat. A few years ago, many agencies jumped headfirst into the cloud, and then FedRAMP had to come along to put some guides on the cloud experience.

Fast forward to 2024, today’s Artificial Intelligence is falling into the standard pattern. Federal technology leaders can feel left out and make a quick adaptation, then later guidance emerges to rectify some of the unintended consequences of artificial intelligence.

Researchers are seeing security vectors that are unique to AI. What security principles should be considered when putting together a Large Language Model? Can a bias be introduced?

What controls do you have in place today that you can apply to your agency’s AI journey?

To bring in a diverse set of opinions to offer guidance, GP discusses his company’s development of an AI Risk Intelligence Center of Excellence. They have assembled a high-power group of leaders with federal experience to provide training models and actionable steps for making a safe and secure transition to AI.

The first part of this interview is a fascinating description of how John Kindervag produced the concept of Zero Trust. In the early days of networking, many users were described as “trusted users.”  John questioned as to why they did not take the next step and verify then. The response was classic – because it would be rude.

Fast forward a few decades and we see countless breaches and billions of dollars of intellectual property lost because of fear of offending the sensitivities of users.

Back to 2011. Interfaces on firewalls could have varying levels of trust associated with them; the question from John Kindervag was, “why any levels at all?” His idea of zero trust resonated in the commercial and federal marketplace. For example, an Executive Order was issued in May of 2021 mandating the adoption of zero trust for the federal government.

During the interview John Kindervag presents a fascinating contrast between the attack surface and the protect surface. This is a framework to allow federal leaders to prioritize what data to protect.

To gain a better understanding of how to deploy Zero Trust, The National Security Telecommunications Advisory Committee was established. It presents a five-step model and shows how to build Zero Trust  one protects surface at a time.

Listen and learn about the Cloud Security Alliance and myriad ways to develop expertise in the nuances around incorporating Zero Trust into your federal network.

Mentioned in the interview:  What is Zero Trust Architeture? 

https://www.illumio.com/blog/what-is-a-zero-trust-architecture

On December 13, 2021, an Executive Order titled “Executive Order on Transforming Federal Customer Experience and Service Delivery to Rebuild Trust in Government.”   This initiative reflects the greater commercial experience. Because people are now so comfortable with transactions on a phone that customers are using sites that present as “user friendly.”  

When combined with the Covid information that the federal government was presenting, the idea of improving the user experience only makes sense.

Thelma Van is an articulate and experienced professional with user experience. During this interview, she takes the topic from a high level the level of the click.  The interview covers topics like infrastructure, common communication, and a focus on user needs.

When it comes to defining user experience or UX, it is a formal method to evaluate functionality. In other words, how a typical user attempts to complete a task on a website.

Thelma Van suggests that if agencies are interested in improving user experience, then they should start with getting as many stakeholders as possible in a room and listening to the challenges they express. Although there are tools like heat maps and speed evaluations, her experience makes her put the focus on human beings first.

The federal government is going through a “digital transformation.”   Many focus on important topics like identity management, software bills of materials, and even graphics processors. This is the interview that shows listeners that software development should put primary emphasis on the people the systems are designed to serve.

Follow John Gilroy on LinkedIn  https://www.linkedin.com/in/john-gilroy/

Listen to past episodes of Federal Tech Podcast  www.federaltechpodcast.com

DoD tossed the revisions to the OMB; the 300,000 people in the DIB are waiting with ‘bated breath to see what it looks like in the Federal Register. Will it be a “final” rule? Will it be an “interim” rule?

The first paragraph sounds like an academic dispute in an ivory tower; that “tower talk” is particularly important for the 300,000 companies that comprise the defense industrial base. Today, sit down with Kevin Hancock from Exostar. He will give you his thoughts on this important piece of federal regulation.

If you wanted to classify this transition as revolution or evolution, you would have to side with the Darwin followers. The CMMC is not anything new, this is just the next logical step.

Smaller companies may earn a living as subcontractors to a large prime contractor. The large organizations are making inquiries to all their partners to see where they stand with CMMC. May are looking in the mirror and asking, where do I start?

During the interview, Kevin Hancock from Exostar breaks the process down into segments that any company can understand. He explains that ten companies may have ten different sets of requirements to comply with CMMC.

For example, do you have the expertise to run the requirement in-house? Even if you did, is this the optime way to use their time? Will an application from a company like Exostar be able to leverage the skill set you have in-house?

Your company may just need a few templates to complete. However, you may be in a situation where you are looking at six months to complete an 18-month project. Had you started earlier, you would not have been in the situation.

We all understand that CMMC was put in place to safeguard controlled unclassified information and controlled unclassified information. These are reasonable requirements, yet each person listening to this podcast may have a different journey. Exostar can help.

Follow John Gilroy on LinkedIn  https://www.linkedin.com/in/john-gilroy/

Listen to past episodes of Federal Tech Podcast  www.federaltechpodcast.com