The Federal Drive with Terry Gerton

Fiscal 2024 started off like most fiscal years, with a Continuing Resolution. The government is still spending, and contractors have lots of opportunities. For the top opportunities in the year ahead, Federal Drive Host Tom Temin spoke with Bloomberg Government Senior Data Analyst Paul Murphy.

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Last spring, when a Air National Guard member was found to leak secrets on the Discord app, it raised questions about how he got and kept his security clearance. Raw Story reporter Alexandria Jacobson spent three months looking at the security-clearance and found quite a few flaws. Federal Drive Host Tom Temin talked to her about it.

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The work of our next guest has spanned 40 years and helped save lives. For that work at the NIH, he's a finalist for the Paul Volcker Career Achievement Award from the Partnership for Public Service. Federal News Network's Eric White spoke with Dr. Rocky Feuer, the Chief of the Statistical Research and Applications Branch at the National Cancer Institute.

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On today's episode of the Federal Drive with Tom Temin:

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The Department of Homeland Security is looking to become one of the “early and aggressive adopters” of AI tools within the federal government, and is taking steps to protect critical infrastructure from AI-powered cyber attacks.

Defense and national security community officials, speaking Wednesday at the Institute for Critical Infrastructure Technology (ICIT)’s AI DC conference in Arlington, Virginia, said their agencies see AI as an essential way to maintain an information advantage against malicious actors.

Robert Silvers, DHS undersecretary for policy, said that DHS Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas is setting the department’s own priority areas for AI. Those priorities are meant to align with what the Biden administration has planned for an upcoming executive order on AI.

“One is we should be early and aggressive adopters of the technology,” Silvers said. “We should also be at the vanguard of establishing rules for responsible and ethical and safe use for our own programs.”

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A top White House cybersecurity official says the “conversation is being started” around sweeping new cyber requirements for federal IT contractors.

One rule published in the Federal Register this week includes a provision that would mandate some key contractors report cyber incidents to the government within eight hours. Another aims to standardize cybersecurity requirements for unclassified information systems across government.

The proposals stem from President Joe Biden’s May 2021 cybersecurity executive order. The EO included a major goal to ensure information technology and operational technology contractors share more cybersecurity information with agencies. “These service providers, including cloud service providers, have unique access to and insight into cyber threat and incident information on federal information systems,” the order states.

Chris DeRusha, the federal chief information security officer, said recent cyber incidents helped inform the proposed rules.

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Apple and pear growers in Washington State are using insects instead of chemical pesticides to control other bugs that can ruin crops. It's an old idea, but not a practical one, until now. Credit goes to an entomologist at the Agriculture Research Service, who is also a finalist in this year's Service to America Medals program. Federal Drive Host Tom Temin spoke with her: Rebecca Schmidt-Jeffris.

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Not too many people nominated during the Obama administration are still around. But Federal Drive Host Tom Temin's guest recently marked seven years in a crucial, but largely hidden job: Librarian of Congress. For a retrospective, Tem talked with her: Dr.. Carla Hayden.

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On today's episode of the Federal Drive with Tom Temin:

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