Last week, Scoop News Group partnered with Google Public Sector to host the Google Defense Forum. The tremendous lineup of defense officials representing the Pentagon, a variety of military services and other defense agencies kicked off with a fireside chat between myself and retired four-star Gen. Dave Goldfein, who served as the chief of staff of the Department of the Air Force. 

Now the chairman of the board for Google Public Sector, Goldfein shared during our conversation why he decided to join Google, how the defense technology landscape is changing and the technologies he’s most excited about transforming the Department of Defense.


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Gen. Dave Goldfein shares why he chose to join Google after an illustrious military career

When it comes to federal cybersecurity efforts — particularly the adoption of zero-trust security architectures — CISA’s Sean Connelly is a top voice within the community related to the strides agencies are making to enhance their cyber protections. Connelly joins the Daily Scoop podcast to discuss the latest on federal zero trust progress, how the Trusted Internet Connections program has evolved, why IT modernization is so imperative for improved cybersecurity outcomes, and much more.


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An interview with CISA’s Sean Connelly on the latest developments in federal Zero Trust adoption

The Air Force in December approved a new round of bonuses worth up to $600,000 that are designed to retain existing manned aircraft and drone pilots, combat systems operators and air battle managers. The move showcases the challenges the service is facing in keeping airmen on board. But according to my guest, despite the major financial incentive, that may not be enough.

Egon Rinderer, chief technologist for Shift 5 and a former operator for the U.S. Navy, joins me to discuss the Air Force’s retention challenge and how the tech airmen work with everyday plays into that.

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Why the Air Force is struggling to retain airmen

We’re back with part two of a two-part interview with 
Egon Rinderer, chief technologist for Shift 5 and a former operator for the U.S. Navy. In part one we discussed a new round of bonuses the Air Force authorized worth up to $600,000 to retain existing manned aircraft and drone pilots, combat systems operators and air battle managers — and how the challenges the service is facing in keeping airmen on board go beyond money.

For the second half of our conversation, we get deeper into the role tech plays in the U.S. military’s shifting competitive landscape to focus on great power competitors and the new threats services face like GPS spoofing and small-scale drones. Let’s pick up the conversation where the first episode left off.

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How tech and data are playing a more essential role in military operations

Daily Scoop listeners are going to be very familiar with the body of work of this episode’s guest. She’s a former deputy federal CIO, CIO of the Small Business Administration and CTO of the Transportation Department, among the many other roles she held during her vast career in federal IT before retiring in 2022. 

I’m of course speaking of the one and only Maria Roat. Now serving in several board roles, Roat is still fairly active advising in the federal IT space. In our conversation, we discuss what she’s focused on since departing federal service, how she sees the government going about adoption of artificial intelligence, how agency IT leaders must be thoughtful in balancing AI, security and user experience, and much, much more.


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An interview with former deputy federal CIO Maria Roat

With 2024 in full swing, cybersecurity remains a top priority in the federal technology space and beyond. In a special interview, the NSA’s Rob Joyce and Morgan Adamski sit down with CyberScoop’s Elias Groll to examine the major cybersecurity trends from last year that will continue on in 2024, the evolution of Russian hacking operations, how China is targeting U.S. critical infrastructure and how AI is changing the cybersecurity business, and more.

The major cyber trends going into 2024

CISA has launched a new Zero Trust Initiative Office, showcasing its dedication to supporting federal agencies on the implementation journey for the security framework. But what does that mean for some of CISA’s more legacy security initiatives, like the Trusted Internet Connections program? CISA’s TIC lead Sean Connelly recently joined me for a fireside chat at the Zero Trust Summit to discuss the future of TIC 3.0 as zero trust takes priority and how the two will continue to evolve as more federal agencies modernize their cybersecurity.

The future of the TIC program amid the shift to zero trust

For several years now, the Department of Veterans Affairs has been exploring how AI can lead to better outcomes for the veterans it serves. The National AI Institute has been an essential part of that, most recently leading tech sprints in conjunction with last year’s AI executive order aiming to reduce healthcare worker burnout.

Joining me to discuss that and much more is Dr. Gil Alterovitz, the director of VA’s National AI Institute and chief AI officer for the Veterans Health Administration. He was also previously the first chief AI officer for the larger Department of Veterans Affairs.

How the VA is looking to AI to improve health care for veterans

Last week, House leaders formally announced the creation of a new bipartisan   task force on artificial intelligence — an effort that marks a major step forward in efforts to legislate with representation from both parties. Rep. Yvette Clarke — a Democrat from New York who was one of the first members of Congress to call out the potential harms of artificial intelligence — is one of 24 members on that task force. 

In an interview with FedScoop’s Rebecca Heilweil, Clarke discusses her expectations for serving on the bipartisan task force, what concerns her most about the technology and the prospects for regulatory and legislative action.

An exclusive interview with New York Congresswoman Yvette Clarke

The Department of Justice works with highly sensitive sets of information and because of that, the bar to secure it is much higher than other civilian agencies. 

As CIO, Melinda Rogers is highly focused on delivering a zero-trust security architecture across the department to better secure its national security systems and the information within them. Rogers recently spoke with my colleague Wyatt Kash at the Zero Trust Security Summit about that journey and how the DOJ is thinking about modernizing its cybersecurity. Let’s tune into that now.

Justice CIO Melinda Rogers on securing national security systems

For nearly a year now, the adoption of artificial intelligence has been all the rage in the government space. But still, as you’ve seen in FedScoop’s reporting, there has been hesitation by some agencies to fully embrace the emerging technology because of unknown risks and fear of issues with safety, security and privacy.

Meagan Metzger, the founder and CEO of Dcode, joins me now to discuss the status of AI adoption across the federal government, how people are key to it adoption and how things are progressing for agencies and commercial firms that don’t see eye to eye on sharing what’s going on inside an AI algorithm.

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The people part of AI adoption

Federal agencies, as well as other entities across the private sector, are at a major disadvantage when it comes to protecting their sensitive information and systems from bad actors. Hackers are getting more sophisticated, and cyberattacks are increasing in quantity and severity. And, the vast majority of the time, humans are the weakest link in cyberattack vectors.

A new program out of the Intelligence Advanced Research Projects Agency wants to turn that notion on its head, shifting the asymmetric nature of cyber defense to benefit defenders by building cyberpsychology-informed defenses and influencing and manipulating a cyberattacker’s decision-making throughout an attack.

Dr. Kimberly Ferguson-Walter leads ReSCIND — the project which stands for Reimagining Security with Cyberpsychology-Informed Network Defenses — and she joins me now to discuss the idea behind the project, the field of cyberpsychology and the end goal of the novel initiative.

Using cyberpsychology to stay ahead of hackers

Agency adoption of zero trust architecture was mandated by the Biden administration’s Executive Order on Improving the Nation’s Cybersecurity and OMB memo M-22-09, which created a strategy for its adoption. By the end of this fiscal year, agencies are required to meet some level of zero trust adoption. But the federal government is just one part of the larger U.S. public sector, and with vast amounts of data and information being shared regularly across levels of government, it’s critical that other entities, like states, secure their enterprises as well.

Rodd Nodurft is a former chief of the Office of Management and Budget's (OMB) Cyber Team in the White House and the Executive Director of the Alliance for Digital Innovation, which recently issued a white paper focused on zero trust in the public sector. He joins the podcast to discuss that new paper, the evolution of zero trust and the top takeaways from the White House’s fiscal 2025 budget.

A new report on zero trust across the public sector

The Transportation Security Administration recently announced the launch of its IT Lift Cell Innovation Lab, a space through which TSA’s network of innovative thinkers can put their ideas to work. The lab is meant to be a “Apple Genius Bar meets TSA IT,” according to the agency, and a place where the department’s IT office can host workshops, open hours and meetings for employee brainstorming sessions.
TSA CIO Yemi Oshinnaiye joins the Daily Scoop Podcast to discuss the new lab, the concept behind Lift Cells and his top priorities now two years into his role leading the agency’s IT portfolio.

Yemi Oshinnaiye on TSA’s top IT priorities

Last December, the Office of Management and Budget released a memorandum with new guidance on Section 508 of the Rehabilitation Act, which requires agencies to offer equal access to electronic information and data for individuals with disabilities. Per the new memorandum, all agencies must deliver an accessible digital experience, establish programs and policies for digital accessibility, procure products and services that are fully accessible, monitor and remediate issues that arise with creating an accessible customer experience and cultivate a “positive culture” of online accessibility.

Federal CIO Clare Martorana and her office’s head of digital experience, Jonathan Finch, join the Daily Scoop to discuss the purpose of the new guidance, how federal digital experience leaders are taking charge to make changes, and what role AI can play in improving citizens’ experiences with the federal government.

Federal CIO Clare Martorana and Director of Digital Experience Jonathan Finch

The Air Force Research Lab last March established its Digital Capabilities Directorate to speed up its modernization pursuits and enable its scientists and engineers to explore and more efficiently collaborate via a growing suite of emerging technologies. The directorate fuses together former AFRL’s elements, like its Research Collaboration and Computing Directorate, as well as the lab’s former Business Process Reengineering Division and others. It also has roots that trace back to a temporary digital “war room” that was stood up to help drive innovation. 

Alexis Bonnell is Air Force Research Lab CIO and director of the Digital Capabilities Directorate, appointed to those roles last July. She joins the podcast to discuss her journey to the role, her priorities nearly a year in and how things are shifting as AI becomes an increasingly important part of AFRL’s enterprise IT.

Inside the work of the Air Force Research Lab’s Digital Capabilities Directorate

Since 2019, Deloitte’s Center for Government Insights has issued annual reports on the top trends transforming government. Tuesday, Deloitte issued its latest report for 2024, in which it presents the eight trends propelling the 10x government of the future.

Bill Eggers is the executive director of Deloitte’s Center for Government Insights and the author of the Top Trends in Government 2024 report. He joins me to discuss the top takeaways from this year’s exploration into what’s driving transformation in government and what those who are lagging behind can stand to learn from the model use cases showcased in the report.

Bill Eggers discusses Deloitte’s Top Trends for Government in 2024 report.

The FedScoop news team is growing … sort of. We recently promoted our editorial fellow Caroline Nihill to a permanent member of the reporting team. You’ve likely seen Caroline’s work since joining the team last summer, covering developments in AI, shift in the Technology Modernization Fund and opening FedScoop’s aperture wider on Capitol Hill.

But now that she’s a full-time member of the team, we wanted to invite her on so DailyScoop listeners and readers of FedScoop.com could get to know her better. Caroline Joins the podcast to discuss how she came to be a reporter with FedScoop, what she’s most passionate about covering at the intersection of the federal government and technology, and what you can come to expect from her coverage going forward.

Meet FedScoop’s newest technology reporter

Since 2016, the Department of Defense and other national security agencies have partnered with the Hacking 4 Defense program allowing students at universities across the U.S. and the globe to address critical problems facing the Department of Defense and the Intelligence Community. Launched as a pilot out of Stanford, the program has expanded to more than 63 universities and enlisted more than 3,000 students for the course. And more recently, participating universities have partnered with our allies and universities in the U.K. and Australia to work on common problems.

This week, the latest Hacking 4 Defense cohort is beginning, and it’s the largest ever, with 37 universities teaching 39 H4 courses, supporting 120 student teams with over 500 students between the U.S. and U.K. Joining the podcast to discuss the evolution of Hacking 4 Defense and what to expect from the latest cohort is Pete Newell, co-founder and CEO of BMNT, the defense innovation firm that runs the Hacking 4 Defense program.

The evolution of Hacking 4 Defense

Kiersten Todt has worked on just about every hot-button cybersecurity issue you can imagine. Currently the CEO of Liberty Group Ventures, her most recent role in government was as the chief of staff at the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency. As a Senate staffer, she drafted key parts of the legislation that created the Department of Homeland Security, and during the Obama years, she was the executive director of the Commission on Enhancing National Cybersecurity. 

She sits down with CyberScoop’s Elias Groll for a wide-ranging conversation about the evolving cybersecurity policy landscape.

The evolution of the cybersecurity policy landscape

It’s been 13 years since FedRAMP was created as the federal government’s cloud security compliance program. And like any federal technology program that’s been around that long, its mission and the services it set out to provide in 2011 are very different from what agencies need today. In particular, the FedRAMP program office recently wrote in a new roadmap for the prgram that it is critical that it be well-positioned to make sure federal agencies get the full benefit of software-as-a-service (SaaS) cloud offerings, acknowledging that while FedRAMP does have some SaaS offerinfs its marketplace, it’s not nearly enough and it’s not working the way that it should.

As the General Services Administration explores the future of FedRAMP, including seeking out its next leader, the agency’s executive director for cloud strategy, Eric Mill, joins the podcast to discuss how GSA is approaching this next chapter for FedRAMP.

The future of FedRAMP

Google's Leigh Palmer on the need for transparency in public sector AI

Today we have a special interview recorded from the Mandalay Bay Resort and Casino in Las Vegas, which last week was home of Google Cloud Next 2024. While there, I had the tremendous opportunity to speak at length with Karen Dahut, Google Public Sector CEO.

During our conversation, we covered a lot of ground, taking in all of the announcements from Next, reflecting on the upcoming two-year birthday of Google Public Sector and what’s been accomplished in that time, how generative AI is permeating the public sector, and what’s ahead.

This is one of many interviews captured at Google Next, so make sure to tune into the others released throughout this week.

Google’s Karen Dahut on the biggest opportunities for AI in the public sector

Google's Chris Hein at Next '24

Yesterday, Scoop News Group produced the U I Path on tour public sector event at the Waldorf Astoria in Washington DC.

IRS Commissioner Danny Werfel kicked off the event talking about how automation has enhanced his agency's operations.

Danny Werfel on How Automation has Enhanced his Agency's Operations.

AITalks, the premier event where top government leaders, tech innovators, and industry experts converge to explore the transformative potential of artificial intelligence in the public sector space. 

During the daylong event, you heard about cutting-edge AI applications revolutionizing government operations — from cybersecurity to citizen services — practical insights on building a culture of AI adoption and overcoming implementation challenges, and how government agencies are mitigating unfolding risks associated with the nascent technology.

AI Week 2024 has Come and Gone

GSA wants to be the leader in Federal Generative AI

If you were unable to make it to last week’s AITalks, you truly missed out on a special day. The first-ever event featured the top leaders in AI from across the public sector. However, we have a special treat today if you didn’t make it.

I hosted a dynamic panel on the role of the federal chief AI officer with two of the first federal CAIOs appointed in the role, as well as a top industry AI executive who’s working with federal agencies as they appoint and institute the CAIO role. It was my pleasure to be joined by Zach Whitman, CAIO and chief data scientist for GSA; Vinay Singh, chief financial officer and CAIO for HUD, and Dave Vennergrund, VP of AI & data Insights for GDIT.

Let’s go now to that conversation at the first-ever AITalks.

The role of the federal chief AI officer

Amina Al Sherif - Google Next '24

Karen Johnson Google Next '24

Scientists Must Be Empowered, Not Replaced by A I and the US charges Iranian hackers who targeted the Treasury and State Departments.

Scientists Must Be Empowered, Not Replaced by AI

GSA’s Login.gov platform gets a new director

By the end of the year, the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency plans to launch an automated vulnerability warning program to alert organizations that are running software with vulnerabilities being exploited by ransomware gangs, the agency’s director, Jen Easterly, said this week. Currently running in a pilot phase, the program is mandated by the Cyber Incident Reporting for Critical Infrastructure Act of 2022 and aims to reduce the number of ransomware attacks by getting the owners and operators of vulnerable systems to patch them before they can be infiltrated. Speaking at an event hosted by the Institute for Security and Technology, Easterly said the pilot is focused on reducing the prevalence of ransomware by using vulnerability scanning tools to let businesses know if they have vulnerabilities that need to be patched. CISA has issued 2,049 warnings since the pilot was launched last January. It has since expanded to include CISA’s database of known exploited vulnerabilities and common misconfigurations that can be linked to ransomware attacks.

CISA is building an automated ransomware warning program

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DHS launches an AI Safety and Security Board

President Biden’s executive order on AI, issued last October, set federal agencies on path to consider the adoption of generative AI in a safe and secure manner. While some agencies have expressed caution in using genAI, the EO discourages agencies from imposing broad general bans or blocks on agency use of generative AI and instead encourages them, with appropriate safeguards in place, to provide their personnel and programs with access to secure and reliable generative AI capabilities for the purposes of experimentation and routine tasks that carry a low risk of impacting Americans’ rights.

Still, the hype around generative AI, inside and outside government, is high, and there’s a propensity to see it as a panacea to fix all problems. But that’s not the case, according to Alison Smith, director of generative AI for Booz Allen Hamilton. Smith joins the Daily Scoop Podcast to explain how agencies should weigh whether generative AI is a good fit for a problem and what the federal generative AI landscape looks like today.

Generative AI is not a panacea

A podcast covering the latest news & trends facing top government leaders on topics such as technology, management & workforce. Hosted by Billy Mitchell on FedScoop and released every Tuesday and Thursday afternoons.

The Daily Scoop Podcast

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