Earlier this week, I told you about FedScoop’s investigation into federal agencies’ efforts to inventory their artificial intelligence use cases. These inventories are required by a 2020 Trump administration executive order, which also introduced nine principles and a policy process for implementing AI the public can trust.

But, across CFO Act agencies results vary. Inventories for civilian agencies are inconsistent, creating a patchwork understanding of the government’s use of the budding technology.

To discuss their findings reporting on the AI use case inventories across the federal government for FedScoop, joining me are the authors of the story “The government is struggling to track its AI. And that’s a problem” Rebecca Heilweil and Madi Alder.

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A look at how agencies are implementing a 2020 E-O to inventory their AI use cases

The federal government is closing in on total zero-trust implementation across agencies as the Sept. 30 deadline to do so approaches quickly. During a panel at the Billington Cybersecurity Summit in Washington, D.C., Federal CIO Clare Martorana announced that the 24 Chief Financial Officers Act agencies are all in the “high 90% range” for implementing the basic elements of a zero-trust architecture, which they are required to do by the end of the fiscal year. Additionally, Martorana said that metrics have shown, broadly, that federal entities have moved from 81% to 87% in completion rates. 

The National Labor Relations Board is the latest beneficiary of the Technology Modernization Fund, receiving $23 million from the fund to modernize its case management system.The investment will help the NLRB replace its “outdated system” with a newer cloud-based solution, “dramatically improving the agency’s ability to protect workers’ rights and process labor disputes efficiently,” according to an announcement Thursday from the General Services Administration, which oversees the TMF program.

Most federal agencies on target to meet Sept. 30 zero trust goals.

Intelligence community officials said Friday they expect Russia, Iran and China to increase the cadence of influence operations targeting U.S. voters over the final two months of the 2024 election cycle. The assessment comes after a whirlwind month where U.S. officials accused Iran of engaging in a hack-and-leak operation targeting the presidential campaign of Donald Trump and JD Vance, and this week imposed indictments, seizures and economic sanctions on Russian government officials and members of state media organ RT for a $10 million scheme to covertly launder pro-Russian propaganda through the right-wing media outfit Tenet Media and popular conservative influencers. But officials at the Office of the Director of National Intelligence told reporters Friday that they continue to view these activities as forms of election “influence” as opposed to direct attempts to interfere with or disrupt voting and election infrastructure . 

The Department of Homeland Security’s Science and Technology Directorate plans to award a contract to the nonprofit OpenMined for research and development-related services meant to curb online content related to violent extremism, according to a government posting. The agreement comes as part of the U.S. government’s work in response to the Christchurch Call, which the Biden administration joined in 2021. That initiative, which brings together technology platforms and government leaders, was formed following the 2019 mass shooting in Christchurch, New Zealand, that killed 51 people.

Intel officials expect more foreign influence efforts leading up to Election Day

A new assessment standard to guide how Pentagon components evaluate and approve zero-trust cybersecurity solutions for responsible use will soon be finalized and ready for release, according to a senior official overseeing its making. During FedTalks 2024, hosted by Scoop News Group on Tuesday, Les Call — director of the DOD’s Zero Trust Portfolio Management Office — provided the latest update on his team’s unfolding pursuits to drive this implementation, and to continue “progressing at a fast rate.” Call said Pentagon officials are working closely with a range of industry partners and representatives, including the Cloud Security Alliance, to pinpoint compliant capabilities that can accelerate DOD components’ paths to fully achieving zero trust.

A key component of the landmark executive order on artificial intelligence issued by President Joe Biden last year was to meet a handful of requirements aimed at bolstering the AI talent pool throughout the federal government. And according to a new Government Accountability Office report, those benchmarks have been cleared. The congressional watchdog said Monday that 13 AI management and talent requirements in Biden’s order were fully implemented by the March 2024 deadline, checking off boxes that the GAO said would effectively lay the groundwork for governmentwide AI efforts.

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DOD is putting the final touches on a new zero trust assessment standard

After an announcement last month that Maryland is expanding its digital services efforts with five new hires, the state’s digital experience officer joins StateScoop’s Priorities Podcast to share what that expansion looks like. Marcy Jacobs, who oversees the state’s Office of Digital Experience, says her team is taking a targeted approach. “I think that is kind of a big shift from traditional kind of project management,” she says. “Is it on time and on budget to product management? Are we achieving the outcomes for the people that we are trying to serve? And can we do that in small, agile ways?”

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How Maryland is expanding digital services efforts

The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services is asking organizations to provide information about artificial intelligence technologies for use in health care outcomes and service delivery as it plans demonstration events. In a request for information announced earlier this week, CMS said it wants to gather information about AI products and services from health care companies, providers, payers, start-ups and others, and plans to eventually select organizations to provide demos of those technologies at “CMS AI Demo Days” starting in October. The demo days will be held quarterly and are intended “to educate and inspire the CMS workforce on AI capabilities and provide information to inform potential future agency action."

The Office of Management and Budget is set to soon issue a new memo to help guide agencies’ acquisition of artificial intelligence technologies. Deputy Federal CIO Drew Myklegard said Tuesday at FedTalks, produced by FedScoop, that on top of all the milestones the Biden administration has met since issuing its landmark AI executive order last fall, OMB has been developing guidance to ensure federal agencies are following best practices when acquiring AI technologies. The forthcoming memo will follow the release of more wide-ranging OMB guidance issued March 28 on federal adoption of AI with a focus on governance, risk and transparency. Myklegard didn’t give a specific timeline for the release of that guidance, but the executive order called for OMB to produce “an initial means to ensure that agency contracts for the acquisition of AI systems and services align with” OMB’s earlier AI guidance within 180 days of its issuance — so, by Sept 24.

The Daily Scoop Podcast is available every Monday-Friday afternoon.

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CMS is set to host AI demo days; OMB guidance on federal AI acquisition is coming soon

The White House is pursuing several new efforts meant to advance U.S. leadership on artificial intelligence, announcing Thursday the creation of a new task force on data center infrastructure and related measures following a meeting with several executives of leading AI and tech companies. The meeting centered on key aspects of the physical infrastructure required to build AI infrastructure in the U.S., including clean energy permitting and workforce requirements — priorities that seemingly echo policymakers’ discussions about boosting semiconductor manufacturing. 

Meanwhile, an end-of-life version of Ivanti’s cloud IT service management software has a recently released vulnerability that the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency says is being exploited. CISA warned that organizations outfitted with Ivanti’s Cloud Service Appliance version 4.6 and below are being targeted by hackers and the bug has been added to the known exploited vulnerabilities (KEV) list. The Utah-based company said on Friday that a “limited number of customers” have confirmed exploitation but did not provide further details.

White House pushes AI infrastructure following meeting with tech CEOs

From the impact of the Crowdstrike outage to IT issues with the Thrift Savings Plan’s modernized benefits and recordkeeping system, Jennifer Franks has her pulse on the federal cybersecurity space and the biggest challenges agencies face. Franks joins the Daily Scoop to discuss her journey to this role, what it’s like to work with federal agencies who may not be excited about her poking holes in their work, the biggest reports she’s issued recently — as well as those that are forthcoming — and much more.   

Also: The Department of Housing and Urban Development has funded a project that will use 3D-printing technology to construct an affordable housing unit in Nome, the culmination of a yearslong effort from federal, state and local governments, private industry and academia. The $600,000 HUD project is part of a $1.6 million matching grant program to fund the development and testing of a mobile 3D printer built specifically for use in the unforgiving Alaskan clime.

And, all federal agencies using artificial intelligence for “consequential decisions” should be required to have a civil rights office to prevent things like algorithmic discrimination, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., and Sen. Ed Markey, D-Mass., said Monday in a letter to the White House. In the letter to Office of Management and Budget Director Shalanda Young, the lawmakers noted that President Joe Biden had taken steps when it comes to addressing AI bias — including his Blueprint for an AI Bill of Rights and October 2023 executive order on the technology — but said that more oversight is needed.

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A discussion with GAO cyber director Jennifer Franks

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission and the General Services Administration are partnering for an artificial intelligence maturity assessment as a foundational step in the nuclear agency’s path to finalizing a strategic plan. Over the next nine months, the NRC will welcome a GSA provided-project manager to work directly with staff to consult on what the agency needs to solidify an enterprise strategic plan, Basia Sall, the chief data officer and director of the NRC’s Data, Information Management and Enterprise Governance division, told FedScoop during an AI workshop at agency headquarters Tuesday.


A federal grand jury in Atlanta has indicted a Chinese national on charges stemming from his alleged efforts to use spearphishing to target U.S. entities, including NASA, the Federal Aviation Administration, and several military branches.
The indictment, which was filed Sept. 10 and unsealed Monday by the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Georgia, charges Song Wu, 39, with wire fraud and aggravated identity theft related to those efforts.

The Daily Scoop Podcast is available every Monday-Friday afternoon.

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NRC looks to GSA for help with artificial intelligence governance

Connecticut Chief Information Security Officer Gene Meltser became the state’s top information security official last month. He says on StateScoop’s Priorities Podcast that although he’s joining a mature cybersecurity organization, he’s starting with the fundamentals. “I’m planning on starting with fundamentals, essentially ensuring that we’re taking care of the core components of security, things like system hygiene, for example, things like patching, hardening and asset management,” he says. Election security and training for employees are also on his agenda, though he’s mindful of cybersecurity’s potential to impede work. “We’re not here to impose a regime of traffic lights where they cannot proceed to do their jobs,” he says.

StateScoop’s Priorities Podcast is available every Wednesday.
If you want to hear more of the latest across the state and local government technology community, subscribe to the Priorities Podcast on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Soundcloud and Spotify.

Connecticut's new CISO starts with 'fundamentals'

The annual Congressional Hackathon is Thursday, and ahead of it, FedScoop is reporting that two of the five top recommendations from last year’s event have been implemented and others are on their way to being realized. Steve Dwyer, senior director for innovation at the House Office of the Chief Administrative Officer, told FedScoop that the two completed and now implemented projects are an internal unified House calendar that was launched in July and an internal social media tracking tool that was announced in recent weeks by the CAO to compare lawmakers’ social media statistics.


A bipartisan House bill aimed at improving customer service interactions with government technology breezed through a key Senate panel Wednesday, putting it one step closer to becoming law. The Government Service Delivery Improvement Act passed the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee by an 11-0 tally, setting it up for a vote before the full chamber. The bill, first introduced by Reps. Ro Khanna, D-Calif., Byron Donalds, R-Fla., Barry Loudermilk, R-Ga., and William Timmons, R-S.C. in the House last October, passed that chamber in May. The legislation tasks agency heads with designating a senior official to oversee service delivery improvements and charges the Office of Management and Budget with choosing a senior official to coordinate governmentwide efforts on the issue.

Congress adopts digital tools proposed at 2023 hackathon

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.

A look at how agencies are implementing a 2020 E-O to inventory their AI use cases

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