The Daily Scoop Podcast

There's a new position in the U.S. government: Federal chief artificial intelligence officer. Gregory Barbaccia has begun to refer to himself as the Federal CAIO, in addition to his current role as the federal government's chief information officer. A recent interview with CNBC referred to him this way and a federal official focused on AI confirmed to FedScoop that Barbaccia had used that title in a recent meeting. In a social media post last week, Barbaccia also used both titles. The new title comes amid the Trump administration's continued focus on federal adoption of artificial intelligence. It follows the White House AI Action Plan, which was released last week and endorsed “transformative use of AI [that] can help deliver the highly responsive government the American people expect and deserve.” Still, the AI Action Plan makes no mention of a new position of CAIO for the whole federal government. Neither does the executive order that established the council or subsequent Office of Management and Budget actions. There was no federal CAIO in the Biden administration, and it's not clear any formal action has been taken to establish the position. Federal agencies are increasingly turning to generative artificial intelligence to further their missions, according to a new watchdog report that found use cases of the emerging technology jumping by ninefold in a selection of nearly a dozen agencies last year. In a report published Tuesday, the Government Accountability Office said generative AI use cases across a group of 11 federal agencies increased from 32 to 282 cases from 2023 to 2024, per an analysis of those agencies' inventories. The GAO laid out several ways these agencies harnessed generative AI last year, stating the technology can “improve written communications, information access efficiency, and program status tracking.” Examples included the Department of Veterans Affairs using automation for medical imaging processing in veterans' diagnostic services, along with the Department of Health and Human Services' initiative to extract information from publications regarding the containment of the poliovirus. HHS reported the largest jump out of the 11 agencies, going from seven generative AI use cases in 2023 to 116 in 2024, according to the report. The Daily Scoop Podcast is available every Monday-Friday afternoon. If you want to hear more of the latest from Washington, subscribe to The Daily Scoop Podcast  on Apple Podcasts, Soundcloud, Spotify and YouTube.

Democrats on the House Oversight Committee sent a letter to the General Services Administration on Friday demanding more information about how the agency is using Grok, the artificial intelligence chatbot built by Elon Musk's xAI. The correspondence comes after FedScoop reporting earlier this month revealed that government coders at GSA seemed to be looking at integrating Grok into their artificial intelligence work. Other sources told FedScoop that Grok had recently been approved for integration as an option into the GSAi app, a platform the agency has built to help federal workers access various generative AI models. Four days after the publication of FedScoop's story, xAI officially announced a “Grok for Government” service and confirmed that the company had been working to make its product available through GSA. As a result, Grok said ”every federal government department, agency, or office” could now access the company's tools. xAI also announced a $200 million Defense Department contract. The federal government's interest in using Grok — which recently espoused antisemitic and pro-Hitler content — has received pushback from Democrats. A group of Jewish Democrats recently wrote to Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth about their concerns with the tool. Democrats in the House AI Caucus have also raised issues with the use of Grok, as has Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, who condemned the Pentagon contract on the chamber's floor. But the latest letter, obtained by FedScoop, demands more information on the GSA's work with Grok. The letter was addressed to Stephen Ehikian, the deputy GSA administrator who led the agency on an acting basis until earlier this week, and signed by Reps. Robert Garcia of California and Stephen Lynch of Massachusetts, the current and former ranking members of the committee, respectively. An outage last week of Starlink, the satellite internet service run by Elon Musk's company SpaceX, did have an impact on some services in the federal government. While several civilian federal agencies told FedScoop that the service interruption didn't disrupt operations, the U.S. Space Force confirmed that Starshield, the military-focused communications service on the Starlink network, was taken offline during the outage. “The Space Systems Command Commercial SATCOM Communications Office procures Starshield Global Access services over the Starlink Satellites/network,” a spokesperson for Space Systems Command told FedScoop. The spokesperson continued: “As such, the global outage did affect CSCO customers for the entire duration of the outage (~2.5hrs for most users). Services had a partial restoration midway through the outage and a complete restoration by the stated end time.” Defense customers are currently able to access Starshield through the Space Force, among other procurement mechanisms, SpaceX's website states. SpaceX says Starshield is for “national defense use cases” while Starlink “is not intended for any military end-uses or end-users.” Several branches of the U.S. military are currently testing or using Starshield, including the Air Force and the Navy. A spokesperson for the U.S. Coast Guard told FedScoop earlier this month that the agency began installing both Starlink and Starshield back in 2023. The Daily Scoop Podcast is available every Monday-Friday afternoon. If you want to hear more of the latest from Washington, subscribe to The Daily Scoop Podcast  on Apple Podcasts, Soundcloud, Spotify and YouTube.

The likely successor to the late Rep. Gerry Connolly, D-Va., hopes to continue his former boss's commitment to federal IT reform if elected to Congress, while also gearing up to build his own legacy in the era of DOGE. Democrat James Walkinshaw told FedScoop in an interview last week that carrying on Connolly's federal IT advocacy is especially important to him as widespread workforce and program cuts present new challenges for the government's IT staff and related initiatives. While issues like IT modernization and procurement might “become less and less sexy by the day” amid other controversies in Washington, Walkinshaw said he is a “believer” that Congress should keep its foot on the pedal in this space. Walkinshaw, who served as Connolly's chief of staff for 11 years, is vying for Virginia's 11th congressional seat this fall to succeed the late congressman following his death from cancer in May. He currently serves on the Fairfax County Board of Supervisors. During the interview with FedScoop, Walkinshaw shared his thoughts on the lasting impacts of DOGE, his concerns with agency adoption of AI and his policy goals, if elected. The IRS has lost a quarter of its workforce since the beginning of the Trump administration, including thousands from the tax agency's IT business unit, according to newly released watchdog data. A snapshot report from the Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration found that more than 25,000 IRS employees either took the deferred resignation offer, retired or were separated from the agency in another way, while nearly 300 staffers were terminated via reduction-in-force actions. Combined, those departures represent 25% of the agency's workforce, which has downsized from roughly 103,000 staffers to 77,428 as of May. According to TIGTA, the IRS's IT business unit has lost 25% of its staffers over the same period, leaving the division with just over 2,100 employees. The IT management job series across agency units is down 23%, per the report. TIGTA also confirmed previous FedScoop reporting on the IRS's move in late March to place nearly 50 IT executives on administrative leave. Among those employees, 26 eventually departed via Treasury Department incentive offerings, while another 22 are still on admin leave, per the watchdog. The Daily Scoop Podcast is available every Monday-Friday afternoon. If you want to hear more of the latest from Washington, subscribe to The Daily Scoop Podcast  on Apple Podcasts, Soundcloud, Spotify and YouTube.

Since taking office, the Trump administration has made it a top priority to dismantle what it perceives as federal bureaucratic bloat. But it's the belief of some that those cuts to the federal workforce and federal programs have gone too far, damaging the government's capacity to meet its mission and serve the American public. Rob Shriver, former acting OPM director during the Biden administration, is one of those. And in his new role as Managing Director of Democracy Forward's Civil Service Strong initiative, he's helping launch a new Civil Service Defense and Innovation Fellowship Program that aims to rebuild that lost capacity by calling on former government officials to “produce research and analysis documenting the scope and consequences of cuts to federal agencies, and develop and incubate innovative work to inform future policymaking and to rebuild government capacity.” Shriver joins the podcast to discuss the state of the federal workforce, the new fellowship and what he sees ahead. Let's go now to that interview. The Department of Defense's No. 2 IT official for the past two years is leaving the role, the department announced Monday. Leslie Beavers, who also served as acting DOD CIO for a period at the end of the Biden administration and during the early days of the second Trump administration, will step down as DOD principal deputy CIO at the end of September. In a social media post, the DOD Office of the CIO congratulated Beavers who announced Monday that she will be stepping down from her position at the end of September after more than 30 years of uniformed and civilian service. Beavers played a key role in the Office of the CIO's delivery of its Fulcrum IT strategy in 2024 with then-CIO John Sherman. When Sherman stepped down from the CIO role at the end of June 2024, Beavers filled it temporarily until Katie Arrington was appointed to perform the duties of CIO in March. Since then, Beavers retained her deputy role, supporting new efforts under Arrington's leadership like the Software Fast Track initiative and “blowing up” the Risk Management Framework. It's unclear what Beavers' next role will be after her departure or who will take her place when she officially leaves. President Donald Trump has tapped State Department leader Michael Rigas to serve as the General Services Administration's new acting chief, the agency announced Monday. It marks the third GSA appointment for Rigas, who has spent the past few months at the State Department as the deputy secretary for management and resources, according to a statement from Marianne Copenhaver, associate administrator for the GSA. Copenhaver wrote in a statement to FedScoop: “We're thrilled to have his institutional knowledge, leadership, and decades of experience in the private and public sector. Under Mike's leadership, GSA will continue to deliver effective and efficient government services in real estate, acquisition, and technology.” Stephen Ehikian, who has served since January as GSA's acting administrator, will continue his role as deputy administrator, Copenhaver added. Ehikian is a former Salesforce vice president and self-proclaimed “serial entrepreneur.” The Daily Scoop Podcast is available every Monday-Friday afternoon. If you want to hear more of the latest from Washington, subscribe to The Daily Scoop Podcast  on Apple Podcasts, Soundcloud, Spotify and YouTube.

Anduril has scored a nearly $100 million contract to continue experimentation on the Army's Next Generation Command and Control program, the service said Friday. NGC2, one of the Army's top priorities, is a clean-slate design for how the service communicates on the battlefield and passes data for operations, providing commanders and units a new approach to information sharing and C2 through agile and software-based architectures. The Army plans to spend almost $3 billion on the effort over the next fiscal year across procurement and research and development funds. The $99.6 million other transaction authority agreement will span 11 months and cover Anduril's work to prototype a system for 4th Infantry Division, which will scale the capability all the way up to the division level. The notoriously slow federal permitting process would get a technological jumpstart under a bill introduced last week by a bipartisan pair of House lawmakers. The ePermit Act from Reps. Dusty Johnson, R-S.D., and Scott Peters, D-Calif., calls for the digitization of federal permitting, pushing the government to improve environmental reviews and authorizations through the embrace of interactive, digital and cloud-based platforms. Aimed at reducing processing times for federally mandated National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) reviews, the ePermit Act aligns with an April executive order from President Donald Trump to modernize permitting technology and the subsequent launch of a permitting technology action plan. The bill calls on the chair of the Council on Environmental Quality (CEQ) to consult with the Chief Information Officers Council, the Office of Management and Budget, the Permitting Improvement Steering Council and other relevant stakeholders and agencies on new data standards to inform environmental reviews and authorizations. The Daily Scoop Podcast is available every Monday-Friday afternoon. If you want to hear more of the latest from Washington, subscribe to The Daily Scoop Podcast  on Apple Podcasts, Soundcloud, Spotify and YouTube.

President Donald Trump signed an executive order Thursday to establish a new classification of federal workers in policy-related roles who aren't career civil servants called “Schedule G.” The schedule appears to create another avenue for political officials in the U.S. government and follows myriad efforts by the Trump administration to reshape the federal workforce, including reductions-in-force, terminations, and programs to incentivize worker departures. In a fact sheet accompanying the order, the White House described Schedule G as an effort to increase “the horsepower for agency implementation of Administration policy” and fill a gap in federal hiring classifications. Per the fact sheet, existing schedules don't “provide for non-career appointments to policy-making or policy-advocating roles.” Federal workers at the General Services Administration are increasingly using the agency's internal AI chatbot GSAi on an everyday basis, the agency's acting head said Thursday. Stephen Ehikian, GSA's acting administrator and deputy administrator, offered a glimpse into how the agency is utilizing AI for its day-to-day activities during an appearance at GovExec's Government Efficiency Summit. “Fifty percent, on average, of GSA employees are using this tool every single day,” Ehikian said of GSAi. It is not clear how this percentage was determined. The agency revealed the tool in March, touting it as a way to boost efficiency and help automate repetitive tasks within the federal government. Like other AI chatbots available to the public, the GSAi tool was designed to respond to user prompts and assist in basic tasks. Nearly four months later, workers are now turning to GSAi for a range of activities, Ehikian said, “from writing descriptions of properties before we send them to markets, to contracting officers using it to review contracts or thinking of outcome-based pricing initiatives, to people learning how to code.” The Daily Scoop Podcast is available every Monday-Friday afternoon. If you want to hear more of the latest from Washington, subscribe to The Daily Scoop Podcast  on Apple Podcasts, Soundcloud, Spotify and YouTube.

The Department of Veterans Affairs' acting chief information officer doubled down on the agency's reshaping of its IT workforce, telling lawmakers in a Monday hearing that change is “challenging” but “necessary.” Eddie Pool told members of the House VA's subcommittee on technology modernization that the agency's Office of Information and Technology (OIT) is pushing forward with workforce reductions as the division increasingly turns to automation and other technology modernization efforts. “This reorganization, reallocation of positions, is designed to cut bureaucratic overhead, accelerate decision making and focus every OIT position on delivering secure, reliable and modern IT solutions to improve veterans' lives,” Pool said in opening remarks at the hearing. Subcommittee Chair Tom Barrett, R-Mich., lauded the VA OIT's “smarter, not bigger” strategy in its fiscal 2026 budget request, asking Pool if technology improvements can alleviate the need for manual, human processes. “Absolutely,” Pool responded. “It is about automating what we can automate.” In its fiscal 2026 budget, the VA OIT requested funding to support approximately 7,000 full-time equivalent employees, marking an 11.7% decrease from its fiscal 2025 budget request, according to Carol Harris, the director of information technology and cybersecurity for the Government Accountability Office. Former White House national security adviser Mike Waltz brushed aside criticisms Tuesday that he put sensitive military operations at risk by holding discussions about military strikes in a Signal group chat, claiming the app's use was authorized by the federal government's top civilian cyber agency. In a Senate Foreign Relations Committee hearing, Waltz — who has been nominated to represent the U.S. at the United Nations — was pressed about his short tenure as President Donald Trump's top national security official. In particular, he was grilled by Sen. Chris Coons, D-Del., for his use of the end-to-end encrypted messaging application Signal to coordinate with other officials over airstrikes on Houthi rebels.While much of the initial attention was focused on Waltz adding journalist Jeffrey Goldberg to the chat, national security experts were also aghast by government officials at the highest levels coordinating highly sensitive military operations using a free application. The incident is widely viewed as contributing to Waltz's departure just months after leaving Congress to take the role, and his subsequent shuffling to a new nomination at the U.N. “The use of Signal is not only … authorized; it was recommended in the Biden-era CISA guidance,” he said. Waltz was referencing a piece of 2024 guidance put out by CISA on mobile security. He later read from a portion of the guidance, which recommended using “only end-to-end encrypted communication” and to “adopt a free messaging application to secure communications that guarantees end to end encryption, particularly if you are a highly targeted individual, such as Signal or other apps.” The Daily Scoop Podcast is available every Monday-Friday afternoon. If you want to hear more of the latest from Washington, subscribe to The Daily Scoop Podcast  on Apple Podcasts, Soundcloud, Spotify and YouTube.

xAI, the artificial intelligence company led by Elon Musk, announced new efforts Monday to get its generative AI tool, Grok, into the hands of federal government officials. In a post to X, the company announced “Grok for Government,” which it described as a suite of products aimed at U.S. government customers. FedScoop reported on the General Services Administration's interest in Grok last week. xAI disclosed two new government partnerships: a new contract with the Defense Department, which we'll get to in a moment, and that the tool was available to purchase through GSA. “This allows every federal government department, agency, or office, to purchase xAI products,” the post added. “We're hiring mission driven engineers who want to join the cause.” The new products from xAI follow the introduction of government-specific AI intelligence platforms from companies like Anthropic and OpenAI. The announcement was made just days after xAI's formal apology for the chatbot's recent antisemitic outputs. Last Thursday, FedScoop reported that government coders at GSA were discussing, on GitHub, incorporating Grok into a testing sandbox associated with a yet-to-launch tool called AI.gov and GSAi, a GSA-created AI platform. Anthropic, Google and xAI will join OpenAI on the CDAO's nascent effort to partner with industry on pioneering artificial intelligence projects focused on national security applications. Under the individual contracts — each worth up to $200 million — the Pentagon will have access to some of the most advanced AI capabilities developed by the four companies, including large language models, agentic AI workflows, cloud-based infrastructure and more. Chief Digital and AI Officer Doug Matty said in a statement: “The adoption of AI is transforming the Department's ability to support our warfighters and maintain strategic advantage over our adversaries. Leveraging commercially available solutions into an integrated capabilities approach will accelerate the use of advanced AI as part of our Joint mission essential tasks in our warfighting domain as well as intelligence, business, and enterprise information systems.” OpenAI received the first contract for the effort June 17 and will create prototypes of agentic workflows for national security missions. According to CDAO, work with all four vendors will expand the Pentagon's experience with emerging AI capabilities, as well as give the companies better insights into how their technology can benefit the department. The Daily Scoop Podcast is available every Monday-Friday afternoon. If you want to hear more of the latest from Washington, subscribe to The Daily Scoop Podcast  on Apple Podcasts, Soundcloud, Spotify and YouTube.

Employees at the General Services Administration appear poised to test Grok 3, the artificial intelligence tool built by Elon Musk's company xAI, according to a GitHub page referencing the agency's work. The GitHub page operated by GSA and its digital government group Technology Transformation Services references the Grok AI model as one it is testing and that the team is actively discussing as part of its 10x AI Sandbox. A GSA spokesperson told FedScoop in a response to an inquiry about the agency's work with Grok “GSA is evaluating the use of several top-tier AI solutions to empower agencies and our public servants to best achieve their goals. We welcome all American companies and models who abide by our terms and conditions.”A post from Tuesday shows what appears to be one GSA employee trying to access Grok 3 for testing, but struggling to do so. Several names of the people active on the GitHub page match those of workers affiliated with GSA. The 10x AI Sandbox project is described on GitHub as “a venture studio in collaboration with the General Services Administration (GSA). Its primary goal is to enable federal agencies to experiment with artificial intelligence (AI) in a secure, FedRAMP-compliant environment.” It continues: “By providing access to base models from leading AI companies and offering advanced UI features, the sandbox empowers agencies to test and validate new AI use cases efficiently.” The public version of the 10x AI Sandbox project page on GitHub was taken down after the publication of this story, redirecting now to a 404 error page. Interest in testing Grok comes as GSA continues to work on GSAi, an artificial intelligence tool built by the agency and meant to help employees access multiple AI models. At launch, the GSAi tool included access to several systems, including tools from Anthropic and Meta. Notably, Grok came under fire last week after promoting various antisemitic statements on the Musk-owned social media platform X. A top digital rights group is pushing back on the IRS's data-sharing agreement with the Department of Homeland Security, writing in a new court filing that the pact violates federal tax code and fails to take into account the real-world consequences of bulk data disclosure. In an amicus brief filed in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit, the Electronic Frontier Foundation argued that the “historical context” of the tax code section that ensures confidentiality of returns and return information “favors a narrow interpretation of disclosure provisions.” EFF also made the case for why the bulk disclosure of taxpayer information — in this case to Immigration and Customs Enforcement — is especially harmful due to “record linkage errors” that set the stage for “an increase in mistaken and dangerous ICE enforcement actions against taxpayers.” Nonprofit groups sued the Trump administration in March, shortly after the data-sharing deal between the IRS and ICE was announced. Soon after, the tax agency's then-acting commissioner resigned, reportedly in protest. In May, a Trump-appointed federal judge refused to block the agreement, allowing the IRS to continue delivering taxpayer data to ICE. The ruling, DHS said in a statement, was “a victory for the American people and for common sense.” As the D.C. Circuit Court considers the appeal, the Electronic Frontier Foundation wants to make sure that the “historical context” of tax and privacy law is taken into account. The Daily Scoop Podcast is available every Monday-Friday afternoon. If you want to hear more of the latest from Washington, subscribe to The Daily Scoop Podcast  on Apple Podcasts, Soundcloud, Spotify and YouTube.

Nand Mulchandani's time as chief technologist for the CIA has come to an end. In an email to FedScoop, Mulchandani announced that his last day with the intelligence agency was June 21, exactly three years to the day that he was sworn in as its first CTO in 2022. Though he's stepping down from the CTO role and as a full-time agency employee, Mulchandani said he will retain a role as an adviser to the CIA. Separately, in a public post on LinkedIn, he said he's “planning to return to my roots in the tech industry as an entrepreneur, board member and advisor, and to spend time in academia.” Playfully, he now lists his latest role on his LinkedIn profile as the founder of an entity called “Sharks with Lasers,” a comical reference to the concept brought to life by Dr. Evil in the film “Austin Powers in Goldmember.” Mulchandani wrote: “I'll deeply miss the Agency, its mission, and my friends and colleagues there, and will always be grateful for an experience that was, in every way, life changing.” Mulchandani also spent three years in the Department of Defense as chief technology officer for the Joint Artificial Intelligence Center, a predecessor organization for what is now the Chief Digital and AI Office. There, he played an important role in institutionalizing the Pentagon's centralized AI capacity. After nearly three decades of federal service, Winston Beauchamp announced on July 4 that he's departing from his role within the Department of the Air Force. Beauchamp began working for the department in 2015, and most recently served as the director of security, special program oversight and information protection within the Office of the Secretary of the Air Force. In that role, he oversaw the Air and Space Forces' highly-classified special access programs (SAP) and worked on insider threat mitigation. But Beauchamp's 29-year career spans across multiple positions at the Department of the Air Force, the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency (NGA) and the Office of the Director of National Intelligence (ODNI). By and large, he either led or was involved in several critical events within the national security space — so much so that someone once described him as “the Forrest Gump of the national security world.” In an exclusive interview with DefenseScoop, Beauchamp shard more about his decadeslong career and what's on the horizon with his departure. The Daily Scoop Podcast is available every Monday-Friday afternoon. If you want to hear more of the latest from Washington, subscribe to The Daily Scoop Podcast  on Apple Podcasts, Soundcloud, Spotify and YouTube.

The Supreme Court on Tuesday lifted a district court order that prevented multiple federal agencies from carrying out reductions-in-force, clearing the way for those actions to resume. In an unsigned opinion, a majority of the justices granted the government's request for a stay of the lower court ruling, concluding that it will likely be successful on its argument that President Donald Trump's executive order directing agencies to make plans for RIFs and corresponding guidance from the White House were lawful. The justices, however, also emphasized that their ruling doesn't express a view on the legality of RIF or reorganization plans under that order and memo. The district court's preliminary injunction hinged on that court's view that Trump's order and the Office of Management and Budget's memo were unlawful and not on any of the plans specifically. Under the injunction from the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California, a wide array of federal agencies were required to halt their RIF plans — which included the Department of Health and Human Services, Department of State, Department of Commerce, and many more. It also prompted OMB to pause reviewing or discussing those plans with agencies, per FedScoop reporting. While other legal challenges are moving forward on agency RIFs, the Supreme Court's ruling, at least for now, means they can begin those actions again. Anthropic is making the enterprise version of its chatbot Claude available to the entire staff of the Lawrence Livermore National Lab, the artificial intelligence company announced Wednesday. The expansion comes as generative AI companies look to deepen their relationship with the federal government's national lab system — and amid growing interest in agencies' use of the technology. Anthropic said the expansion comes after a pilot, as well as an event in March that allowed thousands of scientists based at the California lab to learn about the technology. The company said the program, which involves its Claude for Enterprise product, constitutes one of the most significant lab deployments of AI at the Energy Department. As many as ten thousand national lab employees will now be able to use generative AI for their work. Lawrence Livermore will eventually have access to a forthcoming FedRAMP High service, once it's approved and accredited, meaning lab scientists will be able to use Claude on unclassified data that requires that level of accreditation. The Daily Scoop Podcast is available every Monday-Friday afternoon. If you want to hear more of the latest from Washington, subscribe to The Daily Scoop Podcast  on Apple Podcasts, Soundcloud, Spotify and YouTube.

Alan Sim, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's chief data officer, announced his departure from the agency after nearly five years in the position, per a post he wrote on social media Monday. Sim took on the role of chief data officer in 2020 amid the COVID-19 pandemic and over the years has been a leader on initiatives such as the agency's generative AI projects. Reflecting on his time, Sim pointed to several “firsts” the agency achieved, including launching its enterprise data catalog and using data and cloud technologies to improve emergency response. “It is with mixed emotions that I announce my departure from the CDC,” Sim wrote in a post to LinkedIn. His time as CDC's data leader was his second run at the agency. Sim, who has a PhD in epidemiology, had also been a graduate fellow and then a health informatics scientist at CDC early on in his career in the late 90s to the early 2000s. In his post, Sim said that period was “defined by concerns like bioterrorism, Anthrax, and SARS.” “Returning in 2020 as CDC's Chief Data Officer during the worst pandemic in our nation's history was both a significant challenge and a profound opportunity,” Sim said. Sim didn't include details about his next steps but said he would be sharing more soon. It is unclear who the acting CDO is in his absence. The General Services Administration struck a deal with Oracle as part of its OneGov strategy to provide a variety of cheaper services to federal agencies, including a 75% discount for license-based Oracle Technology Programs. Under OneGov, GSA wants to work directly with original equipment manufacturers like Oracle to negotiate better governmentwide terms for commercial technology. On top of the 75% discount for licensed technology such as database, integration, security, and analytics services, Oracle will also offer “substantial base discounts” for its Oracle Cloud Infrastructure services, GSA announced Monday. Oracle is now the latest of several technology vendors, including Adobe, Google, Salesforce and others, to negotiate a OneGov deal with GSA. This deal, however, comes with some additional terms beyond discounts that stand to benefit federal agencies as they modernize their IT infrastructures. In particular, Oracle won't charge data egress fees when agencies move their “existing workloads from Oracle Government Clouds to another cloud service provider's FedRAMP Moderate, High or DOD IL 4, 5 Cloud,” GSA said in its release. The company will also promote pricing parity with other competing commercial cloud providers, “with no additional security or government uplifts ever charged in the Oracle cloud.” The Daily Scoop Podcast is available every Monday-Friday afternoon. If you want to hear more of the latest from Washington, subscribe to The Daily Scoop Podcast  on Apple Podcasts, Soundcloud, Spotify and YouTube.

The Chinese hackers behind the massive telecommunications sector breach are “largely contained” and “dormant” in the networks, “locked into the location they're in” and “not actively infiltrating information,” the top FBI cyber official told CyberScoop. But Brett Leatherman, new leader of the FBI Cyber division, said in a recent interview that doesn't mean the hackers, known as Salt Typhoon, no longer pose a threat. While there's been some debate about whether Salt Typhoon should be getting more attention than fellow Chinese hackers Volt Typhoon — whom federal officials have said are prepositioned in U.S. critical infrastructure, poised for destructive action in the event of a conflict with the United States — Leatherman said the groups aren't as different as some think. The number of telecommunications companies victimized in the United States stands at nine, according to Leatherman. The Pentagon's artificial intelligence acceleration hub recently moved to terminate its chief technology officer role and directorate after reviews associated with the Trump administration's spending and staff reductions campaign revealed inefficiencies, budget materials for fiscal 2026 reveal. Details on the decision are sparse in the documents, but officials wrote that the Chief Digital and AI Office's CTO “no longer exists or manages resources.” President Donald Trump directed federal agencies at the start of his second term to drastically reduce their workforces and assess existing contracts, with aims to ultimately cut back on what his team views as wasteful spending and inefficiencies. The efforts have included initiatives overseen by Department of Government Efficiency, or DOGE, teams. While AI is a major priority for the U.S. government under Trump, since then, the Pentagon's CDAO has seen an exodus of senior leaders and other technical employees. The Daily Scoop Podcast is available every Monday-Friday afternoon. If you want to hear more of the latest from Washington, subscribe to The Daily Scoop Podcast  on Apple Podcasts, Soundcloud, Spotify and YouTube.

President Donald Trump submitted a nomination Tuesday for Ryan Cote to serve as assistant secretary of information and technology and CIO of the Department of Veterans Affairs. If confirmed by Senate vote, it would be Cote's second run as a CIO under Trump. He served in the IT chief role at the Department of Transportation during the first Trump administration. Cote started his career as a U.S. Marine but went on to hold jobs in technology at firms like HP, Northrop Grumman, Gartner and IBM, before he entered federal service in 2019 at Transportation. Since leaving government at the end of Trump's first term, Cote has served as a board adviser for a company called Nubeva and as a so-called “private” global CIO, according to his LinkedIn profile. The VA has been without a Senate-confirmed CIO since the Trump administration took office. Kurt DelBene held the role during the previous administration. Eddie Pool, the agency's deputy CIO for connectivity and collaboration services, has been serving as the acting CIO. The Department of Defense is standing up a joint interagency task force to tackle drone threats, according to a senior officer. “We recently did a session with the secretary of defense and we are going to stand up a joint interagency task force” focused on thwarting drones, Gen. James Mingus, vice chief of staff of the Army, said during an event Wednesday co-hosted by AUSA and the Center for Strategic and International Studies. Counter-unmanned aerial systems (C-UAS), as it is known in DOD parlance, is a key challenge for the military. Commercial technology has evolved in recent years such that drones on the civilian market are extremely cheap to buy and simple to operate. It has also become less challenging to 3D print parts and devices that can fly. This has made it significantly easier for nation-states and terrorist groups to procure these types of systems and strap bombs to them, allowing adversaries to level the playing field against higher-tech combatants such as the U.S. military. The Daily Scoop Podcast is available every Monday-Friday afternoon. If you want to hear more of the latest from Washington, subscribe to The Daily Scoop Podcast  on Apple Podcasts, Soundcloud, Spotify and YouTube.

The Office of Management and Budget has issued its version of guidance on annual artificial intelligence use case reporting within agencies, outlining a similar process to the previous administration, albeit slimmer. That guidance obtained by FedScoop is dated June 27 and has been shared internally in the federal government but hasn't been made public. It's accompanied by a document breaking down the questions in the various fields. The move suggests that despite the Trump White House's markedly different tone on AI, some details may not look so different. Despite President Donald Trump's criticism of President Joe Biden's handling of AI, including the immediate rescission of his AI executive order, the updated process will ask agencies to provide much of the same information, including the stage of development, whether it was developed in-house or purchased, and whether the use case involves personally identifiable information maintained by the agency, among other categories. Ultimately, it sets a compilation deadline of Nov. 4 and a publication deadline of Dec. 2, maintaining a similar schedule to the previous year. The General Services Administration mandated in June that all multiple award schedule contract holders will be required to report transactional data beginning in fiscal 2026, expanding a pilot that the agency launched nearly a decade ago. However, GSA's Office of the Inspector General takes objection to that decision to institutionalize the transactional data reporting (TDR) pilot because it says the agency “has never effectively implemented TDR and has never made it functional,” according to a new report. GSA's Federal Acquisition Service launched the TDR pilot in 2016, asking contractors in select product lines to share data on government purchases with the intent of driving better buying decisions. In fiscal 2024, the agency expanded the TDR pilot program to encompass 67 categories of products — what GSA refers to as special item numbers (SINs). But along the way, the program has struggled with data quality issues, limited usage in pricing decisions and a lack of competitive pricing actions, the IG points out in the new report. “Ultimately, the TDR pilot has been in effect within the MAS program for 9 years and has yet to accomplish its intended purpose,” it states. The Daily Scoop Podcast is available every Monday-Friday afternoon. If you want to hear more of the latest from Washington, subscribe to The Daily Scoop Podcast  on Apple Podcasts, Soundcloud, Spotify and YouTube.

When you talk about operations at the edge, the State Department is up there among federal agencies with largest forward-deployed mission sets. With more than 270 posts that diplomats work out of in foreign territories, the State Department has a massive footprint at the edge. And according to Gharun Lacy, State's Deputy Assistant Secretary for Cyber & Technology Security, each of those posts comes with its own unique challenges in securing their digital operations. Earlier this month, I hosted Lacy for a fireside chat at the GDIT Emerge: Edge Forward event, during which we discussed how State is innovating at the edge to boost security of consulates and embassies, how the department incentivizes innovation, the adoption of emerging technologies at the edge, and much more. U.S. authorities unsealed indictments, seized financial accounts and made an arrest in the latest attempt to crack down on North Korean remote IT workers as part of a coordinated action that the Justice Department announced Monday. The workers obtained employment at more than 100 U.S. companies using stolen and fake identities, costing them millions in damages and losses. The crackdown also included the seizure of websites and searches of 29 known or suspected “laptop farms” across 16 states that hosted victim company-provided laptops used to deceive companies. The U.S. Attorney's Office for the District of Massachusetts and the DOJ's National Security Division arrested Zhenxing “Danny” Wang of New Jersey on Monday pursuant to a five-count indictment of Wang and eight alleged co-conspirators, all Chinese and Taiwanese nationals. A second five-count indictment from the Northern District of Georgia charged four North Korean nationals. The Department of Homeland Security is canceling a $10 billion IT and software contract, a move that comes amid the Trump administration's push to route all deals through the General Services Administration. In a posting Friday, DHS said the decision to scrap all existing IT value-added reseller deals under its FirstSource III contract aligns with recent executive orders and was made following “a thorough analysis of active contract awards and solicitations to assess mission-criticality and continued needs.” The cancellation also includes solicitations and evaluations of proposals submitted via a second category for software, per the posting, and no additional awards will be made. Also in this episode: Deloitte's Ed Van Buren and Google Public Sector's Amina Al Sherif join SNG host Wyatt Kash in a sponsored podcast discussion on why agentic AI is essential for agencies striving to scale operations, lower costs and enhance efficiency. This segment was sponsored by Deloitte. The Daily Scoop Podcast is available every Monday-Friday afternoon. If you want to hear more of the latest from Washington, subscribe to The Daily Scoop Podcast  on Apple Podcasts, Soundcloud, Spotify and YouTube.

The Social Security Administration has moved on to its third chief information officer of the Trump administration, tapping yet another individual with Department of Government Efficiency affiliations. According to an update to CIO.gov, a federal page that features IT leaders in the government, Aram Moghaddassi has taken over as SSA's top IT official after previously working at the agency in a different role. Moghaddassi, who has also worked at the Labor Department, was at one point given access to IT systems at United States Citizenship and Immigration Services, FedScoop previously reported. Per his LinkedIn profile, Moghaddassi previously worked for two Elon Musk-owned companies: the social media platform X and Neuralink. Moghaddassi is at least the third DOGE associate to be named CIO at SSA since President Donald Trump took office in January. By and large, people don't seem to be trying to access technology created by DeepSeek — the Chinese AI firm that's rattled leading U.S. AI companies and lawmakers — on government systems. But it has happened at least once at a federal civilian agency. Since January, there's been one attempt to access DeepSeek at the U.S. Department of Agriculture, a spokesperson for the agency confirmed to FedScoop. The USDA successfully prevented access to the technology and has blocked DeepSeek through Microsoft's Defender for Cloud Application service since Jan. 28, the spokesperson added. DeepSeek is banned along with other public AI sites “based on risk levels that Microsoft provides in their Defender applications,” the person said. The agency did not say whether there were attempts to access the technology before the block was implemented. Lawmakers are increasingly concerned about DeepSeek, a China-based large language model developer that threatens the dominance of American AI companies like OpenAI and Anthropic. In the view of many federal officials, the company's technology raises serious security concerns. Last Wednesday, lawmakers proposed the No Adversarial Al Act, which would ban the use of DeepSeek on government devices, create a registry of foreign adversary AI systems and establish a method for these technologies to be delisted. The Daily Scoop Podcast is available every Monday-Friday afternoon. If you want to hear more of the latest from Washington, subscribe to The Daily Scoop Podcast  on Apple Podcasts, Soundcloud, Spotify and YouTube.

The Defense Department's Office of the Chief Information Officer has officially kicked off its effort to improve how the Pentagon manages cybersecurity risks with advanced automation and continuous monitoring capabilities. The DOD CIO published a request for information Wednesday on Sam.gov calling for industry's input on emerging technologies, solutions and business practices that can support the department's attempt to revamp the Risk Management Framework (RMF). The initiative largely seeks to replace the legacy framework with a multi-phased construct that will be demanding for cyber and acquisition professionals. Officials are hoping to speed up capability delivery to warfighters. The RFI states: “Although RMF enhances security through continuous monitoring and risk-based decision-making, it's often seen as slow and cumbersome. To meet the urgent demands of modern cyber threats and accelerate innovation, the DoD is working to streamline the RMF process — aiming for greater efficiency without compromising on security.” Federal agencies would be barred from using artificial intelligence linked to the Chinese government under legislation introduced Wednesday by a bipartisan group of House and Senate lawmakers. The No Adversarial Al Act proposal from Reps. John Moolenaar, R-Mich., and Raja Krishnamoorthi, D-Ill., the chair and ranking member of the House Select Committee on China, respectively, is a companion to legislation from Sens. Rick Scott, R-Fla., and Gary Peters, D-Mich. The bill is the latest in a series of other congressional proposals focused on DeepSeek, a Chinese startup whose low-cost AI model has stirred panic in U.S. tech and AI companies. The Daily Scoop Podcast is available every Monday-Friday afternoon. If you want to hear more of the latest from Washington, subscribe to The Daily Scoop Podcast  on Apple Podcasts, Soundcloud, Spotify and YouTube.

Veterans Affairs Secretary Doug Collins attempted to assuage lawmakers' concerns Tuesday over how the agency plans to deliver critical health tech services amid drastic cuts to its workforce. Appearing before the Senate Appropriations Military Construction, Veterans Affairs, and Related Agencies Subcommittee, Collins said the VA is full steam ahead on planned deployments of its oft-troubled electronic health record at additional facilities, and is also pushing forward on the rollout of its External Provider Scheduling tool. The VA said in February that it had dismissed 1,000 employees, while the Associated Press reported in March that it planned to cut 80,000 staffers. The Oracle EHR system, meanwhile — plagued by technical problems since its launch during the first Trump administration — is scheduled to be deployed at 13 medical facilities by 2026. A suite of Elastic products will be discounted for agencies by up to 60% under a new deal announced Tuesday by the General Services Administration. The agreement, part of the GSA's OneGov strategy to modernize how the government purchases goods and services, will give agencies access to discounts of Elastic's self-managed solution starting at 27.5%, climbing to higher savings based on governmentwide annual spending. Stephen Ehikian, GSA's acting administrator, said in a press release that the pact “represents a significant step in our efforts to drive cost efficiencies and modernize IT infrastructure across the federal government.” Additionally, discounts start at 15% for FedRAMP Moderate cloud deployments via GovCloud, jumping to 32% at the top volume tier. The pricing options are locked in for orders made prior to Sept. 30, 2027. The Daily Scoop Podcast is available every Monday-Friday afternoon. If you want to hear more of the latest from Washington, subscribe to The Daily Scoop Podcast  on Apple Podcasts, Soundcloud, Spotify and YouTube.

The CIA, like other agencines in the intelligence community, is exploring how AI can boost its mission on both the human and open-source intelligence domains. As head of the open source enterprise for the CIA's Directorate of Digital Innovation, Kevin Carlson is helping usher in AI for the OSINT mission set. During a recent interview on the sidelines of the Special Competitive Studies Project's AI+ Expo, Carlson shared the potential for AI in open-source intelligence, how the CIA is looking to operationalize AI, the impact of the technology on the CIA workforce, and much more. U.S. Cyber Command played a role in American military's operation against Iranian nuclear facilities over the weekend, according to top Pentagon officials. Gen. Dan Caine, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, told reporters in a briefing at the Pentagon Sunday morning that, “The strike package was supported by U.S. Strategic Command, U.S. Transportation Command, U.S. Cyber Command, U.S. Space Command, U.S. Space Force and U.S. European command,” later thanking the cyber operators, among others, who made the mission possible. However, no further details about Cybercom's efforts were disclosed. The command referred DefenseScoop to the Pentagon for comment, where a spokesperson said they had nothing further to provide at this time beyond the transcript from Sunday's press conference. Although details about Cybercom's assistance for Operation Midnight Hammer, the code name for the strikes, remain murky, experts — most of whom spoke to DefenseScoop on condition of anonymity — outlined a number of possibilities for how the organization may have contributed to the effort. As the Army seeks to continue its transformation effort to become more efficient, the department's chief information officer is looking to streamline systems and processes. And no longer will “that's the way it's always been done” be an acceptable justification for maintaining the status quo. There have been directives from top levels of Army leadership to cut down on business systems and automate capabilities where possible. CIO Leonel Garciga said last week at an industry event that there's a big push right now from the secretary and the chief of staff to question: “do we need all of these systems, why do we have them?” calling some of it really old. Unveiled at the end of April, the Army Transformation Initiative is a top-down effort to improve how the service operates by shrinking headquarters elements, becoming leaner, slashing programs that aren't efficient and changing how money is spent. The goal is to cut obsolete programs and systems that don't contribute to success on the modern battlefield. The Daily Scoop Podcast is available every Monday-Friday afternoon. If you want to hear more of the latest from Washington, subscribe to The Daily Scoop Podcast  on Apple Podcasts, Soundcloud, Spotify and YouTube.

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement is looking to hire a company to help it mine through data sources including social media, international trade data, blockchain information, property records, and the dark web — the latest example of the agency looking to beef up the tools and platforms it uses in its enforcement operations. In a government procurement posting published late last month, ICE said it was interested in deploying a service that can continuously monitor a million people or entities of interest — and analyze trends for the purpose of “identifying potentially criminal and fraudulent behavior before crime and fraud can materialize,” among other goals. In a request for information for “Data Analytics” shared by ICE's investigations and operations support office in suburban Dallas, the government component outlined a range of requirements that it might seek from a contractor, like staff support, data analytics, and access to proprietary data. As the General Services Administration looks to form direct relationships with IT manufacturers to bring better value to agencies through governmentwide deals under its OneGov strategy, it's going to disrupt a staple of the federal IT acquisition ecosystem: value-added resellers. A significant portion of federal IT contracting traditionally goes through resellers that provide software services on behalf of original equipment manufacturers that often don't have the experience navigating or selling to the federal government. Those resellers, like Carahsoft, CDW-G and Iron Bow, however, specialize in that and provide additional services like integration, customization and support for commercial IT products. Lawrence Hale, assistant commissioner of the Information Technology Category in GSA's Federal Acquisition Service, said Wednesday during a webinar hosted by George Mason University's Baroni Center for Government Contracting that what GSA is trying to do by working directly with the manufacturers is flip that relationship. In going straight to OEMs for IT contracts — as GSA has done now with several vendors like Microsoft, Google, Adobe and Salesforce under its OneGov strategy announced in April — resellers won't be eliminated. Instead, they can still serve as authorized partners or subcontractors to those IT manufacturers, Hale explained, whereas the opposite is often true today. The Daily Scoop Podcast is available every Monday-Friday afternoon. If you want to hear more of the latest from Washington, subscribe to The Daily Scoop Podcast  on Apple Podcasts, Soundcloud, Spotify and YouTube.

The Department of Defense's Office of the Chief Information Officer is considering reducing the number of Pentagon employees who have Microsoft 365 E5 licenses, as it works with the Trump administration to rein in federal spending. The DOD currently maintains more than 2 million Microsoft 365 E5 licenses across two separate programs — the Defense Enterprise Office Solution (DEOS) and the Enterprise Software Initiative (DOD ESI). Through the established contracts, Pentagon components can purchase software licenses for commercial Microsoft products, including Office 365 applications and other collaboration tools. But ongoing efforts spearheaded by the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) have prompted the Defense Department to review how many of those licenses it actually needs, Katie Arrington, who is performing the duties of Pentagon CIO, told DefenseScoop. Arrington said June 6 in an exclusive interview: “Our Microsoft 365 contract [is a] very big contract here in the Department of Defense. Does every individual in the Department of Defense need an [E5] license? Absolutely not.” With the department's Deputy CIO for the Information Enterprise Bill Dunlap, Arrington has been working alongside her DOGE representative to review individual position descriptions and multi-level securities to determine what level of Microsoft 365 E5 license that person needs, she said. Other criteria being considered include user and mission requirements for office productivity software, as well as collaboration capabilities, a DOD CIO spokesperson told DefenseScoop. Ten congressional Democrats are demanding answers from Palantir about reports that it is aiding the IRS in building a searchable, governmentwide “mega-database” to house Americans' sensitive information. In a letter sent Tuesday to Palantir CEO Alex Karp, the lawmakers argued that the creation of a database of that kind likely violates several federal laws, including the Privacy Act. The Democrats wrote: “The unprecedented possibility of a searchable, ‘mega-database' of tax returns and other data that will potentially be shared with or accessed by other federal agencies is a surveillance nightmare that raises a host of legal concerns, not least that it will make it significantly easier for Donald Trump's Administration to spy on and target his growing list of enemies and other Americans.” The letter, led by Senate Finance Committee ranking member Ron Wyden, D-Ore., and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., follows New York Times reporting last month that detailed the expansion of Palantir's federal government work under the Trump administration, noting that the data-mining giant has received $113 million since the president's January inauguration plus another $795 million award from the Defense Department. According to the Times, Palantir has spoken to IRS and Social Security Administration representatives about buying its tech. The Democrats' letter said Foundry — a Palantir data analysis and organization product — has been deployed at the departments of Homeland Security and Health and Human Services, as well as the Food and Drug Administration, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and the National Institutes of Health. The Daily Scoop Podcast is available every Monday-Friday afternoon. If you want to hear more of the latest from Washington, subscribe to The Daily Scoop Podcast  on Apple Podcasts, Soundcloud, Spotify and YouTube.

OpenAI has made massive strides in recent months to position itself as a leading provider of foundational AI to the federal government. In fact, just Monday, the company launched what it's calling OpenAI for Government, a new initiative focused on bringing its most advanced AI tools to public servants across the United States. A key driver of that work has been Katrina Mulligan, the head of the company's national security policy and partnerships, who joined the Daily Scoop from the sidelines of the Special Competitive Studies Project's AI+Expo in Washignton, D.C. During the conversation, Mulligan shared details about new work OpenAI is exploring with the U.S. national labs as well as how the company is navigating the complex federal business landscape. The Department of the Interior is evaluating the use of artificial intelligence as a potential tool to alleviate the backlog of probate cases it manages in tribal communities, per comments from Secretary Doug Burgum and an agency spokesperson. An Interior spokeswoman told FedScoop: “AI technology is being explored to further streamline the probate workflow especially in the realm of data entry and the ability to search multiple databases to find individuals. This is an ongoing internal process.” Michael Boyce, the inaugural leader of the Department of Homeland Security's AI Corps, has left the position and joined U.S. Digital Response, a nonprofit that works with government agencies on technical projects on a pro-bono basis. Boyce, who stepped down from DHS in April, said in an interview with FedScoop that he'll be an AI lead and generative AI technologist in residence at USDR focused on helping state and local governments deploy artificial intelligence, drawing on lessons learned from his time at DHS. Boyce's exit comes amid an exodus of tech talent throughout the Trump administration, which has focused on reducing the workforce and pivoting from the top priorities of the Biden administration. Also in this episode: Mia Jordan, Industry Advisor for Public Sector Transformation at Salesforce, joins SNG host Wyatt Kash in a sponsored podcast discussion about how unified platforms help agencies modernize constituent engagement. This segment was sponsored by Salesforce. The Daily Scoop Podcast is available every Monday-Friday afternoon. If you want to hear more of the latest from Washington, subscribe to The Daily Scoop Podcast  on Apple Podcasts, Soundcloud, Spotify and YouTube.

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement is doubling down on its investment in blockchain intelligence technology, along with other investigative platforms. According to a notice of intent on a government procurement website, the Department of Homeland Security component aims to buy more technology from TRM Labs, which focuses on crypto risk management but also offers a bevy of forensics services for government clients. ICE this week also posted an intent to sole source similar technology from Chainalysis, which comes amid a series of planned purchases for other digital forensics tools. Both Chainalysis and TRM Labs have myriad contracts with federal agencies, including the FBI, the State Department, the Drug Enforcement Administration, and the Internal Revenue Service. In posting its intent to single source both TRM and Chainalysis technology, ICE is indicating there is no other provider that could reasonably provide the same services. Executives from high-tech firms Meta, OpenAI and Palantir are joining the Army Reserve at the rank of lieutenant colonel to serve in Detachment 201, a new “Executive Innovation Corps,” the service announced Friday. The move is the latest push by the department to tap into capabilities and know-how from Silicon Valley and the commercial sector. The new corps “brings top tech talent into the Army Reserve to bridge the commercial-military tech gap” and is “designed to fuse cutting-edge tech expertise with military innovation,” the Army stated in a press release. On Friday, the service is set to swear-in Meta's chief technology officer Andrew Bosworth, OpenAI's chief product officer Kevin Weil, Palantir's CTO Shyam Sankar and Bob McGrew, an advisor at Thinking Machines Lab who was previously OpenAI's chief research officer. The Daily Scoop Podcast is available every Monday-Friday afternoon. If you want to hear more of the latest from Washington, subscribe to The Daily Scoop Podcast  on Apple Podcasts, Soundcloud, Spotify and YouTube.

After an informative 45-day trial run, the Department of the Navy is getting set to expand its rollout of emerging AI capabilities for sailors, Marines and civilians to speedily adopt in support of their daily operations — via its new DoN GPT tool. Jacob Glassman, who serves as senior technical advisor to the assistant secretary of the Navy for research, development and acquisition, told DefenseScoop Thursday that this is a new way for the Navy to rapidly innovate and rapidly prototype. GenAI encompasses the field of still-maturing technologies that can process huge volumes of data and perform increasingly “intelligent” tasks — like recognizing speech or producing human-like media and code based on human prompts. These capabilities are pushing the boundaries of what existing tech can achieve. Still, according to Glassman, the Navy has historically “struggled with AI adoption.” Amazon has received federal authorizations that allow Anthropic's Claude and Meta's Llama AI models to be used within high-sensitivity government computing environments, the company's cloud computing division announced Wednesday. The company has achieved FedRAMP “High” authorization as well as at the Defense Department's Impact Levels 4 and 5 for use of the two foundation models in AWS GovCloud, its government cloud environment, according to a blog post by Liz Martin, Department of Defense director at Amazon Web Services. That means it's met the security requirements needed for the AI models to be used with some of the government's most sensitive civilian and military information, and per Martin, it's the first cloud provider to receive that level of authorization for Claude and Llama. The Daily Scoop Podcast is available every Monday-Friday afternoon. If you want to hear more of the latest from Washington, subscribe to The Daily Scoop Podcast  on Apple Podcasts, Soundcloud, Spotify and YouTube.

Daily Scoop listeners and readers of FedScoop will recall the shocking news earlier this year when 18F, a decade-old digital services consultancy in the General Services Administration, was shuttered by the Trump administration's Department of Government Efficiency. Members of the team have banded together since their termination to keep an active presence online through 18F.org in the wake of their dismantling. But the group isn't going out without a fight. Several senior members of 18F in late May filed a class action appeal to the Merit System Protection Board claiming that GSA lacked a “valid reason” for firing them and targeted them as an act of “retaliation” for their political beliefs. In the appeal, they call for a hearing and to have their removal reversed. Lindsay Young is the former executive director of 18F and one of the name appellants representing the class in the appeal. She joins the podcast for a conversation about how the “deletion” of 18F went down, what she and her team have been doing since, and what they hope to accomplish with the appeal. U.S. officials violated federal privacy law and flouted cybersecurity protocol in sharing Office of Personnel Management records with DOGE affiliates, a federal district court judge in New York ruled Monday, granting a request for a preliminary injunction against the administration. In a 99-page order, Judge Denise Cote of the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York concluded that federal worker and union plaintiffs had shown that the government defendants in the challenge shared OPM records with “individuals who had no legal right of access to those records” in violation of the Privacy Act of 1974 and cybersecurity standards. “This was a breach of law and of trust,” Cote said in the order. “Tens of millions of Americans depend on the Government to safeguard records that reveal their most private and sensitive affairs.” The ruling is the latest in a challenge to DOGE's data access at OPM brought by a coalition of federal unions and current and former government employees or contractors. A new executive order from President Donald Trump aims to boost drone manufacturing in the United States, an effort the administration hopes will spur productivity and technological development and secure the country's industrial base. Meanwhile, a second executive order aims to combat the risk that, as drone usage proliferates, the technology could also be used to threaten public safety and endanger critical infrastructure. The “Unleashing American Drone Dominance” and “Restoring American Airspace Sovereignty” executive orders, both signed last Friday, come amid growing concerns about the operation of the National Airspace System, the airspace the Federal Aviation Administration monitors for commercial flights, space launches, and other aerial activity. Drones, sometimes called unmanned aerial systems, are also used to smuggle drugs and assist in criminal activity. Unauthorized UASs have increasingly shown up near some nuclear facilities, military bases, and commercial airports, raising concerns, too. The new executive order on airspace sovereignty aims to combat the problem, broadly charging federal agencies to detect drone activity, which will require the use of tracking and identification technology. The Daily Scoop Podcast is available every Monday-Friday afternoon. If you want to hear more of the latest from Washington, subscribe to The Daily Scoop Podcast  on Apple Podcasts, Soundcloud, Spotify and YouTube.

The Supreme Court handed a win to President Donald Trump's Department of Government Efficiency on Friday, granting the efficiency unit access to records at the Social Security Administration. The unsigned opinion provides the Elon Musk-associated DOGE with even more access to sensitive government information to fulfill its mission of making government more efficient. Just last month, the team also gained access to payment systems at the Department of Treasury. The ruling also comes at an awkward time for the DOGE, as Musk — its creator — and Trump are in the midst of an apparent falling out on social media. Per the decision, a majority of the justices voted to grant the administration's request to stay a lower court decision and concluded that “SSA may proceed to afford members of the SSA DOGE Team access to the agency records in question in order for those members to do their work.” Justices voted on political lines, with liberals Elena Kagan, Ketanji Brown Jackson and Sonia Sotomayor saying they would have denied the government's application for a stay. Simultaneously on Friday, the Supreme Court handed a second win to the DOGE, shielding it from producing documents as part of a discovery process in a Freedom of Information Act lawsuit. More federal workers would have access to artificial intelligence training under a bill reintroduced in the House on Thursday by Rep. Nancy Mace. The AI Training Extension Act of 2025 aims to expand the Artificial Intelligence Training for the Acquisition Workforce Act, which was signed into law by President Joe Biden in 2022, by offering available AI training to more pools of federal employees beyond the acquisition workforce, including “supervisors, managers, and frontline staff in data and technology roles,” according to a release from the South Carolina Republican's office. Chair of the House Oversight Subcommittee on Cybersecurity, Information Technology, and Government Innovation, Mace previously introduced the bill in 2023 during the 118th Congress with Rep. Gerry Connolly, D-Va., who passed away last month. Rep. Shontel Brown, D-Ohio, is a co-sponsor of the reintroduced bill. The Daily Scoop Podcast is available every Monday-Friday afternoon. If you want to hear more of the latest from Washington, subscribe to The Daily Scoop Podcast  on Apple Podcasts, Soundcloud, Spotify and YouTube.

Anthropic announced Thursday that it is releasing Claude Gov to U.S. national security customers, an exclusive set of artificial intelligence models that is already in the hands of some government agencies. The new government AI product, which Anthropic detailed in a blog post, comes as several companies compete to sell emerging technology tools to federal agencies. At stake is new business — and the prestige of working on serious government missions. Earlier this year, OpenAI released ChatGPT Gov, a specialized version of its chatbot. The company recently announced that the Space Force and the Air Force Research Lab were the product's first customers. Meanwhile, Department of Government Efficiency representatives have reportedly been advocating for the use of Grok — the chatbot produced by Elon Musk's firm xAI — within the Department of Homeland Security. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick announced plans this week to “reform” the department's AI Safety Institute into a new body called the Center for AI Standards and Innovation. The new name signals a shift away from the term “safety” and toward a desire for rapid development of the technology, though the primary role of the renamed body appears to be more or less the same. The center, like the AISI, will continue to evaluate the capabilities and vulnerabilities of the growing technology and serve as the primary point of contact for industry in the government. “For far too long, censorship and regulations have been used under the guise of national security. Innovators will no longer be limited by these standards,” Lutnick said in a written statement. “CAISI will evaluate and enhance U.S. innovation of these rapidly developing commercial AI systems while ensuring they remain secure to our national security standards.”

The federal Technology Modernization Fund has had a bumpy relationship with congressional appropriators since its creation in 2017, and now the Trump administration wants to sidestep the appropriations process entirely to replenish the fund on an annual basis with unused money transferred from agencies. The White House on Friday quietly issued an in-depth appendix of its budget request for fiscal 2026, and executive agencies followed suit, publishing their annual budget justification documents. The General Services Administration, which houses the TMF program and disburses its funds, revealed in its 2026 justification that the Trump administration did not request any “new discretionary appropriated funding for the TMF” in 2026, instead proposing a new model for how it could pull money from other agencies, up to $100 million, to re-up the fund each fiscal year. “President's FY 2026 budget request includes a governmentwide general provision that will allow GSA, with approval of OMB, to collect unobligated balances of expired discretionary funds from other agencies and bring that funding into the TMF,” the justification explains. “To further strengthen the TMF's ability to help agencies kickstart or accelerate their urgent modernization efforts, GSA and OMB are committed to exploring alternative funding mechanisms.” Historically, the sitting administration has called on Congress to fund the TMF on an annual basis, with varying degrees of success. Pentagon procurement officials who are looking to up their expertise in buying cutting-edge tech for the U.S. military can now apply to join the 2026 Immersive Commercial Acquisition Program fellowship cohort, Defense Innovation Unit officials announced Tuesday. Next year will mark the fourth iteration of the educational ICAP initiative, which DIU runs in partnership with the Defense Acquisition University. This fellowship is designed to provide DOD's leading procurement professionals with hands-on experience and virtual training to help them more effectively buy in-demand commercial technologies from non-traditional military contractors. DIU's Deputy Director for Commercial Operations Liz Young McNally told DefenseScoop during a panel at the Special Competitive Studies Project's AI+ Expo. “We have other acquisition officers from across the department who can apply to the year-long fellowship with DIU — to learn our process, how we work with industry, and then bring that back to wherever they're going. And [the next ICAP application] just opened today.”If tapped for the fellowship, personnel will get a chance to work on a variety of real-world, military service-aligned projects alongside a DIU contracting officer, project team and commercial solution providers. The fellows will also gain in-depth instruction on a flexible contracting mechanism designed for rapid prototyping and acquisition of commercial tech, known as other transaction (OT) authority.

U.S. Customs and Border Protection is implementing an AI chatbot called “chatCBP” for its workforce, following in the footsteps of similar federal government creations like DHSChat and StateChat. “CBP's chatCBP is an AI-powered chatbot designed to improve efficiency and access to information for CBP personnel while meeting CBP's security standards,” a CBP spokesperson told FedScoop in an emailed statement. The tool uses a large language model and gives workers responses and guidance in a conversational format “quickly and securely.” According to the spokesperson: “chatCBP offers features like document summarization, compilation, information extraction, and multi-file analysis, reducing the time spent searching for and interpreting documents.” News of the chatbot comes after other agencies within the federal government have launched their own internal chatbots in an attempt to more securely provide the type of generative AI assistance made popular by ChatGPT. That includes the Department of State and the Department of Homeland Security, CBP's parent agency. DHSChat, for its part, was announced last year and is similarly aimed at aiding workers with routine tasks. But, per the spokesperson, chatCBP is different in that it's designed to meet unique operational needs that the subagency has, such as requiring more control over LLM development, monitoring, data management and security. Four senators asked Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem to reestablish the Cyber Safety Review Board, citing the need to investigate a landmark breach of telecommunications networks by Chinese hackers known as Salt Typhoon. In a letter last Thursday, the senators also said the board has conducted important oversight of other incidents before DHS removed its members in January, such as its report on a breach of Microsoft by other Chinese hackers. Democratic Sens. Mark Warner of Virginia, Richard Blumenthal of Connecticut, Elissa Slotkin of Michigan and Ron Wyden of Oregon wrote in the letter: “The CSRB played a vital role in U.S. national security carrying out post-incident reviews and providing information and making recommendations to improve public and private sector cyber security. Therefore, we urge you to swiftly reconstitute the Board with qualified leaders to shape our nation's cyber response.” Warner is the top Democrat on the Senate Intelligence panel, and the four members sit on either the Intelligence Committee or the Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee. DHS purged all members from its advisory boards and committees in January. While the later disbanding of other boards has drawn some concern, the removal of the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency-led Cyber Safety Review Board's members has drawn the most negative reaction from the cybersecurity community. It halted a Salt Typhoon investigation that had only just begun.

Billionaire tech titan Elon Musk's time as a “special government employee” is coming to an end, but the DOGE team at the Defense Department will soon have greater influence on Pentagon contracting. Since President Donald Trump began his second term in January, Musk has spearheaded the Department of Government Efficiency's push across the federal government to find “waste, fraud and abuse,” slash certain types of spending and cut the workforce. A DOGE team was set up at the Pentagon — as well as other federal agencies — to implement those efforts. Musk wrote Wednesday night in a post on X that his time as a special government employee was coming to an end but: “The @DOGE mission will only strengthen over time as it becomes a way of life throughout the government.” In a sign that DOGE's influence will continue at the Pentagon, Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth issued a new directive this week giving those personnel more oversight of contracting efforts. Hegseth wrote in a May 27 memo to senior Pentagon leadership, combatant commanders, and DOD agency and field activity directors that: “The Department of Defense (DoD) Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) team will have the opportunity to provide input on all unclassified contracts. The Under Secretary of Defense for Acquisition and Sustainment (USD(A&S)), or its designee, will coordinate with DOGE to ensure that the opportunity for review of the Performance Work Statement/Statement of Work, accompanying estimates, deliverable descriptions, and requirements approval/validation documents, occurs when the requirements package is provided to a DoD contracting office to initiate a procurement or prior to the package being provided to a non-DoD assisting agency (e.g., General Services Administration).” In a video released Wednesday on X, Hegseth said the Pentagon had already saved more than $10 billion working with DOGE on previous efforts to review spending, including from a “line-by-line audit of over 50 contract vehicles.” Energy Secretary Chris Wright announced Thursday that the government would build a new supercomputer powered by NVIDIA chips and based at a department user facility at the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory. Officials said the supercomputer will be named Doudna after UC Berkeley scientist Jennifer Doudna, who co-invented CRISPR gene editing technology and won the Nobel Prize back in 2020. The Doudna supercomputer, which is geared toward high-performance computing and training artificial intelligence technology, will be based at the National Energy Research Scientific Computing Center. It is only the latest Energy Department project designed for the AI age: El Capitan, a supercomputer based at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory and currently the world's fastest, is also designed with machine learning in mind, as is Frontier, a DOE supercomputer housed at the Oak Ridge National Laboratory in Tennessee. A spokesperson would not comment further on how the Doudna supercomputer's speeds might compare to other systems. Government supercomputing projects, including those focused on AI, are now supported by the same national laboratory system that incubated the Manhattan Project, which produced the world's first atomic weapons. The Daily Scoop Podcast is available every Monday-Friday afternoon. If you want to hear more of the latest from Washington, subscribe to The Daily Scoop Podcast  on Apple Podcasts, Soundcloud, Spotify and YouTube.

Former employees of the General Services Administration's 18F digital tech consultancy team filed an appeal Wednesday challenging their alleged wrongful termination and the “targeted” shuttering of the program by the Trump administration's Department of Government Efficiency earlier this year. The employees, represented by the law firm Mehri & Skalet, submitted a class-action appeal with the U.S. Merit Systems Protection Board to request a hearing and have their removal reversed. Former 18F leaders Lindsay Young, Miatta Myers, Christian Crumlish, James Tranovich and Kate Fisher are named as appellants, representing that larger class of about 80 terminated permanent and term employees from the team who served for more than a year. The group claims that GSA — along with the Office of Personnel Management, DOGE and the Office of Management and Budget — lacked a “valid reason … for the [reduction in force] targeting 18F” that took place Feb. 28, and claimed the action was a result of “retaliation.” Fannie Mae, the government-sponsored enterprise overseen by the Federal Housing Finance Agency, is enlisting data analytics giant Palantir in a new partnership aimed at cracking down on mortgage fraud. Under the agreement, Palantir's technology will be deployed to uncover fraud in mortgage packages before they reach Fannie Mae. Priscilla Almodovar, president and chief executive officer of Fannie Mae, said the tech will allow the organization “to see patterns quicker.” “We're going to be able to identify fraud more proactively, as opposed to reactively,” Almodovar said during a press conference Wednesday in Washington, D.C. “We're going to be able to understand the fraud and stop it in its tracks. And I think over time, this really becomes a deterrent for bad actors, because we're creating friction in the system when they do bad things.” FHFA Director Bill Pulte, who also serves as chairman of the Fannie Mae board, said the financial crimes division that monitors Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac “is only able to root out crime that it gets made aware of.” Palantir's red-flag approach, meanwhile, tips off those investigators to conduct probes they otherwise might not have known to launch.Almodovar recalled an exercise where Palantir's technology was given four actual loan files to assess. The tech, she said, scoured the “reams of paper” and identified instances of fraud in 10 seconds. The same exercise could take human investigators roughly two months. The Daily Scoop Podcast is available every Monday-Friday afternoon. If you want to hear more of the latest from Washington, subscribe to The Daily Scoop Podcast  on Apple Podcasts, Soundcloud, Spotify and YouTube.

The Supreme Court temporarily stayed two lower court orders Friday that mandated the production of documents and other information from the Department of Government Efficiency. In a brief order from Chief Justice John Roberts, the high court stayed the discovery process in the public records lawsuit against DOGE pending another order by the court. The now-stayed orders from Judge Christopher Cooper of the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia had granted an expedited discovery schedule that required DOGE to turn over information about its inner workings and have its administrator, Amy Gleason, give a deposition. The decision, for now, allows the Trump administration to withhold information about the Elon Musk-associated efficiency arm while the justices review the government's appeal. On Wednesday, Solicitor General D. John Sauer asked the high court for emergency relief in the case, arguing that Cooper's decision turned the Freedom of Information Act “on its head.” At the heart of the case, which was brought by the government watchdog nonprofit Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, is the question of whether DOGE constitutes an “agency” for the purposes of FOIA. While the administration says that DOGE is exempt from public records laws as a presidential advisory body, the nonprofit argues that the efficiency team has wielded “substantial independent authority” and as such is subject to FOIA and the Federal Records Act, which requires preservation of records. Staff at the Department of Homeland Security are no longer allowed to use commercial generative artificial intelligence tools like ChatGPT and Claude, according to a memo sent to employees this month. The move is a reversal of a previous policy — which had conditionally allowed the use of commercial systems — and a pivot toward technology developed in-house. Earlier this month, DHS's chief information officer, Antoine McCord, sent a memo directing component tech offices to begin “restricting” the use of generative AI systems and pointing employees to internal tools. Older guidance, which the CIO described as “outdated” and “too narrowly” focused on commercial generative AI, was also removed from an online list of IT management directives. The decision comes as federal agencies weigh various pathways toward integrating generative AI into their workflows, a priority of both the Biden and Trump administrations. While some government agencies initially blocked generative AI systems, CIOs have slowly started to develop usage policies. Some agencies, like DHS and the General Services Administration, have now built their own platforms based on commercial technologies, while others have opted to use products like ChatGPT Gov through government cloud systems. The Daily Scoop Podcast is available every Monday-Friday afternoon. If you want to hear more of the latest from Washington, subscribe to The Daily Scoop Podcast  on Apple Podcasts, Soundcloud, Spotify and YouTube.

Gerry Connolly, the longtime Virginia Democratic congressman responsible for some of the most influential federal IT reform legislation of the past two decades, died Wednesday after a battle with cancer. He was 75. Connolly's family shared in a public message that the Northern Virginia congressman “passed away peacefully at his home this morning surrounded by family.” “Gerry lived his life to give back to others and make our community better. He looked out for the disadvantaged and voiceless,” they wrote. “He always stood up for what is right and just. He was a skilled statesman on the international stage, an accomplished legislator in Congress, a visionary executive on the Fairfax County Board of Supervisors, a fierce defender of democracy, an environmental champion, and a mentor to so many. But more important than his accomplishments in elected office, Gerry lived by the ethos of ‘bloom where you are planted.'” While Connolly served on a variety of committees during his 16-year career in the House of Representatives, including an assignment on the Committee on Foreign Relations that spanned the entirety of his service, he was most known in the federal technology community for his leadership on the Oversight and Reform Committee, during which he made agency accountability for modernization and cybersecurity a staple issue. A White House group helmed by national security adviser Stephen Miller and other homeland security-focused leaders has taken up a new focus: evaluating the federal government's powerful biometrics program. The Homeland Security Council is now working with federal agencies and departments to review “all biometrics programs to ensure they perform as efficiently and effectively as possible,” Abigail Jackson, a spokesperson for the White House, told FedScoop on Tuesday. “The Safety and Security of the American People is the President's highest priority,” Jackson said. “Biometric screening and vetting programs are a vital part of the Administration's efforts to protect U.S. Citizens.” The review comes amid recent FedScoop reporting that the Department of Government Efficiency has extended its operations to the Office of Biometric Identity Management, a small but influential office within DHS that helps oversee one of the world's largest biometric databases. The Daily Scoop Podcast is available every Monday-Friday afternoon. If you want to hear more of the latest from Washington, subscribe to The Daily Scoop Podcast  on Apple Podcasts, Soundcloud, Spotify and YouTube.

As the United States, led by the Trump administration, charts its course as a world power in AI, the nation's adversaries, particularly China, are taking major strides as well. And the decisions made today in this race to AI will define the character of competition and conflict for years to come. Ylli Bajraktari, president and CEO of the Special Competitive Studies Project, joins the podcast to characterize this global competition from a defense and national security perspective ahead of his organization's massive AI + Expo June 2-4 at the Washington Convention Center. Office of Science and Technology Policy Director Michael Kratsios criticized diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives in federally funded research, calling them “close-minded” in a speech Monday. During remarks before the National Academy of Sciences in Washington, Kratsios called for a reduction of “red tape” in scientific research and fostering what the Trump administration is labeling “gold standard science.” Under that standard, there would be a “suspicion of blind consensus,” he said, arguing that there is a “crisis of confidence in scientists” that comes from fears that political biases are impacting research. Kratsios specifically pointed to DEI as antithetical to that mission, echoing a common refrain for the Trump administration, which has sought to rid the federal government of such programs, positions, offices and research. “DEI initiatives, in particular, degrade our scientific enterprise,” Kratsios said. “DEI represents an existential threat to the real diversity of thought that forms the foundation of the scientific community.” The remarks at the National Academy of Sciences — a nongovernmental membership organization aimed at promoting good scientific principles — come as the Trump administration's efforts to reshape the federal government have impacted federally funded research. The General Services Administration has entered a governmentwide buying agreement with Salesforce, the parent company of Slack, to reduce the price of the enterprise version of the workplace productivity and collaboration tool by 90% per user for federal agencies. GSA said in a press release Monday that it renegotiated “lower, fragmented discounts from individual agency deals” for a deal based on “total government purchasing volume” for Slack Enterprise Grid, resulting in a steep discount for agencies that will expire Nov. 30. The two parties also reached an agreement that will lower the price of Slack AI for Enterprise for agencies by “almost 70% off per user.” Salesforce, which acquired Slack in 2021 for $27.7 billion, is the latest commercial software vendor to reach a governmentwide purchasing agreement with GSA this year, resulting in lower costs for agencies. Google and Adobe also entered into agreements with the Trump administration since its inauguration. GSA and Microsoft arranged a similar deal that came just days before the Trump administration entered office. Also in this episode: Salesforce Executive Vice President for Global Public Sector Paul Tatum joins SNG host Wyatt Kash in a sponsored podcast discussion on how AI agents can help government agencies improve service delivery and internal workflows. This segment was sponsored by Salesforce. The Daily Scoop Podcast is available every Monday-Friday afternoon. If you want to hear more of the latest from Washington, subscribe to The Daily Scoop Podcast  on Apple Podcasts, Soundcloud, Spotify and YouTube.

The Government Accountability Office blocked an attempt by Elon Musk's DOGE to install a team at the congressional watchdog, according to a spokesperson for the independent, nonpartisan agency and an email shared with FedScoop. The spokesperson said that DOGE staffers who attempted to establish a team at the watchdog cited President Donald Trump's executive order creating the efficiency-driven group within the White House. The spokesperson further confirmed that the agency had “declined any requests to have a DOGE team assigned to GAO.” The watchdog also sent an email to its staff Friday about the attempt and its response, a GAO source confirmed. According to the text of that email shared with FedScoop, GAO said it sent a letter to DOGE's acting administrator “stating that GAO is a legislative branch agency that conducts work for Congress. As such, we are not subject to DOGE or Executive Orders.” A top Senate Intelligence Democrat is warning the Office of Personnel Management against cancelling identity protection services that have been provided to current and former federal employees since their data was exposed in the massive 2015 OPM data breach. In a letter sent Friday to OPM acting Director Charles Ezell, Sen. Mark Warner, D-Va., expressed concerns about Department of Government Efficiency-instituted cuts to the personnel agency and plans that it may have to “curtail identity theft monitoring for millions of public servants and their families whose information was compromised in 2015.” The breach of OPM servers by Chinese-backed hackers rocked Washington and the federal workforce a decade ago, as the Social Security numbers, birthdates, addresses and other personal information of more than 21 million individuals were exposed. At the time, Warner, his Virginia Senate colleague Tim Kaine and then-Sens. Ben Cardin and Barbara Mikulski of Maryland co-sponsored the RECOVER Act to provide identity protection services to those impacted by the OPM breach. Congress appropriated funds for those services “for a period of not less than 10 years.” The Daily Scoop Podcast is available every Monday-Friday afternoon. If you want to hear more of the latest from Washington, subscribe to The Daily Scoop Podcast  on Apple Podcasts, Soundcloud, Spotify and YouTube.

The National Labor Relations Board's inspector general is conducting an investigation into the Department of Government Efficiency's work at the agency. In April, an IT staffer named Daniel Berulis filed an official whistleblower disclosure with Congress highlighting concerns over DOGE's practices at the NLRB and data that may have been removed from the agency. In response to the disclosure, Rep. Gerry Connolly, D-Va., ranking member of the House Oversight Committee, requested an investigation in a letter to Luiz A. Santos, acting inspector general of the Labor Department, and Ruth Blevins, inspector general at the NLRB. Timothy Bearese, an attorney at the NLRB currently serving as its acting director of congressional and public affairs, told FedScoop that the agency has no comment but “can confirm that the OIG is conducting an investigation, as requested by Ranking Member Connolly.” Back In April, Bearese told NPR that the NLRB had not granted DOGE access to agency systems. At that time, he also said that there had been a past investigation based on Berulis' concerns that “determined that no breach of agency systems occurred.” A spokesperson for House Oversight Committee Democrats told FedScoop on Thursday that “there are multiple investigations into Elon Musk's violations of sensitive investigatory information at the NLRB.” House Oversight Democrats are asking a Treasury Department watchdog to open an investigation into DOGE's data and IT modernization dealings at the IRS following reports of an internal “hackathon” at the tax agency that may have involved Palantir. In a letter sent Thursday to Heather Hill, acting head of the Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration, House Oversight ranking member Gerry Connolly, D-Va., cited “deep concern” over reporting in Wired last month that revealed plans for a 30-day sprint where DOGE engineers and a third-party vendor — potentially the data analytics giant Palantir — would create a new application programming interface connected to taxpayer data. That API, Wired reported, would essentially serve as a storage center for all IRS data and enable agency systems to interact with unknown cloud services. Building a “mega API” is likely connected to plans for a “master database” that also pulls in data from the Department of Homeland Security and the Social Security Administration, according to Wired, part of a Trump administration effort to track and surveil immigrants. “The reported data centralization and integration effort could undermine intentional compartmentalization of IRS systems,” which raises “serious privacy questions,” Connolly wrote. The Daily Scoop Podcast is available every Monday-Friday afternoon. If you want to hear more of the latest from Washington, subscribe to The Daily Scoop Podcast  on Apple Podcasts, Soundcloud, Spotify and YouTube.

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau is set to withdraw a Biden-era rule aimed at cracking down on data brokers and their selling of Americans' personal and financial information. In a notice in the Federal Register, the CFPB said legislative rulemaking on the data broker industry “is not necessary or appropriate at this time,” and the agency does not plan to “take any further action” on the proposal. The notice was issued by Russell Vought, acting director of the agency, head of the Office of Management and Budget and a Project 2025 architect. The withdrawal of the rule, which was first reported by Wired, comes after President Donald Trump's initial nominee to lead the CFPB signaled to Congress in February an openness to continuing Biden administration data-broker rules. Jonathan McKernan, a former Treasury Department and Federal Housing Finance Agency staffer, told the Senate Banking Committee that Rohit Chopra — President Joe Biden's CFPB director — “was onto something” with his policies targeting data brokers and data aggregators. The CFPB's withdrawal notice took particular issue with the rule's focus on the Fair Credit Reporting Act, saying that the proposal was “not aligned with the Bureau's current interpretation of the FCRA, which it is in the process of revising.” The Senate on Wednesday voted 54-43 to confirm businessman Emil Michael as undersecretary of defense for research and engineering and the Pentagon's chief technology officer. In that position, Michael will serve as the primary advisor to the secretary of defense and other Defense Department leaders on tech development and transition, prototyping, experimentation, and management of testing ranges and activities. He'll also be in charge of synchronizing science and technology efforts across the DOD. Michael comes to the job from the private sector, where he's been a business executive, advisor and investor. He told members of the Senate Armed Services Committee that he's been involved with more than 50 different tech companies during his career. Perhaps most notable, from 2013 to 2017, he was chief business officer at Uber. In government, he previously served as special assistant to the secretary of defense when Robert Gates was Pentagon chief. The Daily Scoop Podcast is available every Monday-Friday afternoon. If you want to hear more of the latest from Washington, subscribe to The Daily Scoop Podcast  on Apple Podcasts, Soundcloud, Spotify and YouTube.

Amid a governmentwide effort to bring federal employees back to the office, a small but powerful biometrics office based in the Department of Homeland Security is now so packed that employees were briefly asked to bring their own chairs to work. An email viewed by FedScoop shows that employees of the Office of Biometric Identity Management (OBIM) were at one point guided to bring their own chairs to work. That advice was quickly rescinded, with the email saying that despite the initial guidance, staff should not bring their own chairs to the office while thanking employees for their patience as they worked through logistical challenges. OBIM, which was established more than a decade ago to manage the biometric information used to make border security decisions, is based at the Transportation Security Administration's offices. Another email, also viewed by FedScoop, highlights the severe space constraints at OBIM. Employees were sent lists of conference rooms that could be used for seating options for work. The email said: “With these space limitations, we encourage staff to please be accommodating and share offices and workspaces to the extent it is possible. Please connect directly with your supervisor and division leadership to discuss creative seating solutions. Please remember that we are all in this together and are working to find viable solutions. Thank you again for your patience as we work through these logistical challenges.” Because there isn't enough office or cubicle space, it's possible that staffers could unintentionally expose information to those that don't need to know it, given their proximity to other people, one former OBIM employee said. As DOGE continues its decimation of the federal workforce, grinds various operations to a halt and touts dubious cost-savings claims, the congressional agency with deep experience rooting out fraud, waste and abuse in government released a litany of recommendations Tuesday that it says could save the public tens of billions of dollars. The Government Accountability Office's 15th annual report on federal programs that have “fragmented, overlapping, or duplicative goals or actions” identified 148 cost-cutting measures across 43 topic areas, delivering a playbook to Congress and federal agencies aimed at lowering costs, improving programs and increasing revenues. Comptroller General Gene Dodaro said in a press release that the GAO's updated report details “new and meaningful opportunities to save federal funds across a wide range of programs.” “By addressing this year's updated list, as well as open recommendations to both agencies and Congress from GAO's past work, the federal government could potentially save an additional” $100 billion, he added. The Daily Scoop Podcast is available every Monday-Friday afternoon. If you want to hear more of the latest from Washington, subscribe to The Daily Scoop Podcast  on Apple Podcasts, Soundcloud, Spotify and YouTube.

Since regaining independence from the Soviet Union in 1991, Estonia has been intentional about harnessing technology to build a transparent and efficient government. And today, thanks to the country's digital-first approach and the E-Estonia initiative for government services, 100 percent of its government services are provided digitally. At last month's AITalks, Estonian Ambaassador to the U.S. Kristjan Prikk touched on his nation's digital foundation, how that has set Estonia up for successful adoption of AI and what lessons the U.S. can learn from the world leader in digital government. As the internet becomes overrun with AI slop and public trust in artificial intelligence plummets, a bipartisan group of senators want to enlist the Commerce Department in an education operation about the emerging technology. The Artificial Intelligence Public Awareness and Education Campaign Act would require the Commerce secretary to oversee an initiative to provide Americans with information about the benefits of AI in their daily lives, as well as the risks the technology presents. Sen. Todd Young, R-Ind., a co-sponsor of the bill, said in a statement that “With the rapid increase of AI in our society, it is important that individuals can both clearly recognize the technology and understand how to maximize the use of it in their daily lives.” The campaign would detail the ubiquity of AI in everyday life and highlight its benefits, including for small business owners and in workforce opportunities with the federal government. It would also note the different ways in which various regions, economies and subpopulations may interact with the technology, while making clear “the rights of an individual under law with respect” to AI. The Office of Personnel Management abruptly canceled a sole-source contract for HR services from Workday on Friday, roughly a week after it was awarded. Despite its initial justification describing the agency's urgent need for services only Workday could provide, OPM clawed back the justification and terminated the $342,200 award “for convenience.” The agency didn't respond to FedScoop's request for comment for further information about why the contract was canceled, including whether it planned to hold a competition for the award or whether not having the services quickly would impact the agency's upcoming modernization deadlines. In its original justification, OPM said that the sole-source award — those made to a single company without a bidding process — was needed “due to an urgent confluence of operational failures and binding federal mandates that require immediate action.” The Daily Scoop Podcast is available every Monday-Friday afternoon. If you want to hear more of the latest from Washington, subscribe to The Daily Scoop Podcast  on Apple Podcasts, Soundcloud, Spotify and YouTube.

The National Science Foundation is taking steps to slash its workforce, including reducing the number of senior executive service roles as well as temporary and non-federal roles, according to an internal memo to staff obtained by FedScoop. The memo was emailed to staff Friday afternoon by Chief Management Officer Micah Cheatham. It also included plans to require in-person work starting June 16 and the elimination of the Division of Equity for Excellence in STEM in the next two months, which it announced publicly Friday as well. Details of the agency's workforce reduction plans come after its termination of hundreds of grants that don't align with President Donald Trump's policies, such as those that included diversity, equity and inclusion activities. Amid those actions, Sethuraman Panchanathan resigned his position as NSF's director. Panchanathan had been appointed by Trump during the president's first term. Per the memo, NSF began on Thursday a reduction-in-force of its senior executive service workforce, which is a designation for federal senior leadership and management officials. Of the 143 total SES roles — including vacant positions — that NSF had on Jan. 20, just 59 are needed under the agency's “new organizational structure and proposed future year budgets.” A bipartisan group of senators introduced legislation last week that would scale back the Transportation Security Administration's facial recognition program, giving travelers the right to not have their faces scanned when passing through airports. The lawmakers say their push for the Traveler Privacy Protection Act comes as the Department of Homeland Security component seeks to expand the use of facial recognition at hundreds of airports. Specifically, the bill would require the TSA to clearly inform passengers of their right to not participate in the DHS facial recognition program and bar the agency from providing worse treatment to passengers that choose not to participate. The legislation would also forbid the TSA from storing traveler facial recognition data indefinitely and from using the technology to target people or conduct mass surveillance. Sens. Jeff Merkley, D-Ore., John Kennedy, R-La., Ed Markey, D-Mass., and Roger Marshall, R-Kan., are co-sponsors of the bill. The Daily Scoop Podcast is available every Monday-Friday afternoon. If you want to hear more of the latest from Washington, subscribe to The Daily Scoop Podcast  on Apple Podcasts, Soundcloud, Spotify and YouTube.

The Department of Government Efficiency has arrived at the Office of Biometric Identity Management, a quiet but powerful component of the Department of Homeland Security that handles a critical database of fingerprint, facial, and iris data used throughout the federal government. Three people, including one person within DHS and two more familiar with the matter, confirmed that DOGE now has a presence at the agency. Two of those sources added that DOGE seems to have restarted conversations about the future of the Homeland Advanced Recognition Technology (HART) program, which DHS has long hoped would replace the agency's current biometrics database — the Automated Biometric Identification System (IDENT), one of the world's largest known systems of that kind. OBIM was created more than a decade ago to manage the biometric information used to make border security decisions. As a relatively small office, OBIM provides assistance to DHS and federal agencies, including the State Department. OBIM also sometimes exchanges biometrics with other countries. OBIM's biometric database stores hundreds of millions of biometric data points. A DHS website notes that a single query of the system “can retrieve data for an individual tied to a Department of State visa application, a U.S. Customs and Border Protection log of an entry into the United States, and an immigration status change logged by U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services.” The Trump administration has launched an effort to overhaul the Federal Acquisition Regulation with a focus on delivering a quicker, more efficient and less burdensome procurement process for federal agencies. To provide details on the progress of the so-called “Revolutionary FAR Overhaul,” the General Services Administration — one of the federal government's lead procurement agencies and a member of the FAR Council — launched a new website Tuesday for the initiative. Federal acquisition stakeholders can expect to find a streamlined version of the FAR, buying guides — the first of which will be focused on software-as-a-service — and opportunities to share their feedback about acquisition policy on the new website, according to a release from GSA. The Trump administration's overhaul of the FAR was spurred by an executive order in April that called on the Office of Federal Procurement Policy in the Office of Management and Budget to lead the effort with FAR Council members GSA, NASA and the Defense Department. Within 180 days of that order, the group is expected to “amend the FAR to ensure that it contains only provisions that are required by statute or that are otherwise necessary to support simplicity and usability, strengthen the efficacy of the procurement system, or protect economic or national security interests.” The Daily Scoop Podcast is available every Monday-Friday afternoon. If you want to hear more of the latest from Washington, subscribe to The Daily Scoop Podcast  on Apple Podcasts, Soundcloud, Spotify and YouTube.

As generative AI increasingly takes hold across the federal government, a class of that greater tech discipline called agentic AI is also gaining momentum. Think of it like an AI sidekick. Agentic AI moves beyond rules-based AI assistants of the past to act autonomously to accomplish something without the need for constant human intervention. According to Jonathan Alboum, federal CTO of ServiceNow and a former federal CIO at USDA, agentic AI holds massive potential for the future of the federal government, particularly amid the Trump administration's slashing of the federal workforce and placing a premium on efficiency. Alboum joins the podcast to discuss that, some exciting news from ServiceNow's Knowledge conference this week in Las Vegas and his thoughts on how federal CIOs are managing ongoing consolidation of federal IT programs. President Donald Trump's fiscal 2026 budget proposal would slash $491 million from the budget of the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency, according to a summary released Friday. That would amount to a nearly 17% reduction to the agency's approximately $3 billion budget. The administration did not release a detailed itemization of the cuts, only an outline. “The Budget refocuses CISA on its core mission — Federal network defense and enhancing the security and resilience of critical infrastructure — while eliminating weaponization and waste,” a summary reads. In broad strokes, if approved by Congress, the budget would target for reduction what it identified as “so-called” disinformation and misinformation programs and offices; “duplicative” programs of other programs at the state and federal level; “external engagement offices such as international affairs”; and consolidate “redundant security advisors and programs.” A startup founder and Department of Government Efficiency associate named Sam Corcos is the new chief information officer of the Treasury Department, according to a person within the agency. Corcos was introduced with that title at a recent meeting for Treasury bureau chief information officers, the person added. Corcos, who most recently helped create a health company called Levels, had been representing DOGE in the Treasury Department, with the official title of special advisor. Corcos, who has appeared on Fox News with Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, has said his top priority is looking at the operations and maintenance budget, as well as modernization, at the IRS. He's also sought access to government data and, according to Wired, was involved in an effort to organize an IRS hackathon. The Daily Scoop Podcast is available every Monday-Friday afternoon. If you want to hear more of the latest from Washington, subscribe to The Daily Scoop Podcast  on Apple Podcasts, Soundcloud, Spotify and YouTube.

The Trump administration issued its first major budget document Friday, slashing non-defense discretionary spending by $163 billion — a 23% reduction from 2025 levels — and boosting defense spending by 13%. A fact sheet released by OMB references the administration's targeting of “woke” programs and “weaponized” government. One area that would see a significant boost under the budget is the Department of Veterans Affairs' electronic health record modernization program. The EHRM, whose perpetually plagued rollout has been chronicled in congressional testimony and in various watchdog reports, would be provided with a $2.17 billion funding increase in President Donald Trump's budget, per a summary document released Friday. The VA announced in March that it will have implemented the EHR in 13 facilities by 2026, with the possibility of deployment at all VA health systems as early as 2031. That followed a decision in 2023 to pause the system's implementation to renegotiate the contract with its developer Oracle Cerner and account for safety concerns. Friday's budget summary claimed the VA's EHRM rollout “had stalled under the Biden administration” but is a “top priority effort” for Secretary Doug Collins. The Technology Modernization Fund is shifting its funding model to prioritize the full repayment of new “high-impact” investments across the federal government, the General Services Administration said Friday. GSA's press release said the “strategic” change would provide a “streamlined path to modernization” for agencies by “combining upfront capital with specialized advisory services.” The agency said this “enhanced payment model” was pursued with strengthened longevity for projects in mind. Acting GSA Administrator Stephen Ehikian said in a release that “By ensuring full repayment of our investments, the TMF sends a clear message to federal agencies: focus on high-impact, high-return modernization efforts. These investments not only replace outdated systems but also streamline critical operations ultimately improving services for government employees and delivering greater value to taxpayers.” The Daily Scoop Podcast is available every Monday-Friday afternoon. If you want to hear more of the latest from Washington, subscribe to The Daily Scoop Podcast  on Apple Podcasts, Soundcloud, Spotify and YouTube.

The Treasury Department is losing two of its top technology officials, according to agency sources. Brian Peretti, Treasury's chief technology officer, is leaving the position and taking the federal government's early retirement option, two people within the agency said. Peretti helped organize the department's planning process for information technology and also served in the role of chief artificial intelligence officer. Rick Therrien, Treasury's chief information security officer, is also retiring, the two agency sources said. Therrien had served in the position since July 2024, and, before then, held a series of roles at the Internal Revenue Service. The moves come amid tensions in the Treasury Department over the influence of the Department of Government Efficiency and the departures of IT officials across the federal government. The Defense Department's chief information officer said this week she's kicking off a new program that aims to overhaul cumbersome bureaucratic mechanisms and streamline its ability to rapidly approve new software capabilities for warfighters. Under the Software Fast Track (SWIFT) program, the Pentagon will use artificial intelligence to replace legacy authority to operate (ATO) and Risk Management Framework (RMF) processes when buying new software. Acting DOD CIO Katie Arrington signed a memo authorizing the new effort said and it would officially launch May 1. The Daily Scoop Podcast is available every Monday-Friday afternoon. If you want to hear more of the latest from Washington, subscribe to The Daily Scoop Podcast  on Apple Podcasts, Soundcloud, Spotify and YouTube.

Government Accountability Office auditors are examining the “digital footprint” left by DOGE in Treasury Department, Social Security Administration and Office of Personnel Management IT systems, the watchdog's leader told Congress on Tuesday. Testifying before the Senate Appropriations Legislative Branch Subcommittee, Comptroller General Gene Dodaro said GAO auditors are looking into what data was accessed by the Elon Musk underlings during their forays into agency IT systems, and determining if any changes were made. “We're looking at the digital footprint within each of these major systems across government,” Dodaro said, naming OPM, SSA and Treasury specifically. “So we'll have a better idea about what impact DOGE's access has had on the data systems, and whether there's been any information input into the system or taken out of the system.” The General Services Administration unveiled a new initiative Tuesday that it says is aimed at helping agencies gain easier access to IT tools and shifting how the federal government approaches procurement. The OneGov Strategy is meant to modernize how the government buys goods and services and calls for more direct engagement with Original Equipment Manufacturers. The GSA said in a press release that OEMs “will benefit from a more direct and predictable engagement model.” Taxpayers, meanwhile, will benefit from a “smarter, more secure federal IT enterprise” under the strategy, the GSA said. While agencies have, in the past, bought software through resellers, the GSA believes this approach prioritizes direct relationships for enhanced outcomes. Stephen Ehikian, the agency's acting administrator, called the OneGov Strategy “a bold step forward” in GSA's “mission to be responsible stewards of taxpayer dollars. It's about acting as one — aligning to our scale, standards and security to meet the needs of today's government while prepping for the future.” The Daily Scoop Podcast is available every Monday-Friday afternoon. If you want to hear more of the latest from Washington, subscribe to The Daily Scoop Podcast  on Apple Podcasts, Soundcloud, Spotify and YouTube.

A memo sent to U.S. Agency for International Development employees Thursday announced that the now-hobbled agency will no longer try to salvage government devices for staff based domestically. The move is notable, given that USAID had previously initiated some work to transfer technical assets to the State Department. It is not uncommon for the agency to remotely wipe devices abroad, but doing so domestically — and then trashing the equipment — is unusual. Federal agencies often auction office equipment, including computers, they no longer need. In the letter, which was viewed by FedScoop, employees were told that U.S.-based direct hires, personal service contractors, and institutional support contractors must complete “various exit tasks,” including the return of government equipment. To “simplify the process and reduce burden,” the agency says it isn't requiring employees to return iPhones, iPads, and laptops. The memo stated: “The IT equipment will be remotely wiped and marked as disposed from USAID IT asset inventories on or around the employee Reduction in Force (RIF) date, and the employee can then dispose of the assets. Further details and updates regarding the remote wiping/sanitization process for the devices and what to anticipate will be communicated closer to the RIF dates.” Secretary of the Navy John Phelan on Thursday ordered the termination of hundreds of millions of dollars in IT contracts and unrelated grants as part of a broader push at the Defense Department to slash spending that the Trump administration deems wasteful. The moves — outlined in a pair of memos issued to the chief of naval operations, Marine Corps commandant, Navy assistant secretaries and general counsel — are pursuant to Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth's “commitment to strategically rebuild our military, restore accountability to the Department of Defense, cut wasteful spending, and implement the President's orders,” Phelan wrote. The IT contracts axed by the SECNAV include those for the Naval Maintenance, Repair and Overhaul (NMRO) program. Phelan also directed the Navy's chief information officer to prepare a new acquisition strategy by July 31, along with management review of the program. The Daily Scoop Podcast is available every Monday-Friday afternoon. If you want to hear more of the latest from Washington, subscribe to The Daily Scoop Podcast  on Apple Podcasts, Soundcloud, Spotify and YouTube.

The director of the National Science Foundation announced his departure Thursday after five years at the agency. In a brief public statement, Sethuraman Panchanathan said he was stepping down effective Thursday and called it “an honor and privilege to serve as the Director of NSF.” He also informed employees at NSF in an internal memorandum viewed by FedScoop. “I believe I have done all I can to advance the critical mission of the agency and feel that it is time for me to pass the baton to new leadership,” Panchanathan said in the public statement. Panchanathan assumed the role as NSF director during the first administration of President Donald Trump and carried on under Joe Biden. Under his leadership, the department launched its 27 AI institutes, began its Technology, Innovation, and Partnership Directorate, which has funded regional hubs for innovation across the U.S., and started the National AI Research Resource pilot project. His departure comes soon after the agency began terminating grants that didn't comply with the priorities of the current administration, including items related to diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) and misinformation and disinformation. A bipartisan pair of House lawmakers are pushing for the reauthorization of the law that launched the Technology Modernization Fund. Reps. Gerry Connolly, D-Va., and Nancy Mace, R-S.C., on Thursday reintroduced the Modernizing Government Technology Act, which largely mimics legislation introduced during the last Congress, just with an updated sunset date of 2032 instead of 2031. The bill revises and adds some additional requirements to the original Modernizing Government Technology Act, which passed in 2017. Connolly said in a press release that the reauthorization bill is a “welcome show of support for the [TMF] and the critical goal that drove its creation — bringing federal IT into the 21st century.” The bill looks to increase the TMF's effectiveness by creating new reporting requirements for the federal chief information officer and agency CIOs, requiring a list of high-risk legacy IT systems that are used, operated or maintained by the agency, according to the bill's text. The Daily Scoop Podcast is available every Monday-Friday afternoon. If you want to hear more of the latest from Washington, subscribe to The Daily Scoop Podcast  on Apple Podcasts, Soundcloud, Spotify and YouTube.

Members of the Department of Government Efficiency have made their way into the National Science Foundation, as grants throughout the agency are being terminated. Three DOGE affiliates are currently listed as working in the Office of the Director at NSF, according to multiple sources within the agency: Luke Farritor, a former SpaceX intern and AI engineer who has shown up at other agencies DOGE has entered; Rachel Riley, a former McKinsey consultant who has also appeared at the Department of Health and Human Services; and Zachary Terrell. As part of the arrangement, Farritor has a “Budget, Finance, and Administration” clearance, which a source said allows him to view and modify the agency's funding opportunity system. Farritor and Terrell are listed in an agency directory as consultants. On April 18, NSF published a statement that it was terminating grants and awards that don't align with the administration's priorities, including those related to diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) and misinformation and disinformation. Alexis Bonnell has stepped down from her positions at the Air Force Research Laboratory and transitioned to a new job at OpenAI, the company responsible for the development of ChatGPT. In 2023, Bonnell was tapped to serve as AFRL's first-ever chief information officer and director of the laboratory's Digital Capabilities Directorate, where she led the lab's information technology strategy and overall modernization efforts. According to a Tuesday post on LinkedIn, Bonnell is now working at OpenAI as a partnership manager, a position she took on in March. The Daily Scoop Podcast is available every Monday-Friday afternoon. If you want to hear more of the latest from Washington, subscribe to The Daily Scoop Podcast  on Apple Podcasts, Soundcloud, Spotify and YouTube.

Labor Department employees can now access two OpenAI models through the company's partnership with Microsoft Azure, making the agency the latest to integrate generative AI into its workflow. The two OpenAI models now available to Labor staff are GPT-4o and GPT-4o mini, according to documents viewed by FedScoop. The agency's platform for the OpenAI tech suggests that staff use the technology for specific applications, including a language translator, a “pros and cons analyzer,” and a memo writer. A large document analyzer and document comparison tool are also available in the interface. Along with that, the department has published a guide on the appropriate use of AI systems and cautions agency users that their role in properly using the generative AI tools is “crucial.” Staff are flagged with a warning before using the tool and are instructed to review outputs for accuracy. Previously, these kinds of generative AI tools had not been approved for Labor Department use and employees were warned not to enter federal information into the systems, a source within the agency told FedScoop. Two top officials at the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency who worked with the private sector to manufacture secure products and technology are leaving the agency. Bob Lord, senior technical adviser and Lauren Zabierek, senior advisor at CISA, were two of the chief architects behind CISA's Secure by Design initiative, which garnered voluntary commitments from major vendors and manufacturers to build cybersecurity protections into their products at the design stage. On Monday in separate posts on LinkedIn, Lord and Zabierek both said they are departing the agency. Neither offered a rationale or motivation for the decision, with Lord simply calling it a “difficult decision” and Zabierek saying it was “not an easy choice.” The Daily Scoop Podcast is available every Monday-Friday afternoon. If you want to hear more of the latest from Washington, subscribe to The Daily Scoop Podcast  on Apple Podcasts, Soundcloud, Spotify and YouTube.

Dozens of Democrats wrote a letter to Office of Management and Budget Director Russell Vought on Wednesday demanding information on the Department of Government Efficiency's unauthorized use of artificial intelligence systems. The letter, which was led by Reps. Don Beyer, D-Va., Mike Levin, D-Calif., and Melanie Stansbury, D-N.M. and signed by 45 other lawmakers, expressed concerns about privacy and security risks associated with the group's use of federal data in unapproved AI systems, as well as potential conflicts of interest involving Elon Musk, who leads an AI firm called xAI. Specifically, the lawmakers flagged reports of DOGE affiliates inputting data into unapproved AI systems and the risk that sensitive federal data could be used to train future commercial models. Douglas Matty assumed the role of the Pentagon's Chief Digital and AI Officer on Monday, according to an internal unclassified email viewed by DefenseScoop. The principal deputy who has been temporarily leading the AI hub ahead of the Trump administration's selection for the new chief, Margie Palmieri, sent the announcement to several senior officials Friday morning. In the email, she indicated that more communications on the team's path ahead would soon follow, once Matty takes the reins. Matty previously founded the Army AI Integration Center under Army Futures Command, which he led between 2020 and 2022. Palmieri wrote: “We are excited to get appointed leadership at the helm of CDAO so early in the administration. The prioritization on filling the top Al and data related leadership position in DoD will enable the Department to better accelerate and scale the adoption of data, analytics, and Al in line with the Secretary's priorities.” The Daily Scoop Podcast is available every Monday-Friday afternoon. If you want to hear more of the latest from Washington, subscribe to The Daily Scoop Podcast  on Apple Podcasts, Soundcloud, Spotify and YouTube.