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The Office of Management and Budget has officially released a memo directing agencies to expand the use of Login-dot-gov for user identity verification in a push to make it the universal sign-on for public services. In a six-page document dated Monday, OMB Director Russell Vought told agencies the absence of a clear strategy has led to agencies deploying various sign-on solutions and taking different approaches to digital identity management. Per the memo, that means users often need multiple sign-ons and the government pays more. “This policy enforces Login.gov as the universal sign-on for accessing public services online, enabling more seamless and efficient service delivery while safeguarding user privacy and supporting resilience against fraud and security threats,” Vought said in the memo. Official release of the policy comes after OMB recently circulated a draft version of the document to leaders for feedback. FedScoop obtained a copy of that draft and first reported on its contents last week. At the time, current and former officials viewed the policy as an effort to continue a longstanding push to establish a single sign-on for government. Login, which is run by the General Services Administration, was first envisioned under President Barack Obama, launched in 2017 during President Donald Trump's first term and continued under President Joe Biden. It was created after Congress required that agencies establish a single sign-on platform for government website logins. A newly released whistleblower complaint reveals details about the “rushed” effort by the Trump administration and U.S. Postal Service to install three new restrictive IT systems that would potentially deny thousands of mail-in ballots, if the federal government disagrees on their eligibility. According to the complaint, written by attorneys at the nonprofit Whistleblower Aid and released by Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., the individual is a federal employee with “direct knowledge of potentially catastrophic problems” related to USPS' handling of mail-in ballots for the upcoming 2026 midterm elections. The person claims that USPS is deploying entirely “new and untested” IT systems, including a new Federal Ballot Mail Portal that would potentially give USPS more control over when and whether states receive federal mail ballots for their voters. The disclosure describes the portal and other systems as “new IT systems and corresponding protocols [that] will govern the delivery of ballots to voters as soon as the 2026 mid-term federal elections and beyond.” It calls the development process “secretive, rushed, chaotic and fundamentally flawed,” and part of a larger effort by agency leaders to rush implementation of the system ahead of the 2026 elections. 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 Homeland Security is preparing to welcome Kyle Schutt to its ranks as chief information officer. The news comes after FedScoop reported Wednesday that DHS CIO Antoine McCord was planning his exit. Similar to his predecessor, Schutt has little digital footprint of his own making. He even deleted his LinkedIn profile more than a year ago. Before moving to the federal government, Schutt was CTO at an online fundraising platform and led the development of another, which helped raise $1.8 billion for the Republican Party in the 2024 election cycle, according to ProPublica. On behalf of the now-defunct Department of Government Efficiency, Schutt worked at a number of agencies, including the General Services Administration, per NPR reporting. Wired has tied his work at DOGE to the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency, as well as the Department of Health and Human Services. At DHS, he was responsible, in part, for the closing of the Office of Civil Rights and Civil Liberties, ProPublica reported. Schutt also has been linked to the Federal Emergency Management Agency. The Technology Modernization Fund may “experiment” with its own artificial intelligence model in the next fiscal year, acting Director Jessie Posilkin said Thursday. TMF's “tiny team” of eight within the General Services Administration is already all-hands-on-deck in managing and supporting the investments and proposals they have, she said. While the team has been using USAi, “there's a ton of playing around we can do,” she said at GovExec's Infrastructure and Modernization Forum in Reston, Va. Posilkin said she “flirted with this idea of … building some sort of model based on all of the TMF proposals that we've ever gotten and what's happened with them. I think, like any other agency team, I see a ton of opportunity for experimentation, and my goal for ‘27 is to get the capacity to start experimenting.” Posilkin also hinted at upcoming announcements: savings and value return numbers for fiscal 2025 and news of four new members of the TMF's board will come in the next month or so, she said. However, she does not know who will replace the board's chief, outgoing federal Chief Information Officer Greg Barbaccia. Also coming soon: the announcement of TMF's new investments at the end of September, she said. Posilkin didn't share details of those projects but said the TMF team has “been really excited both by the investments that the board is making decisions on right now, and what's in our pipeline.” 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 is circulating a new draft policy that would enforce the use of Login-dot-gov, the federal government's single sign-on service, “for most public facing services,” including websites and digital platforms that require authentication. According to a draft version of a memo sent Monday to agencies for review, agencies would have 60 days to provide OMB with an inventory of existing public-facing websites with authentication, and six months to develop a broader digital identity risk management review as part of the mandatory shift to Login. In the draft memo viewed by FedScoop, OMB Director Russell Vought cited the lack of a governmentwide strategy for managing digital identity and President Donald Trump's executive order on improving digital design in government as justifications for the new policy. It argues the current patchwork of digital-identity solutions used by federal agencies results in increased costs and is a hassle to Americans seeking to get government information. “As the use of Login.gov for identity verification increases, the government realizes cost efficiencies from economies of scale and a reduction in duplicative verification costs,” the draft memo said. “Increased use…also supports the government's security posture, enabling deployment at scale of leading technologies and security practices to prevent and respond to emerging threats.” The Department of Homeland Security's top technology leader is set to depart the agency, per two sources familiar with the matter. Antoine McCord joined DHS as chief information officer in March 2025. McCord also oversaw the Office of Biometrics and Identity Management and served as the acting CISO. The official kept a low profile while overseeing the law enforcement agency's multibillion-dollar budget, forgoing media interviews and events. He was in the initial wave of CIO hires under the second Trump administration following the reclassification of the chief information officer position. The Office of Personnel Management moved the role from “career reserved” to “general,” easing restrictions on who could get tapped —though the DHS CIO role has historically been political. Prior to DHS, McCord held positions at defense technology company Anduril and within the U.S. Marine Corps and intelligence community. 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.

Throughout 2026, you cast your nominations for the FedScoop 50, and the results are in. Hundreds of top executives from across the government tech landscape are now up for vote to see who will be honored among this year's FedScoop 50. Voting is open now and runs through September 25. Make your voice heard to help us select who will be recognized on this year's list. One of those nominees in the prestigious Golden Gov category for this year is VA Deputy Secretary and currently acting CIO Paul Lawrence. Lawrence joined the Daily Scoop Podcast to discuss his top priorities in both roles, namely the continued rollout of the department's modernized electronic health record with Oracle. Sam Corcos, the Treasury Department's chief information officer who entered the federal government as a member of the so-called Department of Government Efficiency, has taken on three roles within the General Services Administration. Corcos now serves as acting director of Technology Transformation Services, acting deputy commissioner for the Federal Acquisition Service, and acting assistant commissioner of Login-dot-gov, according to the GSA. “As a current federal agency CIO, Sam Corcos has led complex technology operations and worked across government to advance the President's technology priorities,” a GSA spokesperson told FedScoop. Before Corcos was made Treasury CIO in May 2025, he was co-founder of Levels, a health tech company. Since joining Treasury as a special adviser in March 2025, Corcos has sought access to government data and, according to Wired, made efforts to unify the API at the IRS. “The Trump Administration is focused on making government more effective, efficient, and responsive, and TTS will continue to be an important part of that effort. We are confident that Sam will help advance that mission,” the spokesperson said. Outgoing federal CIO Greg Barbaccia has led TTS since February and Greg Hogan has overseen Login-dot-gov since April. Lawmakers are pushing back on Immigration and Customs Enforcement plans to equip in-the-field agents with gloves that deliver electric shocks. Members of the House Committee on Homeland Security sent a letter last week to Department of Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin, urging him to intervene and halt the procurement. The signatories included Bennie Thompson of Mississippi, the committee's top Democrat, as well as Reps. Luis Correa of California and Shri Thanedar of Michigan, ranking members of the Border Security and Enforcement, and Oversight, Investigations, and Accountability subcommittees, respectively. The representatives warned of the technology being “incorrectly used or abused by officers resulting in injury or death,” per the letter. In acquisition planning documents published earlier this month, DHS said it intends to invest up to $20 million into Compliant Technologies' Generated Low Output Voltage Emitter devices for Homeland Security Investigations officers and Enforcement Removal Operations agents. The contract is expected to be awarded later this year. “ICE is constantly assessing the needs of our officers in the field to ensure they have the tools and equipment necessary to safely arrest and remove criminal illegal aliens from our country,” a DHS spokesperson said in an email. “Every decision is made with careful consideration and appropriately reviewed to ensure that any technology ICE utilizes is consistent with all applicable law enforcement policies and standards.” 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.

Some OneGov artificial intelligence deals will be extended and some companies will be offering new deals for others, a General Services Administration official said last week. Birgit Smeltzer, director of the agency's Office of IT Products, asked for people to “keep working with us” as GSA negotiates bargains. “Some of the [original equipment manufacturers] have already agreed to extend some of the limited-time offers, and some are looking at producing new offers for us,” she said. “We continue to work very closely with the OEMs to get extension of those offers, or maybe get new offers in place. We look very much at what makes sense for the government and what may not have taken flight so much, and put some offers out there that work for our agencies.” Smeltzer told FedScoop that some of the OEMs include the AI offerings, as well as other deals, but did not say when the new deals will be announced. Three popular deals — for OpenAI's ChatGPT, Google's Gemini and Anthropic's Claude — are expiring next month. Touting prices as little as $0.47 to $1 per agency, the barrier to entry to state-of-the-art technology has all but vanished — by design. Founded in response to President Donald Trump's executive order for more “cost-effective” solutions in federal contracts, the GSA has said OneGov deals accelerate AI adoption across agencies. Smeltzer also said the AI limited-time offers alone have saved the government $1.4 billion, and some agencies have used the deals to negotiate their own contracts outside of GSA. Deputy Defense Secretary Steve Feinberg's new instruction for the Pentagon to provide nearly $244 million through March for undisclosed Palantir products was influenced by the Trump administration's Business Operators for National Defense program, according to two sources who said it also illustrates the government's plans to further fast-track the tech giant's military offerings. The somewhat vague, one-page memorandum — entitled “Funding Palantir” — was issued Aug. 4 and viewed by DefenseScoop last Wednesday. “Palantir is providing valuable support to improve efficiencies with the defense industrial base,” Feinberg wrote. “Their efforts are improving Department of War and prime contractor understanding of delays in production and maintenance of critical munitions and delivery vehicles, which are already resulting in process improvements.” Officially changing the Defense Department's name requires an act of Congress, but President Donald Trump rebranded DOD as the Department of War last year. In the memo that surfaced last week, Feinberg directed the under secretary of defense for acquisition and sustainment and the Pentagon comptroller to “fund up to $243.9M for Palantir services through March 31, 2027” and to “work with the Military Departments to identify funding options for the period April 1, 2027 through December 31, 2028, as needed.” The deputy secretary did not indicate what specific Palantir products and services this fresh funding would enable and advance, or identify which pools of money across the agency the investments would flow from. 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 website created by President Donald Trump's DOGE to tally its purported cost savings contained myriad data quality issues and inaccuracies, a congressional watchdog reported Thursday. In a review of the Department of Government Efficiency's “Wall of Receipts” website, the Government Accountability Office found the group didn't use transparent methods to produce its figures, included lease terminations that predated DOGE's creation, and listed savings with unknown origins. The findings again call into question the roughly $215 billion DOGE claimed to have saved the government and adds to reporting on the deficiencies of the website's accounting. The New York Times, for example, has previously documented errors and deletions on that page. FedScoop has reported inconsistencies between officials' publicly stated savings claims and the figures included on the website. GAO concluded its report by recommending that the website prominently display the existence of the data-quality issues and limitations. “Prominently displaying data limitations would enhance the value of the Wall of Receipts by providing users with the information that they need to interpret and use the data appropriately,” the report said. According to a letter included within the report, the audit was ordered by Sens. Gary Peters, D-Mich., and Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn. Peters is the ranking member on the Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs and Blumenthal is ranking member of its subcommittee on investigations. The report came a day after GAO released another report that revealed little available documentation of financial disclosures and completion of ethics and records management training by DOGE personnel. A House-passed bill to scrap educational requirements in federal contracting jobs cleared a key Senate panel Thursday, putting it on track for a vote before the full chamber. The Skills-Based Federal Contracting Act (H.R. 5235) advanced out of the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee by a 10-0 vote. No senators commented on the legislation during the business meeting. The bill, led by Rep. Nancy Mace, R-S.C., would block federal solicitations from including any minimum education standards, unless the contracting officer provides a written justification on why the agency needs an exemption. “Washington created the paper ceiling. This bill tears it down,” Mace said in a statement. “A four-year degree should not be a government-mandated checkbox when hardworking Americans have already proven they can do the job. Demonstrated ability should open doors in this country.” The legislation passed the House in February and has been a pet project of Mace's for 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.

Throughout 2026, you cast your nominations for the FedScoop 50, and the results are in. Hundreds of top executives from across the government tech landscape are now up for vote to see who will be honored among this year's FedScoop 50. Voting is open now and runs through September 25. Make your voice heard to help us select who will be recognized on this year's list. One of those nominees in the prestigious Golden Gov category for this year is Department of Energy CIO Dawn Zimmer. Zimmer joined the Daily Scoop Podcast to discuss how the agency is balancing innovation and security in the age of AI, what the Genesis Mission means for her office, how AI adoption is going across the department and much more. A senior General Services Administration technology official has been placed on administrative leave after criticizing the government's veterans' hiring preference on his personal LinkedIn page, the agency confirmed Monday. Pete Waterman, director of FedRAMP and a career GSA official, said in the July post that his office needs experienced tech professionals, but federal hiring is “terribly broken.” “Veterans preference is brutally unfair when taken to the extreme of blocking any consideration of non-veterans, but we're seeing that everywhere these days,” he wrote. “The future for FedRAMP is pretty dark if we can't hire experts from private sector who have actually worked on cloud services.” GSA Administrator Edward Forst said in a statement that “we categorically and completely disagree with a senior employee's recent remarks denigrating veterans preferences in hiring,” noting that veterans represent about 30% of GSA's workforce. “GSA has zero tolerance for comments that disparage or disrespect America's veterans,” Forst said. “The men and women who have worn and continue to wear our nation's uniforms deserve our respect and unwavering support.” Veterans' preference requires federal agencies to prioritize hiring qualified veterans before civilians. OpenAI's self-reported breach in which an agent escaped testing and autonomously hacked the open-source AI tool company Hugging Face is generating interest in a congressional investigation. In a Friday open letter, dozens of public interest groups, progressive organizations, and academics urged lawmakers to open an investigation into the incident to determine whether stronger safeguards and independent oversight of AI model development and testing is needed. They called the incident “a historic inflection point” for AI. The letter comes after OpenAI's July 21 disclosure of the breach added fuel to the fire of preexisting concerns about the capabilities of the ever-learning technology. According to the ChatGPT maker's statement, an agent driven by several of its models found a way to break free of a testing sandbox, gain internet access, and discover ways to breach Hugging Face — all in an effort to cheat on a benchmarking test. OpenAI has been working with Hugging Face and third-party organizations to investigate and analyze the incident. The organizations that wrote the letter argued the incident arose from OpenAI's own choices on system capabilities and testing design, including decisions it made on objectives for the agent and safeguards to prevent any issues. 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's top IT official, Federal CIO Greg Barbaccia, is headed back to Palantir after he leaves government later this month, a White House official confirmed Friday. The news was first shared offhand by General Services Administration leader Edward Forst during a Thursday graduation ceremony for the U.S. Digital Corps. FedScoop verified the move with a White House official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to be more candid. Barbaccia previously announced his departure in an email to the CIO Council earlier this month. In that email, obtained by FedScoop, Barbaccia said it was a “difficult decision to leave government” and that he planned to depart at the end of August. It did not, however, share where he planned to go. Prior to joining the Trump administration, Barbaccia spent roughly a decade at Palantir in roles such as head of intelligence and investigations. Department of Defense CIO Kirsten Davies recently approved a far-reaching directive laying out policy, responsibilities and procedures for information technology category management and digital modernization investments. The new guidance follows in the footsteps of other Trump administration tech-buying initiatives meant to streamline enterprise IT procurement and leverage economies of scale across the government's massive footprint, like the General Services Administration's OneGov initiative for federal civilian agencies. DoW Instruction 8000.02, which was approved by Davies on July 23 and became effective July 29, applies to all components of the department. It covers “all IT assets, including IT services, hardware, software, licenses, and associated components, in all IT categories (including national security systems (NSS) within DoW authorities and defense business systems) relevant to DoW mission and operations,” the directive 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.

Existing FedRAMP certification is no longer required for Department of Veterans Affairs contractors to win bids, a top agency IT official said Tuesday in a memo obtained by FedScoop. Any acquisition documents, including requests for information, proposals or quotations, should not state or imply that a cloud company must have already completed the governmentwide security check, Zack Schwartz, principal deputy assistant secretary in the VA's Office of Information and Technology, said in the memo. Schwartz wrote that the “memo supports VA's ability to sustain momentum with mission needs to provide secure technology solutions in a dynamic cyber risk environment, while avoiding unnecessary delays in the procurement of critical systems and services.” He added that the “distinction is intended to preserve acquisition flexibility while maintaining VA's risk management and operational security standards.” Instead, cloud systems, services and solutions companies must fully comply with other security requirements — including those from the National Institute of Standards and Technology, VA directives and handbooks — and receive a VA Authorization to Operate, which could be granted in 60 days. The Department of Homeland Security is expanding its AI use for FOIA processing in response to a sizable backlog and increasing number of requests, per the agency's annual report. In fiscal 2025, DHS started with 221,068 pending FOIA requests. After receiving more than 1 million requests and processing nearly the same amount, the agency ended the year with 245,572 pending requests. Despite the uptick, DHS said it maintained its backlog — defined as the number of requests or administrative appeals at the end of the fiscal year that are beyond the statutory time for a response — at just 16% of total requests received. Technology could help the agency make a bigger dent in the years to come. “The DHS Office of Privacy continues to invest, develop, implement, and deploy new technological advances in FOIA processing,” the agency said in its 2025 FOIA report, published Thursday. “It expects to launch additional automation tools this coming year to further improve efficiency and reduce administrative redundancies. 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 Health and Human Services has a vacancy in its top IT post. Clark Minor is no longer listed as the agency's chief information officer, per a webpage with the health department's IT leadership. Instead, David Hong, the principal deputy CIO, is now identified as the department's acting IT chief. It is unclear when the change to the webpage was made. HHS spokespeople did not immediately respond to FedScoop's requests for comment on the timing of Minor's departure as CIO. Per an agency source granted anonymity to speak more candidly, Minor gave notice to the secretary and is staying on as an advisor to help with the transition. Minor began at HHS as its chief technology officer in the early days of the second Trump administration, and was eventually tapped to replace Jennifer Wendel as CIO upon her departure. He has often been affiliated with the now-defunct Department of Government Efficiency organization. Before joining the department, Minor was global head of cloud at Palantir Technologies for over a decade, per his financial disclosure published by ProPublica. The United States and United Arab Emirates are setting up a new bilateral military crew that will hustle to integrate their forces' artificial intelligence capabilities, and deploy joint assets to monitor and enhance regional security. Task Force Talon Synapse is slated to soon be fully operational, U.S. Central Command announced Tuesday. Approximately 20 American and Emirati personnel with expertise in AI, data, cybersecurity and related technology areas will serve on the Abu Dhabi-based team. Centcom spokesperson Capt. Tim Hawkins told DefenseScoop: “We're working to sign the agreement in the weeks ahead.” The UAE shares maritime borders with Oman, Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Iran. It's considered one of America's key strategic and geopolitical partners in the Middle East. The two nations' increasingly close cooperation over recent decades has been largely anchored by combined defense operations, major arms sales and the technological interoperability of their militaries. 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.

Throughout 2026, you cast your nominations for the FedScoop 50, and the results are in. Hundreds of top executives from across the government tech landscape are now up for vote to see who will be honored among this year's FedScoop 50. Voting is open now and runs through September 25. Make your voice heard to help us select who will be recognized on this year's list. One of those nominees in the prestigious Golden Gov category for this year is Department of Commerce CIO Brian Epley. Epley joined the Daily Scoop Podcast to share updates on Commerce's AI adoption and how the sprawling department manages the pace of innovation within the bureaucratic government planning and budgeting cycles, and much more. The Secret Service is planning to spend up to $20 million on AI robots for target practice as part of a contract it expects to award in the fourth quarter of fiscal 2026, per recently published acquisition planning documents. The Department of Homeland Security unit wants to add one autonomous robotic system that will include eight all-terrain infantry targets, one vehicle target and four other infantry targets. The Secret Service will require its robotic training squad to wear ballistic protection for various ammunition calibers. The agency has been building up its autonomous training tools with Marathon Targets, starting back in 2023. Over the past few years, the Secret Service has spent more than $4 million on the vendor's autonomous robotic targeting system, according to USAspending records. The latest follow-on, no-competition contract is an expansion of these efforts. The Department of Government Efficiency's time in Washington is over, but a pair of Democratic senators aren't done pushing for answers about the Elon Musk group's undertakings at the Social Security Administration. In a letter sent last week, Sens. Sheldon Whitehouse of Rhode Island and Ron Wyden of Oregon blasted SSA Commissioner Frank Bisignano for providing “inadequate responses” to congressional inquiries about DOGE's handling of data and related information security risks. “Over the past fourteen months, we have repeatedly sought basic information about DOGE's activities at SSA,” the Democrats wrote. “Your responses have either been unresponsive or later disproved by SSA's own admissions.” 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.

Post-award bid protests filed at the Government Accountability Office will not hold up the Office of Personnel Management's rollout of a governmentwide HR system. OPM spokeswoman McLaurine Pinover confirmed to FedScoop via email that all companies that were entitled to and requested a debriefing received one, and that all debriefings were completed “well over 10 days ago.” Per rules that govern bid protests before the GAO, that means that the nearly $400 million award the agency made to Oracle in June can no longer be challenged before the watchdog agency's adjudicatory body. The eventual 10-year award to Oracle came after a rocky start for the push to build a governmentwide HR platform. OPM initially awarded a sole-source contract — one without a competitive bidding process — to Workday in May 2025 to facilitate the Trump administration's HR modernization efforts, only to walk the award back shortly thereafter. OPM eventually launched open competition for a contract to establish a governmentwide HR system. That contract faced pre-award protests from IBM and Economic Systems, Inc., which were withdrawn or resolved, freeing up the agency to make its award. And ultimately, Oracle was announced as the winner. Most of the Technology Modernization Fund's projects have yet to achieve expected cost savings, according to the Government Accountability Office, but there's big money to be saved on the horizon. Two dozen projects are expected to reach savings of more than $1 billion, a figure that exceeds total TMF investments across its broader 68-project portfolio. Nearly a dozen of those have realized a combined $13.5 million in savings, while another 13 have not achieved savings at all, according to the GAO audit published Thursday. “While savings thus far have been small, the amount is not unexpected given that 21 projects — with expected savings of about $1.04 billion, or 98.3 percent of the total — anticipate achieving their savings in fiscal year 2027 or later,” the watchdog said in its report. Six TMF-funded projects that expected cost savings have been completed. Two were on track to meet their cost savings target. The watchdog found that the others missed the mark. A General Services Administration project went through “a major change that descoped planned work and reduced expected savings,” per the report. At least one other project met a similar fate, leading to less savings than initially planned. Higher-than-expected migration and transition costs led another project's predicted savings to not materialize. Seven other projects were cancelled. 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.

Throughout 2026, you cast your nominations for the FedScoop 50, and the results are in. Hundreds of top executives from across the government tech landscape are now up for vote to see who will be honored among this year's FedScoop 50. Voting is open now and runs through September 26. Make your voice heard to help us select who will be recognized on this year's list. One of those nominees in the prestigious Golden Gov category for this year is OPM Director Scott Kupor. Kupor recently sat down in the Daily Scoop Podcast studio to share updates on OPM's ongoing federalwide modernization initiatives, from the latest on Tech Force to what's next now that the agency has awarded Oracle its massive HR 2.0 contract. 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 Pentagon placed an immediate freeze on forthcoming cybersecurity requirements after government research suggested the policy would drive many businesses out of the defense industrial base at a time when the U.S. military urgently needs their innovations. Defense Department Chief Information Officer Kirsten Davies and Under Secretary of Defense for Acquisition and Sustainment Michael Duffey unveiled plans earlier this week to suspend the much-anticipated Cybersecurity Maturity Model Certification (CMMC) Phase 2 requirements that were set to take effect Nov. 10. A new CMMC Reform Task Force is expected to conduct a review of the entire program and submit a report of its findings and recommendations within the next 60 days. This major pause comes as contractors have been hustling to obtain third-party assessments of their CMMC compliance in preparation for that near-term enforcement date. The Pentagon released a new request for information to garner stakeholders' feedback on the move and associated compliance challenges. The CMMC Reform Task Force will analyze the responses as part of its upcoming review of the program. Scale AI is joining the Department of Energy's Genesis Mission consortium, serving as the collaborative hub for working groups and structured partnerships, the vendor shared with FedScoop prior to its announcement Thursday. The technology provider is the latest private-sector partner to join DOE's Genesis Mission Consortium as the agency continues building up its roster. Emerald AI and SambaNova Systems have also jumped on board in recent weeks. For Scale AI, the partnership represents a further expansion of its role in the Genesis Mission and comes after it signed a memorandum of understanding earlier this year. “Scale's contribution to the Genesis Mission builds on the work we've been doing for years: creating high-quality evaluation benchmarks, preparing data for advanced AI systems, developing AI agents for complex workflows, and supporting computer vision and robotics applications,” a Scale AI spokesperson told FedScoop. DOE launched the consortium in February as a way to deepen public-private partnerships that it believes will fuel the larger initiative. Scale AI joins the likes of Accenture, Amazon Web Services, Databricks and IBM. 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 top IT leader at the Department of Transportation is resigning, FedScoop was the first to report last week. Pavan Pidugu, the DOT's chief digital and information officer, was sworn in February 2025 after serving as the CTO for the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration for nearly five years. His last day will be Sept. 4. Under Pidugu's leadership, the agency underwent a restructuring of its technology department. The agency also migrated to Google Workspace, becoming the first cabinet-level agency to fully transition using the General Services Administration's OneGov deal. A DOT spokesperson told FedScoop in May that the Federal Aviation Administration was gearing up to migrate later this year. In total, more than 50,000 employees across the agency will have access. Pidugu's resignation comes amid a wave of technology leader departures, including federal CIO Greg Barbaccia, whose last day will be at the end of August. Interior Department CIO Paul “Macca” McInerny left the agency last week. The Technology Modernization Fund is open for proposals and prioritizing faster permitting technology and artificial intelligence adoption projects, its acting director said Thursday. Jessie Posilkin said the TMF is “being explicit” about its desire for Council on Environmental Quality-supported projects to speed and scale permitting, and to advance USAi adoption in agencies facing capability and infrastructure gaps preventing responsible use. Posilkin said in a LinkedIn post: “TMF was made for moments like this, where agencies can't afford to wait on budget and procurement cycles. I'm excited we're still poised to help agencies meet a critical moment of opportunity – and a bipartisan one, at that!” Last month, Posilkin said the fund had $200 million left, pending potential reauthorization for fiscal 2027. But that might not stretch as far as it would have in the past, even with 100% of agencies repaying TMF loans, as the “scale and scope of government technology challenges are only going up” because of AI, Posilkin said at the time. The current version of the fiscal 2027 Financial Services and General Government appropriations bill authorizes $5 million for the fund, but has not yet received a floor vote in either chamber. Agencies can submit a project proposal until July 24, but Posilkin encouraged them to move quickly so the small TMF team can review proposals expeditiously. She said: “This call is moving fast, partly out of necessity. We have a very narrow window between now and September 30, when our authorization to make new investments ends (absent congressional action, of course…). With more time, we could do even more — but we'll meet as much of the agency need as we can, while we can.” 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.

Greg Barbaccia is stepping down as federal CIO and leaving government at the end of August, he said in an email to the CIO Council Tuesday. “I'm writing to share that I've made the difficult decision to leave government, and my time as Federal CIO is coming to an end,” Barbaccia wrote to CIOs on the council in his email, obtained by FedScoop. Barbaccia, who joined the Trump administration as its top IT official in January 2025, said his last day in the role will be Aug. 31. Barbaccia's departure comes just months after he brought on former Department of Education CIO Thomas Flagg to be his deputy. Flagg would be the default acting official with Barbaccia's departure, a government chief information officer told FedScoop on the condition of anonymity to be more candid. As federal CIO, Barbaccia has also served as the federal chief AI officer of the U.S. government, playing a pivotal role in shaping AI policy, oversight and adoption across federal agencies. The Defense Innovation Unit is undergoing a major reorganization effort that will overhaul and collapse its operational portfolios from seven to three technology priorities “where speed, scale, and lethality intersect,” two sources told DefenseScoop on Monday. One senior defense official and one defense official familiar with this realignment said the Pentagon would likely reveal DIU's near-term plans and new internal structure publicly this week. The officials requested anonymity to speak freely ahead of the Defense Department's official, forthcoming announcement. But they suggested that this shake-up and reset is intended to concentrate DIU's experts and resources on a smaller, more focused set of real-world problem areas so the hub can deliver outcome-driven, reportable combat power to the U.S. military at faster and less expensive rates. DIU's recently installed director under the second Trump administration, Owen West, initiated the reorg. The three new portfolios and priority topics that the unit will be structured around, according to the two officials, are drones and autonomous warfare, kill webs, and "10x" technologies. 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.

Longtime IT industry leader Teresa Carlson has joined Anthropic to lead its public sector strategy as the artificial intelligence company navigates relationships with the U.S. and other governments. Carlson — who is known for her past leadership at Microsoft and Amazon Web Services — is now Anthropic's global head of public sector, the Claude maker shared Tuesday. She is the first person to hold that title at the company. “After more than two decades helping government leaders navigate new technologies, I joined Anthropic because it prioritized working alongside government early and takes this as seriously as anything it does,” Carlson said in a written statement shared with FedScoop. “AI is changing how we work and how we live, and that change has to happen in collaboration with governments.” Multiple U.S. Army internet subdomains were defaced in a 404 hijacking campaign, CyberScoop has confirmed. As of Monday morning, error pages on two U.S. Army websites – oil.army.mil and ai2c.army.mil – displayed defacement messages visible to users. The messages denigrated President Donald Trump and United States Ambassador to Türkiye Tom Barrack, called to “FREE KURDISTAN,” And included another line reading “Kurdish sr was here.” One of the websites, oil.army.mil, belongs to the Army's Open Innovation Lab, a test bed for software and cyber capabilities established in 2020. The other belongs to the Artificial Intelligence Integration Center, established in 2019 to integrate AI technologies into the Army and train personnel on emerging technologies. The defacements were initially discovered by independent cybersecurity researcher Ronald Lovelace, who notified U.S. Army officials and CyberScoop. 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.

FedScoop reported that the CIA is reorganizing its technology and acquisitions functions to accelerate AI adoption and streamline procurement. The move aligns with the White House's 2023 AI executive order, OMB's 2024 guidance, and NIST's AI Risk Management Framework. Agencies are likely to use more challenge-based solicitations, pilots, and consolidated contract vehicles to move prototypes into production. Demand is rising for model evaluation, retrieval augmented generation, privacy enhancing technologies, MLOps, and on-premises or edge deployment. Vendors will face requirements for clearances, supply chain assurances, data rights clarity, and transparent pricing. Startups can enter by teaming with integrators and engaging with In-Q-Tel while preparing documentation and deployment patterns suited to restricted environments.Learn more on this news by visiting us at: https://greyjournal.net/news/ Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The Department of Energy is kickstarting a quantum computing effort tied to the Genesis Mission following a pair of quantum-focused executive orders signed by President Donald Trump on Monday. The newly launched Quantum Genesis initiative aims to develop and deploy a more resilient quantum computing capability by 2028. Darío Gil, under secretary for science and Genesis Mission lead, told FedScoop that the new initiative serves as a foundation for the charges Trump issued in his directives for “challenging America's quantum information science community and industry to build the world's first fault-tolerant quantum computing capability that will transform scientific discovery, strengthen national security, and power the next era of American innovation.” To reach that goal, DOE has three main priorities: set up a competition to accelerate quantum system development, conduct targeted research to advance high-impact, scientific quantum use cases, and build a supercomputing facility for engineers to access the new capabilities. The facility, along with DOE's existing high-performance computing systems and the Genesis Mission's in-progress American Science and Security Platform, will form a unified high-performance computing, AI and quantum computing ecosystem. The Pentagon's workforce shrank by roughly 10.7% during the height of the Trump administration's Department of Government Efficiency implementation efforts, according to a new report by the Government Accountability Office. That decrease represents 82,940 employees — from a baseline 778,188 civilian employees at the Defense Department in December 2024 near the end of the Biden administration, down to 695,248 in January 2026. Outlining governmentwide workforce contractions across 2025 that were sparked by multiple presidential directives, GAO's report offers a fresh, data-driven look at DOGE's downsizing impacts inside the Pentagon. It indicates that, while DOD remains America's largest employer of federal civilian personnel, the department's workforce is now substantially smaller in volume than it was in prior years. Dawn Locke, director with GAO's Strategic Issues team and lead on the review, told DefenseScoop: “A key takeaway for DOD is the role the Deferred Resignation Program played in the agency's efforts to reduce the size of its civilian workforce.” 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 hosted an IT industry day last week with a specific takeaway from the agency's deputy CIO: incumbency itself is not enough. Zack Schwartz, principal deputy assistant secretary in the VA's Office of Information and Technology, said he's made it clear that tech contractors need to bring their “A-game when it comes to supporting the veteran,” and the VA is open for business with whoever can do it best. “Incumbency is not a guarantee, incumbency is not an advantage,” Schwartz said in an interview with FedScoop. “We will not settle just because you've supported the VA in the past.” Schwartz said last Wednesday's private IT Advanced Planning Brief to Industry was a breakthrough between the agency and industry, as he made it clear that the “massive organization” is “moving extremely fast” to modernize and integrate AI with governance. LOGZONE, an Alabama-based logistics services provider, has agreed to pay more than $507,000 to resolve allegations that it misrepresented its compliance with Pentagon cybersecurity requirements while doing work with the Navy. According to a settlement agreement published last Thursday, the Justice Department alleged that LOGZONE failed to fully implement required security controls under NIST Special Publication 800-171 despite its contract mandating compliance. While not an explicit violation of the Cybersecurity Maturity Model Certification (CMMC) program, the suit highlights the Defense Department's increasing scrutiny of the defense industry not implementing required cybersecurity measures for sensitive information. The settlement stems from two contracts awarded by the Navy between 2021 and 2022 for logistics, inventory management and facility support services for the Naval Oceanographic Command located at Stennis Space Center in Mississippi. According to the settlement agreement, LOGZONE received more than $682,000 under the contracts through March 2025. 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. Customs and Border Protection is moving forward on AI-powered autonomous surveillance towers that are expected to be deployed across the southern border, signing a $71 million task order with GDIT last week. The award is the latest in a massive indefinite delivery/indefinite quantity contract, worth up to $1.8 billion, that kicked off three years ago and is aimed at modernizing and expanding CBP's surveillance tower system. GDIT is a key player in CBP's modernization plans as the prime contractor on a remote video surveillance program, the developer of a CBP database with quantum sensors and a fundamental part of a number of other projects including the smart border wall. Michael Wagner, VP of biometrics, border and transportation security at GDIT, told FedScoop that the company started working on this next-generation autonomous tower about three years ago and has gone through several iterations of solutioning and testing and validating out in the field. The American military deployed an autonomous Corsair maritime drone built by Saronic to find and recover two soldiers who were stranded near the Strait of Hormuz on Monday after their Army AH-64 Apache helicopter crashed during a patrol operation, U.S. Central Command spokesperson Capt. Tim Hawkins told DefenseScoop. The confirmation of this unique rescue mission comes as military tensions are surging in the Middle East amid the United States-Iran conflict. It marks the U.S. military's first publicized use of an autonomous surface vessel to locate and retrieve downed aircrew in real-world warfare, following years of experimentation with different types of sea drones. Hawkins said the drone used in the operation was a U.S. Navy Corsair unmanned surface vessel operated by U.S. 5th Fleet's Task Force 59. In that rescue operation, he told DefenseScoop, the maritime drone picked the two pilots up “and transported them to another location on the water where they were then hoisted up to a helicopter for further transport.” 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.

Congressional Democrats want answers from the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency https://cyberscoop.com/cisa-credential-leak-congress-demands-answers/ on GitHub in an incident that the security researcher who discovered it called one of the worst leaks he's ever seen. Other security professionals also voiced concern Tuesday about the leak and the potential for abuse by any malicious parties who got a hold of the information. Security firm GitGuardian said it discovered a public GitHub repository last week that exposed credentials for privileged AWS GovCloud accounts and internal CISA systems dating back to November. The repository, apparently maintained by a contractor, was named “Private-CISA.” Krebs on Security first reported the incident. A GitGuardian researcher said his main fear upon verifying the leak was real “is that a state actor will get the data and might be able to do bad stuff.” State-based attackers who obtained the credentials “might be able to gain persistence,” the researcher said, calling it worse than an attacker destroying a database or having an intruder gain access to a government system. The Office of Personnel Management would get a better handle on the federal biotechnology workforce under a pair of bills from a bipartisan House duo. Introduced Wednesday, the Federal Biotechnology Workforce Assessment Act directs OPM to coordinate with agency heads on defining the federal biotech workforce, in addition to assessing current and future needs for those “bio-literate” federal employees. The bill from Reps. Ro Khanna, D-Calif., and Rich McCormick, R-Ga., shared first with FedScoop, is aimed at ensuring the federal government workforce keeps the country a step ahead of China in the biotech space. Priority No. 1 for OPM's assessment is identifying the total number of biotech positions required at federal agencies. The legislation is focused specifically on the departments of Agriculture, Commerce, Defense, Energy, Health and Human Services, Homeland Security, Interior, State, and Treasury, as well as the Environmental Protection Agency, the National Science Foundation, NASA, and the offices of the Director of National Intelligence and the U.S. Trade Representative.

The Office of Management and Budget plans to make public at least some of the technology contract data it's collecting from agencies, per the government's top IT official. Under a March memo, certain chief information officers are required to update OMB each month on contracts they or their subordinates have approved. That same memo also mandates data collection about pricing and agency use of services from vendors themselves. The memo received some positive reception as a possible method to better inform procurement decisions, but a common critique was that it provided no assurances the information would ever be transparently published. Despite citing data standards consistent with the OPEN Government Data Act — a law that requires agencies to publish non-sensitive information in machine-readable and open formats by default — the memo did not state whether the information would be publicly disseminated. When asked by FedScoop recently whether public sharing is part of the plan for that information, Greg Barbaccia said: “Absolutely. This is the citizens' data.” The format that might take is less clear, however. Barbaccia said it “remains to be seen what amount we could share responsibly” and he would “have to take that back and think about that a bit.” The White House is keeping an eye on Immigration and Customs Enforcement's progress on a plan to deploy wearable identification technology for its agents, according to ICE Assistant Director Matthew Elliston. The Department of Homeland Security's fiscal 2027 budget proposal, set by the White House, allocates $7.5 million for the agency's Science and Technology unit to develop critical technologies that strengthen the component's ability to execute its mission. If passed, a portion of those funds would go to delivering operational prototypes of smart glasses that will “equip agents with real-time access to information and biometric identification capabilities in the field,” per the budget justification. “We have been toying with the idea of wearable facial matching” technology, Elliston said during AFCEA Bethesda's LEAPS Summit Thursday in Washington, D.C. 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.

If you ask Office of Personnel Management Director Scott Kupor how he thinks about the role of AI in his agency's mission, he'll tell you he sees two different prevailing perspectives: one with a “big OPM” mission and another for “little OPM.” At least that's how he described it to me recently at UiPath's Fusion conference in Washington, DC. During our interview, Kupor shared about juxtaposition, emerging AI use cases that OPM is driving forward, and much more. The Department of Homeland Security intends to continue its work with Cellebrite, a provider of digital forensics hardware and software tools, according to forecast documents released last week. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, as well as the department's Homeland Security Investigations unit, plan to award a five-year, indefinite delivery, indefinite quantity contract with a $100 million ceiling to the vendor later this year. Cellebrite's products enable the agency to access data from cellphones, tablets and — more recently — unmanned aerial vehicles. The Israeli firm's data extraction capabilities are “the most widely utilized and deployed computer forensic tool” within HSI, per the document. Cellebrite has been deployed across DHS, including its reported use within the Secret Service to break into the phone of the man who shot President Donald Trump at a campaign rally in Butler, Pa., in 2024. DOGE's playbook for using artificial intelligence to eliminate regulations was on full display at the Department of Housing and Urban Development last summer with the introduction of an AI tool built for the “extermination” of federal housing rules. Documents obtained by Democracy Forward via Freedom of Information Act requests reveal a PowerPoint presentation delivered at HUD on SweetREX, a tool named for DOGE associate Christopher Sweet, according to Wired reporting last August. The new documents, shared with FedScoop, laid out a multistep process in which all HUD regulations would be analyzed by the AI. The tool would then provide recommendations to “keep, delete, or partial delete” each rule, per the presentation. Attorneys would review the suggestions and agency staffers would make the final decision. HUD regulations cover everything from the prohibition of discrimination on the basis of sex in mortgage assistance to providing legal aid for foreclosure-related issues. 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.

Federal CIO Greg Barbaccia has tapped the Department of Education's chief information officer as the government's new No. 2 IT official. Thomas Flagg will take over as deputy federal CIO after spending more than 11 years at the Department of Labor and leading Education's IT shop since October 2024. In an email sent Thursday to agency CIOs and shared with FedScoop, Barbaccia said there was “an overwhelming amount of interest” in the deputy role “from an exceptionally strong field of candidates.” Flagg stood out due to the “depth and seriousness of his experience across multiple technology leadership roles,” Barbaccia wrote, pointing to his time at the Department of Education and DOL. The hiring of Flagg gives the White House its first permanent deputy CIO since September 2025, when Drew Myklegard left the public sector to become Carahsoft's executive director of government programs. Since then, the acting deputy federal CIO position has been held by Jay Teitelbaum, an Office of Management and Budget, U.S. Digital Service and Department of Homeland Security alum. The Trump administration is redirecting a cybersecurity scholarship program that requires recipients to work in government service toward artificial intelligence, leaving some current program scholars dismayed and bewildered. In an email to participating school program coordinators obtained by CyberScoop, the Office of Personnel Management and National Science Foundation said the CyberCorps Scholarship For Service program would now be known as CyberAI SFS. The email reads: “The SFS students we enroll today will not be employable when they graduate in 2-3 years without significant AI background. Any SFS student in this new program must be proficient in using AI in cybersecurity or providing security and resilience for AI systems. Therefore, new students in the legacy CyberCorps program must learn to acquire AI expertise to augment their cybersecurity expertise.” It also explains that “new SFS scholars will not be accepted to the Legacy CyberCorps(C) program without a description on how they will develop competencies at the intersection of cybersecurity and AI.” 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 Personnel Management is applying artificial intelligence to modernize the writing of position descriptions in the hiring process. OPM Director Scott Kupor touted the agency's new USA Class tool during an interview at the UiPath Fusion conference, presented by FedScoop, as a way to streamline notoriously slow and complex federal hiring. The federal government “has a lot of jobs,” the director said, with more than 600 classifications and a workforce north of 2 million civilian federal employees. “So the ‘n factorial' is pretty significant.” Kupor said OPM sought to leverage AI's strength in digesting large volumes of information — in this case, thousands of existing job descriptions — to train a model, and then prompted it to create new position descriptions aligned with OPM's classification standards. Federal hiring managers then review the outputs to ensure accuracy, further strengthening the model. The Pentagon plans to require service members to complete cybersecurity training once every three years, DefenseScoop has learned, a move that will scrap an annual mandate and is set to upend the Army's recent shift to a five-year requirement. In a Sep. 30 memo, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth directed the military to “restore mission focus” by reducing, consolidating or eliminating a slew of mandatory courses, such as cybersecurity training, that he said were distracting from the military's core job of fighting wars. Hegseth did not specify by how much the services should “relax the mandatory frequency” of cybersecurity training, and by February, the Army issued its own directive that required soldiers to take the course once every five years instead of annually, DefenseScoop reported. But more than a month after the service's directive, the Pentagon is moving to require troops to conduct cybersecurity training once every three years, according to a recent memo reviewed by the publication and a senior defense official, which would effectively overrule the Army's move. 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.

Welcome to The Daily Wrap Up, an in-depth investigatory show dedicated to bringing you the most relevant independent news, as we see it, from the last 24 hours (4/29/26). As always, take the information discussed in the video below and research it for yourself, and come to your own conclusions. Anyone telling you what the truth is, or claiming they have the answer, is likely leading you astray, for one reason or another. Stay Vigilant. !function(r,u,m,b,l,e){r._Rumble=b,r[b]||(r[b]=function(){(r[b]._=r[b]._||[]).push(arguments);if(r[b]._.length==1){l=u.createElement(m),e=u.getElementsByTagName(m)[0],l.async=1,l.src="https://rumble.com/embedJS/u2q643"+(arguments[1].video?'.'+arguments[1].video:'')+"/?url="+encodeURIComponent(location.href)+"&args="+encodeURIComponent(JSON.stringify([].slice.apply(arguments))),e.parentNode.insertBefore(l,e)}})}(window, document, "script", "Rumble");   Rumble("play", {"video":"v76zwyo","div":"rumble_v76zwyo"}); Source Links (In Chronological Order): The Last American Vagabond Substack | Substack Iain Davis Interview - The Technocratic Dark State & The Network State Agenda Bibhu Dev Misra Interview - Do World Leaders Expect A Cataclysm & Is There A Shift Underway? New Tab (19) Ken Silva on X: "The SPLC also disclosed today that it provided the feds with information about a member of the now-defunct Vanguard America, which later splintered and became Patriot Front. https://t.co/9ObVopZPNR" / X (19) Hans Mahncke on X: "Todd Blanche is on an absolute tear right now. From indicting the SPLC, to appointing Joe diGenova as Russiagate czar, to now going after the Covid origin fraudsters, it's been a relentless run of action, all while dealing with an assassination attempt in the middle of it." / X (19) Liz Churchill on X: "ARRESTED Former Fauci aide Dr. David Morens has been CHARGED with conspiring to evade Covid-related records requests… THROW THEM ALL IN PRISON https://t.co/pINU3Prq9P" / X (19) Mikki Willis Official on X: "This is HUGE! Will this lead to actual justice and will Fauci be next?" / X Office of Public Affairs | Former Senior NIAID Official Indicted for Concealing Federal Records During COVID-19 Pandemic | United States Department of Justice Former Fauci aide charged with conspiring to evade Covid-related records requests - POLITICO (20) The Last American Vagabond on X: "@nicksortor @GuntherEagleman Morons." / X (20) Hans Mahncke on X: "Daszak is the co-conspirator here. His indictment should be next. I didn't think we'd ever see it, but accountability for the Covid origin cover up has finally arrived. Incredible. https://t.co/lX7O6WdTCD" / X (20) Jikkyleaks

The General Services Administration announced 17 new Presidential Innovation Fellows, refreshing the technologist-focused program. A release shared with FedScoop ahead of the announcement described the 2026 cohort as “experts from top tech companies, startups, and organizations around the country.” Per that announcement, the fellows will serve their yearlong tours of duty at 10 federal agencies. The PIF program is located under GSA's Technology Transformation Services and has been around since 2012. The Treasury Department's loss of “confidence” in Booz Allen Hamilton led to the agency's decision to cancel its contracts with the consulting firm earlier this year, Secretary Scott Bessent said earlier this week, a surprise move that came years after a former employee leaked tax returns to media outlets. Booz's response to Bessent's new comments was that Charles Edward Littlejohn's conduct more than five years ago occurred on government systems, not Booz Allen systems. The firm said that it stores no taxpayer data on its systems and has no ability to monitor activity on government networks. 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.

Elon Musk-led xAI is pursuing a FedRAMP High Authorization as part of the company's efforts to expand adoption of its tool Grok across federal agencies and their workflows. The company's authorization pursuit is sponsored by the U.S. Department of Agriculture, a partnership first reported Monday by Fast Company and confirmed by FedScoop through a source familiar with the matter. Typically, the metaphorical rubber stamp indicates a high level of rigor and shows that a tool is ripe for the federal government's most sensitive workloads. To meet the FedRAMP High requirements, xAI will need to adhere to more than 400 security controls, a third-party assessment and documentation reviews for its Grok Enterprise for Government tool. All in all, the process could last a couple of years, according to estimates from accounting firm Schellman. Despite the lengthy road ahead, xAI's pursuit of the authorization is already sending signals to federal agencies that the company is serious about courting them. For some, however, Grok's infamous reputation could precede any security standards badge it may earn. Funding has emerged as a key factor in determining whether the Department of Energy can keep pace with its ambitious Genesis Mission timeline, according to Carl Coe, the agency's chief of staff. Speaking at AITalks on Tuesday, Coe called Genesis a massive project that needs funding to reflect that. The Genesis Mission is framed by the Trump administration as a national effort to stand up supercomputers, double the productivity of the country's research-and-development budget and launch a platform that combines quantum, high-performance computing and AI advancements. The effort kicked off in November via an executive order. Coe, who previously served as DOE's Department of Government Efficiency lead, said that even though the White House allocated a good amount [of funding], Energy needs a lot more. Budget season is underway with the release of the White House's agency-level funding proposals earlier this month, offering a peek behind the curtain at what could potentially be coming DOE's way. 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 deadline for federal agencies to implement risk management practices for high-impact AI use cases — or terminate them — has come and gone, but a handful of departments are still working to complete their requirements. FedScoop reached out to 28 federal agencies to inquire about the steps they have taken to ensure compliance within the April 3 timeframe. Some agencies fulfilled the requirements, like the Labor Department, NASA, the VA, State, GSA, and the EPA, while others reclassified use cases or still have a couple boxes to check. A few appear to have missed the deadline entirely. As outlined by an Office of Management and Budget memorandum, uses considered high-impact are required to comply with minimum risk management practices, which include pre-deployment testing, impact assessments, adverse impact monitoring, adequate human training and assessments, appropriate fail-safes that minimize harm, consistent appeal processes, and options for end users to submit feedback. The Department of Justice is asking Congress for a major boost in fiscal 2027 to the fund it uses to support IT modernization and enterprise cybersecurity, with the entire increase going directly to the agency's zero-trust cybersecurity architecture. DOJ has requested $149 million for its Justice Information Sharing Technology fund as part of the Trump administration's fiscal 2027 budget request. Congress appropriated $38.5 million for the program in the past two fiscal years. The primary difference between this request and the funding enacted in the most recent years prior is the $110.3 million that DOJ says it needs to support its migration to a zero-trust architecture for its unclassified and national security systems. To put that into perspective, Justice requested a more meager $11.8 million increase to the JIST fund's topline in fiscal 2026 for “cybersecurity posture enhancement,” which it did not get. In its congressional budget justification for 2027, Justice explains that despite an industrywide shift to zero trust as the cybersecurity model of choice in response to the SolarWinds attack on federal agencies in 2020, its funding for cyber was cut by $108 million in fiscal 2024 and remained essentially flat since then. “Enacted funding levels over the past three years are below the level required to cover DOJ's over 275,000 endpoints and approximately 160,000 users,” the budget document states, adding that “the current funding levels impact the Department's current defenses and constrain its ability to adapt to evolving threats.” 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.

Accenture Federal Services and Booz Allen Hamilton will take the lead on contracts to help the National Weather Service replace a legacy IT system and transition its weather data and resources to cloud-based technology. The two contracts, announced last week, are aimed at transferring the functions of the Advanced Weather Interactive Processing System (AWIPS) to two new tools in a move the agency says will improve availability of that data to forecasters across the nation. Among the anticipated benefits: access to the systems away from home offices and ability for forecasters to provide remote backup. As it stands, the AWIPS is an on-premises system and deployed at roughly 170 sites across the country, per a request for information the agency posted on the modernization effort last year. But that structure has drawbacks, Ken Graham, director of the National Weather Service, told FedScoop via email, pointing to the fact that the current operational system is physically installed and tied to each NWS office separately, limiting employees' ability to easily work alongside decision-makers, like local emergency operational centers.The two new cloud-based systems will change that, allowing forecasters to conduct their work — including creating and distributing forecasts and warnings — “without being tied to a specific location,” Graham said. Three years after launching a dashboard to provide agencies with a governmentwide view of the federal cybersecurity workforce, the Office of Personnel Management has stopped using the tool for its own planning, a new report found. According to the Government Accountability Office, OPM and five of the six other agencies examined by the congressional watchdog are no longer using the Cyber Workforce Dashboard, which went live in April 2023. The agencies cited “limitations” with the product, “including communications with OPM, access, functionality, and use of data,” per a GAO press release. The dashboard, which came out of a working group co-chaired by the Office of Management and Budget and the Office of the National Cyber Director, was created to support agencies in cyber workforce planning, helping them make data-driven decisions for current and future requirements. Overseen by the Strategic Workforce Planning and Forecasting Methods team under OPM's Workforce Policy and Innovation group, the dashboard tracked cyber workforce data for all 24 Chief Financial Officers Act agencies, as well as OMB, the Smithsonian Institution, and the National Archives and Records Administration, according to the GAO. In conducting its audit from January 2025 to March 2026, the watchdog was told by OPM officials that the human capital agency was not using the dashboard for its own cyber workforce planning purposes. The other agencies audited by the GAO were the Small Business Administration, the National Science Foundation, the General Services Administration, and the departments of Justice, State and Treasury. The GSA is the only one that still uses the tool. 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.

Staff in the upper chamber of Congress now have the go-ahead to use Senate data with three popular generative AI chatbots thanks to approval from an office that oversees the legislative body's administrative operations. A recent notice from the Senate Sergeant at Arms' chief information officer announced the approvals for Microsoft's Copilot, Google's Gemini, and OpenAI's ChatGPT, expanding on previous policies. That memo was previously reported by the New York Times and independently obtained by FedScoop. According to the document, Copilot is integrated into the Senate's Microsoft 365 environment already, and more information about licenses for Gemini Chat and ChatGPT Enterprise will be coming within the next 30 days. Each Senate employee will be able to get one license for either Gemini or ChatGPT at no cost. Approval of the tools comes as entities across the federal government — including Congress, executive agencies, and the federal judiciary — have been navigating their own use of the growing technology to reduce administrative toil and assist staff. The Senate, for its part, previously allowed ChatGPT, Google Bard, and Microsoft's Bing AI chat in 2023 at “moderate” risk levels, but they were only for research and evaluation or use with non-sensitive data. The new approvals are less restrictive on the type of data that can be ingested, opening the door to more widespread use. The architect of the Department of Veterans Affairs' artificial intelligence program and digital modernization strategy is leaving the agency after nearly nine years. Charles Worthington, the VA's chief AI officer and CTO, said in a LinkedIn post Thursday that “the time is right” for him to step down from his posts. A Harvard grad, Worthington joined the federal government in 2013 as a Presidential Innovation Fellow. He parlayed that experience into a role as senior advisor to the federal CTO, where he co-created the U.S. Digital Service following the disastrous rollout of HealthCare.gov. After nearly three years with USDS, including as the White House tech office's acting deputy administrator, Worthington moved on to the VA in 2017. In addition to leading the agency's digital modernization work, he also supported its adoption of commercial cloud infrastructure, oversaw the creation of vets.gov, rebuilt va.gov and launched VA Notify, per a congressional bio and his LinkedIn profile. In addition to boosting digital services for veterans, Worthington worked in recent years to spur AI adoption across the agency. Under his watch, the VA emerged as one of the most prolific AI users in the federal government, with an inventory that's now 367 use cases strong. Included in that tally is the agency's VA GPT chatbot.Worthington, who also served on the Technology Modernization Fund board for four years, didn't reveal in his LinkedIn post where he's headed next. But he said his time with the VA “has been the most important work” of his career. 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's $50 billion commitment for data-center construction projects in New York and Texas still made it on a list of investments the Trump White House said it helped secure, despite an ongoing feud between the company and the U.S. government. That tally, which was posted in a release online Sunday and emailed Monday, listed Anthropic's commitment among dozens of other private-sector investments related to American manufacturing, energy, and AI infrastructure projects that companies have announced during President Donald Trump's second term. Other investments on that list include those from Apple, Meta, Nvidia and Amazon. Anthropic's inclusion comes after a disagreement between the AI company and the Pentagon over guardrails for using its technology culminated in a governmentwide ban against the company and the DOD's determination that it's a “supply-chain risk.” Ironically, the White House release introduces the list with a statement that companies are moving to “strengthen domestic supply chains,” among other things. FedScoop contacted spokespeople at the White House and Anthropic, but neither provided comment before publication of this story. Anthropic's partner on the project, Fluidstack, didn't respond to a FedScoop request for comment. The Senate on Tuesday voted to confirm Army Lt. Gen. Joshua Rudd as commander of U.S. Cyber Command and director of the NSA, ending nearly a year of leadership uncertainty at the agencies and putting a new chief at the helm amid an ongoing war with Iran. Rudd, who previously served as deputy commander of U.S. Indo-Pacific Command and worked in the special operations community, was nominated in December by President Donald Trump for the dual-hat role of Cybercom and NSA boss, despite having a limited cyber background. In April 2025, the Trump administration fired Air Force Gen. Timothy Haugh as head of those organizations without providing a public explanation. Since then, Cybercom and NSA have been led by Army Lt. Gen. William Hartman, who stepped in as acting director. Hartman was ultimately passed over to hold the roles on a Senate-confirmed basis. Rudd, who will pin on his fourth star following his confirmation, is entering the job as Cybercom supports U.S. military action against Iran during Operation Epic Fury. The command also played a support role in Operation Midnight Hammer against Iran last year and Operation Absolute Resolve in Venezuela in January, which included the capture of Venezuelan leader Nicolas Maduro in Caracas. In addition to assisting other combatant commands and the joint force, the organization is tasked with conducting so-called “hunt forward” operations on overseas networks, defending the Department of Defense Information Network (DODIN), and bolstering America's ability to resist and respond to cyberattacks. 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 Personnel Management removed Claude and added Grok and Codex in an update to its public disclosure of AI use cases dated Wednesday. Removal of Claude comes after a disagreement between its maker, Anthropic, and the Department of Defense over the technology's guardrails culminated in President Donald Trump issuing a governmentwide ban on the company late last week. In the following days, numerous federal agencies have made moves to stop using Anthropic's services, including OPM. While the changes to the disclosure were made at the same time, Grok and Codex were not added as the result of Claude's removal, OPM spokeswoman McLaurine Pinover said in an emailed response to FedScoop. The human capital agency is “constantly working to provide the best tools to the OPM workforce. These initiatives were already underway,” Pinover said. According to the new inventory, the “first production use” for both tools is listed as the first quarter of 2026. Pinover confirmed that date references the calendar year rather than fiscal year. Grok, a product of Elon Musk's xAI, is listed as in production, and Codex, a coding specific AI tool from OpenAI, is being deployed in a sandbox phase — which generally describes a kind of controlled environment. OPM also added several other systems that deploy AI to its public disclosure, including Wiz, Zendesk, Waze, Google Maps, and the Apple iPhone. James “Aaron” Bishop has been tapped to serve as the Pentagon's chief information security officer and deputy CIO for cybersecurity, the department announced on social media Thursday. He assumed the role of CISO in an acting capacity on Feb. 27, according to a LinkedIn post from the Office of the Chief Information Officer. In his new position, he'll work under DOD CIO Kirsten Davies and be responsible for providing policy, technical, program and oversight support to the CIO on all cybersecurity matters. Bishop previously served as CISO for the Department of the Air Force, which includes the Air and Space Forces. According to his Air Force bio, his prior jobs in the private sector included CEO and founder of the Quantum Security Alliance, CEO and founder of Eigenspace, vice president and CISO for Science Applications International Corporation, and general manager of Microsoft's National Security Group, among other roles. David McKeown, who previously served as the department's CISO, deputy CIO for cybersecurity and special assistant for cybersecurity innovation, plans to leave government service for the private sector, according to the announcement. 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 range of AI use cases — from coding assistance to workflow automation — face alteration or retirement as federal agencies work to comply with a Trump administration directive to remove Anthropic tools from their systems within the next six months. The recent clash between the Claude maker and President Donald Trump comes after federal officials have spent years building up AI capabilities in government, including tools from Anthropic. Now, a growing list of agencies are immediately dropping use of those services, and in some cases, replacing it with other providers. In recent days, the Department of Treasury, the Office of Personnel Management, NASA, and the International Trade Administration all indicated to FedScoop they have stopped or plan to stop using Anthropic technologies in the wake of the ban announced via Truth Social. That adds to previous statements and internal communications at the Department of Health and Human Services, the State Department, and the General Services Administration. Trump's directive is the result of an escalated disagreement between Anthropic and the Department of Defense over how the technology should be used. While Trump accused Anthropic in his social media statement of attempting to “strong-arm” the DOD with its terms of service, CEO Dario Amodei said the company simply wanted to maintain safeguards to ensure that its technology would not be used in mass surveillance or fully autonomous weapons. The Secret Service is gearing up to launch what CIO and Chief AI Officer Chris Kraft is calling a new AI Program, which will act as a working group that comes in and helps IT teams. Kraft told FedScoop at Secret Service headquarters Wednesday in Washington, D.C., that the group will consist of 10 members initially and will also be tasked with identifying areas of opportunity to implement AI and other emerging technologies. Kraft said that “having that internal expertise, I believe, will be really transformational for us.” The Secret Service already uses AI technologies for license plate identification, facial recognition and other threat analysis. The AI group will focus on iterating existing use cases, as well as others like expanding counterfeit currency identification. 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.

Cybersecurity has been getting bigger recognition as an integrated enabler in key U.S. military operations in Iran and Venezuela. That comes on the heels of the Pentagon last year introducing a new cyber mission force generation model as part of the larger Cybercom 2.0 effort. So, who better to discuss the growing prominence of cyber in the defense space than the principal cyber advisors of the various branches overseeing cyber-kinentic integration. At CyberTalks, Daily Scoop host Billy Mitchell hosted a panel with those leaders and a representative from industry to hear the latest on this emerging space. Joining him on the panel were the PCAs from each service — Ann Marie Schumann of the Department of the Navy, Wanda Jones Heath of the Department of the Air Force and Brandon Pugh of the Army — as well as Dave Galoppo, senior director for full spectrum cyber at GDIT. The Department of Energy is rapidly building out multidisciplinary teams to support the Genesis Mission as it prepares to unveil a minimum viable product later this year, according to a senior agency official. The format for the demonstration is to be determined, but progress is palpable. “We're going to show quite a lot of results this year,” Darío Gil, DOE's under secretary for science and director of the Genesis Mission, said in an interview with FedScoop. “We're going to show results on our progress of building AI supercomputers … the software and the agentic framework.” The agency also plans to showcase the efforts behind the data curation used to train “next generation” AI and the results tied to the application of AI in science and engineering, he added. The Genesis Mission launched in November 2025 by way of an executive order that tasked the Energy Department with leading a national, coordinated effort to accelerate innovation and discovery with the latest advancements in AI, quantum and high-performance computing. As part of the initiative, the agency is working to build an integrated platform that draws on federal scientific datasets and expertise from public and private sectors. A demonstration of the Genesis platform's initial capabilities is required by mid-year, according to the deadlines outlined in the presidential directive. A pullback of educational requirements for federal contracting jobs, including in technology work, moved one step closer to reality Monday. The Skills-Based Federal Contracting Act (H.R. 5235) sailed through the House and now awaits Senate consideration. The bill from Reps. Nancy Mace, R-S.C., and Raja Krishnamoorthi, D-Ill., would ban minimum education requirements for personnel in some contracts. Introducing the bill on the House floor ahead of Monday's vote, Rep. William Timmons, R-S.C., said the legislation ensures federal contractors can “hire who they want to hire without additional red tape.” Mace, who chairs the House Oversight and Government Reform Subcommittee on Cybersecurity, Information Technology, and Government Innovation, recounted January 2024 testimony from an IBM executive who said “federal contractors are rarely able to place an individual without a four-year degree on a technology services contract, regardless of their qualifications.” Mace said the issue goes “beyond technology and service contracts,” affecting work across the federal government. Eliminating four-year degree requirements would do away with “a paper ceiling” that blocks “talented Americans” from pursuing opportunities in the billion-dollar industry that “shapes the entire labor market,” she said. 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.

Inadequate information-sharing and deficient data practices across the Federal Aviation Administration and Department of Defense were to blame, in part, for the midair collision near Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport last year, according to the National Transportation Safety Board's final report. NTSB found that the FAA's Air Traffic Organization was “made aware of and had multiple opportunities to identify the risk of a midair collision between airplanes and helicopters,” yet insufficient data analysis, safety assurance systems and risk assessment processes “failed to recognize and mitigate.” While the Army was “unaware” of certain risks tied to DCA due to a nonexistent flight safety data-monitoring program for its helicopters, NTSB also found the Army had a weak safety management system that failed to consistently detect hazards. “The limited access to and use of available objective and subjective proximity data hindered industry and government stakeholders' ability to identify hazards and mitigate risk,” NTSB said in its report. As part of NTSB's analysis, the watchdog had 50 to 60 staff members on the investigation, who gathered 19,000 pages of evidence, Jennifer Homendy, chairwoman of the NTSB, testified during a Senate hearing Thursday. The collision, ultimately, was preventable, she said. After successfully launching its own internal chatbot and normalizing the use of artificial intelligence tools for translation, summarization and other diplomatically beneficial uses, the State Department is eyeing the next step in its journey with the emerging technology. “We're going to roll out agentic AI,” State Department CIO Kelly Fletcher said Thursday during the FedScoop-produced GDIT Emerge event in Washington, D.C. “We're going to continue to embed AI in our systems.” The State Department has been a federal leader in AI adoption, reflected in robust use case inventories and a general embrace of the technology at its highest levels. Current tech leaders remain focused on trying to “democratize access to generative AI” throughout the agency, Fletcher said. That likely means that any shift toward agentic AI won't come with a snap of the fingers. Still, the department is currently looking to “consolidate and standardize and simplify around commodities,” she said, which could cover everything from end-user devices to help desks. “It sounds really wonky,” Fletcher added, but “the more you can make it easy for people to do their job, to reduce administrative friction, the better off you're going to be, right? Part of that is agents. Part of that is consolidation.” 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. Customs and Border Protection personnel — not American service members — shot down an object with a military laser earlier this week near El Paso, Texas, according to multiple sources familiar with the situation. Troops with Joint Task Force – Southern Border were not authorized to shoot down drones in the area. The task force — which works hand-in-hand with federal law enforcement and serves as the primary military entity for the U.S.-Mexico border mission — trained CBP personnel on the equipment who used it during the incursion. A source familiar told DefenseScoop that Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth approved the transfer of a military counter-drone system to CBP. Sources did not identify the specific laser system that was used. U.S. Border Patrol falls under CBP. The operation reportedly caused interagency turmoil between the Pentagon and Federal Aviation Administration, prompting the latter to issue a 10-day flight restriction that lasted only hours into Wednesday. The Internal Revenue Service moved forward this week with plans to involuntarily move employees with no direct tax experience to perform customer service and analysis duties for this year's filing season. According to email notices obtained by FedScoop, multiple IRS employees from the agency's IT and human capital office were informed Monday that they were assigned to a 120-day involuntary detail to the agency's Taxpayer Services division, as either a customer service representative or a tax examiner. The detail, effective Feb. 22, could be extended beyond the four-month period, per the notice. Joseph Ziegler, the agency's chief of internal consulting, stated in the notice that neither position will require direct engagement with taxpayers or answering phones, adding that the tax filing season is the “most important time” of the year for the agency. It is unclear how many employees were affected by the temporary reorganization, but it follows a series of shakeups and losses for the agency. 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's top official rejected claims from lawmakers Tuesday that the Department of Homeland Security component is building a database for protesters. The alleged detractor database has been referenced in several reports by think tanks, letters to DHS officials from lawmakers and in interviews with border czar Tom Homan. During Tuesday's House Homeland Security Committee hearing, Rep. Lou Correa, D-Calif., cited a well-circulated clip of an ICE agent in Portland, Maine, telling a person videotaping that she would be added to a “nice little database.” “I can't speak for that individual,” said Todd Lyons, who serves as acting director of ICE. “But I can assure you that there is no database that's tracking United States citizens.” Despite Lyons' pushback on the database claims, skepticism is persistent as stakeholders point to reports to the contrary. FedScoop reached out to DHS for clarification. Tricia McLaughlin, the agency's assistant security for public affairs, reaffirmed that there is no database of domestic terrorists run by DHS. “We do of course monitor and investigate and refer all threats, assaults and obstruction of our officers to the appropriate law enforcement,” McLaughlin said in an email. “Obstructing and assaulting law enforcement is a felony and a federal crime.” A recent attempt at a destructive cyberattack on Poland's power grid has prompted the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency to publish a warning for U.S. critical infrastructure owners and operators. Tuesday's alert follows a Jan. 30 report from Poland's Computer Emergency Response Team concluded the December attack overlapped significantly with infrastructure used by a Russian government-linked hacking group, and that it targeted 30 wind and photovoltaic farms, among others. CISA said its warning was meant to “amplify” that Polish report. In particular, CISA said the attack highlighted the threats to operational technology and industrial control systems, most commonly used in the energy and manufacturing sectors. And CISA's alert continues a recent agency focus on securing edge devices like routers or firewalls, after a binding operational directive last week to federal agencies to strip unsupported products from their systems. “The malicious cyber activity highlights the need for critical infrastructure entities with vulnerable edge devices to act now to strengthen their cybersecurity posture against cyber threat activities targeting OT and ICS,” the alert reads. CISA urged owners and operators to review the Polish report, as well as security guidance from other U.S. agencies. 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.

Many Americans by now have received their W-2s or other important tax documents, which can only mean one thing: it's officially tax filing season. You might be ready to submit your documents, but is the IRS itself ready? That's a big question mark looming over the 2026 filing season after the tax agency unleashed seismic cuts to its workforce last year and has pumped the breaks on many of its efforts to modernize. Matt Bracken, editor in chief of FedScoop, has kept close watch of the IRS under the second Trump administration, chronicling the cuts made in 2025 and measuring the possible impact that could have on processing times and backlogs during this filing season. Matt joins the podcast to discuss the outlook for 2026 tax filing, how AI comes into play and much more about the tax agency's ongoing efforts to modernize. The Defense Department announced Monday that it will incorporate OpenAI's ChatGPT into the military's generative AI platform that's already being used by more than a million personnel. ChatGPT has been wildly popular in the commercial sector since it was widely released in 2022. Now the Pentagon plans to add the tech to its GenAI.mil system, which DOD leadership — including Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth — have been pushing hard for the department's employees to use since it was launched in December. The Army, Navy, Air Force, Space Force and Marine Corps have already adopted the system as their preferred generative AI platform. The Department of Energy is launching a Genesis Mission Consortium as its latest move to deepen the public-private partnerships fueling the AI platform. The initiative, announced Monday, will facilitate structured partnerships as well as working groups, which will focus on ensuring model validation and reliability, addressing data governance and compliance standards, enabling federated data sharing and accelerating research throughput via reduced operational bottlenecks. The consortium will act as a “collaborative hub” and a “single, coordinated access point” for members and resources, according to the agency. 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 Education Department's workers union is pushing back after more than 100 technology-related employees lost their collective bargaining protections last month under an executive order citing national security and cybersecurity risks tied to their roles. About 120 employees in the agency's Office of the Chief Information Officer and Federal Student Aid's Office of the Chief Technology Officer were told late last month they no longer had union protections due to the nature of their positions, according to AFGE Local 252, which represents Education Department employees. The notification came nearly nine months after President Donald Trump signed an executive order ending collective bargaining rights for labor unions at various federal agencies. The order included some agencies in their entirety, along with some positions across the government that have a determined “primary function” involving intelligence, counterintelligence, investigative, or national security work. While the CTO and OCIO employees work with technology that could have cybersecurity ties, AFGE Local 252 argues this does not involve intelligence work that would warrant such a ban. “The Department of Education does not engage in any intelligence, counter-intelligence, investigative, or national security work,” AFGE 252 President Rachel Gittleman told FedScoop in an interview, suggesting the move is “just a way to strip labor rights of our federal workforce.” The FSA CTO office specifically does “work on technology” and products, but not information resources management, as the order states, Gittleman explained. FSA employees primarily focus on the office's website, income-driven repayment applications, FAFSA, and public service loan forgiveness applications. An American stealth fighter jet shot down an Iranian one-way attack drone in the Arabian Sea Tuesday after it “aggressively approached” a U.S. aircraft carrier “with unclear intent,” according to a statement from U.S. Central Command. Just hours after the shootdown, two Iranian Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps ships accompanied by another unmanned aerial system — this one an Iranian Mohajer drone — approached a U.S.-flagged tanker in the Strait of Hormuz, threatening to board and seize the vessel, the statement from Centcom spokesperson Capt. Tim Hawkins said. The dual incidents could spell increased tensions between Washington and Tehran after President Donald Trump threatened military action against Iran over its deadly suppression of protests last month and amid broader nuclear negotiations that could begin this week. The jet, an F-35C Lightning II, launched from the USS Abraham Lincoln, which was transiting the Arabian Sea roughly 500 miles from Iran's southern coast, Centcom said. The Centcom statement did not identify the unit the jet belongs to, but Marine Fighter Attack Squadron-314, the Black Knights, were photographed by the military operating off the Lincoln several days ago. The long-range Iranian drone — a Shahed-139 UAS known for its use in the Russia-Ukraine war and being reverse-engineered into a U.S. military one-way attack drone — “continued to fly toward the ship despite de-escalatory measures taken by U.S. forces operating in international waters,” the command said. The F-35C shot it down “in self-defense” and to protect the Lincoln and her crew, according to the statement, which said that no service members were harmed and no American equipment was damaged. 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 General Services Administration has leaned into its role as a central, shared services provider for the rest of the federal government during the second Trump administration. In particular, it has taken a leadership position centralizing most federal procurement under one roof and serving as a sort of clearinghouse for federal AI efforts. With so much transformation underway, the GSA during Trump 2.0 has taken on an even brighter spotlight, fueling federal operations. Miranda Nazzaro is the FedScoop reporter covering GSA during this pivotal time, and she joins the podcast to discuss some of the agency's top priorities, from OneGov and the TMF to eliminating woke AI, among others. The Treasury Department said Monday that it would cancel all of its contracts with Booz Allen Hamilton, linking the decision to a former employee now serving prison time for leaking tax returns. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said in a three-paragraph press release that the agency's 31 contracts with Booz Allen Hamilton — worth $21 million in total obligations and $4.8 million in annual spending — would be scrapped as part of President Donald Trump's push to “root out waste, fraud and abuse.” “Canceling these contracts is an essential step to increasing Americans' trust in government,” Bessent said. “Booz Allen failed to implement adequate safeguards to protect sensitive data, including the confidential taxpayer information it had access to through its contracts with the Internal Revenue Service.” A Booz spokesperson said in an email to FedScoop that the firm was “surprised by this announcement” — especially given Treasury's reasoning regarding Charles Edward Littlejohn, who between 2018 and 2020 leaked the confidential tax returns and information of hundreds of thousands of taxpayers. “Booz Allen fully supported the U.S. government in its investigation, and the government expressed gratitude for our assistance, which led to Littlejohn's prosecution,” the Booz spokesperson said. “We were surprised by this announcement and look forward to discussing this matter with Treasury.” Per the Treasury release, the IRS determined that the data breach affected roughly 406,000 taxpayers. Littlejohn, who was sentenced to five years in prison last January after pleading guilty to one count of disclosing tax return information without authorization, leaked the returns of Trump, Elon Musk and other wealthy individuals to a pair of news organizations. NASA has a new top official for artificial intelligence and data. Kevin Murphy began serving in an acting capacity in both roles Nov. 30, 2025, NASA spokesperson Jennifer Dooren confirmed to FedScoop in an email. He replaces David Salvagnini, who was the agency's CDO for roughly two-and-a-half years, and CAIO for just over a year-and-a-half. Salvagnini was the agency's first-ever CAIO. According to Murphy's LinkedIn, he has been at NASA for over 17 years. He first served as a system architect at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center and has held a series of data-related roles, including chief science data officer. As the agency's lead for data science, Murphy has already worked to advance technologies — such as cloud computing, machine learning, and data platforms — for use with NASA's scientific data, per an agency bio. He also oversees the agency's high-end computing capability (HECC) portfolio, which deploys computing technologies to support large-scale modeling, simulation and analysis at the agency. Murphy's designation as acting CAIO and CDO comes after Salvagnini announced his plans to leave the agency in a LinkedIn post roughly two months ago. In that post, Salvagnini said he opted into the Trump administration's deferred resignation program. He said he began his transition Oct. 31 and would retire from federal service in the spring of 2026.

A new congressional spending bill could offer a lifeline to reauthorize the Technology Modernization Fund, which expired last month and froze nearly $200 million in unused funds. Congressional appropriators released the final slew of fiscal 2026 spending bills Tuesday, allocating more than $1 trillion to federal agencies and extending various laws or programs. Among the extensions is the reauthorization of the TMF through FY2026, or Sept. 30. It comes just over a month after authorization of the innovation funding vehicle expired Dec. 12. TMF was created in 2017 to fund technology projects across the government, but the bill that made it also set an expiration date that only Congress can extend. Lawmakers failed to move forward with standalone legislation to reauthorize the fund last month, and efforts to include it in larger spending packages also fell flat. Trade groups and IT industry experts were disappointed at the time, telling FedScoop in previous interviews that the expiration was not representative of the issue's typical bipartisan support. Some pinned the blame on procedural hurdles in Congress, including the 43-day-long government shutdown that pushed various nonfunding priorities toward the end of the year. Rep. Nancy Mace, R-S.C., introduced bills in the last three Congresses to reauthorize TMF beyond 2025, but they did not make it out of the Senate, where they have at times faced pushback from congressional appropriators. Members of the so-called Department of Government Efficiency embedded in the Social Security Administration potentially exposed personally identifiable information via a third-party server, the Department of Justice said in a court filing that also revealed coordination between DOGE and an advocacy group seeking “evidence of voter fraud.” A lawsuit filed last February by the AFL-CIO and other labor groups against the SSA sought to cut off DOGE's access to sensitive data housed in agency systems. In March, the U.S. District Court for the District of Maryland issued a temporary restraining order to limit that access. But after an SSA records review of the agency's “former DOGE Team for audit and litigation purposes,” the DOJ said in a filing dated Friday that “communications, use of data, and other actions” were found to be “potentially outside of SSA policy and/or noncompliant” with the court's order. One of those instances involved DOGE's sharing of data via a third-party Cloudflare server — a system that is “not approved for storing SSA data and when used in this manner is outside SSA's security protocols,” the DOJ 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 Department of Homeland Security is launching a new office focused on unmanned aircraft systems that will oversee strategic investments in drone and counter-drone technologies. DHS Secretary Kristi Noem said in the Monday press release: “We are entering a new era to defend our air superiority to protect our borders and the interior of the United States. This will help us continue to secure the border and cripple the cartels, protect our infrastructure, and keep Americans safe as they attend festivities and events during a historic year of America's 250th birthday and FIFA 2026.” The creation of the dedicated office builds on preceding efforts to beef up drone and counter-drone technologies. In December, FEMA awarded $250 million in grants for counter-drone capabilities to the 11 states hosting FIFA World Cup 2026 matches and Washington, D.C. DHS also expanded authorization the same month to allow state and local law enforcement to combat drone threats, according to the announcement. The department is also fielding proposals from industry partners for a $1.5 billion contract that will facilitate the procurement of these technologies for Customs and Border Protection and Immigration and Customs Enforcement. The new Program Executive Office has “already begun its work,” according to DHS. The drone-focused entity is finalizing a $115 million investment in counter technologies that will support the two upcoming celebrations. The funding and focus come amid heightened risks regarding threat actors' use of unmanned aircraft systems. DHS said Monday that the agency has conducted 1,500-plus missions to address illicit drone activities since 2018. Unauthorized drones have impeded sporting events, disrupted public gatherings and sparked concern among residents. Calls on Congress to put money into the Technology Modernization Fund may have been answered — albeit at much lower levels than what the General Services Administration-run funding vehicle for agency IT projects has been accustomed to. Senate and House Appropriations Committee lawmakers released a package of conferenced bills Sunday to fund several federal agencies through the fiscal year ending Sept. 30, including GSA. Tucked into the 488-page agreement was a note that $5 million would be provided to the TMF, “to remain available until expended.” The appropriations bills must still be passed by both chambers of Congress and signed by the president before the funding can take effect. The potential funding comes as the TMF expired last month for the first time since it was created in 2017, freezing nearly $200 million in funding for agency technology projects. The program has enjoyed bipartisan support since its launch nearly a decade ago: former Rep. Gerry Connolly, D-Va., was a staunch advocate for the program until his death from cancer last year, while Rep. Nancy Mace, R-S.C., has led a sustained push for TMF's reauthorization. The fund has similarly strong backing from civic technologists and industry groups, and a spokesperson for the House Oversight Committee told FedScoop last month that its reauthorization was a “high priority” that the Office of Management and Budget also supported. Nevertheless, efforts to get TMF reauthorization through the fiscal 2026 National Defense Authorization Act didn't pan out, leaving the program out in the cold. 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 Small Business Administration is enlisting Palantir's help in its nationwide probe of suspected loan fraud, as yearslong fraud allegations in Minnesota draw national attention. According to federal spending records, the SBA signed a $300,000 contract with the data analytics and software giant last week. The contract's description read “SBA Fraud Prevention Pilot and Bootcamp,” and has a projected end date of April 4. The contract, signed through the General Services Administration's Multiple Award Schedule, was made public just days after SBA Secretary Kelly Loeffler announced that the agency had suspended 6,900 Minnesota borrowers for alleged fraud following its review of thousands of pandemic-era loans administered to the state. Loeffler said the borrowers were approved for 7,900 Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) and Economic Injury Disaster (EIDL) loans totaling about $400 million. When asked about the Palantir contract, SBA spokesperson Maggie Clemmons pointed to the agency's Minnesota probe, writing: “We're now expanding our investigations nationwide as part of a broader zero-tolerance policy on fraud.” Clemmons added: “The agency has multiple audits underway, from pandemic-era programs to federal contracting, and will work with law enforcement to hold fraudsters accountable and put the criminals who have cheated American taxpayers behind bars.” The Office of Personnel Management launched a new workforce data website last week, replacing an antiquated interface and aiming to bring more transparency to federal employment figures. OPM officially announced the new Federal Workforce Data site last Thursday, with data up to November for most categories. That site includes accessible statistics of interest — such as a reduction of 220,000 workers under President Donald Trump — as well as multiple interactive charts that users can filter by agency, timeframe, or other factors. In a written statement, OPM Director Scott Kupor called the website “a major step forward for accountability and data-driven decision-making across government.” While federal workforce data has long been made publicly available online, the old interface, FedScope, was cumbersome and offered data updates on a quarterly basis that lagged by months. In addition to a more modern interface, the new website adds datasets for payroll and recruitment, and promises updates on a faster monthly interval. Per a note on the website, FedScope will no longer be available as of Jan. 28. Despite controversy over the Trump administration's efforts to shrink the workforce, publication of the website was immediately well received by federal data users and advocates. In comments to FedScoop, several sources both applauded the new website and noted that interest in improving the publication of federal workforce data began before the current administration. 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.

Douglas Matty is exiting his role as the Pentagon's chief digital and artificial intelligence officer and moving on to focus on the Trump administration's “Golden Dome for America” missile defense initiative, DefenseScoop has learned. Principal Deputy CDAO Andrew Mapes will lead the department's AI hub in an acting capacity until a new CDAO is hired. Ahead of reaching full operational capacity in 2022, the AI-accelerating office merged and integrated multiple technology-focused predecessor organizations at the Pentagon, including the Joint Artificial Intelligence Center (JAIC), Defense Digital Service (DDS), Office of the Chief Data Officer, and the Maven and Advana programs. The DOD's vision and priorities for the CDAO have been reconfigured several times since its inception. And while AI is a major priority for the U.S. government under President Donald Trump, the Pentagon's CDAO office has seen an exodus of senior leaders and other technical employees this year. Matty's departure also comes as the office is hustling to execute on a range of DOD-wide efforts to speed up the delivery and fielding of data analytics, automation, computer vision, machine learning and other next-generation AI capabilities for military and civilian personnel. Last week, Pentagon leaders unveiled a new purpose-built platform — GenAI.mil — to provide commercial options directly to most of its workforce on their desktops. The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services has tapped ID.me to verify the identities of beneficiaries on Medicare.gov, according to a Tuesday announcement from the identity-proofing company. ID.me will be available as an option for identity verification and sign-in on Medicare.gov starting in early 2026, per the release. The deal adds to the growing number of federal programs opting to use the digital identity service that leverages facial recognition technology and has been the subject of some controversy in the past. Already, ID.me is used at 21 federal agencies, including the Social Security Administration and Department of Veterans Affairs, per the release. Opting in means an ID.me user could sign in with the same credentials at any of the other federal, state or private-sector entities that use the service, the company said in a statement to FedScoop.

Joining me today is 7SEES, here to discuss his research regarding numerous technological developments and the implications for our future. We discuss Trump's recent 6G announcement and how 6G itself plays a major role in these developments, as well as the building out of the new technocratic society under the guise of "freedom cities" that the ruling elitists are openly signaling. We also break down the concern of nanotechnology in this 6G world and what may already be taking place around you.  !function(r,u,m,b,l,e){r._Rumble=b,r[b]||(r[b]=function(){(r[b]._=r[b]._||[]).push(arguments);if(r[b]._.length==1){l=u.createElement(m),e=u.getElementsByTagName(m)[0],l.async=1,l.src="https://rumble.com/embedJS/u2q643"+(arguments[1].video?'.'+arguments[1].video:'')+"/?url="+encodeURIComponent(location.href)+"&args="+encodeURIComponent(JSON.stringify([].slice.apply(arguments))),e.parentNode.insertBefore(l,e)}})}(window, document, "script", "Rumble");   Rumble("play", {"video":"v70smfa","div":"rumble_v70smfa"}); Source Links: (20) 7SEES (@7SEES_) / X 7SEES | Linktree New Tab (21) The Last American Vagabond on X: "“One of Kash Patel's staff threatened my staff with a criminal investigation if we didn't “straighten up & play ball” … they said “we're going to investigate your staff for fraud”” - if true, Kash is “weaponizing gov” or wiling to let a criminal walk. https://t.co/hGMfzFalsz" / X New Tab (20) 7SEES on X: "MIT finally admitting that they can use nano-scale wireless devices to remotely program areas of the brain. MIT researchers created microscopic wireless electronic devices that travel through blood and implant in target brain regions, where they provide electrical stimulation. https://t.co/qgaN27HVcV" / X New therapeutic brain implants could defy the need for surgery | MIT News | Massachusetts Institute of Technology Bob Langer The Coronavirus "Common Denominator" Tied To Charles Lieber & Israel's NY "Smart Cities" The Charles Lieber Connection: From Nanotechnology To COVID-19 To Technocracy Charles Lieber's nanoscale transistors can enter cells without harming them | Harvard Magazine Is Smart Dust Already In Use On The Population & Was "COVID-19" An Attempted Experimental Next Step? MakerCon: Alasdair Allan and "The Inevitability of Smart Dust" - YouTube Biodigital Convergence, COVID Magnetogenetic Ferritin Vaccines & Big Spikes In Mass Vaccinated Areas Genetically engineered 'Magneto' protein remotely controls brain and behaviour | Science | The Guardian Coronavirus Gives a Dangerous Boost to DARPA's Darkest Agenda The Quiet Transition From DARPA's XAI To Elon's xAI & Haaretz Exposes Sadistic Nature Of The IDF Internet of Nano-Things and Wireless Body Area Networks (WBAN) - 1st E Blockchain Based Delay and Energy Harvest Aware Healthcare Monitoring System in WBAN Environment - PubMed Mind-altering ‘brain weapons' no longer only science fiction, say researchers | Chemical weapons | The Guardian British government plans to introduce cameras that detect emotions - Disclose.tv New Tab (20) Saagar Enjeti on X: "This is a direct push to get children addicted to personalized AI slop. Also as disgusting as it sounds it will almost certainly explode a certain type of porn Burn it to the ground" / X Presidential-AI-Challenge-Guidebook-for-Participation.pdf (20) 7SEES on X: "Another push past the goal posts for global digital only currency." / X New Tab (20) 7SEES on X: "6G is BioDigital Convergence. Nano-Scale Piezoelectric Sensors Programmed to Hide on T-Cells, Neuromodulation, mRNA Immunosuppression, Bio Field Hijacking, Metabolic Energy Harvesting. Real Time Integration with Smart-Cities, Data Recorded on Blockchain, Interoperating with" / X (20) The Last American Vagabond on X: "As I said last night. This is the Great Reset. https://t.co/SYYxkC1RmT" / X (20) 7SEES on X: "The irony and sarcasm here will slowly be replaced with a sobering reality as someone utters this phrase with genuine sincerity 10 years from now." / X Pronomos Capital & The Rapid Transition To A Techno-Feudal State The Network State Coup And The Engineered Transition To "Tech Zionism" Trump & The Zionist/Globalist Technocrats Are Building Your New Society Whether You Like It Or Not Seasteading is back — but its history is stained with failure | The Independent How President Trump Can Crush Socialism and Save a Freedom City in Honduras New Tab (20) 7SEES on X: "The Department of Education just got a fresh injection of Palantir Surveillance Software. https://t.co/fT2QfoHP9L I couldn't find anything confirming this, but I think it's probably safe to assume that just like with FARA, Israel probably doesn't qualify as "foreign" here. https://t.co/OMJimomJT6" / X Palantir quietly lands in Education Department through foreign funding portal  | FedScoop 12.mp4 (20) 7SEES on X: "Palantirs entire business model is empowering genocidal terrorists who call themselves governments." / X German state parliament approves use of Palantir police software - Disclose.tv Welcome to the Palantir World Order New Tab (20) The Solari Report | Catherine Austin Fitts on X: "Trump and Johnson leading the implementation of the control grid - with a $2 trillion a year deficit, the uniparty does what the central bankers tell them to do https://t.co/22nA4b2IfE" / X (20) Thomas Massie on X: "This week we vote on the National Defense Authorization Act. I offered these amendments to restore freedom, promote peace, cut billions of dollars in foreign aid, and put America First. @SpeakerJohnson and the Rules Committee chose to prevent any amendments from coming to a vote. https://t.co/7rFVBLT1hw" / X (17) Arnaud Bertrand on X: "Insanely, submitting your past 5 years' social media to enter the U.S. as a tourist is only a small part of the proposed upcoming requirements. You'll also need to give your DNA (!) among many other new requirements. All the additional info you'll need to give as a tourist https://t.co/h2cqdgGW9p" / X New Tab (15) 7SEES on X: ""Recently, it (Tesla) has asked a federal judge to prohibit NHTSA from releasing data about crashes related to the use of Full Self Driving and Autopilot systems." https://t.co/ZTkVNggSZo https://t.co/kMacyvqPkg" / X Vault7 - Home The CIA is interested in hacking your car, WikiLeaks claims | Mashable (20) James Li on X: "When I watch this, all I can think about is the fact that Israel has the *alleged* capability to detonate any of these devices remotely at any given time — should we ever "step out of line".

As 2025 and the first year of the second Trump administration come to a close, Federal CIO Greg Barbaccia sat down with FedScoop reporter Madison Alder for a wide-ranging interview on the state of federal IT, including critical initiatives like FedRAMP modernization, AI adoption, federal tech talent, the consolidation of federal tech and contracting, what's ahead in 2026, and much more. 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.

Peraton has emerged as the winner to overhaul the air traffic control system, securing a contract to oversee the multi-billion dollar project with the Federal Aviation Administration. In an announcement Thursday night, the FAA said the Virginia-based technology firm will be the integrator for the project. Initial funding includes a $12.8 billion infusion from Congress as part of the One Big Beautiful Bill earlier this year, but the agency is eyeing billions more to complete the project. FAA Administrator Bryan Bedford said an additional $20 billion will be needed to finish the modernization effort. Bedford said in a statement included in the release: “This is a long-term investment in the future of air travel, and we're committed to getting it right.”. According to the agency, Peraton had capabilities that matched the needs of the project, including “integrating complex tech platforms and successful collaboration with federal government agencies.” The project is planned to take just three years. The FAA's search for an integrator for the modernization effort began earlier this year and came amid concerns over its aging air traffic control systems. The issues with the existing infrastructure range from IT outages that cause travel delays to the continued use of antiquated technology, such as floppy disks. In a public appearance in September, Bedford said the current system is “failing every day.” The Education Department informed numerous Office of Civil Rights employees Friday that they are expected to return to work later this month while they await a court ruling on reduction-in-force orders that sidelined them nearly eight months ago. Multiple workers in Education's OCR told FedScoop they received notices from the agency late Friday afternoon. Those notices stated that they are expected to return in person to their assigned-duty location on either Dec. 15 or 29. The notice, according to four copies obtained by FedScoop, said the following: “While RIF notices are tolled during litigation, it is important to refocus OCR's work and utilize all OCR staff to prioritize OCR's existing complaint caseload.” The notice stated: “In order for OCR to pursue its mission with all available resources, all those individuals currently being compensated by the Department need to meet their employee performance expectations and contribute to the enforcement of existing civil rights complaints.” The agency told workers this will boost enforcement activities in a way that “serves and benefits parents, students, and families.” Workers have until Monday to inform the agency if they do not plan on returning to their positions. 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 is aiming to release its six-part national cybersecurity strategy in January, according to multiple sources familiar with the document. The document, which is a mere five pages long, will possibly be followed by an executive order to implement the new strategy. The administration has been soliciting feedback in recent days, which one source considered more of a “messaging” document than anything, with more important work to follow. According to sources familiar with the strategy, the six “pillars” focus on cyber offense and deterrence; aligning regulations to make them more uniform; bolstering the cyber workforce; federal procurement; critical infrastructure protection; and emerging technologies. An opening section of the draft offers a Trumpian call for a more muscular approach to cyberspace. Despite its short length — the Biden administration's cybersecurity strategy was 35 pages long — it touches on a significant number of topics. Those subjects include cybercrime, China, artificial intelligence, post-quantum cryptography and more. A source told CyberScoop the administration appeared genuinely interested in soliciting feedback on the strategy to incorporate or change. The release date of the strategy is fluid. While the administration is targeting January, its publication might follow the broader national security strategy. In other news: Anthropic's Claude for Government is now available across the Department of Health and Human Services, according to an internal announcement obtained by FedScoop. The launch was announced in an email to staff Wednesday from HHS Deputy Secretary Jim O'Neill, and comes two months after the department made ChatGPT available to all of its workers. O'Neill encouraged workers to use either ChatGPT or Claude for their queries or “ask both and compare the responses.” He said in his email: “HHS users can work confidently and securely, with minimal restrictions on the types of information entered, while maintaining full compliance with federal cybersecurity and privacy standards. With this release, we are ensuring that all divisions, programs, and employees have access to two secure cutting-edge AI capabilities.” The email doesn't mention specific contracting details of how HHS is providing access to the tool, but ChatGPT at least was provided through the company's nearly free OneGov deal with the General Services Administration. Anthropic similarly has such a deal with GSA to offer its services to government customers for a nominal fee of $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.