Since the conclusion of the NASCIO conference (which was FANTASTIC), there has been a flurry of activity around the federal budget, cybersecurity, and FirstNet.
What’s happened with FirstNet since the NASCIO annual conference?
FirstNet released final legal interpretations which were made official with publication in the Federal Register on October 20, 2015. Additionally, the deadline for responses to FirstNet’s Special Notice on Cybersecurity were due October 21, 2015. Click here to view NASCIO’s response.
What’s the big deal about (boring) legal interpretations of terms?
Through the legal interpretations, we are able to gain a bit more insight into specifics of the FirstNet process including:
- Q: What constitutes the RAN?
- A: Standard E-UTRAN elements and backhaul to FirstNet designated consolidation points
- Significance: This is important because opt-out states will be required to develop, maintain and operate every component of the RAN.
- Q: What is “rural”? And why is this important?
- A: Rural is defined as areas that are under 20k in population or an area that is not adjacent or contiguous to urbanized areas with 50k+ in population
- Significance: This is important because FirstNet is required to build in rural coverage at EACH PHASE of their deployment.
- Q: How does a governor opt-in and opt-out of the FirstNet plan?
- A: After FirstNet presents the state plan to the governor, the governor will have 90 days to make his/her decision. There are TWO ways a governor can opt-in: the governor can expressly notify FirstNet that the State will be opting in OR the governor can do nothing and on day 91, FirstNet will assume that the silent governor has opted-in. If the governor wants to opt-out, he/she MUST provide same-day notice to FirstNet, FCC, and the NTIA.
- Significance: If the governor stays silent and passes the 90-day decision window, the state is opting-in; essentially, silence equals opt-in.
For NASCIO members-only, NASCIO has produced a chart of the legal definitions (in English) that could aid in understanding the implications of the definitions. Click here to access (must have NASCIO community login).
Other Buzz:
Bit o’ Politics: Budget deal and debt limit compromise reached …way ahead of the Dec. 11 deadline
Outgoing House Speaker Rep. John Boehner (R-Ohio) is “cleaning the barn” for the House’s next likely speaker, Rep. Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) by negotiating a 2-year budget deal that was released late on October 26, 2015. Leadership from both chambers and the White House have reportedly been involved in these negotiations. Notably, the budget measure would raise discretionary spending caps by $50 billion in FY 2016 and $30 billion in FY 2017; they will be split evenly between defense and non-defense. The measure would also suspend the debt limit until March 15, 2017; the government’s borrowing authority would have reached its limit on November 3, 2015.
Vote on the budget measure could occur as early as tomorrow, October 28, 2015 – the election for House speaker is also scheduled for tomorrow (Oct 28).
Cybersecurity bill passes Senate, on to reconciliation
Today (Oct. 27), the Cybersecurity Information Sharing Act (CISA) (S. 754) cleared the Senate by a vote of 74-21. It will now move to reconciliation where the differences between CISA and two related House bills must be ironed out.
What do you mean I have to register my hobby drone?
On October 19, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) announced the creation of a task force to develop recommendations for a registration process for unmanned aircraft systems (UAS). The Task force will be comprised of 25-30 representatives from the UAS industry, the federal government and other stakeholders. The group is charged with advising the U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT) on guidelines for the national registry by November 20. The goal would be to implement the program before the end of the year, where an estimated 1 million drones are expected to be sold. Read more here (NBC News), here (FAA press release), and here (WaPo editorial: Government’s plan to register drones doesn’t go far enough).
Feds propose revisions to A-130, its policy doc that governs planning, budgeting, governance, acquisition and management of federal information resources
The federal government’s policy on IT planning, budgeting, acquisition etc. of Information resources is being updated for the first time in fifteen years. The White House Office of Management and Budget (OMB) is seeking comment on the proposed changes on GitHub for 30 days, ending on November 20, 2015. The new A-130 centralizes a range of policy changes and updates that have been updated via administrative rule or legislative action. Additionally, A-130 outlines cybersecurity responsibilities for OMB, DHS, and NIST and also requires continuous diagnostics and mitigation. Agency CIOs will also have a larger role in the ability to secure information systems.
Tech Bytes:
Consider using poetry for passwords
11-year old hand-crafts secure passwords and sells them for $2
Colorado CIO Suma Nallapati says she aims to be ‘the chief enabler of all government services’
Nebraska CIO Ed Toner saves $5.3 million over 10 years via consolidation
Welcome new Utah CIO, Mike Hussey