Key Takeaway:
NGA Kicks Off Cybersecurity Resource Center: The National Governors Association (NGA) released Act and Adjust: A Call to Action for Governors for Cybersecurity, a paper that provides strategic recommendations governors can immediately adopt to improve their state's cybersecurity posture. NASCIO and its members actively worked with NGA, private sector partners, and other state stakeholders to help craft the paper. The paper is part of a larger effort by NGA to address cybersecurity concerns at the state level that will explore the role of fusion centers, enhancing the cybersecurity of energy systems and the electrical grid, and building a cyber workforce. More details available here.
Other Buzz:
Government Shutdown Impacts Tech, Too: As Doug and I scrambled to shuffle meetings with key staff both in the Administration and on the Hill, it became obvious the shutdown is creating furloughs that are impacting federal technology policy and implementation efforts in an uneven manner. FirstNet, the Public Safety Broadband Network, is not funded through appropriations, so its staff is still operating at full tilt. Agencies such as Department of Homeland Security, Federal Communicatoins Commission, White House Office of Science and Technology Policy, Federal CIOs, and others, aren’t as lucky.
It’s often unclear which employees are furloughed until you e-mail them and wait for an automatic reply. Expect deadlines to slip on the cybersecurity Executive Order, efforts around E-Rate expansion, and spectrum auctions--and calls to go unanswered. In this weird new world, the White House’s Deputy Chief Technology Officer decided to take up bartending with his newfound spare time.
Questions? Comments? New employment recommendations for furloughed federal tech employees? Reach out through the NASCIO Community or e-mail me directly at mherckis@amrms.com; or send some interesting articles along to our own Samantha Wenger (swenger@amrms.com)--and thanks for reading.
Your Weekly Techbytes:
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