Nikki Hamlin

As the U.S. marks Cybersecurity Awareness Month, a critical pillar of the nation’s digital defense has expired. On September 30th, Congress failed to pass a continuing resolution, furloughing many federal cybersecurity staff and allowing the Cybersecurity Information Sharing Act (CISA) of 2015 to lapse as cyber threats are reaching unprecedented levels. The Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency, which spearheaded much of the law’s implementation, has also furloughed nearly two-thirds of its workforce.

In August, the Department of the Air Force (DAF) held the annual Department of the Air Force IT Conference (DAFITC) in Montgomery, Alabama. They brought together leading voices from the U.S. Air Force, U.S. Space Force, industry and academia centered on the theme “Lethality, Readiness and Efficiency.” The event spotlighted how modern IT infrastructure, cybersecurity, data and workforce development are all coming together to shape a more agile, secure and mission-ready force.

There have been big changes to federal technology acquisition in the initial months of the Trump administration to streamline procurement and increase competition. In line with these efforts, a bipartisan group of lawmakers, including Senators Elizabeth Warren and Eric Schmitt, introduced a bill to combat market concentration for artificial intelligence (AI) and cloud capabilities in the Department of Defense (DOD).

In the administration’s first 100 days in office, multiple executive orders (EO) were signed to update federal procurement. Several initiatives released across the federal market include the OneGov Strategy, procurement consolidation and the Army Transformation Initiative.

On Thursday April 30th, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth released a memo for the U.S. Army to undergo a “comprehensive transformation”.