Commerce Department

• Holly Vineyard, International Trade Administration

  The Commerce Department's International Trade Administration will open an office in Myanmar, also known as Burma. The country's economy, once virtually closed, is now growing at more than 6.5 percent a year. The decision to open an office is part of an effort to help U.S. businesses navigate emerging markets in Asia and Africa. Holly Vineyard, deputy assistant secretary for Asia at the International Trade Administration, explained to Federal Drive hosts Tom Temin and Emily Kopp why Commerce picked Myanmar for the first new office.

  Federal Drive

  April 25, 2014
• White House issues new tools to fight patent trolls

  Federal CTO Todd Park and other White House officials unveiled a new set of initiatives Thursday designed to help businesses and consumers avoid unnecessary and costly patent litigation.

  Congress

  February 21, 2014
• Commerce CIO Szykman to leave after 7 years

  Simon Szykman announced to staff today he is leaving the agency to work in the private sector. He said he has no plans yet and will stay at the agency until a new CIO is hired. Additionally, Anil Karmel has left the NNSA after serving more than two years as the deputy chief technology officer to launch his own cloud computing company.

  Management

  February 20, 2014
• Agencies highlight accomplishments, prepare for new performance goals

  The White House will release an updated list of agency high-priority goals and cross-agency priority goals with the annual budget request to Congress in March. Meanwhile, the Office of Management and Budget detailed agency successes over the last two years in meeting current goals.

  Technology

  February 14, 2014
• VA adds, NIST loses senior executive

  The Senate confirmed Sloan Gibson to be the next deputy secretary of the Department of Veterans Affairs. The director of the National Institute of Standards and Technology, Patrick Gallagher, is heading off to academia.

  Defense

  February 13, 2014
• NOAA cancels hiring freeze, lifts training ban

  Kathryn Sullivan, the acting under secretary of Commerce for Oceans and Atmosphere, sent an email to staff today announcing she was lifting the hiring freeze ban on non-mandatory training NOAA put in place last year to offset the impact of sequestration.

  Hiring/Retention

  January 31, 2014
• CIO shuffle continues at SBA, DHS, OPM

  SBA, OPM have new CIOs as the carousel in government IT spins once again.

  Technology

  December 20, 2013
• Commerce reaps savings through collaborative strategic-sourcing effort

  The chief information and chief technology offices at the Commerce Department have generated more than $200 million in savings by taking a collaborative approach to purchasing IT and cybersecurity products.

  Federal Drive

  November 20, 2013
• NWS getting out of commodity IT through cloud, shared services

  Iftikhar Jamil, the associate chief information officer for weather at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, said the National Weather Service moved its high performance computing capabilities to a private cloud and is developing dissemination-as-a-service. October 31, 2013

  Ask the CIO

  October 31, 2013
• Agencies exploring the right balance between open data, security

  HHS is using big data to improve the cybersecurity of their systems, but also using a layered approach to protect the information. Commerce wants to improve the governance and usability of its data. USDA is creating a big data strategy.

  Technology

  September 27, 2013
• NWS getting out of commodity IT through cloud, shared services

  Iftikhar Jamil, the associate chief information officer for weather at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, said the National Weather Service moved its high performance computing capabilities to a private cloud and is developing dissemination-as-a-service. September 12, 2013

  Ask the CIO

  September 12, 2013
• White House details initial ideas for industry cyber incentives

  The departments of Commerce, Homeland Security and Treasury submitted suggestions to the White House on what incentives the government can offer to induce critical infrastructure providers to use the cybersecurity framework to improve their systems and networks. NIST is leading an effort to develop the framework with industry.

  Technology

  August 07, 2013
• EDA’s overreaction to cyber attack highlights every agency’s challenge

  The Commerce Department's Economic Development Administration spent almost $3 million to remediate a cyber attack that really didn't happen. Commerce's inspector general found the attack infected only two outgoing email servers and not more than half of EDA's systems. Two cybersecurity experts say other agencies can learn from EDA's year-long unnecessary and expensive recovery.

  Technology

  July 08, 2013
• Rep. Issa heading down familiar path for IT reform; Senate still in discovery mode

  Rep. Darrell Issa (R-Calif.) plans to offer the Federal IT Acquisition Reform Act (FITARA) as an amendment later this week to the 2013 Defense Authorization bill. The Senate held a hearing looking at the best approach to empower federal CIOs. The Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee heard that transparency, visibility and senior leadership are common traits among successful CIOs.

  Congress

  June 12, 2013