FCW Insider: June 3
Top stories, quick hits and other updates from FCW's reporters and editors.
The government agency chief data officer role comes with nuances, and to ensure success, officials need to be mindful of far more than simply structuring datasets. Alan Jacobson, chief data and analytics officer at Alteryx, offers six paths to CDO success in this FCW commentary.
Government lawyers pressed the court to throw out a Wikimedia lawsuit challenging the National Security Agency's "Upstream" surveillance program, saying the plaintiffs can't prove their communications were being collected. Derek Johnson reports.
The Department of Homeland Security needs additional IT workers to help it assist state and local election officials, as well as patch its internal systems, the agency's IG said in a semi-annual report to Congress. Mark Rockwell has more.
Quick Hits
*** The Commodity Futures Trading Commission named Charles Cutshall, a privacy policy specialist at the Office of Management and Budget, as the agency's chief privacy officer. According to a CFTC release, Cutshall has also developed privacy policy for the Departments of Treasury and Homeland Security.
*** Maryland Democrat Rep. Dutch Ruppersberger has been told by National Security Agency officials that the government-designed cyber exploit EternalBlue did not play a role in a ransomware attack currently affecting Baltimore city services. The NSA is located in Ruppersberger's district, and Ruppersberger has served as ranking member of the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence. EternalBlue was among the cyberweapons exposed in the 2017 Shadow Brokers leak. A May 25 New York Times report, citing sources involved in the malware investigation, stated that EternalBlue helped hackers obtain control of Baltimore's computer networks.
*** The Senior Executives Association, which represents members of the federal government's Senior Executive Service, announced an agreement with GovFlex, described in a press release as "the first gig economy platform dedicated soley to the U.S. public sector." The arrangement gives employers who use GovFlex access to a pool of 12,000 SES and equivalent level professionals, including CIOs and chief financial officers. The agreement is designed to help bring subject matter experts into government programs and help SES identify career opportunities outside of government.