Weekly Roundup: April 21-25, 2025

Cybersecurity

Cyberspace Warfare Poses Significant Threat to Joint Force. Cyber conflicts are no longer theoretical – they pose a serious and immediate threat that demands urgent preparedness from U.S. joint forces. “What we have learned [from our wargaming] is that this is a significant threat that we have to prepare the joint force to deal with,” John Garstka, director for cyber warfare within the Office of the Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Platform and Weapon Portfolio Management. According to Garstka, cyberspace is the fifth domain of warfare – joining air, land, sea, and space. Therefore, DoD is enhancing the infrastructure that underpins critical space systems missions, including both military and commercial support networks.

IT Modernization

House Oversight Calls Fed CIOs to IT-Driven Efficiency Hearing. As the Trump administration prepares to unleash Federal civilian agency reorganization plans that will leave many of them significantly smaller in size and more focused on accomplishing administration aims, the House Oversight and Reform Committee is lining up a panel of former Federal chief information officers (CIOs) for a hearing next week to dig into how to further improve government efficiency through IT modernization.

Artificial intelligence

Trump Launches AI Push in Schools, Apprenticeships. A new executive order from President Donald Trump is directing the integration of artificial intelligence into K-12 schools in an aim to equip the future U.S. workforce with skills needed to further the technology’s innovation capabilities.  The order establishes a White House Task Force on AI Education, which will be chaired by Michael Kratsios, the director of the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy. The task force is also directed to establish public-private partnerships to provide resources for K-12 AI education which the White House said would also aim to equip students with better AI tools.

Defense Acquisition

DoD Launches Review of Key Acquisition Programs. The Department of Defense (DoD) launched a sweeping review of its major defense acquisition programs in response to President Donald Trump’s defense acquisition executive order (EO) issued earlier this month. “This week we began reviewing all 72 active major defense acquisition programs. As President Trump outlined in his executive order on defense acquisition, we must have high performing mission aligned programs at every level,” Hegseth told students and staff at the U.S. Army War College in Carlisle, Pa.

DoD CIO Unveils Software ‘Fast-Track’ Acquisition Process. The Department of Defense (DoD) is launching a new program to overhaul how it buys software – prioritizing speed, agility, and security, a senior Pentagon tech official said today. The Software Fast Track (SWIFT) program aims to create a fast-track authority to operate (ATO) process for software that will give the services and defense agencies a level of assurance that applications are secure. To inform the criteria for this “fast-track” program, Arrington explained that the DoD plans to release a request for information (RFI) soon.

Leadership

When Over-Collaboration Leads to Indecision. Being too collaborative can actually hold you back at work, argues leadership coach Rebecca Shambaugh. Instead of showing how well you build consensus and work with others, it can look like indecision or failure to prioritize. She explains what to do if you over-collaborate, how to manage someone who does, and offers some advice for women—whose bosses are more likely to see them as overly consensus-driven.

Research: When Leaders Express Positivity Early On, Employees Perform Better The emotional tenor of a leader’s expressions can have a major impact on their team. While positivity can make their workers feel supported and inspired, negativity can sometimes help employees understand how to grow. In a new study, researchers examined whether the timing of these emotional expressions mattered in terms of worker performance. When leaders express positivity during an early stage, the researchers found, team members felt more highly respected and desired to maintain that respect throughout the year.

Reorganization

Rubio denies that Trump will politicize the Foreign Service and slash embassies. State Department says a draft executive order, which would have created new loyalty requirements for career staff and eliminated many offices, is fake. A reorganization of the department is still expected shortly.

Veterans

VA OIG Flags Testing Gaps in $8.6B Financial System Overhaul.  The Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) is modernizing its finance and acquisition systems by implementing the Integrated Financial and Acquisition Management System (iFAMS), but a new report from the VA Office of Inspector General (OIG) reveals major gaps in usability testing that could jeopardize future implementation. As of June 2023, VA completed “five waves” of implementation, which was assessed in that report. According to the report, when the VA held “validation sessions” to make sure iFAMS worked properly, the examples the agency used didn’t reflect “actual business processes” closely enough for users to identify gaps.

Procurement

The president’s procurement order offers a real opportunity. Let’s not squander it Real change in government procurement can happen, but it’s going to require learning from lessons of the past.

THIS WEEK @ THE CENTER 

RECENT BLOGS

• Balancing Trust and Innovation: Insights on AI and Governance by Michael J. Keegan. My interviews with Professor Sukumar Ganapati of Florida International University and Assistant Professor Wendy Chen of Texas Tech University provided profound insights into two critical areas: public trust in government and AI governance.

• Augmenting the Future: Navigating AI in Public Administration by Michael J. Keegan. This essay synthesizes key themes and insights from my interviews with Alan Shark from George Mason University and Dr. Rudy de Leon Dinglas, Chief of Staff at the Bloomberg Center for Government Excellence at Johns Hopkins University regarding AI as a collaborative partner, the evolution of performance management, workforce readiness, ethical governance, and the critical need for transparency that resonate deeply with my interest to bridge theory and practice in government innovation.

ICYMI – Strategies for AI Governance and How Emerging Tech Can Strengthen Trust in Government: The ASPA Conference Series 2025 with Dr. Sukumar Ganapati and Prof. Wendy Chen. Host Michael J. Keegan does on site conversations at the 2025 ASPA Conference exploring how emerging tech can strengthen trust in government services and examining strategies for AI Governance.