Fed Gov Today

Former FBI Chief Information Officer and current Executive Vice President for Public Sector at ITI, Gordon Bitko, joins Francis to unpack what agency leaders and contractors should expect when the doors open again. Bitko explains how months of uncertainty disrupt technology rollouts, contract execution, and long-term modernization efforts, especially as critical initiatives like the FAR rewriteand AI implementation lose valuable mo...

Francis speaks with Dina Saleh, Federal Solutions Architect at Synack, who explains how C-ATO replaces the old, static ATO system with continuous testing, monitoring, and updates that improve both security and efficiency.

You’ll learn how continuous authorization helps eliminate the “death loop” of paperwork and compliance fatigue that once overwhelmed federal teams. Dina notes that many agencies still struggle with data overload—dr...

Former GAO Managing Director Chris Mihm joins the show to unpack the realities of the ongoing government shutdown — now on day seven. Mihm, now an adjunct professor at Syracuse University’s Maxwell School, shares stories from shutdowns past that blend humor and hard-earned wisdom. From the unforgettable “refrigerator incident” after the 2018–2019 shutdown — when the stench of forgotten lunches greeted returning employees — to his u...

On this special edition of Fed Gov Today with Francis Rose, Former Federal Acquisition Service Commissioner Julie Dunne, now principal at Monument Advocacy, joins the show to share leadership strategies for navigating the return to work once the government reopens. Dunne compares the uncertainty of the current moment to the early days of COVID-19 and emphasizes the importance of stepping back, identifying top priorities, and leadin...

On Day 3 of the government shutdown, there is at least one area where federal employees can find reassurance—the Thrift Savings Plan (TSP) remains fully operational. In this edition of Fed Gov Today with Francis Rose, James Kaplan, Director of External Affairs at the Federal Retirement Thrift Investment Board, explains how TSP participants are protected during a lapse in appropriations. From automatic loan payment adjustments to re...

On this special edition of Fed Gov Today with Francis Rose, the federal government shutdown officially begins — and with it come questions about what’s closed, what’s open, and what federal leaders can do to prepare for the return to business. Former Undersecretary of Defense Comptroller Mike McCord and Gov Navigators CEO Robert Shea, a former OMB leader, discuss the immediate impacts on agencies, employees, and taxpayers, and why ...

In Part 3 of his conversation with Francis Rose, Vice Admiral Frank Whitworth, Director of the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency (NGA), shares the bottom line up front: what warfighters, the Secretary of Defense, the DNI, and even the President need from NGA right now. In the third and final part of our exclusive conversation from the Intelligence and National Security Summit, Admiral Whitworth explains how NGA is building a ...

Francis Rose speaks with Marlin McFate, Public Sector CTO and CISO at Cohesity, about the evolving definition of cyber resilience. McFate explains why it’s critical to distinguish between data resiliency—long focused on recovering from natural disasters—and cyber resiliency, which accounts for persistent adversaries, loss of trust in systems, and the risk of reinfection after an attack. He shares Cohesity’s cyber resiliency model, ...

Vice Admiral Frank Whitworth, NGA’s Director, joins Francis for part two of their in-depth conversation from the AFCEA and INSA Intelligence and National Security Summit at National Harbor. Admiral Whitworth explains how NGA is embracing commercial imagery, unclassified data, and open-source intelligence to stay ahead of adversaries — while also meeting the needs of a rapidly changing world.

You’ll hear how NGA’s “Year of NGAI” init...

On this edition of Fed Gov Today with Francis Rose, Vice Admiral Frank Whitworth, Director of the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency (NGA), joins Francis for an in-depth conversation about what he calls the “golden age of GEOINT.” Speaking from the AFCEA and INSA Intelligence and National Security Summit at National Harbor, Admiral Whitworth explains why NGA is better positioned than ever to provide actionable intelligence — t...

On this edition of Fed Gov Today with Francis Rose, you'll get an inside look at the Department of Veterans Affairs’ sweeping technology transformation. Francis is joined by Eddie Poole, Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary, Acting Assistant Secretary, and CIO at VA, for a wide-ranging conversation about modernizing one of the federal government’s most complex IT operations. Eddie shares how his team retired 29 legacy systems,...

On this episode of Fed Gov Today with Francis Rose, we go inside the sweeping IT transformation at the Department of the Interior. Former Interior CISO Lou Eichenbaum joins Francis to discuss how the department consolidated all of its IT resources and 2210s into a single organization — without a CIO — as part of a bold modernization initiative. Lou shares how phase one of the effort incorporated zero trust principles, expanded vuln...

This edition of Fed Gov Today with Francis Rose, takes you to the cutting edge of robotics in space. Dr. Samantha Chapin, Space Roboticist, and Dr. Kenneth Stewart, Computer Research Scientist at the Naval Research Laboratory (NRL), share how their team is using reinforcement learning — a flavor of machine learning inspired by dog training — to teach robots to operate autonomously in space. They explain why human time in space is s...

In this episode of Fed Gov Today with Francis Rose, the clock is ticking for vendors that do business with the Department of Defense. The long-anticipated final rule for the Cybersecurity Maturity Model Certification (CMMC) is officially out, and it takes effect November 10. That means solicitations will soon include CMMC requirements — and with more than 100,000 companies needing assessments, competition for assessors will heat up...