Ask the CIO

Bernice Russell-Bond, the North Carolina CISO, said she’s looking for the most impactful cyber tools while also maintaining fiscal responsibility. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info .

Col. Christopher Hill, the director of the Army’s Global Tactical Edge Acquisition Directorate, said his goal is to give soldiers new capabilities in 180 days. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info .

Colin Crosby, the deputy commandant for information and service data officer for the Marine Corps, said the service is embracing a data-centric future. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info .

Laura Stanton, the acting commissioner of GSA’s FAS, said the changes will improve how the offices interact with each other as well as customers. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info .

The Naval Postgraduate School launched a new Master of Science in AI degree program with 27 sailors and marines from the Naval Information Forces command. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info .

Zeke Topolosky, the Army’s program manager for the SBIR and STTR programs, said the service released five new topics to kick off the 2026 program. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info .

Kajal Pal, the Defense Cyber Crime Center’s architecture management of data and enterprise division chief, said tools like XDR are more important than ever. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info .

Hemant Baidwan, the former CISO at DHS and now executive CISO at Knox Systems, said his former agency is doing better to stay ahead of cyber threats. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info .

The Transportation Department and NOAA are using cloud services to help reduce technical debt and bring better services to citizens. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info .

Doug Robinson, the executive director of NASCIO, tells Jason Miller that state legislators introduced more than 1,000 bills focused artificial intelligence in 2025. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info .

Leo Garciga, the Army’s chief information officer, said the move toward enterprise services is changing the culture of system development to be more adaptable. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info .

Katie Savage, the Maryland CIO, said she has been setting up centralized enterprise services, but also building up agency technology expertise. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info .

The results of a survey by the Center for Accountability, Modernization and Innovation (CAMI) gives federal executives ideas for improving service delivery. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info .

Adarryl Roberts, the CIO at the Defense Logistics Agency, said every employee is receiving continuous training to ensure they can use AI tools. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info .

Mike Derrios, a former senior procurement executive at the State Department, said the new Bureau of Global Acquisitions will implement category management. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info .

Eddie Pool, the acting principal deputy CIO, said a risk-based approach to cybersecurity ensures VA can deliver services to veterans reliably and efficiently.  See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info .

Ryan Triplette, the executive director of the Coalition for Fair Software Licensing, said the ‘sheer force of will’ is improving federal software licenses. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info .

Don Yeske, a former director of national security in the cyber division at DHS, said its “groundbreaking zero trust architecture” focused on 46 capabilities. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info .

Chris Ritter, the division director for scientific computing and AI at the Idaho National Lab, said using AI to improve basic workflow processes is step one. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info .

Jamie Crotts, CIO of the House of Representatives, details how a zero-trust assessment reshaped a three-year internal technology roadmap, while securing a nationwide enterprise of over 900 district offices with consistent, user-friendly access.  See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info .

Leo Garciga joins the show to share how the Army is modernizing its information technology and data infrastructure to deliver faster, smarter capabilities to soldiers and civilians. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info .

Jamie Wolf, CIO of the Department of Energy's National Nuclear Security Administration, discusses how the agency is moving its classified and unclassified systems to enterprise cloud and SaaS platforms to cut costs, reduce technical debt and improve speed and collaboration. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-inf...

Jamie Holcombe left after almost seven years as the USPTO CIO, where he focused on cloud, AI and managing IT as an asset to the mission. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info .

 Lt. Col. Matt Limeberry, the commander of the RAPTR Task Force in DoD’s research and engineering office, said testing emerging IT tools helps buy down risk. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info .

Just about seven months into the Trump administration and federal chief information officers are waiting for more explicit policy direction. The Office of Management and Budget has teased a little of their priorities, but a lot remains unknown. At a recent panel of former federal CIOs sponsored by AFFIRM, several weighed in on what they are looking for  from Federal CIO Greg Barbaccia . See P...