GovCIO Media & Research Podcasts

The Army needs innovative and efficient solutions to problems. At the Association of the United States Army's Annual Meeting and Exposition in Washington, D.C., Innovation Officer at the Army's 3rd Infantry Division's Marne Innovation Center (MIC) Capt. Brendan Shutt explained how the Army's grassroots innovation model is transforming problem-solving. The center embeds innovation directly into tra...

Mitchell Thornbrugh, CIO and director of the Office of Information Technology at the Indian Health Service (IHS), is leading a transformative effort to modernize health care delivery for Native American and Alaska Native communities. Patients at the Heart Electronic Health Record (PATH EHR) is an enterprise-wide initiative uniting more than 200 staff from federal, tribal and urban health facilitie...

Kyle Cobb, acting deputy director for technology and product at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's Office of Public Health Data, Surveillance and Technology (OPHDST), shared how emerging technologies are transforming the way health care data is shared and managed. Cobb outlined how APIs are replacing outdated data connections with a hub-and-spoke model, creating more efficient and ce...

Dr. Neil Evans, Acting Program Executive Officer for the Department of Veterans Affairs' Electronic Health Record Modernization Integration Office, provided an update on the rollout of the common electronic health record (EHR). The VA paused the rollout in 2023 following optimization and reliability issues. Evans outlined plans to restart deployment in April 2026 at select sites in Michigan, with...

Robert Sholtis, CIO at Marine Corps Forces Pacific, discussed at AFCEA TechNet Indo-Pacific his modernization efforts for the service across the Indo-Pacific region. MARFORPAC operates one of the largest services across some of the most challenging environments in the world, facilitating the need to quickly adopt, acquire and scale emerging technologies as they develop. Sholtis said that industry,...

Marine Corps Forces Pacific is standing up a Digital Transformation Team (DXT) as part of the Marine Corps' AI Implementation Plan's Digital Transformation Pilot. C5ISRT Systems Integration Officer and Agentic Warfare Lead Capt. Mason Millsap joined us at AFCEA TechNet Indo-Pacific to explain how the pilot helps personnel digitize processes, expand secure data pipelines and accelerate AI adoption...

Naval officers explain how the Adaptive Rapid Engagement Squadron (ARES), a Midshipmen-led research and development team at the U.S. Naval Academy, has participated in competitions like the Squad with Autonomous Teammates – Challenge to test and prove new techniques, tactics and procedures relating to the adoption of emerging technology like drones, AI and electronic warfare in simulated modern co...

With generative AI introducing new challenges for digital security, Arun Vemury, director at the Department of Homeland Security's Science and Technology Directorate, explains how biometric technologies are enabling the agency to stay ahead of AI-driven identity fraud. The conversation explores how DHS verifies identities across complex environments — from border crossings to remote digital intera...

Assistant Secretary for Technology Policy Chief of Innovation and Strategic Partnerships Stephen Konya has been credited with launching groundbreaking initiatives like CancerX to accelerate innovation in health care. These efforts are largely borne out of partnerships with the private sector, including academia, entrepreneurs, investors, developers and more. Konya shared how he's building innovati...

The Export-Import Bank of the United States (EXIM) facilitates trades of exports of goods and services and, in doing so, deals with massive troves of data. From the Billington Cybersecurity Summit, EXIM CISO, Chief Privacy Officer, and Deputy Chief AI Officer Darren Death tells CyberCast that his agency is centralizing data about user access and behavior to detect potential cyber threats. Death sa...

The U.S. Postal Inspection Service is increasingly leveraging artificial intelligence for its mission. According USPIS Inspector in Charge Eric Shen, the agency is exploring AI's potential to identify suspects, monitor illicit websites and enhance public awareness about mail fraud. At Identity Week America 2025, Shen speaks with GovCast about how USPIS is evolving as technology changes. He says th...

Cybersecurity has been on the Government Accountability Office's (GAO) high-risk list since 1997. Federal agencies struggle with issues like cyber hygiene, cyber workforce shortages and strategic execution. While agencies put strategies in place to secure their systems, the implementation and execution can be ineffective, according to GAO Managing Director of IT and Cybersecurity Nick Marinos. Mar...

The U.S. Marine Corps has launched its first AI fellowship program in partnership with the Naval Postgraduate School to accelerate artificial intelligence adoption across the force. Modeled after the Air Force's Phantom program at MIT, the five-month pilot trains Marines to identify command-level problems and develop AI-driven solutions that support operational readiness. Christopher Paul, the sch...

The General Services Administration launched USAi.gov to provide a secure generative AI evaluation suite that enables federal agencies to experiment with and adopt AI more quickly and at no cost. Designed to support the White House's AI Action Plan, USAi puts tools like chat-based AI, code generation and document summarization directly into the hands of government users. Zach Whitman, the agency's...

The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) is transforming how health data is shared and used, emphasizing transparency. Chief Data Officer Kristen Honey is spearheading an "open by default" strategy that moves away from top-down, siloed data management to a more collaborative model. HHS is pushing decision-making to local, state and regional experts on the front lines of public health. Ins...

The White House released a new executive order in July — Accelerating Federal Permitting of Data Center Infrastructure  — calling on government to develop AI-ready data centers, streamline federal permitting and encourage private investment in critical infrastructure. Federal agencies are focusing on system resilience to withstand rising environmental and cybersecurity threats as data centers cont...

FedRAMP 20x is redefining how federal cloud services get authorized —making them faster, smarter and more secure. Earlier this year GSA released the 20x pilot in an effort to increase the efficiency of authorizations and enhance security. Pete Waterman, FedRAMP director at the General Services Administration, unpacks how the program is streamlining approvals, enhancing continuous monitoring and le...

The second Trump administration has spent 2025 accelerating its software modernization initiatives through the creation of agencies like the U.S. DOGE Service and other entities designed to digitize and modernize the American government. Modeling after DOD enterprise software container platforms, the Department of Veterans Affairs stood up its own Platform One application in 2021 to drive software...

Cybersecurity is a critical component of organizational health no matter the federal agency. Yet, federal leaders across government are struggling to change culture, improve workflows and promote good cyber hygiene to prepare for the threats of tomorrow. The Government Accountability Office's Information Technology and Cybersecurity division assists Congress with assessing and improving the govern...

Monitoring the world's oceans and waterways is no simple task. 70% of the world is made up of water, and with millions of data points around the globe to sift through, human analysts cannot do the job alone. NRL's Alan Hope joins us to discuss how the agency is leveraging relationships with federal agencies and services like National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and the U.S. Navy to trac...

NASA Chief Data Officer and Chief AI Officer David Salvagnini joined GovCIO Media & Research live from the Federal IT Efficiency Summit in Tysons, Virginia, to share insights into his dual role leading AI and data initiatives at the agency, including the development of NASA's AI strategy and how it's being integrated with responsible data governance. He also highlighted exciting AI projects curren...

Darnita Trower, former deputy CIO for Operations at the Internal Revenue Service, discusses her tenure at the agency and the resilience the workforce has shown through budget cuts, administration changes and difficult tax seasons. She said the agency is built to weather storms and is on a continuing modernization path. Trower is an accomplished executive and digital transformation leader with over...

In her first interview since becoming Principal Director of the Defense Department's Cyber Academic Engagement Office (CAEO), Diba Hadi reflects on her role and vision for the office since stepping into the position in 2024 during the 2025 HammerCON conference in Laurel, Maryland. Hadi shares insights into her day-to-day responsibilities and highlights efforts to strengthen the integration of univ...

Mark Gorak, the Defense Department's Cyber Academic Engagement Office's (CAEO) director and principal director for Resources and Analysis, shares how his office is shaping the future of cyber talent during the 2025 HammerCON conference in Laurel, Maryland. Launched in 2024, CAEO has partnered with over 480 academic institutions nationwide to identify and develop the next generation of cyber profes...

Competitiveness in advanced telecommunications technologies is critical to American innovation and national security. The National Science Foundation (NSF) recently announced the new Verticals-enabling Intelligent NEtwork Systems (VINES) program to foster U.S. leadership in advanced telecommunications and foster innovative real-world applications. NSF Acting Assistant Director of Computer and Info...