GovCIO Media & Research Podcasts

The Office of Personnel Management launched its Federal Workforce Data website in January, replacing FedScope, the 20-year-old repository for federal employment data. The new platform provides greater transparency into how the federal workforce operates, featuring monthly updates and interactive tables that offer deeper insight into workforce demographics. OPM Director Scott Kupor told GovCIO Medi...

The Department of the Navy is using AI across a range of mission areas. In the intelligence domain, the service is moving AI beyond experimental phases and integrating trustworthy AI into all warfighting functions, Christopher Page, deputy director of OPNAV's Intelligence Division, said on AI GovCast. Page said data quality depends on agreed-upon terms for modeling adversary and friendly forces. F...

AI is at the center of the Marine Corps' digital transformation efforts, from edge communication to cybersecurity. Marine Corps AI Lead Maj. Christopher Clark said AI it must be adapted to the physical and technical constraints of vehicles and equipment used on the front lines. To tackle these constraints, the Marine Corps is organizing an AI workshop this March to bring together fleet-level probl...

The War Department is modernizing its acquisition ecosystem to meet the demands of modern warfare. Designed for speed, the updated approach redefines how the Pentagon manages risk, incorporates feedback and iterates on capability delivery. Speaking at AFCEA/USNI WEST in San Diego, California, Louis Koplin, the Navy's acting program executive officer for PEO Digital, said the Department of the Navy...

As artificial intelligence reshapes military operations at breakneck speed, the Naval Postgraduate School (NPS) is launching an accelerated master's degree aimed at pushing AI-literate officers into the fleet as early as 2027. Speaking at AFCEA/USNI West in San Diego, Capt. Mike Owen, co-chair of the NPS AI Task Force, said the new program is designed to close a widening gap between the pace of te...

The U.S. Navy is transitioning to a continuous cybersecurity model, leveraging AI to prevent or significantly mitigate cyberattacks as it shifts from traditional risk management frameworks to the Cybersecurity Risk Management Construct. Shery Thomas, enterprise IT officer at Navy Installations Command (CNIC), discussed how the transition is unfolding at the command level. Thomas outlined CNIC's cy...

War Department components are pivoting away from "exquisite" hardware in favor of agile, low-cost manufacturing methodologies. Part of this shift includes prize challenges like the Naval Postgraduate School's Tactical Missile Innovation Challenge, a non-traditional challenge that emphasizes methodology. Speaking at AFCEA/USNI WEST in San Diego, California, NPS Director of Research Innovation at th...

Guest Ty Hughes is a longtime cybersecurity and technology leader in the public sector that champions cyber wellness. He discussed the concept of "AI alchemy" and a "pause, breathe, summarize" framework to help leaders improving clarity under pressure. He framed cybersecurity not as a technical challenge, but rather as a human system under constant cognitive and emotional load. He discussed how bu...

The Trump administration's July 2025 AI Action Plan calls on National Institute of Standards & Technology to revise its AI Risk Management Framework amid easing federal regulation of the tech. Martin Stanley, principal researcher for AI and cybersecurity at NIST, joined us at the AI Summit on Jan. 9 to discuss new AI control overlays for the Special Publication 800-53 series and the risks they are...

Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency CIO Bob Costello joined GovCIO Media & Research at its AI Summit earlier this year to discuss how the agency is deploying agentic AI and tackling cybersecurity workforce challenges. Costello outlined how CISA is integrating AI into operations while prioritizing security, oversight and workforce readiness. Costello also highlighted CISA's partnership...

Federal government's accelerated use of AI is driving attention toward data infrastructure. Efforts to train models and secure data mean AI is increasing both the volume of data agencies generate and the expectations placed on the infrastructure. Pure Storage Senior Director of Strategic Federal Programs Doyle Choi focused on what AI and cybersecurity mean for the growing data demands and how he's...

Agencies are implementing AI in different ways, from developing internal tools to buying off-the-shelf solutions. At Space Force, Chief Data and Artificial Intelligence Officer Chandra Donelson and AI Innovation Lead Oliver Tannheiser told AI GovCast that they are using innovative strategies to bring AI to Guardians. Flywheel Award winner Tannheiser said that Space Force is using GPT systems to gi...

Tune in for an interview with a cybersecurity and technology leader who will host an upcoming new podcast series created for the government technologist. Meet the voice behind the show who discusses the importance of wellness and leadership in federal IT. Technically Zen explores the intersection of well-being and technology, with honest conversations about mental health, leadership, resilience an...

Artificial intelligence has become a critical enabler across NASA. Deputy CAIO Krista Kinnard discussed its impact on engineers using "text-to-structure" capabilities, the design for stronger spacecraft components, program managers optimizing complex schedules and HR teams streamlining operations. NASA's approach to AI represents a cultural shift from the agency's historically siloed structure to...

A new presidential administration and changing priorities defined 2025 in government IT. In the new year, agency tech leaders are looking ahead to implement AI, executive electronic health records across systems and modernize services and software with emerging tech like AI. IT leaders from Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), and the departments of Veterans Affairs and War explored h...

The critical watches and warnings issued by the National Weather Service (NWS) inform everything from a firefighter's deployment to wildfires to the public's beach plans. This information is powered by some of the most advanced computational infrastructure in the world. According to David Michaud, director of the National Centers for Environmental Prediction's Central Operations at the NWS, high-p...

The U.S. is facing a surge in advanced threats from nation-state actors like China and Russia, who are increasingly probing critical infrastructure vulnerabilities. David Travers, director of the Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA) Office of Water Emergency Response and Cybersecurity, noted how escalating risks to the nation's water sector has shifted over his 30-year career, how adversaries a...

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...