CISA said agencies will be able to achieve priority logging capabilities that support continuous event monitoring, threat hunting, incident response and more.
Michele Sandiford
- Agencies are getting some help to improve how they log cybersecurity data. A new logging architecture from the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency, the Office of Management and Budget and the Chief Information Security Officer Council aims to assist agencies in taking a practical, risk-based, prioritized logging approach that improves agency network monitoring. The guidance, released yesterday, helps agencies implement the changes OMB outlined in a May memo. CISA said agencies will be able to achieve priority logging capabilities that support continuous event monitoring, threat hunting, incident response and forensics. Through this guidance, agencies will be able to update their enterprise logging strategies by applying CISA’s operational checklists. CISA said it will continually update the guidance as cybersecurity threats and agency capabilities evolve.
- Add the employees at the Agriculture Department’s Rural Development Agency to the growing list of successful feds who have won grievances before an arbitrator after losing their remote work and telework rights. Arbitrator Margaret Donaghy ruled Wednesday in favor of RDA employees represented by the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees. The union filed a grievance when USDA ended teleworking and remote work agreements without bargaining in April 2025. Donaghy ordered USDA to restore the telework and remote work arrangements and make the employees whole by paying any travel expenses, compensation or credit for additional hours worked. Suzanne Summerlin, the attorney representing the employees, said this is the fifth arbitration award won by employees in recent months, with similar awards issued at the Department of Housing and Urban Development, Forest Service, IRS and Social Security Administration.
- The federal civilian hiring freeze has limited the Defense Security Cooperation Agency’s ability to fill positions for its human capital initiative, a federal watchdog said in a new report. The Government Accountability Office said the agency has implemented about two-thirds of the reforms directed by Congress in 2024 so far. Many of the changes aim to improve management of its workforce, like creating a database of each worker’s qualifications, assignments and tenure. The remaining 15 initiatives are slated to wrap up in the next two years.
- Federal officials clashed this week over how much the Pentagon’s Golden Dome missile defense network could cost taxpayers and the technologies that might be involved. Gen. Michael Guetlein, the Golden Dome program manager, called external estimates sensational and false. The head of the Congressional Budget Office defended the agency’s projection of $1.2 trillion over 20 years and said the program office has denied CBO’s requests for a briefing on Golden Dome’s progress. Congress is considering allocating billions more to the project in a new reconciliation bill.
- The Army needs to develop a detailed fielding schedule and estimate total costs for its major modernization program. The Government Accountability Office found that while the service has short-term schedules for its Next Generation Command and Control initiative, it is “not well-positioned” to assess whether it can meet those timelines because it does not have a detailed schedule identifying the specific units that will receive modernized capabilities in each fiscal year. While the Army requested about $3.3 billion for NGC2 in fiscal 2026, the watchdog said the service has limited visibility into the program’s long-term costs because it has not completed a cost estimate for the full effort.
- Federal employees who perform environmental reviews will soon have access to more data about endangered species during the federal permitting process. The Federal Permitting Council is giving the Interior Department nearly $6 million to add more data to a digital tool used for environmental reviews. Interior will use the money to integrate data from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration into the department’s Information for Planning and Consultation tool. Right now, the tool only includes data from the Fish and Wildlife Service. The Permitting Council said centralization will improve species management, reduce consultation timeframes and streamline permitting processes while maintaining legal protections for endangered species.
- The Defense Department’s Office of Strategic Capital has posted a notice of funding opportunity for its National Security Fund Finance program. The department recently launched the effort, which will provide loans to investment fund managers who will combine it with private capital to finance companies focused on strengthening the U.S. domestic critical minerals supply chain. Proposals are due by Nov. 1. The Office of Strategic Capital said it may extend the deadline or engage with applicants before making final award decisions.
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