The Wrap: WIT on Inclusivity, Mentorship; 5 Keys from Dell Tech CTO; Fed CX Bill Advances

Welcome to The Wrap for Wednesday, October 25! ??

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From the newsroom at MeriTalk, it’s the quickest read in Federal tech news. Here’s what you need to know today:

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Dell Tech Forum – WIT Cite Inclusivity, Mentorship

Action to further inclusivity and mentorship are two of the biggest keys for women to make their mark in the male-dominated field of technology, Federal government and private sector execs said at the Dell Technologies Forum in Washington on Tuesday. That was the resounding message from Elham Tabassi of NIST, Amrita Maguire of Dell Technologies, former Marine Corps tech leader Renata Spinks, Air Force Research Laboratory CIO Alexis Bonnell, and former Federal CIO Suzette Kent. Please do read the full story here, but also let this quote offer some of the flavor: “I would say mentorship is critical, but sponsorship becomes the key to promoting you because once you engage with people, they know they trust you, they value you, they know what you can do, and then they speak up for you when you’re not in the room,” said Maguire.

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Dell Tech CTO’s Five Tech Strategy Keys

What are the top challenges and opportunities for Dell Technologies Global Chief Technology Officer John Roese and his company’s vision for the future? How about AI technology, multi-cloud infrastructure, edge technology, the human aspect of proliferating AI tech, and cybersecurity. In a wide ranging and forward-looking keynote address at the Dell Technologies Forum this week, Roese spoke about the need to radically improve on some of those – multi-cloud, edge, and cyber – and the opportunity to shine on AI and how humans will use the technology. “These technologies are interrelated and when you bring them together you end up with potentially a better IT world and a better platform to power digital transformation and enterprises,” Roese said.

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Federal CX Bill Advances

Legislation to goose the pace of the Federal government’s efforts to improve customer service sailed through the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee (HSGAC) today by a vote of 10-1. The?Improving Government Services Act?aims to improve and streamline?customer?service that Federal agencies provide?in person, online, and over the phone, especially for “high impact” functions like veterans’ benefits and passport services. The bill was introduced with bipartisan backing by HSGAC Chairman Gary Peters, D-Mich., and Sens. James Lankford, R-Okla., and John Cornyn, R-Texas, and garnered its only nay vote today from Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky. Next stop for the measure is the full Senate. Also approved by the committee today is the delightfully named Billion Dollar Boondoggle Act, which would direct the Office of Management and Budget to submit to Congress an annual report on Federal agency projects that are over budget and behind schedule. That legislation also enjoys bipartisan backing.

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Is That AI in my Soup?

If you’re going to be consuming the fruits of artificial intelligence technology, you ought to know about it first. That's the gist of a bipartisan Senate bill introduced on Tuesday that wants AI-generated content to be clearly labeled in order to provide more transparency to the American public. The?AI Labeling Act of 2023, introduced on Oct. 24 by Sens. Brian Schatz, D-Hawaii, and John Kennedy, R-La., aims to help ensure people know when they are interacting with an artificial intelligence chatbot or AI-generated content. “People deserve to know whether or not the videos, photos, and content they see and read online is real or not,” Sen. Schatz said in a?press release. “Our bill is simple – if any content is made by artificial intelligence, it should be labeled so that people are aware and aren’t fooled or scammed.”

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DoD Rolling out Secret-Level MSFT 365

The Defense Department (DoD) is making solid headway in the rollout of the department’s secret-level version of Microsoft 365 delivered in an Impact Level 6 (IL6) cloud environment – and aptly named DoD365-Secret. The Defense Information Systems Agency (DISA) has been?piloting?the new cloud service since January, and so far more than 100,000 DoD users have completed initial migration, which provides them with modernized office productivity and collaboration tools on the Secret IP Routed Network. Component migrations across the department will continue over the coming months as more users transition to the new capability set, DoD said.

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Once again, let’s “call IT a day,” but we'll bring you more tomorrow. Until then please check the MeriTalk breaking news website throughout the day for the latest on government IT people, process, and policy.

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And finally, please hit the news tip jar [with leads, breaking news, or simply your two cents] at [email protected].