The GIST of Govt IT

Why a Former DHS CISO Never Wasted a Good Crisis

Kenneth Bible walked into the DHS CISO job on January 3, 2021, with the agency still reeling from the SolarWinds hack. Now a board member at Crytica Security, the former

Mission Executive: Insights from a Six-Time Federal CIO

Six federal CIO roles, and every one of them secured by an intentional process, hard work, and homework. Brian and Sean sit down with Dr. Barry West, founder of West Wing

If You're Not First, You're Last: A Former Govt. CTO's Perspective

Steve Wallace spent 15 years at DISA, seven and a half of them as CTO, building some of the largest IT programs the Department has ever attempted. Now 130 days into his r

A Wrap on FY26: Trading Disruption for Execution

In this season finale, Brian and Sean look back on a year that traded disruption for execution. Sean breaks down the wave of end-of-year infrastructure buys as CIOs final

Security Compliance Checklists vs. Commander's Intent

The government is great at security governance — but that isn't the same as being secure. In Episode 18 of The GIST of Govt IT, Brian and Sean sit down with Ian Kell

The LRA is Here and the Clock is Ticking!

It's here. On August 20, CISA dropped the Logging Reference Architecture (LRA) a practitioner's guide that operationalizes OMB M-26-14 and the countdown just go

Federal AI Wants to Fly but Data Weighs it Down

Somewhere between 60% and 80% of federal AI projects have stalled out and the common denominator almost always traces back to the data. In Episode 16 of The GIST of Govt

Billion Dollar Pilots and Boil Water Notices: Securing OT Environments

“The only thing that isn't digital in the Department of War is the bayonet.” That line from DoW CISO Aaron Bishop set the tone for a standing-room panel Brian modera

A Pause, Not a Pass on CMMC

On July 13, the Department of War hit pause on one of the most consequential compliance regimes in the defense industrial base. In Episode 14 of The GIST of Govt IT, Bria

Fed Christmas in July? The OMB M-26-14 Holiday Rush Begins!

Level One by Christmas. Level Two by Valentine's Day. Level Three by Independence Day. That's the OMB M-26-14 logging mandate clock federal agencies are now rac

The Founding Fathers' Guide to Federal IT

Happy 250th birthday, America. In this special shortened Fourth of July episode of The GIST of Govt IT, Brian and Sean keep it snackable for the beach-and-boat crowd — ki

The Five-Dollar Agentic AI Hacker

Four days. A spare $500 mini PC from Microcenter. An open-source quantized model running on 512 MB of VRAM. And by Thursday morning, an autonomous AI agent named Jenkins

An Apache Down. An ASV Up: Crossing the Rubicon for Autonomous Warfare

In Episode 10 of The GIST of Govt IT, Brian and Sean are joined by David Hutchins, Director of Naval Systems and Defense Technology at Forecast International, fresh off S

Quad Charts be Damned: Data Meets the Mission

For years now, the question for federal agencies has been the same: is your data ready for AI? In Episode 9 of The GIST of Govt IT, Brian and Sean sit down with Andrew Ch

Minutes, Not Months: Inside the New Cyber Velocity Facing Federal Agencies

48 hours. That's the time it took for a federal employee credentials to be stolen as a result of a phishing attack, to being listed on a dark web marketplace. In Epi

Iran Came for US Dams and We Got Lucky: Frontline Insights from the OT Fight

When Iranian-linked cyber actors hit U.S. water, energy, and government facilities through internet-exposed Rockwell Allen-Bradley PLCs during the sixth week of the U.S.–

Cupcakes & OODA Loops: Inside(r) Insights Into the New Federal AI Cyber Playbook

Last episode, we left you hanging with a question: when it comes to cybersecurity, what is the federal government doing to both leverage AI and defend against AI threats

Vibe Hacking and Nation State Cyber Threats

Your router may not be your router. It could be a Russian surveillance device. In Episode 5 of The GIST of Govt IT, Brian and Sean unpack a stunning two weeks in cybersec

A New Playbook for Small Businesses and Startups in Federal IT

From a startup consulting shop to a $1.4B IBM acquisition, Octo Consulting Group's story is one of the great growth journeys in government IT. Brian and Sean sit dow

Chaos, Change, and Opportunity in Federal IT

"Chaos." "Change." "Opportunity." Three words that surfaced in a room full of federal contractors when asked to describe today's government IT environment. Sean and