The National Association of State Technology Directors (NASTD) is bringing on new leadership. Late last week, the organization announced that John Hoffman, CTO for the Texas Department of Information Resources (DIR), will take over as NASTD president. At DIR, Hoffman is tasked with providing comprehensive strategic planning for the agency. He also has 25 years of experience in the wired and wireless communications fields and has held positions in network operations and integration, field operations, and program management.

The National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine (NASEM) is the latest in a string of organizations to release its recommendations on how Federal, state, and local officials can best secure U.S. elections, including the use of paper-ballot components.

California’s state Senate pushed the Golden State one step closer to enacting the Obama-era Federal net neutrality laws that were gutted by the FCC earlier this year. On Friday the state Senate passed the controversial bill, called SB 822, in a vote of 27-12 that was largely along party lines.

A pair of U.S. senators wrote to the heads of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) on Friday, imploring them to work with social media companies to root out election interference on their platforms and asking the agency heads for more information on the steps they’ve already taken to do so.

Bob Kolasky, director of the Department of Homeland Security’s (DHS) recently created National Risk Management Center (NRMC), said today that DHS is taking action this month to boost the level of communication and data exchange among state and local election officials in the run-up to the U.S. midterm elections in November.

The National Association of State Chief Information Officers (NASCIO) today released the finalists for its State IT Recognition Awards that recognize “outstanding information technology achievements in state government” in 10 categories, according to a NASCIO release.

California’s state Assembly is attempting to turn back time on net neutrality by voting yesterday to approve a controversial bill that brings the state closer to enacting the Obama-era Federal net neutrality laws that were gutted by the FCC earlier this year.

In a report released yesterday, the National Association of State Chief Information Officers (NASCIO) weighed in on the implications of artificial intelligence (AI) technologies for state CIOs.

The National Association of State Chief Information Officers (NASCIO) previewed the results of its biannual state CISO survey during a webinar on Tuesday, revealing the continued growth of cybersecurity staff among the states, and continuing resource challenges.

The First Responder Network Authority (FirstNet), a Federal government entity within the Department of Commerce that is working with AT&T to build out a nationwide broadband communications network for first responders, said today that Sue Swenson is stepping down as chair of the FirstNet board, and Jeffrey Johnson is resigning as vice chair.