The State Department’s diplomatic workforce is feeling overburdened, under-resourced and more likely to leave in the next few years, given sweeping changes happening under the Trump administration, according to a survey conducted by its union.

In a survey of more than 2,100 active-duty Foreign Service employees, the American Foreign Service Association found that 98% of respondents reported reduced morale this year.

About 86% of respondents said workplace changes since January have affected their ability to advance U.S. diplomatic priorities.

Before the Trump administration, about 17,000 active-duty Foreign Service officers worked for the State Department. AFSA estimates that nearly 25% of its workforce left this year — when counting layoffs, retirements and those who accepted deferred resignation offers.

Nearly a third of survey respondents said they have changed their career plans since the beginning of this year.

More than 80% of respondents said they entered the Service intending to serve 20 years or more — but now about 22% of them say they plan to leave the State Department within the next year or two.

AFSA President John Dinkelman said in a call Wednesday that survey results demonstrate a “workplace crisis” at the State Department that will take “years, if not decades, to repair.”

“When we undermine the Foreign Service, we undermine America’s ability to prevent conflict, support our allies, and protect our citizens abroad. In short, we weaken our global leadership,” Dinkelman said.

The State Department sent layoff notices to nearly 1,350 of its employees this summer. Those reductions in force will be finalized, once nearly 250 Foreign Service officers officially separate from the agency this Friday.

The department carried out a massive agency reorganization this year, consolidating and eliminating hundreds of offices.

After sending the mass layoff notices in July, the department began hiring new Foreign Service officers this fall.

Some candidates in the hiring pipeline had to retake a new version of the Foreign Service Officer Test that had been vetted by the Trump administration. The State Department has also made “fidelity” to the administration’s policy goals part of the new criteria to determine if Foreign Service officers are eligible for promotions.

Dinkelman said that the expertise of the Foreign Service “is not easily rebuilt,” and that the State Department will have less experienced diplomats filling its depleted ranks.

“While we certainly will be able to find individuals to enter the service and begin again, those individuals who come in in 2026, ‘27 and ‘28 will not have the expertise, that will have been lost in these previous years, for decades to come,” Dinkelman said.

State Department spokesman Tommy Pigott said in a statement that Secretary of State Marco Rubio “values candid insights from patriotic Americans who have chosen to serve their country.”

“In fact, this administration reorganized the entire State Department to ensure those on the front lines – the regional bureaus and the embassies – are in a position to impact policies,” Pigott said. “What we will not tolerate is people using their positions to actively undermine the duly elected president’s objectives.”

AFSA conducted the survey to gather feedback that its members have not been able to share with agency leadership.

Federal News Network first reported this summer that the Trump administration will not conduct the Federal Employee Viewpoint Survey this year, a governmentwide scorecard that tracks employee satisfaction.

“We knew that AFSA had a responsibility to step into this breach,” Dinkelman said. “This report offers the first independent snapshot of the Foreign Service during a period of sustained institutional stress.”

The 2024 Best Places to Work in the Federal Government scorecard, which parses FEVS data and is tracked by the Partnership for Public Service, shows the State Department received a 62.8 satisfaction score from employees — and ranked 16th for employee satisfaction among 18 large federal agencies.

About 78% of respondents said they are operating under reduced budgets this year, while 64% said key projects and initiatives are being delayed or suspended.

“I’ve served in hardship posts and multiple unaccompanied tours, but I never expected by my own government to openly disparage public service or the work of public servants,” an anonymous Foreign Service officer told AFSA.

Rohit Nepal, AFSA’s vice president for the State Department, said active-duty Foreign Service officers are being asked to take on more work from offices that have been eliminated, following the reorganization.

More than 60% of survey respondents agreed they are managing “significantly higher workloads due to staffing losses.”

“We’re talking about offices working on some of our highest priorities That could be the war in Gaza, Ukraine, our strategic competition with China. In other words, these folks are being asked to do more without the necessary resources to actually accomplish the job. It’s taking a toll on them,” Nepal said.

Nepal, who is an active-duty Foreign Service officer, said a hiring freeze this year led to key positions going unfilled during his last post in Amman, Jordan.

“We found ourselves unable to hire, even while we were dealing with an exchange of regular Iranian missile exchanges over Jordanian skies during the Israel-Iran war,” he said.

Nepal said Foreign Service officers are “reading the political tea leaves,” and avoiding certain types of jobs.

Nepal said a junior public diplomacy officer told him that they weren’t going to bid on jobs in public diplomacy, because “clearly we don’t care about PD anymore.”

Nepal said another Foreign Service officer with years of experience on refugee and human rights issues told him that “there’s no place for people like her in the department right now.”

“Let’s be clear: American diplomacy is weaker because of this politicization. Talented diplomats aren’t being selected for jobs or are not stepping forward because they believe they can’t get a fair shake in this environment,” Nepal said.

The report calls on Congress to intervene with sweeping changes happening to the agency, and that lawmakers “should make clear that career professionals cannot be punished, reassigned, or dismissed for political reasons.”

Sen. Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.), co-founder of the Senate Foreign Service Caucus, said in a statement that the report shows “a year of relentless attacks by the administration against these dedicated public servants has left our diplomatic corps in crisis — a vulnerability that our adversaries are all too happy to exploit.”

Linda Thomas-Greenfield, former Director General of the Foreign Service and U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, said in a statement that “AFSA’s data confirms we’re asking our diplomats to do more with less precisely when robust engagement is needed most.”

The post ‘A workplace crisis:’ Nearly all Foreign Service employees report lower morale in union-led survey first appeared on Federal News Network.

• The Federal Aviation Administration is giving 776 air traffic controllers and technicians a $10,000 bonus for working during the 44-day partial government shutdown. The bonuses will be sent to those employees who maintained perfect attendance during the shutdown. Recipients will receive an automated notification this week and receive their payment no later than December 9. The FAA's decision to offer bonuses to employees follows a similar effort by the Transportation Security Administration to reward transportation security officers who also worked during the government shutdown.
  (776 FAA employees to receive $10k bonus for working during shutdown - Federal Aviation Administration)
• The Agriculture Department is detailing how employees can express religion in the workplace. USDA leaders said employees are allowed to display religious items or form prayer groups at the office. Employees can also request different work schedules for religious observances, daily prayers or fasting periods. USDA will draw the line if employees start pushing unwelcome advances of discussing religion with coworkers. The new memo comes after President Trump ordered agencies to protect “religious expression” in the workplace.
  (USDA issues guidance to protect religious expression in the federal workplace - Agriculture Department)
• A bipartisan group of lawmakers wants the Defense Department to overhaul how it screens service members transitioning out of the military for mental health conditions. A new bill titled the Medical Integrity in Necessary Diagnostics (MIND) for Our Veterans Act of 2025, would require DoD and the Department of Veterans Affairs to only use validated, evidence-based tools for screening PTSD, alcohol misuse and violence risk during the separation process. Lawmakers said the current health assessments lack standardized and validated mental health screening, which undermines early identification and intervention efforts. The bill also pushes the department to consider adding a substance-use screening, citing its close link to mental health challenges.
  (Lawmakers seek to overhaul DoD mental health screenings for service members leaving - Sen. Pete Ricketts (R-Neb.))
• Two lawmakers want to fully exempt military pay from federal income tax. The Service Members Tax Relief Act seeks to eliminate federal income tax on all active-duty and reserve pay, as well as enlistment, retention, education bonuses and all special and incentive pays. The new bill goes well beyond previous tax-exemption proposals, which largely focus on exempting different types of bonuses from federal income tax. The lawmakers also introduced the Tax Cuts for Veterans Act of 2025, which would exclude all military retirement pay and veterans’ benefits from federal income taxes.
  (New bill seeks to exempt military pay from federal income tax - Federal News Network)
• The Federal Communications Commission reversed cybersecurity rules for telecommunications providers that were put forward following the sweeping “Salt Typhoon” hacks. In a 2-to-1 decision, the FCC rescinded a ruling and proposed rules last January that would've required telecom operators to secure their networks under Section 105 of the Communications Assistance for Law Enforcement Act. The commission said its previous ruling and proposed rule was based on flawed legal analysis and they proposed ineffective cybersecurity requirements. The FCC said its ruling comes after months of discussions with telecommunications providers about steps they have taken to harden their cyber defenses. Additionally, the FCC said it has taken other steps including creating a Council on National Security to improve communication with critical infrastructure sectors.
  (FCC reverses cyber rules that came from Salt Typhoon attack - Federal Communications Commission)
• The Trump administration said it’s finished the process of rescinding the reductions-in-force agencies issued during the government shutdown. That’s thanks to a provision in the continuing resolution that reopened the government last month. Language in the measure required agencies to treat those RIF notices as null and void, and notify the affected employees within five days. Court filings show agencies issued RIF notices to more than 3,600 people during the shutdown.
  (Trump administration says it’s finished rescinding RIFs agencies issued during the government shutdown - Federal News Network)
• The Merit Systems Protection Board is moving to a different location for its office in the national capital region. The former MSPB office in Arlington, Virginia, will be relocated to a building in downtown Washington, D.C. The move took place in mid-November for D.C.-based agency employees. MSPB said any feds with pending cases before the board don’t need to take action in response to the office move.
  (MSPB Washington Regional Office has moved - Merit Systems Protection Board)
• The chief information officer at the IRS appears to be taking the next steps in a reorganization after losing more than 25% of its staff earlier this year. In an email sent last week, the agency directed its IT workforce to complete a “technical skills assessment.” The agency’s CIO said the assessment is “not a performance rating,” and that individual results will not affect employees’ pay or grade.
  (IRS CIO directs IT workforce to complete "technical skills assessment" - Federal News Network)

The post 776 Air Traffic controllers and technicians to get $10,000 shutdown bonuses first appeared on Federal News Network.

Interview transcript:

 

Terry Gerton A lot has happened over the last few weeks and as people in the contracting world get back to their desks and start things back up again, they’ve got a lot to touch base on. Just before the shutdown we had the publishing of the FAR overhaul and defense has come out with a lot of new priorities. How can people start to put all these pieces together and make sure they’re working with the whole picture?

Emily Murphy It’s a really complicated picture right now. I want to go back and say — GSA, DoD, NASA, OFPP did an incredible job in getting that FAR overhaul done and published. And they even got the updated FAR companion out during the shutdown, which I know has to have been a struggle. So they did a wonderful job with it. USDA, Department of Homeland Security, and GSA have all adopted the entire new set of standard deviations. That means, however, that no other agency has. So if you’re a contracting officer right now or you’re a contractor, there’s not a standard set of rules you can go to. You have to be looking at which deviations did this agency adopt? How does that interface with what contract vehicle I’m using? And what about this other policy that’s happening over at the Department of War? There’s not a clear one-size-fits-all answer to the problem anymore. If you think of GSA, for example, assisted acquisition has always said that they follow the rules of the funding agency. So, money and requirements coming into GSA’s assisted acquisition service, they’re going to follow that agency’s money and the rules that come with it. Well, that might mean that they’re adopting, if it’s coming in from Department of Energy, one set of rules; Department of War, another set of rules. If it’s coming in from the SBA, it might be a third set of rules. So I keep thinking that if I’m an 1102 right now, a contracting officer, I want more monitors. Because I’m going to have to have so many different versions of rules and guidance up until we can make it through this. I think the standardization is going to come, but I think it’s going to be a really tough few months — as the new rulemaking takes effect  as more and more agencies adopt those standard deviations, and as we get more clarity on what the Department of War’s new announcement from the 7th of December actually means in the application, so that we know what to expect with those contracts.

Terry Gerton How much more complicated does the continuing resolution make it? Because now some agencies have full-year appropriations. We have a CR in place for others through the 30th of January. And on top of that, we have all these new rules that you’re talking about.

Emily Murphy So if one thing contracting officers are used to dealing with and contractors are very used to dealing with, it’s CRs. I don’t think that that’s going to be the hard thing. It does slow down new starts for the agencies that have a continuing resolution. For the agencies that actually have their appropriations, it means that they can get started. It actually may help balance the workload out a little bit, because you can start the new starts for agencies that have the authority while you’re still working on the continuing resolution and continuing the existing contracts for all the other agencies. But the sort of mosaic of rules and regulations out there is going to make things tougher … it’s one more complication thrown into the mix. And the irony is that this is all really intended to make things simpler, faster, cheaper, better. And I think ultimately it will, but it’s going to be a little bit painful for the next couple months.

Terry Gerton Well, speaking of simpler, faster, better, cheaper, what’s the perspective of contractors? We’re talking first about the contracting workforce, but contractors and especially small business organizations who might not have a big contracting shop to help them navigate all of this. What should they be looking at and thinking about in this new, sort of interim period?

Emily Murphy So they need to be really carefully looking at not just their contracts, but the agencies they’re doing business with and seeing where the changes are coming. For example, if you’re an 8(a) firm, you need to be looking at the new competition rules that are in part 19. If you’re a service-disabled veteran or a woman-owned small business or hub zone company, it’s opening up the realm of what you can compete for, because things that were previously in the 8(a) program are now available if an agency chooses to take them and compete them amongst those other socioeconomic categories, they can. That’s just looking at the small business programs. They also need to be looking at the clauses. Right now, their contracts probably have the old clause matrix in them. Part 12 reduced for commercial type contracting, reduced the number of clauses by about 30%. Which clauses are changing? Which ones can they get, and what does that transition look like for them? What can they stop doing? And what do they have to change how they’ve been approaching? And it’s going to be a sort of a contract-by-contract answer. Someone’s going to deal with their flow-downs. And then we’re also hearing — I think Jason Miller, your colleague, reported on it — that there’s going to be maybe some changes to how IT value-added resellers are being treated. So that’s not even in the current regulations, but it’s something that’s sort of looming out there over the community that they that they’re going to need to be paying a lot of attention to, because limitation on subcontracting is becoming more important. Compliance with contracting terms, frankly even the move towards OTAs and CSOs and all sorts of alternative contracting, they’re going to have to become masters at a whole other set of contracting options — or award options, I should say, not even contracting options at that point.

Terry Gerton I’m speaking with Emily Murphy. She’s former administrator of the General Services Administration and senior fellow at the Baroni Center for Government Contracting at George Mason University. Emily, along with all of these changes, you’ve been a strong advocate for training of 1102s. But with all of this happening, and we have Secretary Hegseth announcing a complete shift in focus for DAU, now the Warfighting Acquisition University, what do you see as key to keeping 1102s current and keeping their mindset focused on these new ways of doing business?

Emily Murphy So we’re giving the 1102s, the contracting community, a lot of new tools. I mean, you’re seeing GSAI, the Department of War is rolling out new tools as well. Everyone’s got new tools. We’ve got new regulations, we’ve got new authorities. What I haven’t seen is anyone budgeting for the time to train the workforce on how to use these and how to use them properly. There are some very powerful tools out there and very powerful changes in the regulations themselves that give that workforce a lot more authority. But you’ve got a realignment of who the your contracting officers are going to be reporting to within the Department of War, so that they’re going to be reporting instead of up into a contracting organization, they’re going to be aligned with the program instead. At least that’s what’s been stated. We haven’t seen the reassignments happen yet. So how is that going to change day-to-day business? Who’s taking the time to sit down and explain you can now do a simplified acquisition procedure for commercial items up to $9 million? What does that look like? How do I do it? How do I do it well? If I still have to get a senior-level approval for an award above — and choose your threshold because it varies from agency to agency — $100,000, $50,000, $250,000, $1 million, what advantage is there to these new simplified tools that I’ve got if everything’s still going to go through an enhanced level of review that’s imposed at the agency level? How does that play itself out? And where should I be spending my time and prioritizing to get that best deal? There’s so much more data. How do I use it? How do I make sure that it doesn’t create a conflict of interest, also? If I’m educating an AI model, how do I make sure I’m educating it appropriately and then using it in a way that it doesn’t create its own organizational conflict of interest or its own problems with inherently governmental? How do I make sure it’s not hallucinating?

Terry Gerton Who should be thinking about that training and who should be funding it since so many of these changes are centrally driven?

Emily Murphy  I know that GSA has been thinking about this. Clearly the Department of War, with the rebranding and renaming of the BAU to WAU, is thinking about training. The problem is time. You’ve got a workforce that has been under enormous pressure to get things out the door. And training isn’t something that happens … they lost over 40 days, they lost over six weeks of opportunity that they couldn’t go and take that training. And there is a backlog of work. Training, unfortunately, gets frequently put on the back burner at that point when it needs to be prioritized first so that you’ve got the ability to actually execute better on what’s waiting on your desk. But that’s easy to say. It’s a lot harder to do when your desk is overflowing with work.

Terry Gerton Contracting shops are a lot leaner after all the DRPs and downsizing. We’ve got lots of new confusing rules. Do you anticipate that this is going to pose a problem in terms of oversight and then potentially protests as this plays out?

Emily Murphy I think it is. I think it’s interesting. I heard the other day that it’s about 25% of the acquisition workforce that’s gone. I couldn’t point to the source of that statistic, but that’s a substantial reduction at a time when we’re not seeing a reduction in contracting actions or in spending. And when you’ve got different rules and different interpretations of those rules and guidance that can be changed regularly, that doesn’t have the same effect as a actual regulation, it leaves open the possibility that contracting officers or program offices or others can be interpreting things in different ways. And a difference of interpretation is ripe for oversight. And I don’t mean that in a in a negative way; that oversight can actually help highlight where you’ve got discrepancies if it’s done appropriately. It can also, though, turn into a game of “gotcha.” And for a workforce that’s already stretched pretty thin, playing “gotcha” with them just doesn’t seem very fair right now.

The post Now that the shutdown is over, contracting officers have a lot to catch up on first appeared on Federal News Network.

CHICAGO — When Mike Braun took office as governor of Indiana in January, he quickly found he needed to address two critical issues.

First, Indiana state agencies were woefully behind in how they were using and managing technology.

Second, he understood the systems and applications implemented throughout the state were at risk of cyber attack.

“I was surprised how disaggregated and disorganized it was. In our state government, that’s about 30,000 employees spread across about 60 or 70 agencies. There was no central technology theme. It seemed like everyone was doing their own thing,” Braun said during the second annual GovRAMP Cyber Summit in October. “The thing I heard most is [the employees] didn’t like it; it wasn’t working and it was almost outdated. We were spending a fortune on it, not to mention the cybersecurity side of it. I guess the only blessing would have been, since it wasn’t that great, had it been taken down, it would have been then the real motivation to maybe fix it.”

Braun said he has slowly been improving the processes to buy and apply technology to state services. But when it came to cybersecurity, he moved fast.

In March, Braun signed an executive order that among other things mandated the implementation of a risk and authorization management program (RAMP) for cloud computing services.

“If we want to be the leading state, not only on technology but in how to protect it, whether that be education, healthcare, infrastructure, even things like utility rates, then we needed to be there and we weren’t. That’s why I put it into as high a gear as I could. That’s what that executive order was about,” he said.

Indiana’s mandate to use a RAMP comes on the heels of a growing use of the GovRAMP, formerly known as StateRAMP, initiative.

Leah McGrath, executive director of GovRAMP, said the service now includes 70 participating state and local governments, 33 states and around 400 private sector members, 10% of which are small businesses with under $5 million in annual revenue.

GovRAMP has added about eight new state participants over the last year. McGrath said she credits the continue growth of states and companies to meeting them where they are and not trying to force them into a one-size-fits all approach to cybersecurity.

“With our security program, what we’ve learned, especially when we are working with states and local governments, education and the providers who serve them, is that we needed to be able to build out a program that’s not a binary choice of, are you fully authorized or not? So we really have worked over the course of the last few years to create a step-by-step program,” McGrath said. “It’s more a question of, where are you in your journey? Are you progressing? And are you taking those steps forward so that we can make visible, here’s the risk and then our participating governments can make really informed decisions that fit their risk appetite and need.”

GovRAMP continues to grow

One way GovRAMP is creating a more flexible program is through the recently updated Progressing Snapshot Program that kicks into gear on Jan. 1.

McGrath said GovRAMP launched the Snapshot Program in 2023 in direct response after hearing from states and companies, both of whom wanted better visibility in the cyber journey.

The Progressing Snapshot Program will update state participants on the progress companies are making in reaching the different levels of GovRAMP – low, moderate and eventually high baselines.

“What we’ve done with GovRAMP is by working with our program management office is we created a centralized, shared service, and so the changes are going to have a positive impact on our participating governments,” she said. “The way that it works is by having that centralized program management office function, they’re reviewing all the packages. They’re reviewing all the Progressing Snapshot Program statuses and where the vendors are. The providers have the ability, through our PMO portal, to give access to the participating governments. Governments can ask for access. Once they’re given access, one of the things that we heard that was really important is they don’t have time or interest to log in every day and see what’s happening. So what we have instituted is a continuous monitoring escalation policy. So once a government’s been given access to the continuous monitoring of a provider’s package or product information, then if there is something that is escalated, you have a vulnerability. That will trigger a notification to our governments to log in and take a look, because something changed that they need to be aware of, so that they can take action if they need to.”

At the same time, GovRAMP is initiating a new “core status” effort, which is administered by its PMO and provides a structured, standards-based milestone approach to help vendors more quickly provide secure cloud services, but it doesn’t require an immediate leap to full authorization.

McGrath said vendors must implement and demonstrate that they meet 60 controls under the MITRE Attack framework to achieve core status.

“Once you’ve demonstrated via evidence that you’ve met these 60 controls, you achieve a core status, and now you roll into quarterly continuous monitoring,” she said. “Core is a GovRAMP status and it’s like 20x for FedRAMP. What’s unique about core, as we’ve been working with our participating governments, is it could be a stepping stone to what’s next. It could be, you’re GovRAMP core, you meet the requirements to begin a contract with an agency, but they want you to become authorized because you’re handling some really sensitive data. So you have 12-to-18 months to go the distance of full authorization. Or it could be a terminal status, meaning core is all a government may require, depending on the data and the impact of the potential security.”

Confidence in and transparency about GovRAMP are major reasons why the program is gaining more and more users.

Jeff Maxon, the chief information technology officer for the state of Kansas, said his office just issued a new cloud security policy requiring the use of vendors who meet the minimum standards of GovRAMP or the federal government program known as FedRAMP.

“We’re starting to set the governance in place to more broadly adopt GovRAMP and what they’re providing because we know we’re not going to do everything ourselves. We need to rely on the vendors, but we also don’t have the resources internally to assess and audit each of those vendors,” he said. “That’s where GovRAMP really steps in and helps the states and takes that burden off the states, and gives us a degree of confidence that the vendors we’re using have things in place to protect themselves.”

Nikki Rosecrans, the chief information security officer for Arapahoe County, Colorado, added GovRAMP and FedRAMP authorized vendors provide her with the confidence that the cloud security tool is secure and will be kept up to date through a rigorous oversight process.

“We have it written into our procurement language. We have it outlined for our larger vendors who transmit or process some of the most sensitive data, so your personally identifiable information, criminal justice information or your personal health information. That is a part of our requirement for those third party vendors,” Rosecrans said.

Collaborating with procurement experts

Driving cloud security standards through the procurement process is one of GovRAMP’s ongoing initiatives to expand its reach.

GovRAMP worked with National Association of State Procurement Officials (NASPO) on a multi-state cooperative purchasing agreement for cloud and software solutions that is run by Utah.

Nick Hughes, the senior cooperative portfolio manager at NASPO, said the award includes 51 suppliers. Hughes said NASPO is in the process of awarding an updated 10-year contract for cloud and software solutions that will be more flexible, letting companies join in the middle of the contract and making it easier for awardees to add new technologies as they mature.

Hughes said by working with GovRAMP and the National Association of State CIOs, NASPO is ensuring everyone is speaking the same language.

“It’s making sure we have some type of translation to get on that same page. So we have regular meetings that are really good to get us on the same page because it’s constantly evolving. With GovRAMP, they’ve been heavily involved with the new solicitation for cloud and software solutions,” he said. “They are helpful in making sure there are terms that are going to be applicable for this type of security standard. They help us answer questions like ‘Are we going to implement the security standards within the solicitation or make it optional for the states? And then also, can we navigate when a state signs on can they restrict security standards for an executive branch agency or have it broadly applied to the entire jurisdiction or geography of the state?’ They’ve been critical in helping answer questions from suppliers too.”

NASPO current manages about 63 different cooperative agreements for everything from technology to playground equipment to managing the Agriculture Department’s Women, Infant and Children (WIC) infant formula rebate program.

The continued partnership between acquisition and technology officials isn’t just to create cooperative contracts.

Vendors seeing benefits too

JR Sloan, the Arizona CIO and incoming vice president of NASCIO, said the state has incorporated GovRAMP requirements into their contracts.

“We’re working it through our processes. Things in government take kind of going to turn over, and the fact that we had a RAMP program before GovRAMP existed was helpful,” he said. “And yet, I will tell you that we are much better position today as we approach new procurements with awareness across all of the individuals. Arizona is a more federated environment, decentralized and yet in that community, I can tell you that folks are aware of what GovRAMP is, what the benefits are and how do we engage in the state’s procurement process to ensure that they are on the right path to success.”

The benefits aren’t just for the states. But vendors who participate in RAMP-type programs also see significant advantages.

John Lee, the vice president of cloud services at Carahsoft, said vendors participating in the FedRAMP program, for example, are seeing increased profits.

“If I’m a vendor, I’m actually seeing like a 30% price increase for a moderate solution. So diving a little bit deeper, 20% increase for the low impact levels and we’re seeing about 33% increase for the FedRAMP high. And we’re seeing like a 48% increase in cost when you’re dealing with the Defense Department Impact Level four, and almost a 65% increase because there’s additional security controls that you have to do in order to get those across the board,” Lee said. “So as a vendor, we’re seeing there is that government’s is willing to pay for that additional security that’s in place.”

Joe Bielawski, the president of knowledge services and a member of the GovRAMP board, said going forward the focus area for GovRAMP is the harmonization among existing cybersecurity standards.

He said GovRAMP is working with federal agencies, including the FBI and the General Services Administration, on standard overlays for programs like CJIS or FedRAMP.

“At the end of the day, I look at GovRAMP  and ask how do we simplify a very, complex world? The fact that we have been able to, as an organization, have 33 plus states, 60 plus cities, towns and other political subdivisions adopting GovRAMP is a great accomplishment,” Bielawski said. “But in that process of simplifying a framework that everyone can agree to and then overlaying these other frameworks to make it simpler, more easy for adopting GovRAMP will solve a big challenge we all have.”

The post Indiana’s push toward cyber standards highlights growth of GovRAMP first appeared on Federal News Network.

The Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) has set out to teach law enforcement officers in Uzbekistan how to conduct crypto and dark web investigations. The regional body recently organized a training course for employees of the country’s security agencies in Tashkent.

Uzbekistan Police and Security Agents Attend OSCE Course on Cryptocurrencies

Representatives of Uzbekistan’s Prosecutor General’s Office, the Ministry of Internal Affairs, and the State Security Service have taken a training course on cryptocurrency and dark web investigations held by the OSCE between Oct. 17 and 21 in the capital Tashkent.

The course was organized by the OSCE Transnational Threats Department in co-operation with the OSCE Project Co-ordinator in Uzbekistan and the Academy of the Prosecutor General’s Office, the intergovernmental security body said on its website.

“Participants learned about the main concepts and key trends in the areas of internetworking, anonymity and encryption, cryptocurrencies, obfuscation techniques, dark web, and Tor networks,” the announcement detailed.

They also practiced various approaches and methods for seizure of crypto assets, blockchain analysis, and darknet searching. The course was based on materials provided by the European Cybercrime Training and Education Group (ECTEG).

A new computer classroom donated by the OSCE to the Prosecutor General’s Academy was inaugurated before the course by Deputy Prosecutor General of Uzbekistan Erkin Yuldashev and Acting OSCE Project Co-ordinator in Uzbekistan Hans-Ulrich Ihm.

Crypto Training in Region to Continue Throughout Next Year

Digital technologies have been transforming the criminal landscape, noted Evgeniy Kolenko who heads the Prosecutor General’s Academy. He insisted that educating law enforcement in this field needs a long-term and systematic approach.

“Cybercrime education requires adequate equipment – both hardware and software,” added Gayrat Musaev, Head of the Academy’s Department for Implementation of Information and Communication Technologies and Information Security. Musaev also praised the new dark web lab.

The OSCE course is the first of this kind in Uzbekistan within the second phase of the “Capacity Building on Combating Cybercrime in Central Asia” project funded by the U.S., Germany, and South Korea. Similar training activities will continue across the region throughout 2022 and 2023.

This year, the government in Tashkent has been taking steps to more comprehensively regulate Uzbekistan’s crypto sector. In the spring, President Shavkat Mirziyoyev issued a decree providing definitions for terms like crypto assets and exchange. New registration rules for crypto miners were presented in June and earlier in October, Uzbekistan introduced monthly fees for crypto companies.

Do you think law enforcement authorities in Central Asia will continue to increase focus on the crypto space? Share your thoughts on the subject in the comments section below.