Weekly Round Up: September 22-26, 2025

Artificial Intelligence

CBP Reveals New Details on AI-Powered ‘Meta-Human’. Don’t remember the U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) meta-human announcement from a few months back? No problem – new details have just been released, and a top CBP official has hinted that the meta-human may be deployed soon.  CBP’s “meta-human” will be an avatar powered by artificial intelligence, explained Edward Mays, deputy assistant commissioner of Infrastructure and support services and chief enterprise infrastructure officer at CBP.  Mays said that the meta-human will start off as inward facing to help reduce workload and give time back to CBP employees by allowing them to focus on other tasks. 

AI, Quantum, and Security Top OSTP’s Research Priorities. The White House is putting artificial intelligence at the center of America’s research agenda in a Tuesday memo detailing the Office of Science and Technology Policy’s (OSTP) fiscal year 2027 research and development priorities.  “In a world where American dominance is not guaranteed and our adversaries pursue whole-of-nation approaches to S&T competition, federally funded R&D must focus on targeted, transformational investments in areas such as [AI], quantum science, nuclear energy, biotechnology, national security technologies, and ambitious space exploration,” reads the memo. 

AI Action Plan Spurs Training Push Across Health Agencies. After the Trump administration’s Artificial Intelligence Action Plan was released earlier this summer, health-related agencies are finding ways to train their workforce and incorporate AI into regular operations. Speaking at the Bethesda Health IT Summit 2025 on Tuesday, federal officials shared how their agencies are working to comply with the AI Action Plan’s mandate that all federal agencies should utilize AI whenever possible.  Jesus Caban, the chief data and analytics officer at Defense Health Agency (DHA), said that as AI efforts ramp up

Beware the AI Experimentation Trap. The MIT Media Lab’s finding that 95% of generative AI investments have produced no measurable returns highlights a familiar pitfall: Leaders are repeating the mistakes of the digital transformation era by funding scattered pilots that don’t connect to real business value. The takeaway is not that AI experimentation is broken, but that it must be disciplined—focused on solving core customer problems; chosen with frameworks like intensity, frequency, and density; run at low cost to enable iteration; and designed with scaling in mind through empowered “ninja” teams. Leaders should ignore hype-driven distractions and instead view AI as one tool in the larger shift toward digitally driven organizations, where success depends on using technology to transform operations and serve customers better.

Technology

VA to Resume EHR Deployments With New Wave-Based Strategy. The Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) is preparing to resume its deployments of the Federal Electronic Health Record (EHR) to 13 sites in fiscal year (FY) 2026, and this time, the agency is planning to move away from individual site rollouts. Instead, the agency will deploy the EHR in waves to multiple sites at a time, according to Dr. Neil Evans, the acting program executive director of the VA’s Electronic Health Record Modernization Integration Office.

Federal CIO Greg Barbaccia Backs FedRAMP 20x, Shares OMB’s Priorities. Federal Chief Information Officer (CIO) Greg Barbaccia said that the White House Office of Management and Budget (OMB) is “fully committed” to the General Services Administration’s (GSA) FedRAMP 20x revamp.  GSA launched FedRAMP 20x in March, a revamp effort focused on automation to accelerate the approval of secure cloud services. FedRAMP officially unveiled Barbaccia laid out OMB’s priorities in backing the effort. “I have done FedRAMP in my past life, and what a pain in the butt,” Barbaccia said. “We’re working to fix it. We know that if we want the government to accept and adopt incredible technology, we’ve got to meet you halfway – ideally more.”

Innovation

Why You Need Systems Thinking Now. Traditional innovation approaches—breakthrough and design thinking—often ignore the complex ripple effects they produce in interconnected systems. In a world facing multifaceted challenges a systems-thinking approach offers a more resilient and holistic path forward. Systems thinking emphasizes understanding interdependencies, redefining problems iteratively, and engaging diverse stakeholders to co-create solutions. This article outlines a four-step framework: (1) Define a desired future state. (2) Reframe problems so that they resonate across stakeholders. (3) Focus on flows and relationships over discrete products. And (4) implement small nudges to gradually shift the system.

Cybersecurity

DOD Unveils New Cybersecurity Risk Management Construct. After months of vowing to “blow up” the Risk Management Framework (RMF), the Pentagon has officially rolled out a new cybersecurity model designed to “deliver real-time cyber defense at operational speed.” The Cybersecurity Risk Management Construct (CSRMC) is the department’s new real-time framework that replaces the previous RMF. The CSRMC offers a faster, more adaptive approach focused on automation, continuous monitoring, and resilience.

Acquisition

Space Force Relaunches ‘Front Door’ With New Name, Expanded Features.  The U.S. Space Force rebranded its industry engagement initiative, changing the name from “Front Door” to “Space Force Front Door” to drive more collaboration with commercial partners. Officials say the new name highlights the platform’s increasing significance in connecting commercial innovators with programs that advance U.S. space capabilities and enhance national security.

Has Space Force cracked the code on faster acquisition? As the U.S. military waits for major acquisition reform legislation, Space Force officials say their service is ahead of the curve. The service is amid an organizational transformation, aligning acquisition programs with mission areas under units it calls systems deltas. The change, along with the commercial strategy signed in 2024, has changed how the service’s program executives and program directors look at acquisition and commercial providers.

Leadership

Now Is the Time for Courage. Research has shown that fortune favors the bold, not the cautious. But in volatile and uncertain times, many leaders hesitate to act, and others simply freeze up. The question is, Can bravery be acquired? In this article an HBS professor who has done extensive research on the subject argues that everyone can—and should—learn to be courageous. Risk management helps tamp down fear, of course, but it isn’t enough. The author uncovered five specific strategies used by people who demonstrate bravery: (1) They create positive narratives that guide them through chaos, often recasting their work as a moral quest. (2) They build their confidence through training and preparation, by expanding their arsenal of mental tools, and by focusing on what they can control. (3) They size up complex and ambiguous situations step-by-step, adjusting course as their understanding grows. (4) They enlist the help of allies, mentors, and critics. (5) they help themselves stay calm by practicing self-care, embracing rituals, and reframing situations more positively.

How Digital Integration Is Reconfiguring Value Chains.  While companies have been “unbundling” their operations and outsourcing tasks for decades, advances in IT are now helping them take that strategy to a whole new level. These technologies make it possible to digitally integrate workflows across organizations, letting firms easily distribute complex chains of activities among multiple entities, including customers. They not only slash collaboration costs but give all players instant access to capabilities that only large firms could once afford.

Workforce

Meink Stresses Readiness, Modernization, People. Air Force Secretary Troy Meink said the service is accelerating innovation, enhancing readiness, and offering stronger support for personnel to maintain U.S. air and space superiority amid growing global threats. “Today the U.S. has dominance. Our job is to maintain that dominance,” Meink said during his remarks at the Air, Space and Cyber Conference on Sept 22. Meink warned that the United States now faces strategic competitors – chiefly China – who have spent years deliberately chipping away at America’s dominance in air and space. Although the United States retains a lead, he cautioned, the margin is shrinking.He stressed that maintaining an edge requires innovation at every level of the service, from acquisition strategies to personnel development and support.

Senate Confirms Darío Gil, Conner Prochaska to Top Energy Posts. The Senate confirmed two key Department of Energy (DOE) nominees, approving Darío Gil as undersecretary for science and innovation and Conner Prochaska as director of the Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy (ARPA-E). Gil steps into the role after serving as the senior vice president at IBM Research. During his confirmation hearing, Gil told lawmakers that the U.S. must win the race to build a quantum supercomputer by the end of the decade. “This future industry is one the U.S. must dominate, as it has profound scientific, economic, and national security implications,” Gil said.  Prochaska, meanwhile, assumes the top role at ARPA-E after previously serving there during the first Trump administration, including as chief commercialization officer. During his confirmation hearing,  Prochaska told lawmakers that the would work to advance energy and critical technologies.

Oversight

GSA OIG to Examine Impact of Trump Administration Directives. The General Services Administration’s (GSA) internal watchdog has a list of things it wants to get a closer look at for fiscal year (FY) 2026 – including those related to recent Trump administration executive orders and actions led by the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE).  Among its list of priority audits for FY 2026 released on Thursday, the GSA Office of the Inspector General (OIG) said that it will inspect the shuttering of its Technology Transformation Service’s 18F team and evaluate whether GSA’s OneGov initiative accurately measures its savings.

THIS WEEK @ THE CENTER 

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