Technology and tech policy have been at the heart of the Trump administration since the president took office, and major pushes over the last three years will have significant impacts on federal IT management for years to come.
Early on, the administration published the IT Modernization Plan and a tech-heavy President’s Management Agenda. While neither document is policy itself, they set the stage for a surge of IT policy updates from the Office of Management and Budget’s Office of the Federal Chief Information Officer.
The focus on technology as a driver of management decisions led to the creation of a few IT policies and significant updates to many more. While the Trump administration is coming to an end, the policies established during his term will live on—at least until updated, rescinded or superseded by new policies.
Extra Reading: Why It’s So Hard to Write Federal Technology Policy
Pandemic Policy
Before leaving office, then-Federal CIO Suzette Kent said 2020 would be the year all the planning and policy turned into progress. But COVID-19 had other ideas.
Despite—and, in one case, because of—the pandemic, there were a few IT policy moves this year.
From an IT perspective, 2020 was marked by two major policies: the “Maximum Telework” memo and release of documents for Trusted Internet Connection 3.
In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, OMB issued a memo in March instructing agencies to policies trump administration leaves behind
