Federal Manager's Daily Report

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Congress has sent to the White House for an expected signature a bill (S-1869) to require new scrutiny of ownership of building space leased by federal agencies, in particular whether there is foreign ownership of space where secure activities are conducted.

The bill would require the GSA to design a verification system that identifies a property’s owners if the space would be used for high-security purposes. It also would require the GSA and individual agencies to include provisions in their leasing agreements limiting property owners’ physical access to spaces the government uses for high-security purposes.

Meanwhile, a bipartisan bill has been offered in the Senate—laying the groundwork for a similar bill to be considered in the next Congress starting in January—to increase transparency and modernize how the government responds to cybersecurity incidents on federal information systems.

The bill would modify the Federal Information Security Management Act to clarify how and when agencies must notify impacted individuals and Congress when data breaches occur and require that agencies share information about such incidents to OMB and DHS. The former would have to develop standard practices for sharing of that information and the latter would issue reports describing the most common and most dangerous threats.

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2022 Federal Employees Handbook