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State Department opens online passport renewal service to full public 

The days where the only option to renew your passport was mailing the State Department a printed application and a $15 check — or worse, going in person — are coming to an end.

The Department of State announced Wednesday that its new online passport renewal system is now available to the general public, expanding on the success of a limited pilot conducted earlier this year.

“Our online passport renewal system is an important example of how the Department is modernizing government services for the benefit of Americans and delivering on” President Biden’s 2021 customer experience executive order, Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in a statement. “By offering this online alternative to the traditional paper application process, the Department is embracing digital transformation to offer the most efficient and convenient passport renewal experience possible,” which has resulted in passports on average being processed “in roughly one-third the time as at the same point last summer, and well under the advertised six to eight weeks processing times.” 

Using the department’s travel.state.gov website, American adults with a U.S. address looking to renew their 10-year passports that have expired in the past five years or will expire in the coming year can answer a series of questions to ensure they’re eligible to submit for renewal online. If approved, they can then submit the renewal application, a photo and the fee using the digital system any time of day instead of heading to a passport office or mailing the materials in. During this summer’s pilot, the program would open submissions to participants daily before closing the system off once it reached a cap of applicants.

“We estimate that up to 5 million Americans a year will be able to use this service,” Assistant Secretary for Consular Affairs Rena Bitter said in a press call, adding that in 2023, State processed 24 million “passport products,” about 40% of which were renewals. “We’ve been testing it … since June, actually, of this year and actually even prior to that. We’ve been getting very good customer reviews. We’ll continue to seek customer feedback as people use the service, but as of now it’s open to all Americans, and we’re really excited about that.”

While the new service commits to issuing renewed passports within six to eight weeks, Bitter said processing times “are really historically low,” and this online system adds a new option and greater convenience for renewal applicants. 

The hope, Bitter said, is that State can continue to build off of this success and expand the system to account for other passport submissions. Currently, the system does not allow for expedited or urgent travel requests.

“This is a first step in what we hope will be a much longer-term process to be able to modernize the systems that we’re using and to be able to provide a better service — to continue to provide good service to the American people,” she said. “I think we just want to get this off the ground, make sure that it’s something that the American people are able to use, that it provides a convenient service, and then we’ll see where we go from there.”

House announces new AI policy establishing guardrails, approval process

The Committee on House Administration and Office of the Chief Administrative Officer announced the implementation of a new House-wide policy Thursday for the safe deployment of artificial intelligence tools by member and institutional offices.

That policy, which was not released in full, “provides a framework for the expanded use of AI in the House,” according to an overview from the CAO. It also establishes guardrails and principles to guide members and offices and includes a process by which the Administration Committee — known as CHA— and CAO will approve AI tools for use cases. 

Implementation of the policy comes as there’s been some, though seemingly limited, experimentation with the AI-based tools by lawmakers’ offices in both chambers. Similar to guidance established by executive agencies, the policy appears to strike a balance between permitting uses that could bring efficiencies while ensuring those uses are safe, responsible and secure.

“The policy is based on a reliable framework which will continue to evolve as AI technology continues to develop,” Chief Administrative Officer Catherine Szpindor said in a written statement in the release. “The policy is to assist Members and staff to safeguard potentially sensitive information while also empowering them to leverage AI to better serve the American people.”

Szpindor praised the CAO Cybersecurity team for its work with the CHA to create the policy.

Also in statements provided in the release, CHA Chairman Bryan Steil, R-Wis., said that “the House will become more effective and innovative” with the new policy, and Rep. Joe Morelle, D-N.Y., the panel’s ranking member, said it “provides a strong foundation to begin safe use in the House.”

Under the new approval process, the CAO will review AI tools for “defined use cases” and the CHA will approve them. That process is intended to help “offices to reduce the security and privacy risks associated with AI,” according to the CAO overview. 

In addition to guardrails and principles, the policy also outlines permissible and prohibited use cases. It also provides “a foundation for Members to use approved AI tools which are aligned to authorized use cases or are permitted under their office’s inter AI use policy,” the outline said.

The policy became effective Aug. 28, as approved by the CHA.

In response to a FedScoop request for additional details about the approval process, permitted and prohibited use cases, and security and privacy policies, a spokesperson for the CHA said: “Right now, the CAO and CHA are focused on generally permissible use cases. CHA regularly collaborates with the CAO to discuss new use cases. We have a robust foundation that we are constantly building on. As an example, the generally permissible use cases are managing scheduling requests, translation, and transcription services. We cannot share any information related to security and privacy.”

The office of the CAO told FedScoop in a statement that when it comes to reviewing use cases, the policy takes “a risk-based approach.” 

“The CAO will not be recommending approval of AI for sensitive data or processes for the foreseeable future. However, we will learn from lower risk data sets as the technology evolves and matures,” the office said in the statement.

Additionally, the office disclosed that some AI tools are in the process of being reviewed.

House calendar, social media tracker among tools launched since last Congressional Hackathon

The Congressional Hackathon will return Thursday, once again bringing together lawmakers, staffers, and technologists for a large-scale brainstorming session on tech-driven ideas that could solve problems faced by the legislative branch.

That event, which was first held in 2011 with Facebook as an experiment, has gradually become more and more of a fixture for congressional modernization efforts, providing a launchpad for ideas like providing access to raw legislative data and digitizing casework. It’s now been held annually since 2022, and last year, formally gained institutional support from the House Office of the Chief Administrative Officer. 

As the sixth hackathon gears up, the event has new progress to show for its efforts. Two of the five top recommendations from last year’s event have been implemented and others are on their way to being realized, Steve Dwyer, senior director for innovation at the CAO, told FedScoop.

“This last year has been a tremendous success. I think more has been done in this past year than any prior year,” said Dwyer, who helped spearhead the first event as a staffer for then-Democratic Whip Steny Hoyer of Maryland. 

Completed items from last year’s recommendation list are an internal unified House calendar that was launched in July and an internal social media tracking tool that was announced in recent weeks by the CAO to compare lawmakers’ social media statistics, Dwyer said. 

That calendar, which he said staff are using “a ton,” was a priority of the now-concluded Select Committee on the Modernization, including videos from every committee, member rosters, and schedule conflicts.

Meanwhile, the social media tracking tool allows staff to compare their social media analytics against other offices to provide context for how outreach on those platforms is doing, which was a high-demand need among staff, Dwyer said. That tool, he said, collects public statistics such as follower counts and number of posts per day and pulls them together into one place.

Projects to come

While not yet completed, the remaining three recommendations from last year are in the works, including an online staff directory for the entire legislative branch. Dwyer, who is leading that project, said the CAO has been working on that effort a lot over the past six months and expects to both demo that tool at the Thursday hackathon and pilot it in the coming weeks.

“These are ones that I’m really excited about, but they haven’t even launched yet, mostly because they’re just larger projects,” Dwyer said.

Progress is also being made on an anonymized constituent casework database, a project championed by Rep. Derek Kilmer, D-Wash., ranking member of the House Committee on Administration’s Modernization Subcommittee who is slated to speak at the event. 

That tool, which was also recommended by the Select Committee on the Modernization of Congress, would aim to create an opt-in system that would use anonymized constituent casework data to identify issues and trends. Dwyer said some offices are participating in a “limited, early pilot” of that project. 

Additionally, the third recommendation to create bill summaries using artificial intelligence is also in progress, though that project is being led by the Congressional Research Service. At a House hearing in March, CRS’ Interim Director Robert Newlen told lawmakers the agency was working to implement AI for legislative summaries “soon.” 

Development and pilots

Success on projects this year from the 2023 hackathon is due in part to the fact that “a lot of the stars have aligned,” Dwyer said, pointing specifically to the creation of the CAO’s House Digital Service team, of which he’s a part. That group was announced in 2022 and has grown “quite a bit in the past year,” according to Dwyer.

The process of developing those tools follows a methodology focused on users, rapid prototyping, and delivering early and often, Dwyer said. While the hackathon serves as the CAO’s “biggest listening event of the year,” they also hold listening events throughout the year to get feedback, he said. 

Projects start by piloting with small groups of 20 to 30 staffers that get early, exclusive access and give their feedback in exchange. The CAO collects that feedback through things like surveys and meetings in which the test users share their screens while they use the tool. 

“Then we just ever expand,” Dwyer said. Pilots gradually increase to more and more staffers and the feedback and analytics continue until the CAO is ready to formally announce the project. That was the case for both the unified House calendar and the social media tracking tool.

This year

In addition to the anticipated idea-swapping, the Thursday event is expected to feature remarks by Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries, N.Y., and House Chief Administrator Catherine Szpindor.

Johnson is expected to address the country’s technological competitiveness against geopolitical adversaries, such as China, according to prepared remarks his office shared with FedScoop. “This is an exercise to protect America’s place in the world, and I’m grateful for your role in it,” Johnson’s remarks state.

Bipartisan bill to boost oversight of agency digital services clears Senate panel

A bipartisan House bill aimed at improving customer service interactions with government technology breezed through a key Senate panel Wednesday, putting it one step closer to becoming law.

The Government Service Delivery Improvement Act passed the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee by an 11-0 tally, setting it up for a vote before the full chamber. The bill, first introduced by Reps. Ro Khanna, D-Calif., Byron Donalds, R-Fla., Barry Loudermilk, R-Ga., and William Timmons, R-S.C. in the House last October, passed that chamber in May.

The legislation tasks agency heads with designating a senior official to oversee service delivery improvements and charges the Office of Management and Budget with choosing a senior official to coordinate governmentwide efforts on the issue.

Khanna said in an email to FedScoop that the bill “will make it easier and more efficient than ever for Americans to access government services including Social Security, retirement benefits, Medicare health coverage, veterans’ benefits, and student loans.” He added that he was “grateful” to HSGAC Chair Gary Peters, D-Mich., and ranking member Rand Paul, R-Ky., for shepherding the bill through the committee, and “hopeful it will pass the Senate and head to the president’s desk.”

Following the House’s passage of the bill in May, Loudermilk said the requirements of agency staffers laid out in the text would ensure “a more effective, reliable, and responsive federal government” that “works to keep its promise to deliver quality services to the American people.” 

In the same press release, Rep. Gerry Connolly, D-Va., ranking member of the House Oversight and Accountability Cybersecurity, Information Technology, and Government Innovation Subcommittee, stressed the importance of the federal government’s ability to “measure its progress” in how public-facing agency products are modernized.

“It’s absolutely imperative that the public interacts with a modern, accessible, and customer-focused government,” Connolly said.

The legislation builds on Khanna’s the 21st Century IDEA Act, which called for a “consistent look” in government websites that complied with Technology Transformation Service standards. The bill, which was signed into law by then-President Donald Trump at the end of 2018, also featured a variety of measures to modernize and improve the accessibility of agency websites. OMB and the Office of the Federal CIO last year released guidance aimed at holding agencies accountable to provisions in the law.

Two other government tech-related bills passed the Senate panel Wednesday: the GSA Technology Accountability Act from Connolly and Rep. Pete Sessions, R-Texas, and the Telework Transparency Act from Peters and Sen. Joni Ernst, R-Iowa.

The Connolly-Sessions bill would “ensure GSA is held accountable to Congress and the American people in how it spends taxpayer dollars on technology projects and initiatives,” per a press release from Sessions’ staff in March that accompanied the bill’s introduction. 

The Senate telework bill, which was introduced in April, would require federal agencies to collect data on remote work and track its impact on performance and property decisions. 

“My bipartisan bill will require agencies to gather accurate data on telework policies to provide more transparency and help ensure federal agencies are effectively carrying out their missions for the American people,” Peters said at the time. 

Federal Acquisition Security Council would get ‘teeth’ under bipartisan House bill

The Federal Acquisition Security Council would be empowered to better protect the federal supply chain from adversarial technology companies and products under a new bipartisan bill from a quartet of House lawmakers.

The Federal Acquisition Security Council Improvement Act of 2024 — from Reps. James Comer, R-Ky. and Jamie Raskin, D-Md., the chair and ranking member of the House Committee on Oversight and Accountability, and Reps. John Moolenaar, R-Mich., and Raja Krishnamoorthi, D-Ill., chair and ranking member of the chamber’s Select Committee on the CCP — would improve the council’s abilities to safeguard the federal supply chain by excluding or expelling entities “owned or controlled by a foreign adversary” from federal information systems.

Comer said in a press release that the bill equips the council with “teeth” by allowing it to issue binding removal and exclusion orders through a standardized process from Congress, while also expanding the focus of the FASC to “include acquisition more broadly.” Part of that expanded focus would include acquisition security at large and a requirement of the council to “proactively monitor and evaluate certain covered articles for ongoing risk.” 

“We have bipartisan consensus that protecting our nation’s supply chains is key to national security,” Raskin said in the release. “This legislation takes an important step to protecting the federal government against the purchase of products and services from our foreign adversaries. It will help address any vulnerabilities in our technology infrastructure and guard against national security threats.”

The council itself would undergo changes in membership and administrative location pending  passage of the legislation. The bill would move the council to the White House’s Office of the National Cyber Director to provide “operational, legal and policy support.” According to the bill’s text, the program office would provide the council with “analysis and subject matter expertise on information communications technology acquisition security” and supply chain risk. 

Additionally, membership from the council would include officials from the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency, the General Services Administration, ONCD and the National Institute of Standards and Technology. Officials who are granted membership must “have expertise in supply chain management, acquisitions, law or information and communications technology,” according to the bill’s text.

National Science Foundation, Simons Foundation launch two AI institutes for astronomy

Two new artificial intelligence institutes announced by the National Science Foundation on Wednesday will focus on astronomy, with the aim of using the budding technology to advance humans’ understanding of the universe. 

The institutes, which will be funded by NSF and the Simons Foundation, add to the agency’s existing 26 AI institutes across the country. Each new institute will receive $20 million over five years, which breaks down to $10 million from NSF and $10 million from the Simons Foundation, according to a press release from the agency.

“Astronomy has incredibly rich and open data sets and is poised for more deep and profound inquiry,” David Spergel, president of the Simons Foundation, said in a statement included in that release. “AI offers novel tools that can use this data both to produce transformative results and to develop tools that can have impact in other fields.”

The two new centers will be called the NSF-Simons AI Institute for Cosmic Origins, abbreviated NSF-Simons CosmicAI, and the NSF-Simons AI Institute for the Sky, abbreviated NSF-Simons SkAI. According to the release, the work of those institutes also won’t be limited to advancing AI for astronomy alone.

“Both institutes aim to advance the capabilities of AI beyond just astronomical sciences so it can become a more useful tool for all scientific disciplines involving large datasets, sophisticated models and the iterative process of generating and experimentally testing theories,” according to NSF.

The NSF Simons CosmicAI, for its part, will be led by the University of Texas at Austin in collaboration with the University of Utah, University of Virginia, UCLA, and NSF’s NOIRLab, which focuses on nighttime astronomical science, and its National Radio Astronomy Observatory, which is made up of multiple radio telescope facilities around the U.S. and Chile. 

That institute will work “to accelerate traditionally time-consuming aspects of astronomical research, such as processing and analyzing large amounts of data and creating and evaluating simulations of complex phenomena like the chemical processes within stars,” according to the release.

The NSF-Simons SkAI institute, meanwhile, will be led by Northwestern University in collaboration with the University of Chicago, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, University of Illinois Chicago, and the Chicago-based Adler Planetarium. 

It will focus on what the release called “exceptionally complex problems in astrophysics and astronomy,” including the physics of exotic objects (such as black holes and neutron stars), the formation of galaxies, and the roles of dark matter and dark energy.

In remarks included in the release, NSF Director Sethuraman Panchanathan pointed to the vast amount of data that will come from large projects such as the Vera C. Rubin Observatory, which is a joint operation by the agency and the Department of Energy, saying the information is “simply too vast and rich to be fully explored with existing methods.”

“With reliable and trustworthy AI in their toolbox, everyone from students to senior researchers will have exciting new ways to gain valuable insights leading to amazing discoveries that might otherwise remain hidden in the data,” Panchanathan said.

The photo used is licensed under Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported.

NRC enlists GSA to help with artificial intelligence governance

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission and the General Services Administration are partnering for an artificial intelligence maturity assessment as a foundational step in the nuclear agency’s path to finalizing a strategic plan.

Over the next nine months, the NRC will welcome a GSA provided-project manager to work directly with staff to consult on what the agency needs to solidify an enterprise strategic plan, Basia Sall, the chief data officer and director of the NRC’s Data, Information Management and Enterprise Governance division, told FedScoop during an AI workshop at agency headquarters Tuesday. This partnership, according to Sall, is through a resource within the GSA’s AI Center of Excellence.

Sall teased the partnership last week during a press conference regarding the AI workshop and pointed to GSA’s assistance during the Tuesday event. The contracted project manager is expected to assist the agency in finding what it would need to build a strategic plan. 

“We actually will have a contractor … that hasn’t been identified yet, that will work directly with our staff,” Sall told FedScoop. “They’ll come over, they’ll actually embed themselves and really do outreach in the agency and probably do outreach to our external stakeholders as well to really help us.”

The NRC had released an AI strategic plan in the spring of 2023, but is now working to release another strategic plan in compliance with Office of Management and Budget guidance.

Sall said the NRC has to work through an interagency agreement with GSA because the project manager is “doing all the contracting work, all the acquisition work on their side.”

“That is a huge benefit to us because we just don’t have enough current bench strength, as we’re hiring up right now to manage that,” Sall said

The partnership is in the early stages, according to Sall, and the agency is “still solidifying the deliverables and what we’re looking for.” She said that “in the next month or two, I expect us to have a much clearer path forward.”


The GSA declined to comment on the partnership, though its AI Center of Excellence offers details to users on how it measures AI readiness, specifically focusing on both organizational and operational maturity.

UN report: E-government makes global strides, but digital divide persists

A newly released 2024 E-Government Survey from the United Nations paints a picture of significant progress in the global pursuit of digital government. Compared to just a few years ago, a vast majority of countries are leveraging technology and delivering an expanding range of digital services to citizens and businesses.  

However, while all regions throughout the world are using technology to enhance public services and citizen engagement, significant disparities remain.

The newly released 2024 report — the latest in a series that began in 2001 — provides a comprehensive overview of e-government development from global, regional, national and local perspectives for 193 UN member states. The findings are based on a combination of factors, including online government services, telecommunications infrastructure, adult literacy and digital participation.

Europe continues to lead in e-government development, followed by Asia, the Americas, Oceania, and Africa, based on the UN’s E-Government Development Index (EGDI). While all regions have made significant progress in recent years, the pace of development is uneven, and regional disparities exist.

Overall, the UN reports the proportion of the population lagging behind in digital government development has dropped from 45% in 2022 to 22.4% in 2024. However, this progress masks a persistent digital divide, with 1.73 billion people still needing access to basic digital services. The gaps are particularly wide in Africa and Oceania.

FedScoop graphic

Denmark, Estonia, Singapore, Republic of Korea and Iceland continue to lead the list of top 20 countries with the most mature digital public services, based on their relative EGDI rankings. Saudia Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain also placed high on the list, reflecting significant gains compared to the UN’s last study in 2022. The United States, which ranked 10th two years ago, has slipped to 19th in the UN’s latest report, surpassed by the United Kingdom, Australia, Germany, Japan, Sweden, Norway and Spain. That, in part, reflects continuing gaps in high-speed broadband coverage in parts of the U.S.

Vincenzo Aquaro, chief of the Digital Government Branch within the UN’s Department of Economic and Social Affairs, which produced the survey, emphasized the importance of looking beyond the rankings.

“Focusing on policy recommendations and exploring new methodological frameworks, like the Digital Government Model Framework introduced in this edition, can provide a more comprehensive understanding of each country’s digital government initiatives and progress,” he said in comments posted on LinkedIn.

The model framework provides a roadmap for countries to effectively plan, implement, and assess their digital government initiatives, according to Aquaro. It emphasizes an ecosystem approach, focusing on good governance, inclusivity, and security and aims to leverage digital technologies to enhance public service delivery, promote inclusivity, and achieve sustainable development goals.

The report delves into the development of digital government on a regional basis, noting a pronounced shift towards digital technologies that accelerated during the post-pandemic recovery period. That shift was fueled by increased investment in resilient infrastructures and advanced solutions such as cloud computing and broadband, and by increased computing power, decreased costs, and the explosion of data due to mobile device proliferation.

“The public sector’s example has stimulated demand for new digital services, promoting digital entrepreneurship and creating technology-driven job opportunities. These transformations have collectively contributed to more robust, sustainable, and resilient economies better prepared for current challenges and future uncertainties,” the report notes.

The survey also highlights the importance of local-level digital government, which is often the first point of contact for citizens seeking public services. However, the report observes that a significant gap exists between national and local e-government development, with many cities lacking a basic online presence. The report calls for focused efforts to bridge this gap and ensure smaller municipalities are included.

The promise and peril of AI

New to this year’s report is a chapter on the potential impact of artificial intelligence in the public sector.  While AI can automate processes, enhance efficiency, and improve decision-making, its rapid development has outpaced regulatory frameworks, observed Aquaro.

“It’s important to note that the number of countries with AI legislation still falls significantly short of those with the well-established digital government strategies,” Aquaro said at a UN press briefing accompanying the survey’s release. “This gap highlights the need for more synchronized efforts between AI regulations and existing digital government framework, as well as the need for integration with broader digital government strategies to ensure smooth implementation and avoid potential governance conflict.”

Among other findings, the survey notes:

The survey suggests that governments, international organizations, and the private sector must work more closely to accelerate digital government development, bridge the digital divide, and ensure digital technologies are used responsibly and inclusively to benefit all citizens.

In particular, it stressed the need for:

This report was updated on September 18 to incorporate additional comments from Vincenzo Aquaro about the e-goverment survey.

Chinese national charged in alleged spearphishing campaign that targeted NASA, Air Force

A federal grand jury in Atlanta has indicted a Chinese national on charges stemming from his alleged efforts to use spearphishing to target U.S. entities, including NASA, the Federal Aviation Administration, and several military branches.

The indictment, which was filed Sept. 10 and unsealed Monday by the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Georgia, charges Song Wu, 39, with wire fraud and aggravated identity theft related to those efforts. According to a DOJ press release, Song was an employee of the Aviation Industry Corporation of China, a Chinese state-owned company, and remains at large.

The case was one of three announced by the DOJ on Monday as part of its Disruptive Technology Strike Force that’s co-led by the Department of Commerce. The strike force, which was established in 2023, is aimed at thwarting attempts by foreign adversaries to obtain sensitive U.S. technology through illicit means. 

The criminal charges in the other two cases involve allegations that a Russian national illegally exported components for unmanned aerial vehicles to Russia and that another Russian national and a Massachusetts man smuggled laser welding machines to Russia. 

“As today’s announcements make clear, our efforts to protect sensitive U.S. technologies — which to date have yielded 24 publicly charged criminal cases, millions of dollars in administrative penalties, and multiple Entity List additions — remain relentless and unyielding,” Matthew S. Axelrod, assistant secretary for export enforcement at the Department of Commerce, said in a statement provided in the release.

Specifically, Song’s indictment states that he, with the help of other unknown individuals, “devised and intended to devise a scheme and artifice to defraud the United States government, research universities, private sector companies, professors, researchers, and engineers,” among other things. 

In a scheme that lasted from roughly January 2017 to December 2021, Song allegedly sent spearphishing emails — those that appear to be coming from a trusted sender — to individuals employed by the U.S. government at NASA, the Air Force, the Navy, the Army, and the FAA, as well as professors at multiple research universities and private-sector aerospace companies. 

Song, according to the indictment, sought source code and software related to aerospace engineering and computational fluid dynamics. The indictment described that source code and software as not publicly available, designated as “U.S. Release Only,” or limited to use by those “working on projects where the tools would be applicable.”

The emails Song allegedly sent asked the recipient to make the source code and software available and were made to look like they were coming from a colleague, associate or friend. In some cases, the victim fell for the scam and sent the source code Song requested, according to the court document. It is not clear from the filing what software or source code Song obtained.

According to a press release from the Justice Department, the case is being investigated by the FBI and NASA’s Office of the Inspector General.

NASA declined to comment.

NTSB looking for help managing its fleet of drones

The National Transportation Safety Board is hoping to streamline its use of drone technology, according to a recent federal contracts posting. 

The independent federal agency is hoping to track its growing fleet of uncrewed aerial systems, or UAS, which it currently uses to investigate accidents, and the NTSB now says it’s looking for a cloud-based software provider that can provide fleet management services. This fleet is supposed to help the agency document transportation accidents — which the NTSB is charged with investigating — including capturing videography and photography of accidents and conducting mapping and photogrammetry. 

The hope, the agency says, is that this software will help boost the efficiency of the drone program — and make it easier for NTSB to respond to public records requests. Currently, the agency has no centralized way of tracking its drone assets, according to the posting. 

“Until recently, the NTSB has been operating the UAS program under a proof of concept with limited flight crew and resources,” the posting states. “This archaic and inefficient paper documentation process places the agency at risk in properly maintaining a robust safety management system (SMS) required of all federal flight programs.”

The NTSB’s drone program, while small, is growing. The agency has been operating a drone program since 2016, and until recently had just five aircraft, four active members of the crew, and one lead. The posting states that the UAS Flight Operations Program was commissioned recently and that its aircraft now numbers 12, with its staff up to 15. 

The update is a reminder that as NTSB increases its focus on investigating drone use and drone-related accidents, the agency is also using the technology itself. 

This story was updated Sept. 18, 2024, to correct the fact that NTSB is an independent agency.