Author Archive
Frank Konkel
Executive Editor, Nextgov

Frank Konkel is Nextgov’s executive editor. He writes about the intersection of government and technology. Frank began covering tech in 2013 upon moving to the Washington, D.C., area after getting his start in journalism working at local and state issues at daily newspapers in his home state of Michigan. Frank was born and raised on a dairy farm and graduated from Michigan State University.
Policy
Lawmakers Introduce Bill to Ban TikTok, Citing National Security
Bipartisan bill follows FBI warnings about Beijing's sway over the world's largest social-media platform.
- Frank Konkel
Business
Pentagon Splits $9B Cloud Effort Among Amazon, Google, Microsoft, Oracle
All four had been shortlisted for JWCC, DOD's do-over of its giant JEDI cloud contract effort.
- Frank Konkel
Policy
Biden Invokes Defense Production Act to Boost Clean Energy Manufacturing
“Reducing America’s dependence on gas and oil is critical to U.S. national security,” DepSecDef Hicks said.
- Frank Konkel
Threats
Iran-Linked Hackers Probing US Networks, Intel Agencies Warn
Active “cyber operations against government and commercial networks” may seek to take advantage of defenders' focus on Russia.
- Frank Konkel
Threats
Biden ‘Prepared to Respond’ If Russia Cyberattacks US
The White House also announced sanctions to limit Russia’s access to cutting-edge technologies.
- Frank Konkel
Threats
US Spy Chief Warns Government Is Classifying Too Much Data
As the amount of data soars, so does the burden of reviewing classified data for its eventual declassification.
- Frank Konkel
Business
Amazon Offers 2nd Air-Gapped Cloud For Top-Secret Data
The new cloud's data centers are "more than 1,000 miles" away from the northern-Virginia complex that serves U.S. intelligence and defense agencies.
- Frank Konkel
Policy
NSA Awards Secret Up-to-$10B Contract to Amazon
A Microsoft protest of the decision has revealed some details about the U.S. intelligence community's second multi-billion dollar cloud award of the year.
- Frank Konkel
Business
Pentagon Cancels JEDI Cloud Contract
The Defense Department will opt for a new multibillion-dollar, multi-vendor contract.
- Frank Konkel and Mila Jasper
Threats
The Pandemic is Pushing the Pentagon Toward Classified Telework
The risk-averse agency has cracked small-scale remote handling of secret and top-secret information. The challenge is doing it at scale.
- Frank Konkel
Science & Tech
Navy's $70 Billion Financial System Now in the Cloud
Just "one database contained more than 13 terabytes of data." Amazon moved the entire system in 10 months, eight ahead of schedule.
- Frank Konkel
Science & Tech
Amazon: Pentagon Is Trying to ‘Gerrymander’ Its JEDI Fix
Amazon Web Services said the Pentagon’s plan to fix the Joint Enterprise Defense Infrastructure cloud contract is not enough.
- Frank Konkel
Science & Tech
Amazon Wants Trump to Testify as It Protests JEDI Cloud Award
Amazon Web Services also wants to hear from Defense Secretary Mark Esper and has asked for White House communications in its case against the Defense Department.
- Frank Konkel
Science & Tech
Amazon Will File Injunction to Stop JEDI Work
The latest twist in the Pentagon’s JEDI cloud contract could halt further action.
- Frank Konkel
Threats
DHS Starts Collecting DNA From Some Detainees at US Border
Agencies will send samples to the FBI’s databases for indefinite storage.
- Frank Konkel
Science & Tech
Amazon’s JEDI Protest Centers on Trump
In July, the president made highly unusual remarks about the competition for the giant cloud-computing contract.
- Frank Konkel
Business
Court Clears Pentagon to Award JEDI Lawsuit
The ruling against Oracle allows the government to award the contract in August to Microsoft or Amazon Web Services.
- Frank Konkel
Business
The US Government’s Historic Spending Spree Continues
Spending data from the Government Accountability Office confirmed last year’s predicted spending spree and early fiscal 2019 data suggests historical spending levels continued.
- Frank Konkel
Science & Tech
The Pentagon Is Recruiting Tech Talent Like Colleges Recruit Athletes
The Defense Department is trying new methods of engagement to recruit young techies.
- Frank Konkel
Science & Tech
IBM Files Bid Protest Against Pentagon’s JEDI Contract
IBM becomes the second company to file a pre-award bid protest against the Pentagon’s multibillion cloud contract.
- Frank Konkel