Open Source in the Federal Government
summary
Federal agencies run tens of thousands of systems and arguably government is largest consumer of OSS, yet the code inventory required by M‑16‑21 lapses, code.gov is gone and the 20% release pilot never hit its mark; Congress’ Share It Act and EO 14144 now mandate inventories, reuse and best practices. Examples: SELinux (NSA open‑sourced in 2000 and moved to community control), US Web Design System, Open MCT, and IRS Direct File (fully open‑sourced). Proposals include mandatory SBoMs, use of mirrors/GitLab, automation of vetting, and require contractors to contribute fixes upstream; currently 164 US federal GitHub organizations register publicly.
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chapters (7)
- 0:00Introduction
- 2:26Why open source matters
- 5:35Open source challenges
- 10:51Federal open source policy
- 18:15Federal open source reality
- 26:22Improving federal open source
- 33:04Q&A
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