Susannah Fox, outgoing chief technology officer at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services chief technology officer, has said she believes entrepreneurship and innovation programs are key for HHS to accomplish its mission to protect the health and well-being of people.

Fox wrote in a blog entry posted Friday that HH’s office of the CTO worked to establish a culture of innovation to help department personnel carry out various tasks and encourage industry professionals to offer assistance.

“The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services faces an increasingly complex mission amidst rapid technological change,” she noted.

She added some of her office’s programs include the recruitment of talent from outside the department, use of open data technology to manage health and human services, modernization of information technology acquisition and identification of challenges and opportunities in health and technology.

Commerce Secretary Penny Pritzker has announced plans to form a new council to advise her on matters related to trade enforcement and agreement compliance.

The Advisory Council on Trade Enforcement and Compliance will also support efforts to increase the competitiveness of U.S. businesses and workers, the Commerce Department said Monday.

The department published a notice Tuesday in the Federal Register to solicit nominations for membership in ACTEC and expects to attract members from enterprises, non-governmental organizations, associations and economic development organizations.

“In 2015-16, the department investigated a record high number of trade remedy investigations, enforced 350 orders addressing dumped and/or unfairly subsidized imports, enacted enhanced enforcement tools and resolved trade compliance cases involving foreign governments that implicated more than $14 billion in U.S. exports,” said Pritzker.

“To help the department with these efforts and further execute this important mission, it is crucial that we have the best information from businesses and other stakeholders as we direct our enforcement efforts,” she added.

The Obama administration has published the second installment of the Quadrennial Energy Review that offers 76 recommendations to modernize and transform U.S. electricity infrastructure.

The Energy Department said Friday the QER 1.2 report titled “Transforming the Nation’s Electricity System” analyzes electricity generation, transmission, distribution and consumer end uses.

The report calls for the federal government to treat the electricity system as a national security asset; boost economic value and consumer equity; and build a clean and flexible electricity system, according to a White House press release published Monday.

QER 1.2 also includes recommendations to support the electricity sector’s reliability, security and resilience; establish a workforce that can build and operate a modernized grid infrastructure; and foster electricity integration across North America.

The new report builds on the first QER titled “Energy Transmission, Storage, and Distribution Infrastructure,” which was released in April 2015 and focused on infrastructures that transmit, store and distribute energy.

DOE and its partners have implemented 29 out of 63 recommendations in QER 1.1 while 21 are currently underway, the White House noted.

Congress has worked to incorporate 21 legislative recommendations in federal law.

DOE plans to collaborate with Congress and other agencies to implement recommendations from the second report.

A presidential memorandum initiated QER on Jan. 9, 2014.

The Government Accountability Office has recommended that Department of Health and Human Services instruct HHS’ Office of the Assistant Secretary for Preparedness and Response to conduct outreach programs to inform agencies and offices regarding ASPR expectations and processes.

GAO said in a report published Monday that ASPR should also develop a plan to evaluate action reports and assess the effects of authorities on emergency response and medical surge.

ASPR oversees medical and public health preparedness and response as well as the reassignment of personnel during public health emergencies.

The government watchdog found that ASPR’s efforts to communicate its processes to HHS agencies and offices have been limited and noted that outreach programs on reassignment requests, review processes and time frames can help increase  awareness on expected roles of agencies to mitigate delays during potential public health emergencies.

The office also developed processes for approval and review of states’ and tribes’ requests for personnel reassignment which would transfer officials from HHS agencies and offices to states that send reassignment requests, GAO added.

Program officials from two HHS components told GAO they were not aware of the reassignment authority as well as the time frames and processes for reassignment request assessment and approval.

HHS agreed with GAO’s two recommendations and offered information on ASPR’s implementation plan.

A bipartisan group of House lawmakers has reintroduced a bill that would require law enforcement officials to secure a warrant to access emails.

The Email Privacy Act aims to update the 1986 Electronic Communications Privacy Act and would allow law enforcement to access emails older than 180 days through third-party providers without a warrant, Rep. Suzan DelBene’s (D-Washington) office said Monday.

Delbene joined Reps. Kevin Yoder (R-Kansas) and Jared Polis (D-Colorado) to push for the adoption of the bill, which passed the House last year through a 419-0 vote but was not acted on by the Senate.

The Email Privacy Act will remove the “180-day” rule; require a warrant to obtain content from providers; authorize companies to notify customers when the government requests their data; and allow government to request a judge-ordered delay of notification in certain circumstances.

DelBene said the legislation seeks to protect civil liberties in the digital age and that she will work to address other ECPA-related matters such as geolocation information and data stored overseas.

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau has appointed Jerry Horton, former chief information officer at the U.S. Agency for International Development, as the bureau’s CIO and promoted deputy chief financial officer Elizabeth “Eli” Reilly to CFO in a series of leadership changes.

Horton previously worked at the State Department as head of the office of chief architect for the agency’s global information presence before he joined the bureau, CFPB said Friday.

He also served as CIO at the U.S. Mint within the Treasury Department and spent two decades in the private sector where he held technical and business leadership functions.

Prior to the bureau, Reilly served as a program examiner and acting branch head at the Office of Management and Budget and a Peace Corps volunteer in West Africa.

Leandra English, formerly principal deputy chief of staff at the Office of Personnel Management, has returned to the bureau to serve as the agency’s chief of staff.

Paul Kantwill, former director at the office of legal policy under the defense undersecretary for personnel and readiness at the Defense Department, has been named assistant director for servicemember affairs at the bureau.

CFPB also named John McNamara, former debt collection program manager at the agency, as assistant director of consumer lending, reporting and collections markets.