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Today on the Daily Scoop podcast from the Scoop News Group. F5 products pose an imminent risk to federal agencies, SZA says, and senators are urging new aviation safety proposals after the fatal collision near DCA earlier this year. It's Monday, October 20, 2025. Welcome to the Daily Scoop podcast, where you'll hear the latest news and trends facing government leaders. I'm the host of the Daily Scoop Podcast, Billy Mitchell. Thanks so much for joining me. Now let's dive into the day's top headlines. Federal cybersecurity authorities issued an emergency directive last week requiring federal agencies to identify and apply security updates to F5 devices after the cybersecurity vendor said a nation state attacker had long term persistent access to its systems. The order, which mandates federal civilian executive branch agencies to take action by Wednesday, October 22, marked the second emergency directive issued by the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency in three weeks. CISA issued both of the emergency directives months after impacted vendors were first made aware of attacks on their internal systems or products. F5 said it first learned of unauthorized access to its systems Aug. 9, resulting in data theft, including segments of source code and details on vulnerabilities the company was addressing internally at the time. CISA declined to say when F5 first alerted the agency to the intrusion, but officials at the agency said they're not currently aware of any federal agencies that have been compromised. But similar to the emergency directive issued following an attack on a spree involving zero day vulnerabilities affecting Cisco firewalls, they expect the response and mitigation efforts to provide a better understanding of the scope of any potential compromise in federal networks. Many federal agencies and private organizations could be impacted, and CISA said there are thousands of F5 product types in use across the executive branch agencies. These attacks on widely used vendors and their customers are part of a broader campaign targeting key elements of America's technology supply chain, extending the potential downstream effect to federal agencies, critical infrastructure providers and government officials, nick Anderson, executive assistant director for cybersecurity at cisa, said during a media briefing last week. CISU declined to name the country or specific threat groups behind the attack on F5 systems. Generally, the broader goal of nation state attackers is to maintain persistent access within the targeted victims network to hold those systems hostage, launch a future attack or gather sensitive information. Anderson said CISA's order requires federal agencies to apply security patches that F5 released in response to the attack, disconnect non supported devices or services, and to provide CISA a report including a detailed inventory of all instances of F5 products within the scope of the directive. Now moving on to other news, Senators Maria Cantwell, Democrat of Washington, and Ted Cruz, Republican of Texas, moved to mandate comprehensive new safety reviews for all aircraft operations near DCA and at all major and midsize US Airports in a bipartisan agreement that would also require fleets across the nation to be equipped with more precise situational awareness technology. Their proposal aims to resolve safety issues identified by the federal investigation into the tragic crash in January where an Army UH60M Black Hawk helicopter fatally collided with an American Airlines passenger plane over the Potomac river near Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport, better known as DCA. All 67 people aboard both aircraft were killed in the collision. In a statement on Thursday, Tim and Sherry Lilly, whose son was the first officer on board that American Airlines flight, called on Congress to, quote, continue moving quickly and decisively to pass and fully implement these reforms because every person who boards an aircraft depends on it. The 42 page Cantwell Cruise Bipartisan Aviation Safety Agreement combines elements of legislation the lawmakers previously put forward separately in the months after the fatal collision. It includes language that directs every military service with an aviation component to sign a Memorandum of understanding with the Federal Aviation Administration to share appropriate safety information and expand coordination to prevent future accidents. Another safety failure that came into light in the wake of the crash was associated with the Army Blackhawk helicopter not transmitting via Automatic Dependent Surveillance Broadcast, or ADS B technology, which essentially enables aircraft to receive data and information about other systems, weather and traffic delivered directly into the cockpit. The Senators proposal would set a clear 2031 deadline for aircraft operators to equip their fleets with the full package of ADS B capabilities. It would also end many Defense Department sensitive government mission exemptions that have allowed military and other government aircraft to fly near DCA and other busy airports without transmitting their location, the officials wrote. The agreement is slated for review by the Senate Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee during a bill markup slated for Tuesday. For more news at the intersection of the federal government and technology, make sure to visit fedscoop.com thanks so much for.