State of Open Source in the Federal Government
Jordan Kasper
DEF CON 33 · Day 1 · Main Stage
Jordan Kasper's DEF CON talk, "State of Open Source in the Federal Government," delivers a candid and critical assessment of how U.S. federal agencies interact with open source software (OSS). Kasper, a seasoned open source contributor and former policy architect for both the Department of Defense (DoD) and Department of Homeland Security (DHS), offers a unique perspective from both inside and outside the government's digital walls. The talk dissects the persistent challenges, existing policies, and the stark realities of OSS adoption and contribution within the federal landscape, advocating for a transformative shift towards greater transparency, collaboration, and security.
AI review
A credible insider's candid assessment of federal OSS policy dysfunction — Kasper clearly wrote some of these policies himself, which gives the talk genuine authority other speakers couldn't claim. But at DEF CON, 'policy is broken and culture is the real problem' lands closer to a long blog post than a conference session; there's no new data, no novel attack surface, and no surprising revelation that reframes how anyone in the audience thinks about the problem.