{"id":181091,"date":"2026-01-23T12:48:00","date_gmt":"2026-01-23T17:48:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/testing.news-you-need.com\/index.php\/2026\/01\/23\/waterman-teases-new-fedramp-cybersecurity-service-for-2026-meritalk\/"},"modified":"2026-01-23T18:55:13","modified_gmt":"2026-01-23T23:55:13","slug":"waterman-teases-new-fedramp-cybersecurity-service-for-2026-meritalk","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/testing.news-you-need.com\/index.php\/2026\/01\/23\/waterman-teases-new-fedramp-cybersecurity-service-for-2026-meritalk\/","title":{"rendered":"Waterman Teases New \u2018FedRAMP Cybersecurity Service\u2019 for 2026 \u2013 MeriTalk"},"content":{"rendered":"

Waterman Teases New \u2018FedRAMP Cybersecurity Service\u2019 for 2026 \u2013 MeriTalk<\/a><\/p>\n

https:\/\/www.meritalk.com\/articles\/waterman-teases-new-fedramp-cybersecurity-service-for-2026\/<\/a><\/p>\n

Publish Date: 2026-01-23 12:48:00<\/a><\/p>\n

Source Domain: www.meritalk.com<\/a><\/p>\n

Author: <\/a><\/p>\n

Using an unordered list, summarize the following article with between 4 and 8 key points. Pete Waterman, the director of the Federal Risk and Authorization Management Program (FedRAMP), previewed on Thursday a new initiative he called the \u201cFedRAMP Cybersecurity Service\u201d as part of the federal cloud security program\u2019s broader plans for 2026.
\nSpeaking at an event hosted by the Digital Government Institute, Waterman framed 2026 as the delivery phase of FedRAMP\u2019s multiyear modernization effort. \u201c2025 laid the foundation, and 2026 is when we deliver,\u201d he said, describing the coming year as \u201ca huge year for FedRAMP.\u201d
\n\u201cThe FedRAMP Cybersecurity Service will recruit security engineers to build FedRAMP into a world-class security program,\u201d Waterman said during the Jan. 22 event.
\n\u201cWe\u2019ll continue to expand the community, work closer with agencies, and keep providing a minimum level of automated, continuous monitoring for cloud services that are directly certified or validated by FedRAMP,\u201d he added.
\nWaterman offered few details on the FedRAMP Cybersecurity Service and declined to elaborate further when asked for more information. \u201cDid I mention that? Spoilers! Shh,\u201d he replied, \u201cYou\u2019ll have to stand by.\u201d
\nThe tease came amid a broader outline of FedRAMP\u2019s plans for 2026 and beyond, which he said include a wide release of FedRAMP 20x, expanded agency adoption, earlier marketplace access for cloud services, and a push for a \u201cmore balanced approach\u201d to the FedRAMP Rev5 Agency Authorization process.
\nWaterman emphasized that while change to FedRAMP will continue, it will be \u201csmaller, more predictable\u201d and shaped by stakeholder feedback. He described the current moment as the culmination of years of rebuilding the program\u2019s authorities and responsibilities.
\nNotably, as of September, FedRAMP\u2019s workforce had dropped to 28 employees, having lost over 50 employees in fiscal year (FY) 2025. At the time, Waterman stated that the target staff for FY 2026 is approximately 43 employees.
\nIt remains unclear whether the security engineers hired as part of the FedRAMP Cybersecurity Service would be included in that target number.
\n\u201cWe\u2019re on track to realizing the most significant necessary changes this year,\u201d Waterman said. \u201cIt will be the biggest step taken towards our ultimate goal of ensuring that civil servants at government agencies have access to all the modern tools and capabilities that they need to deliver effectively for the people.\u201d<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Waterman Teases New \u2018FedRAMP Cybersecurity Service\u2019 for 2026 \u2013 MeriTalk https:\/\/www.meritalk.com\/articles\/waterman-teases-new-fedramp-cybersecurity-service-for-2026\/ Publish Date: 2026-01-23 12:48:00…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":181092,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/www.meritalk.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/FedRAMP-2-e1742844962967.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[15],"tags":[24],"class_list":["post-181091","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-cybersecurity","tag-cybersecurity"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/testing.news-you-need.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/181091"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/testing.news-you-need.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/testing.news-you-need.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/testing.news-you-need.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/testing.news-you-need.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=181091"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/testing.news-you-need.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/181091\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":181093,"href":"https:\/\/testing.news-you-need.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/181091\/revisions\/181093"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/testing.news-you-need.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/181092"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/testing.news-you-need.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=181091"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/testing.news-you-need.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=181091"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/testing.news-you-need.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=181091"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}