Press Releases

A new Government Accountability Office (GAO) report has found that the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) needs to strengthen its oversight of cybersecurity in aircraft and avionics systems. GAO said that although “extensive cybersecurity controls” are in place, the FAA needs to consider the emerging threat landscape and increasing connections between airplanes and various systems.

The U.S. attorney general and four government officials representing Australia, Canada, New Zealand and the U.K. have signed a joint statement seeking renewed commitment on encryption and data security. William Barr and the allied signatories wrote in the statement dated Oct. 11th that they support strong encryption approaches that help protect privacy, personal data, trade secrets, intellectual property and cybersecurity.

Battelle has announced that NASA will fund a three-year collaborative project to investigate how the chemical properties of leaves and tree canopy structures affect remote sensing observations. Funded under NASA’s Research Opportunities in Space and Earth Science program, the study will be led by Battelle, the Rochester Institute of Technology and the University of New Hampshire.

Air Force Materiel Command (AFMC) and Air Force Global Strike Command (AFGSC) have signed a memorandum of agreement to create a program to provide operators and program managers an opportunity to gain insight into each other’s missions and share information to improve readiness and lethality, the service branch reported Sunday.

The Department of Agriculture (USDA) has issued a digital strategy playbook to help USDA components and other agencies implement best practices in developing user-centric websites.

The Federal Transit Administration has announced a new $10 million funding opportunity for research and development on how to improve transit operational efficiency amid the COVID-19 pandemic. State and local government entities, tribes and recipients of urbanized and rural area formula funds may apply for the funding opportunity through Nov. 2.

The U.S. Navy has named the first guided missile frigate in the service branch's FFG(X) program as USS Constellation. Designated as FFG 62, the vessel is meant to support the National Defense Strategy by providing the military service with a multimission capability to carry out a range of military operations.

The Federal Risk Authorization Management Program (FedRAMP) is working with the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) to implement a universal programming language that can help accelerate cloud certification and drive automation in government operations. “What normally would take an assessor weeks to do, an OSCAL tool can perform in seconds,” said David Waltermire. 

Jim Bridenstine, NASA administrator and Wash100 Award recipient, will deliver a keynote address during NASA’s Lunar Surface Innovation Consortium meeting, which will stream live on NASA Television and the agency's website on Oct. 14th. Bridenstine will address NASA's Artemis program and announce the agency's latest Tipping Point selections and their potential impact on sustainable lunar exploration.

Bechtel has partnered with TerraPower to provide plant design, licensing, procurement and construction through federal grant application to build a demonstration plant for the Natrium reactor and energy system architecture, Bechtel reported on Thursday. Bechtel will join a team that includes GE Hitachi Nuclear Energy, PacifiCorp, Energy Northwest, and Duke Energy.