Reps. Ted Lieu, D-Calif., and Ken Calvert., R-Calif., have introduced a bill to designate space assets as part of critical infrastructure. The bill would address the absence of a singular platform that delivers infrastructure security resources and expertise needed by the space industry. 

The Space Infrastructure Act would task the Department of Homeland Security to protect space systems and services, which are currently not considered as critical infrastructure, Lieu's office said Friday.

DHS would analyze the security of satellites, launch systems, communications systems, manufacturing facilities and other assets that directly or indirectly contribute to space infrastructure.

“American assets in space play a vital role in our economic and national security,” Calvert said.

He noted that federal agencies and the space industry must work together to address the evolving threat landscape.

The U.S. Navy has announced it has successfully conducted its first-ever aerial refueling between a manned aircraft and an unmanned tanker on June 4th. The test involved a Boeing-owned MQ-25 Stingray test vehicle refueling a Navy F/A-18E-F Super Hornet in midair, DefenseNews reported on Monday. 

“This flight lays the foundation for integration into the carrier environment, allowing for greater capability toward manned-unmanned teaming concepts. MQ-25 will greatly increase the range and endurance of the future carrier air wing, equipping our aircraft carriers with additional assets well into the future,” commented Rear Adm. Brian Corey, executive program officer for Unmanned Aviation and Strike Weapons. 

During the successful test, the Super Hornet came within 20 feet of the unmanned MQ-26 T1 test vehicle and first conducted a formation evaluation and wake survey to measure the conditions before starting the fuel transfer. After the measurements were recorded, the MQ-25 extended its drogue and supplied the Hornet with fuel. 

The MQ-25 will operate from aircraft carriers once it is fielded. It will refuel air wing operations at sea, relieving the Super Hornet fleet of the tanking mission, which can take up more than one-third of Super Hornet flight hours during carrier air wing operations. 

The Navy and Boeing will analyze the test data and make any necessary software updates as the MQ-25 testing schedule continues in the coming months.

“This is our mission: an unmanned aircraft that frees our strike fighters from the tanker role and provides the Carrier Air Wing with greater range, flexibility and capability,” said Capt. Chad Reed, the program manager for the Navy’s Unmanned Carrier Aviation program office.

“Seeing the MQ-25 fulfilling its primary tasking today, fueling a F/A-18, is a significant and exciting moment for the Navy and shows concrete progress toward realizing MQ-25′s capabilities for the fleet,” added Reed.

FBI Director Christopher Wray said the bureau was investigating approximately 100 various types of ransomware and the recent attacks on oil and meat processing companies accounted for only a fraction of those types of ransomware, The Wall Street Journal reported Friday.

“Now realizing it can affect them when they’re buying gas at the pump or buying a hamburger—I think there’s a growing awareness now of just how much we’re all in this fight together,” Wray told WSJ in an exclusive interview.

He said ransomware attacks have increased by threefold in the past year based on reports from the private sector and many of those incidents can be attributed to hackers in Russia.

Wray highlighted the importance of coordination between companies and law enforcement authorities in identifying those behind the attacks and finding ways to counter threat actors.

“I don’t want to suggest that this is the norm, but there have been instances where we’ve even been able to work with our partners to identify the encryption keys, which then would enable a company to actually unlock their data—even without paying the ransom,” he said.

On Wednesday, the White House issued a memo urging business leaders to initiate immediate measures to protect their organizations from ransomware attacks. 

The document outlined five best practices that companies should take to prevent such attacks, including backing up images and configurations and updating and patching systems promptly.

If you want to know more about the latest updates about the Cybersecurity Maturity Model Certification, then check out Potomac Officers Club’s CMMC Forum coming up on June 16th. To register for this virtual forum and view other upcoming events, visit the POC Events page.

The U.S. Navy has stood up a program office that will oversee acquisition, fleet introduction and sustainment approaches for the service branch's planned DDG(X) class of guided-missile destroyers, Seapower Magazine reported Friday.

As part of organizational changes, the newly formed PMS 460 organization will operate under Program Executive Office Ships and absorb the Electric Ships program office.

PMS 460 will have 16 headquarter billets that include 11 incumbent ones covering various Electric Ship initiatives such as integrated power systems.

Navy Capt. David Hart will lead the new office as major program manager while Katherine Connelly, most recently director of government equipment management at PEO Ships, as deputy program manager. According to the service, the two officials will lead efforts to develop a strategy to procure DDG(X) ships and a data package as well as create plans to build, test and maintain the proposed vessels.

The DDG(X), which is meant to follow the Flight III Arleigh Burke-class vessels in naval service, will feature elements of existing FLT III combat systems, a new hull form and integrated power system.

The Navy expects to begin the preliminary design phase in fiscal year 2022.

The House Oversight and Reform Committee and heads of its subcommittees asked interim and current inspectors general of the U.S. intelligence community, the Department of Defense and eight other federal agencies to assess vulnerabilities related to the use of remote-access software to support telework during the COVID-19 pandemic for inclusion in their fiscal year 2021 cybersecurity evaluation in compliance with the Federal Information Security Modernization (FISMA) Act of 2014.

House lawmakers sent letters to the IGs Wednesday asking them to examine the acquisition, management, security and deployment of collaboration platforms and remote connections to their respective networks, including those facilitated by virtual private networks.

They inquired about the agencies’ implementation of security controls to prevent unauthorized dissemination of personally identifiable and controlled unclassified information; identity, credential and access management of users that allow remote access to networks; and management and distribution of physical and virtual assets that facilitate telework.

The letter also asked about the organizations’ adherence to Trusted Internet Connection 3.0 guidance and implementation of continuous monitoring of networks to detect vulnerabilities and additional security policies in response to pandemic-related telework.

The letters were signed by Reps. Carolyn Maloney, D-N.Y.; Gerry Connolly, D-Va.; Stephen Lynch, D-Mass.; Raja Krishnamoorthi, D-Ill.; Jamie Raskin, D-Md.; and Ro Khanna, D-Calif.

If you want to know more about the latest updates about the Cybersecurity Maturity Model Certification, then check out Potomac Officers Club's CMMC Forum coming up on June 16. To register for this virtual forum and view other upcoming events, visit the POC Events page.

The House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee is scheduled Wednesday to mark up a bill that would direct $547 billion in federal investments to modernize roads, bridges, transit and rails over a five-year period.

Committee Chair Peter DeFazio, D-Ore, introduced the Investing in a New Vision for the Environment and Surface Transportation in America Act with fellow House lawmakers Eleanor Holmes Norton, D-D.C., and Donald Payne Jr., D-N.J.

“The INVEST in America Act puts a core piece of President Biden’s American Jobs Plan into legislative text—seizing this once-in-a-generation opportunity to move our transportation planning out of the 1950s and toward our clean energy future,” DeFazio said.

Payne, chair of the panel’s railroads, pipelines and hazardous materials subcommittee, noted that the bill includes $95 billion for intercity passenger rail infrastructure modernization projects such as the Gateway Program.

The committee intends to release the legislative text of the bill before lawmakers take up the bill.

The National Science Foundation has partnered with its Czech counterpart to formally foster collaborative, international research between the two countries.

NSF said Thursday it will work with the Czech Science Foundation to finance research projects in the areas of plasma science, nanotechnology and artificial intelligence.

"Together, we can access a broader network of ideas, innovations and experiences to address and solve real-world problems," said Kendra Sharp, head of NSF's office of international science and engineering.

NSF will review collaborative proposals to be submitted by researchers from both U.S. and Czech. The agencies will fund teams corresponding to their represented nation.

“This agreement with the Czech Science Foundation is based on shared values and goals to advance critical and emerging areas of scientific research,” Sharp added.