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OPM Director Kiran Ahuja Aims to Develop ’21st Century’ Federal Personnel Policies
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OPM Director Kiran Ahuja Aims to Develop ’21st Century’ Federal Personnel Policies

Kiran Ahuja, director at the Office of Personnel Management (OPM), said the agency will bolster federal hiring reform efforts in as part of her agenda to help the government transform into a 21st-century employer, Government Executive reported Wednesday.

She told reporters Wednesday that OPM seeks to find a balance between carrying out its statutory compliance duties and addressing human capital management challenges at agencies.

The OPM chief also pondered the question of how the agency could establish a connection when federal workers are working remotely. “What support can we provide managers to manage well and support individuals in their work, not just in terms of accountability but engagement and onboarding new employees," she was quoted as saying by GovExec.

Ahuja, who officially assumed her current role on June 24th, noted that her office conducts town hall meetings regularly and works to ensure information is being shared with staff in real-time. She added that the agency is working to fill critical roles within the agency.

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CBP Starts Wearable Camera Tech Deployment
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CBP Starts Wearable Camera Tech Deployment

An initial group of U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) personnel began using wearable cameras as part of a program aimed at recording and storing incident data to support the agency's mission.

CBP said Wednesday its multiphase deployment of body-worn camera technology starts with personnel at northern and southwest Border Patrol sites, followed by Office of Field Operations staff at ports of entry nationwide.

The agency said efforts to study the feasibility and assess the viability of applying an incident-driven video recording system (IDVRS) to operational settings commenced in 2014. 

Congress then required further system evaluation in 2017, and that congressional mandate prompted CBP to initiate an in-field assessment activity from May to November of the following year.

According to the agency, it completed documentation requirements and received permission and funds to launch an IDVRS program of record following those studies.

CBP considered personnel and public safety when drafting a set of policies that agents and officers must follow when they activate the camera. The agency plans to deploy as many as 6,000 body-worn cameras through the end of the year.

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Stacey Dixon Confirmed as ODNI Principal Deputy Director; Avril Haines Quoted
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Stacey Dixon Confirmed as ODNI Principal Deputy Director; Avril Haines Quoted

Stacey Dixon, deputy director of the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency and 2021 Wash100 Award winner, has received confirmation from the Senate to serve as principal deputy director in the Office of the Director of National Intelligence.

“Dixon is an absolutely extraordinary leader who combines integrity, intelligence, and empathy in everything that she does,” DNI Avril Haines said in a statement released Tuesday.

“Her deep knowledge of intelligence tradecraft, her experience in intelligence-related technological innovation, and her appreciation of the critical work that intelligence professionals perform every day will serve us well at this critical moment in our history,” added Haines, a fellow 2021 Wash100 Award recipient.

As NGA’s deputy director, Dixon helped manage agency operations and the National System for Geospatial Intelligence. She joined NGA in July 2019 after her prior role as director of the Intelligence Advanced Research Projects Activity and served as deputy director of IARPA from 2016 to 2018.

Her government career also includes time as chief of congressional and intergovernmental affairs at NGA and as a staff member on the House Intelligence Committee.

Dixon earned her bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering from Stanford University and both her doctorate and master’s degrees in mechanical engineering from the Georgia Institute of Technology.

Stacey Dixon Confirmed as ODNI Principal Deputy Director; Avril Haines Quoted

Executive Mosaic announced back in May that Dr. Stacey Dixon, deputy director of the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency, had received the most votes from the GovCon community in the eight-year history of the Wash100 Award. Here are the final results of the 2021 Wash100 Vote Standings:

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GSA Seeks to Automate Validation of FedRAMP Security Authorization Packages
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GSA Seeks to Automate Validation of FedRAMP Security Authorization Packages

The General Services Administration (GSA) will soon issue XML-automated validations to enable cloud services providers seeking an authority to operate to check whether all the required data is included in their security authorization packages prior to submission to the Federal Risk and Authorization Management Program (FedRAMP), FedScoop reported Tuesday.

“I think it’s a great step in automated validation,” Zach Baldwin, automation lead within the FedRAMP program management office, said during an event Tuesday. “I want cleaner documentation before I have my review team lay eyes on it."

FedRAMP automated the process of checking authorization packages using the rule-based Schematron validation language for making assertions against XML documents.

The move came two months after FedRAMP and the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) released Version 1.0.0 of the Open Security Controls Assessment Language (OSCAL), which seeks to expedite the preparation, authorization and reuse of cloud offerings for the government sector.

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Coast Guard Outlines 3 Lines of Effort in Cyber Strategic Outlook; Rear Adm. Michael Ryan Quoted
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Coast Guard Outlines 3 Lines of Effort in Cyber Strategic Outlook; Rear Adm. Michael Ryan Quoted

The U.S. Coast Guard has released a new cyber strategy that comes with three lines of effort: defend and operate the service’s Enterprise Mission Platform; safeguard the Marine Transportation System; and operate in and through cyberspace.

The service said the Cyber Strategic Outlook updates its 2015 Cyber Strategy to ensure its readiness to perform all missions in a contested cyber domain, protect the maritime transportation sector through a rule-based international order and counter adversaries in cyberspace.

The Coast Guard outlined measures to defend EMP. These include investing in artificial intelligence, cloud, automation, sensors, mobility and other capabilities to provide a resilient and secure environment for operations, strengthening the cybersecurity posture of supply chains and advancing interoperability with U.S. Cyber Command the Joint Force.

For the second line of effort, the service has proposed to apply the prevention and response framework to help industry manage cyber risks to maritime critical infrastructure, promote information sharing and refine cyber incident reporting requirements and field deployable cyber protection teams, among others.

The Coast Guard will extend cyber operations via the electromagnetic spectrum in support of operational commanders, deploy cyber mission and support teams and leverage relationships with the Department of Defense, intelligence community, federal law enforcement and foreign allies to advance use of intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance to identify cyberthreat actors, among other steps, to execute the third line of effort.

Rear Adm. Michael Ryan, commander of the Coast Guard’s Cyber Command, said the release of the new strategy comes amid recent cyberattacks on critical infrastructure, according to a report by FedScoop.

“It really is about revitalizing the focus of our organization,” he said of the Cyber Strategic Outlook.

Supply Chain Cybersecurity: Revelations and Innovations

ExecutiveBiz, sister site of GovConDaily and part of the Executive Mosaic digital media umbrella, will host a virtual event about securing the supply chain on Oct. 26. Visit ExecutiveBiz.com to sign up for the “Supply Chain Cybersecurity: Revelations and Innovations” event.

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Senate Committee Releases Federal Cybersecurity Report
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Senate Committee Releases Federal Cybersecurity Report

The Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee has issued a 47-page report outlining a list of recommendations to improve the cybersecurity posture of federal agencies. 

The Senate panel’s Federal Cybersecurity report recommends that the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) direct agencies to adopt a risk-based budgeting framework for information technology investments.

The Senate committee called for the U.S. government to take a “centrally coordinated approach” to cybersecurity to ensure accountability and urged the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) to give Congress a plan to update the EINSTEIN system.

The panel has recommended that the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) expand shared services offerings to agencies.

Congress should amend the Federal Information Security Modernization Act of 2014 to reflect cyber best practices, direct federal agencies and contractors to inform CISA of cyber incidents and formalize the role of CISA as the operational federal cybersecurity lead, according to the report.

The Senate panel also listed some of its findings. The average information security maturity letter grade assigned by inspectors general to federal agencies was a C-.

The committee found that of the eight agencies reviewed, DHS was the only agency to adopt an “effective cybersecurity regime” in 2020. The panel also identified cyber weaknesses among agencies, including the use of systems without authorization to operate, failure to immediately roll out security patches and other vulnerability remediation controls and inability to protect personally identifiable information.

Supply Chain Cybersecurity: Revelations and Innovations

ExecutiveBiz, sister site of GovConDaily and part of the Executive Mosaic digital media umbrella, will host a virtual event about securing the supply chain on Oct. 26. Visit ExecutiveBiz.com to sign up for the “Supply Chain Cybersecurity: Revelations and Innovations” event.

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NSF Invests $50M in STEM-Focused Inclusion Alliances; Sylvia Butterfield Quoted
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NSF Invests $50M in STEM-Focused Inclusion Alliances; Sylvia Butterfield Quoted

The National Science Foundation (NSF) will use $50 million to promote science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) education in historically underrepresented communities.

NSF said Tuesday it will invest these funds in five new alliances that aim to involve underrepresented communities in STEM education through the NSF INCLUDES National Network.

The agency's INCLUDES network consists of 3,000 academic, public and private partners working to promote STEM across the U.S.

"Creating pathways to success for a STEM workforce reflective of the U.S. population is of national importance to ensuring America's competitiveness in a global research landscape," said Sylvia Butterfield, acting assistant director for NSF's Education and Human Resources Directorate.

The newly formed alliances will focus on food, energy and water systems, STEM inclusion of students with disabilities, identity-inclusive computing education, partnerships launching underrepresented students and Latino representation.

Institutions involved include the University of California Berkeley, University of Arizona, San Diego State University, Phoenix College, Northeastern University, Auburn University and Duke University.

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NSA & CISA Jointly Provide Guidance on Kubernetes Security
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NSA & CISA Jointly Provide Guidance on Kubernetes Security

The National Security Agency (NSA) partnered with the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) to provide guidance on Kubernetes, an open-source automation system used for containerized applications. 

The agencies' Kubernetes Hardening Guidance report tackles threats to Kubernetes and offers risk reduction practices, NSA said Tuesday. Cyber attackers target Kubernetes environments to steal data and computational power or disrupt applications.

The report advises organizations to scan containers for vulnerabilities, separate networks and apply defensive measures such as strong authentication and firewalls.

The agencies also recommend that system administrators periodically review Kubernetes settings and inspect for vulnerabilities. The new guidance aligns with NSA's mission to protect national security systems and the defense industrial base.

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DARPA Pursues Machine Learning Program to Boost the Adaptability of Defense Systems; John-Francis Mergen Quoted
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DARPA Pursues Machine Learning Program to Boost the Adaptability of Defense Systems; John-Francis Mergen Quoted

The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) has launched an effort to help systems adapt to unexpected events via machine learning. The effort additionally seeks technologies that help human or artificial intelligence operators understand these adaptive changes.

DARPA said Tuesday its Learning Introspective Control program will use ML-based introspection technologies to boost the adaptability of control laws that govern a system.

“With LINC, we want to provide physical systems with the ability to figure out what is still feasible, alert the operator and then help them operate in that new space,” said John-Francis Mergen, program manager at DARPA.

The program's initial research area will aim to overcome the limits of ML technology that make it hard for systems to adapt. Researchers will develop a technology that detects external changes and correspondingly applies adaptive settings via actuators and mounted sensors.

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USSPACECOM Commander James Dickinson: Space, Naval Operators Must Cooperate in Defending US Communications
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USSPACECOM Commander James Dickinson: Space, Naval Operators Must Cooperate in Defending US Communications

U.S. Space Command chief Army Gen. James Dickinson has called on space and naval operators to cooperate in defending communications on their respective domains.

Dickinson pointed out that his USSPACECOM and the U.S. Navy could learn lessons from each other to improve how they carry out their similar strategic-level missions, the Department of Defense said Tuesday.

The general told attendees of the 2021 Sea-Air-Space Exposition in Maryland that the space and naval organizations could integrate how they operate, develop systems, refine tactics and procedures, define requirements and plan conflicts when it comes to defending U.S. lines of communications.

"I think the opportunity for further integration between the Navy and U.S. Space Command is quite frankly boundless — or infinite," he told attendees of the 2021 Sea-Air-Space Exposition in Maryland.

Dickinson's statement comes amid what he described as significant attempts by adversaries to contest the U.S.' ability to operate freely in both space and oceans.

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