The U.S. Air Force plans to select research proposals on energy storage and infrastructure modernization to mitigate reliance on fossil fuels. The Air Force said Friday that its AFWERX innovation arm partnered with Air Force Futures to launch the Reimagining Energy for the Department of Defense Challenge in September 2020. 

Research work under the Energy Challenge focuses on establishing resilient infrastructure for energy production and storage, which can be implemented immediately or on a long-term basis.

AFWERX and AF Futures downselected 179 proposals following a virtual showcase in Feb. 2021, which saw 1,895 participants representing the academic, public, private and nonprofit sectors. Participating companies were also able to connect with venture capitalists and funding entities as part of the challenge.

In addition, the Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL) is looking to issue contract awards covering research areas such as renewable energy, battery technology and electrical equipment in line with the Energy Challenge.

“It is through these ongoing collaborative events we are forging strategic partnerships that will have impacts reaching far and wide, and continue to break department and industry barriers,” the Air Force said.

BAE Systems successfully flight tested its Small Adaptive Bank of Electronic Resources (SABER) technology, paving the way for a critical software upgrade to the EC-37B Compass Call, a next-generation electronic warfare aircraft. Teams from both BAE Systems and the U.S. Air Force conducted tests on 11 flights of an EC-130H from Davis Monthan Air Force Base in Arizona.

“SABER allows flexibility to update systems without significant physical reconfiguration,” said Pam Potter, director of Electronic Attack Solutions at BAE Systems. “It also adapts to new applications as well as revisions to existing applications. It is the technology that will enable the U.S. Air Force to rapidly and proactively respond to emerging enemy threat systems.”

SABER complies with Department of Defense standards to embed protective measures during product design, as well as leverages an open architecture to enable hosting of various government contracted applications.

The SABER system is a major technological advance – transitioning from hardware to software-based electromagnetic spectrum (EMS) warfare capability for the U.S. Air Force and its Compass Call weapon system. The system is built on a suite of software defined radios using an open system architecture and will provide the backbone of the EC-37B’s operating system.

The Department of Defense’s (DOD) office of inspector general (OIG) has recommended that the assistant secretary of defense for homeland defense and global security update the DOD Implementation Plan for Pandemic Influenza to include revised planning assumptions regarding the use of telework for essential and non-essential employees and align the plan with the Pentagon’s telework policy.

DOD component agencies should also update their pandemic plans by integrating updated assumptions regarding telework for employees and the resources needed to back the remote workforce, according to OIG’s report publicly released Thursday.

The OIG surveyed DOD military and civilian personnel to determine how the components provided them access to information technology and communications systems during maximum telework and received answers from 54,665 respondents who reported their remote work status during the COVID-19 pandemic.

The office found that DOD moved 88.2 percent of respondents to part to full-time telework between March 15, 2020 and Aug. 26, 2020, and that those who worked remotely reported issues when accessing voice and video teleconference applications and networks of the department’s components.

The problems mentioned in the survey decreased over time as the Pentagon added video and voice conferencing applications, raised its network capacity and availability and bought and distributed communications and computer equipment.

The inspector general’s office also called on the undersecretary of defense for policy to come up with management oversight procedures to ensure that DOD components have carried out exercise, training and testing requirements of the telework policy and implementation plan.

The recommendation was made after OIG found that DOD’s initial problems were linked to some components that had not conducted full testing to assess whether their information platforms could back governmentwide telework and had not performed telework exercises with their employees before March 2020 in compliance with the requirements of the Pentagon’s implementation plan and telework policy.

The National Counterintelligence and Security Center has released a report to raise awareness of the threat posed by humans to critical infrastructure and provide best practices on how to mitigate insider threats.

NCSC discussed how critical infrastructure entities can adopt insider threat programs to identify and address vulnerabilities and prevent adversaries from exploiting such vulnerabilities, according to the report released in March.

The center said an organization should have a program that identifies anomalous behavior of individuals and resources to address such behavior and respond to such behavior in a manner that promotes trust and involves employees as a partner to help mitigate insider threats.

The center listed key elements of an intelligence function to improve critical infrastructure security, including the creation of a security intelligence program to analyze vulnerabilities and threats to personnel, information and physical disciplines; development of a communications plan to educate the workforce of security concerns; and incorporation of civil liberties and privacy protections into security and intelligence-like programs.

NCSC discussed the nine elements of insider threat programs for critical infrastructure. These include recognizing insider threat as a human challenge, designating a top-level senior official to oversee the insider threat program, conducting red teaming and tabletop exercises to help strengthen insider threat programs and integrating technological systems for insider threat mitigation with programs for detection and deterrence.

To register for this virtual forum, visit the GovConWire Events page.

AT&T announced on Thursday three significant milestones for FirstNet that will support and meet first responder needs. They are a first responder-centric approach to 5G use, comprehensive tower-to-core network encryption and the FirstNet Health and Wellness Coalition to better support responders holistically. 

FirstNet is the only nationwide communications platform designed to meet the needs of first responders. FirstNet is built with AT&T in a public-private partnership with the First Responder Network Authority (FirstNet Authority), an independent federal government agency. It helps first responders perform their duties by providing them with benefits like always-on priority and preemption, and high-quality Band 14 spectrum. 

"5G for FirstNet is not your typical 5G. Now, there's no doubt that 5G has a lot to offer the entire public safety community, but what's most important is ensuring that as new technologies become available – whether it's 5G, augmented reality, edge computing, or others – that we take a first responder-centric view in how we approach its deployment. That's what we committed to 4 years ago when we became public safety's communications partner, and it's what we will continue to do for decades to come,” commented Jason Porter, AT&T president of Public Sector and FirstNet.

The first responder-centric 5G milestone is an updated FirstNet network core that will provide reliable 5G connectivity to first responders with the most optimal experience. The 5G will bring benefits such as ultra-low latency and ultra-high speeds to support various users. 

The comprehensive tower-to-core network encryption addition to FirstNet will provide cybersecurity far superior to typical commercial networks. FirstNet will be the first network with complete data encryption across an entire communications pathway. Meaning FirstNet traffic will immediately be secured as it moves from the cell tower, through the backhaul, to the core and back again. 

The final new milestone for FirstNet is the Health & Wellness Coalition. The Coalition's goal is to integrate first responders, community, industry and academic resources to support first responders’ health and mission readiness. The Coalition has more than 20 members, including organizations like the International Association of Fire Chiefs and National Organization of Black Law Enforcement Executives.

Edward Parkinson, CEO of FirstNet Authority, added that "We are excited to bring 5G to FirstNet and see our investments in the next generation of public safety communications become reality. The FirstNet Authority has spent years working hand-in-hand with public safety across America to plan for, launch and innovate their network … the FirstNet Authority is thrilled to deliver lifesaving capabilities to first responders with access to this new technology."

The Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) has issued a supplemental direction to help agencies use new tools for identifying vulnerabilities in their Microsoft Exchange Servers.

CISA said Wednesday that the emergency directive recommends agencies to use the Microsoft Safety Scanner or Microsoft Support Emergency Response Tool (MSERT) as well as the Test-ProxyLogon.ps1 script.

The tools are meant to support server hardening and forensic triage operations for the Microsoft-built servers that still handle network operations for federal agencies.

“Given the powerful privileges that Exchange manages by default and the amount of potentially sensitive information that is stored in Exchange servers operated and hosted by (or on behalf of) federal agencies, Exchange servers are a primary target for adversary activity,” CISA noted in the directive.

Best practices that CISA outlined include firewall protections, software updates, anti-malware protection and Continuous Diagnostics and Mitigation program validation.

Check out GovConWire's Defense Cybersecurity Forum coming up on May 12. Visit GovConWire Events to learn more.