The Department of Defense (DOD) has inaugurated a new facility at Tuskegee University in Alabama that will support the study of various topics under aerospace and materials sciences.

The Aerospace Education Research and Innovation Center (AERIC) was sponsored by Sen. Richard Shelby, R-Ala., and built as part of a $2 million funding effort from Congress, DOD said Monday.

AERIC will explore how materials and components perform under harsh conditions and handle two-year undergraduate research programs in experimental aerodynamics and fatigue damage tolerance.

The center will also work with Boeing, Chevron, Dynetics and Wichita State University to drive education and research initiatives.

"The establishment of centers of excellence plays a vital role in our defense enterprise by stimulating research and innovation for the next generation of STEM leaders," said Jagadeesh Pamulapati, director at DOD's office of research, technology and laboratories.

The Department of Veterans Affairs has released an online document that discusses how VA employees, partners, stakeholders and veteran users can access their information.

Devised by the Data Ethics Work Group, the Ethics Principles for Access to and Use of Veteran Data contains nine principles that support the department's standards on information security and privacy, VA said Monday.

Richard Stone, acting undersecretary for health at VA, said the framework aims to establish a group of standards for its partners through a proactive approach in data privacy and management.

"VA is applying this framework to all data interoperability initiatives, including those tied to our COVID-19 response and modernization efforts."

VA aims to incorporate the framework's principles into a set of policies, directives and requirements meant to be published the following year.

The Space Force has concluded its first coding boot camp which saw 28 civilian and military personnel graduate as the service branch's “supra coders”, SpaceNews reported Monday. The service selected the participants among 300 candidates and is slated to conduct subsequent events in a push to expand its pool of software coders to 400.

Work under the new coders' purview include space-based traffic control, data analysis and satellite operations at various worldwide locations.

The Space Force is also slated to welcome up to 116 graduates from the U.S. Air Force Academy along with 300 from the latter’s basic military training program who will serve as operations specialists for space systems.

Patricia Mulcahy, deputy chief of space operations for personnel and logistics, said the Space Force additionally plans to enlist officers from STEM-focused programs under the Reserve Officers’ Training Corps.

“What you’ll see is emphasis on being digitally enabled. This is the very fabric of who we are,” she said.

Mulcahy’s comments come after Gen. John Raymond, chief of space operations and a 2021 Wash100 Award recipient, called for a renewed focus on establishing a digital-minded force.

The General Services Administration’s (GSA) Office of Inspector General (OIG) is recommending the agency to improve information sharing and internal communications regarding its Insider Threat Program (ITP).

The GSA OIG said in the report released Wednesday that the agency must work on its organizational collaboration efforts to proactively detect, mitigate and prevent insider threats. GSA must improve its oversight of employee termination and separation, the OIG noted.

According to the report, GSA’s senior designated official for ITP is yet to submit its report on insider threats to the GSA administrator and that the agency does not actively monitor risks associated with terminated and separated employees that retain access to agency systems.

“Taken together, these deficiencies expose GSA information to theft or loss, facilities to damage, and personnel to actual or threatened harm; and create gaps that can be exploited in other ways to undermine GSA’s ability to effectively carry out its operations,” the report states.