Air National Guard partnered with entities from other sectors to update the MQ-9 Reaper unmanned aircraft system with new features.

Reaper units used by the 174th Attack Wing now have new equipment for updated communications and target identification capabilities, the U.S. Air Force said Thursday.

The new features come with three pods equipable to Reaper: the REAP Pod, the Centerline Avionics Bay Pod and the Freedom pod.

The 174th Operations Support Squadron's assistant director of operations said his team is conducting operational assessments of the new pods.

Demonstrations of the new pods commenced on Monday and will run through May 14 under U.S. Indo-Pacific Command's Northern Edge exercise in Alaska. The tests focus on the pod-equipped Reaper's integrated performance with different ground-based and airborne assets.

Brian Conrad, acting director of the Federal Risk Authorization Management Program, said FedRAMP wants to apply a threat-scoring methodology to evaluate security controls, Federal News Network reported Thursday.

Conrad said FedRAMP is working to implement the fifth control catalog revision of the National Institute of Standards and Technology's Special Publication 800-53.

“We’re ensuring that the controls that are in the baselines are value add, that they are helping with the protect, detect and response [cyber activities] in keeping federal information secure,” he said.

The acting director said his team is applying a threat-based scoring system to evaluate security controls in line with the publication.

Conrad stated that he hopes the threat-based control assessment would help cloud providers and agencies determine which controls must be prioritized in terms of security.

Fluor Corporation (NYSE: FLR) announced financial results for its first quarter ended March 31, 2021. Revenue for the quarter was $2.9 billion and the net loss from continuing operations was $61 million, or $0.43 per diluted share. Earnings attributable to Fluor were negatively impacted by $68 million as a result of NuScale expenses and other adjustments (outlined in the table at the end of this release). Excluding these items, adjusted earnings per diluted share were $0.07. Consolidated segment profit for the quarter, which includes NuScale expenses, was $60 million compared to $55 million in the first quarter of 2020.

"Results for the quarter were consistent with our expectations as we start to work past the effects of COVID-19 on our projects and operations," said David Constable, chief executive officer of Fluor. "We continue to have productive conversations with our clients and believe that prospects and opportunities will begin to pick up as we enter the back half of 2021."

First quarter new awards were $3.7 billion, and ending consolidated backlog was $23.8 billion, up from $23.1 billion last quarter. Fluor’s cash and marketable securities at the end of the quarter were $2.0 billion. Corporate general and administrative (G&A) expenses in the first quarter were $66 million, compared with $34 million a year ago, due to higher stock price-driven compensation.

Outlook

The White House's National Artificial Intelligence Initiative Office has launched the AI.gov website to offer public information about federal initiatives and programs related to the emerging technology.

Lynne Parker, deputy U.S. chief technology officer and director of NAIIO, wrote in an official post Wednesday the online resource is designed to help site visitors learn how they can pursue AI opportunities and what the government is doing to facilitate its adoption.

“The National AI Initiative (NAII) builds upon several years of impactful AI policy actions, many of which were outcomes from EO 13859 on Maintaining American Leadership in AI," Parker noted.

She said the U.S. AI strategy is structured around research and development prioritization; research infrastructure modernization; technical standards facilitation and management of trustworthy AI; workforce training; international engagement; AI and national security integration.

NAIIO was established in January within the White House Office of Science and Technology to serve as the central hub for technical and program information communication between agencies and external stakeholders, including the academe and nonprofit organizations.

The office is accepting suggestions and recommendations through its website on how it can achieve goals toward the advancement of AI technology.

John Demers, assistant attorney general for national security at the Department of Justice, said the FBI and other intelligence agencies launched a review of vulnerabilities originating from software suppliers that have ties with Russia to determine if there is "back-end software design and coding" that makes intrusions into U.S. companies possible, CyberScoop reported Thursday.

They will review supply chain risks, taking into account an alleged Russian hacking campaign that spied on U.S. federal agencies by exploiting SolarWinds software.

The Department of Commerce will be informed about review findings, according to Demers.

“If there’s back-end software design and coding being done in a country where we know that they’ve used sophisticated cyber means to do intrusions into U.S. companies, then maybe … U.S. companies shouldn’t be doing work with those companies from Russia or other untrusted countries,” he said.

Demers said Commerce will have to decide if suspected vendors should be banned from U.S. supply chains.

John Hill, who is performing the duties of the assistant secretary of defense for space policy at the Department of Defense, said having standard guidelines for operations in space comes with many benefits, DOD News reported Thursday.

"Among these are a safer, more sustainable, more stable and more predictable space operating environment for all space operators," Hill said Wednesday during his testimony before the House Armed Services Committee. “Importantly for [the] DOD, such an operating environment can also facilitate indications and warnings of hostile intentions and hostile acts.”

He commented on DOD’s practices and policies for space operations. He also noted that the Pentagon and commercial space sector also stand to benefit from the development of international rules for space operations.

"From the DOD perspective, United States leadership and the development of a rules-based order for space activities reap benefits for U.S. civil, commercial, scientific and national security space operators," Hill told the House panel.

"As space activities worldwide become more prolific and more varied, voluntary non-binding international norms, standards and guidelines of responsible behavior can benefit U.S. national security and foster a conducive environment for growing global space activities,” he added.

House lawmakers have called on the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) to accelerate the issuance of guidance to federal agencies to facilitate the implementation of the 21st Century Integrated Digital Experience Act. The lawmakers made the request in a Thursday letter addressed to Shalanda Young, acting director of OMB.

The IDEA Act that was passed in 2018 seeks to speed up digital modernization by requiring agencies to update their websites and online experiences in order to streamline the delivery of government services to citizens.

OMB’s implementation guidance should address website modernization, digitization of forms and accelerated use of electronic signatures and should be issued to the public and all executive agencies within 45 days.

Reps. Carolyn Maloney, D-N.Y., chairwoman of the House Oversight and Reform Committee, Gerry Connolly, D-Va., chairman of the House panel’s government operations subcommittee, Ro Khanna, D-Calif., and seven other lawmakers signed the letter.