The Select Committee on the Modernization of Congress has passed 40 recommendations to help the legislative branch reform the appropriations process, improve congressional capacity and reclaim its responsibilities under Article One of the Constitution.

Some of the recommendations to improve the budgeting process are requiring a biennial budget resolution, ensuring that Congress adheres to a realistic budget timeline as well as establishing an annual fiscal state of the nation to inform the branch’s policymaking efforts, the committee said Thursday.

To help recruit and retain personnel on Capitol Hill, the committee has suggested a reassessment of the Members Representational Allowance, establishment of a voluntary, nonbinding pay band system and an increase in health insurance options for congressional staff.

The panel also suggested the creation of a community focused grant program, an increase in capacity for policy staff and congressional support organization and bipartisan oversight and trainings at the committee level to help Congress reclaim Article One responsibilities.

The vote on the fifth and final package brings the amount of approved recommendations by the committee to 90. 

The Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) has found that a cyber threat actor exploited compromised credentials to implant a multistage malware and launch a cyber attack on a federal agency’s network.

An analysis report published on Thursday stated that CISA carried out an incident response engagement after it found a malicious actor that compromised the agency’s enterprise network through its EINSTEIN intrusion detection tool.

The hacker secured persistent access using two reverse Socket Secure (SOCKS) proxies that exploited vulnerabilities in the agency’s firewall, according to the report.

The threat actor created a local account to collect data, browse directories on a victim file server and exfiltrate data from a file server directory and account directory.

CISA has recommended that agencies monitor network traffic for unusual open ports, large outbound files and other suspicious activities, deploy an enterprise firewall and block unused ports, among others.

The Bureau of the Fiscal Service initiated a couple of new efforts to simplify how the U.S. federal government processes and manages financial activities. The Digital End-to-End Efficiency initiative aims to fully automate and digitally transform a business process instead of only automating certain, individual tasks, the bureau said Monday.

"We want to identify improvements using a suite of automation choices, if needed, to support a seamless process,” said Cindy Good, program manager for the Fiscal Service.

Second, the Blockchain for Grant Payments effort will explore how blockchain technology can improve how grants are redeemed, transferred and digitally tokenized, continuing work under a project launched in 2017. The bureau’s financial innovation and transformation office leads both projects with the support of Deloitte.

The 18th Space Control Squadron has started sharing their forecasts on space debris-on-debris collisions through the Space-Track website.

The squadron has increased the number of objects it screens daily by more than 350 percent, while it decreased the amount of monitored low to no-risk early conjunctions by over 30 percent as part of the Reduction of Conjunction Assessment Processing program, the U.S. Air Force said Thursday.

"The objectives of project ReCAP were to improve spaceflight safety by reducing the number of unnecessary conjunction reports, and screen more than 27,000 objects that could potentially collide and create more debris in space," said Lt. Col. Justin Sorice, commander at 18 SPCS.

USAF noted 18 SPCS employs the Space Based Space Surveillance satellite along with other sensors within the Space Surveillance Network to monitor various debris that circle the Earth.

The squadron also monitors nearly 3,200 active satellites and approximately 24,000 pieces of debris for any potential debris-on-active satellite conjunctions.

John Garner, program executive officer for land systems at the U.S. Marine Corps (USMC), has said the service branch gears its current acquisition efforts toward expeditionary advance base operations (EABO) and distributed command and control.

Garner told attendees at the Modern Day Marine virtual event that the Marine Corps seeks to expand its main C2 system to cover small ashore units and amphibious ships in EABO procedures, USNI News reported Thursday.

According to Garner, the USMC intends to focus on combat mobility and integrated air and missile defense (IAMD) in line with the National Defense Strategy and  Commandant’s Planning Guidance.

The Marine Corps is working on a small Common Aviation Command and Control (CAC2) System and looking to commence full-rate production for an amphibious combat vehicle after completing initial assessments earlier this month, he added.

Garner noted that the Marine Corps is looking for radar capabilities that will “allow them to be fully integrated into the overall intelligence and sensor plan and picture” for rapid C2 execution. USMC is also planning to field additional next-generation radars in fiscal year 2021, he noted.

Jennifer Edgin, assistant deputy commandant for information at the U.S. Marine Corps, said the service is using a specific blueprint to guide the development of an information environment, C4ISRnet reported Thursday.

The Marine Corps’ 2019 information environment blueprint serves as a business model embodying the policies, design and services essential to USMC’s information capabilities.

“The future state of warfare requires the Marine Corps to think differently, encourage innovation and embrace new business models for change that focus on enhancing the access, capabilities and user experience throughout the information environment,” Edgin told C4ISRnet at the virtual Modern Day Marine event.

USMC issued the blueprint in March 2019 to provide guidance across the areas of cloud transition, digital transformation, information dominance, standardization and governance.