Robin Kelly, a member of the Oversight National Security subcommittee, has unveiled a bill to drive accountability for acting senior national security officials. The National Security Transparency Act will require acting senior national security leaders to appear regularly before Congress to maintain oversight on their respective departments, the office of Robin Kelly said Thursday.

The bill will also push acting secretaries from the Department of Homeland Security, the Department of Defense, National Security Agency and CIA as well as the acting director of national intelligence to appear at Congress every 45 days prior to their confirmation by the Senate.

“Congress must hold these individuals and any Administration accountable to the highest level of oversight and transparency to protect our national security,” said Kelly.

American Systems has achieved 45 years since its founding in 1975, the company reported on Monday. 

“For four-and-a-half decades, American Systems has focused on delivering services and solutions that exceed our customers’ expectations in a cost-efficient manner while building a culture that rewards accountability and promotes growth in our workforce,” said Peter Smith, president and CEO of American Systems and three-time Wash100 Award recipient.

American Systems will host a video teleconference in celebration of its milestone on Thursday, March 5, in honor of company founder Tom Curran’s birthday. Curran passed away in 2014. As a founder of the company his primary focus was to provide technicians to telecommunications firms. 

In 1976, Curran joined forces with Woody Ramsey, and the company's initial focus was expanded to include systems engineering for U.S. submarines. Under the leadership of Smith, American Systems is known as a broad based provider of IT and engineering services and solutions to government customers. Smith joined American Systems 40 years ago to work on the TRIDENT submarine program.

Since 1980, Smith began his growth efforts with American Systems by supporting the U.S. Navy. The company has expanded its strategic business areas, including government divisions such as defense, intelligence, federal law enforcement, U.S. outreach and healthcare. 

The company now supports hundreds of programs globally, with a diverse workforce at 30 locations in the U.S. and in 15 countries overseas. Additionally, American Systems provides its customers’ national security priority programs and has over 1,400 employees. The company’s annual revenue exceeds $375 million.

“As we move forward, we expect to build on that legacy with our customers and employees. We adopted the tagline “Forty-five and thriving” in connection with our anniversary, as we are enjoying our strongest years of growth and, consequently, our highest shareholder value.”

About American Systems

Founded in 1975, American Systems is one of the largest employee-owned companies in the United States, with approximately 1,400 employees nationwide. American Systems supports national priority programs through strategic solutions in the areas of: Enterprise IT, Test & Evaluation, Acquisition & Lifecycle Support, Engineering & Analysis, and Training. 

Viasat has announced that Japan Airlines (JAL) has deployed Viasat’s Aerodocs document to support JAL’s airline safety and compliance objectives, the company reported on Monday.

“Viasat Aerodocs allows us to effectively organize and manage documents to further enhance aircraft safety while helping us meet critical regulatory and compliance requirements…Having the ability to manage workflows in a more integrated manner, along with tracking read and unread documents, delivers significant value in helping us enhance our safety,” said Captain Tatsuo Mori, vice president and chief pilot, Flight Operation Department, Japan Airlines.

Aerodocs is an aviation-grade document management solution that will provide JAL with complete control over the editing, distribution and viewing of original equipment manufacturer documentation. The company will also provide critical flight reference handbooks, maintenance manuals and operational manuals.

JAL will utilize the Aerodocs system, which uses information intelligence to enable digital transformation in air operations, to effectively adhere with safety, compliance needs and operational efficiencies that will improve passenger experience.

“Our airline partners around the globe are investing in new technologies that will expand their digital transformation strategies in order to increase collaboration, improve operations and help make more informed, data-driven decisions,” said Dave Elliott, managing director, Viasat Ireland.

In addition to Viasat’s solution for aviation management, the company has developed a new modification kit that will provide terminal providers access and align with a variety of government-used architectures in Oct. 2019.

The company said that its new government-tailored modification kit is designed to allow for the accommodation of hybrid, multi-network architectures. Third-party vendors associated with the Department of Defense and foreign allies may access and test the modification kit.

The terminal kit will allow military customers to use a range of satcom terminals on a hybrid, interoperability-focused architecture. The kit’s technology will also accommodate interoperability with medium Earth orbit and geostationary orbit satellites across military and commercial constellations.

About Viasat

Viasat is a global communications company that believes everyone and everything in the world can be connected. For more than 30 years, Viasat has helped shape how consumers, businesses, governments and militaries around the world communicate. Today, the Company is developing the ultimate global communications network to power high-quality, secure, affordable, fast connections to impact people’s lives anywhere they are—on the ground, in the air or at sea.