The Department of Defense’s Cybersecurity Maturity Model Certification program is scheduled to take effect later this year and Morgan Dwyer, a fellow at the Center for Strategic and International Studies’ International Security Program, said DoD should launch a pilot program focused on a small set of highest-priority vendors, Signal Magazine reported Sunday.

“DOD can use that pilot program to simultaneously work through implementation issues and to improve cybersecurity in priority areas,” Dywer said. “DOD can then leverage lessons learned from the pilot program to develop a more comprehensive implementation plan for CMMC. Addressing implementation issues in a pilot program will make CMMC’s rollout to the entire industrial base much smoother in the long run.”

She noted that the new cyber model involves costs associated with third-party assessments, compliance and the third-party verification body.

“I think it’s likely that DOD will be responsible for at least one component of those costs and that is why it’s so important to pilot CMMC first. A pilot program will allow DOD to gain a better understanding of CMMC’s costs and to use that knowledge to develop a cost-informed CMMC policy and implementation strategy,” added Dwyer, who is also deputy director for policy analysis at CSIS’ Defense-Industrial Initiatives Group.

Potomac Officers Club will host its CMMC Forum 2020 on April 2. Click here to register for the event.

Katie Arrington, chief information security officer at the Office of the Assistant Secretary of Defense for Acquisition and a 2020 Wash100 Award recipient, will serve as a keynote speaker at the CMMC Forum 2020. She will address the CMMC’s timeline, how the certification process could change and will provide a memorandum of understanding with a newly established CMMC accrediting body.

A full expert panel will include Ty Schieber, senior director of executive education and CMMC-AB chairman of the University of Virginia and Richard Naylor of the Defense Counterintelligence and Security Agency (DCSA) among other members of the federal sector and industry.

Register here to join Potomac Officers Club for its CMMC Forum 2020 on April 2nd to learn about the impact DoD’s CMMC will have on cybersecurity practices, supply chain security and other aspects of the federal market.

The U.S. Air Force has named its newest Sikorsky-made rescue helicopter after the model's Vietnam-era predecessor.

The HH-60W, now named Jolly Green II, succeeds the HH-3E Jolly Green helicopter that performed rescue operations during the Vietnam war, USAF said Thursday. The new helicopter would replace the existing HH-60G Pave Hawk.

Barbara Barrett, USAF secretary, announced the new helicopter's name at the Air Force Association's 2020 Air Warfare Symposium the same day.

"Reviving the Jolly Green name honors our combat search and rescue crews past and present," the secretary said. She also honored retired Chief Master Sgt. Wayne Fisk and Col. Barry Kamhoot who served during the Jolly Green crews' search and rescue mission.

USAF intends to buy a maximum of 108 Jolly Green II units. Moody Air Force Base and Kirtland AFB will receive the first Jolly Green II helicopters for fielding.

The Department of Homeland Security's Science and Technology Directorate has announced its search for startups with the capacity to develop tracking technology for underwater objects.

DHS S&T said Thursday it posted a solicitation for maritime object tracking technology in support of the U.S. Coast Guard.

The directorate launched the solicitation under the Silicon Valley Innovation Program that aims to bolster DHS' collaboration with other sectors for security-focused innovation efforts.

USCG requires the sought detection technology to better conduct drug and migrant interdiction, search and rescue and other homeland security operations at the sea.

“During the course of normal operations, Coast Guard aircraft and vessels come across numerous types of jettisoned objects, and navigation hazards that need to be recovered from the seas and waterways,” said Wendy Chaves, chief of research, development, test and evaluation and innovation at USCG.

S&T and USCG will jointly administer a discussion on the effort at the Homeland Security Day that will take place Wednesday in Menlo Park, Calif.

The U.S. Navy and Huntington Ingalls Industries' Newport News Shipbuilding division have begun phase two testing of an aircraft carrier's lower weapons elevator, DVIDS Hub reported Thursday.

Personnel from Naval Surface Warfare Center, Philadelphia Division, work with HII engineers to assess the operation of USS Gerald R. Ford’s lower stage weapons elevator.

Engineers will inspect software of the elevator's electrical and mechanical systems for operability testing. The new phase follows recently concluded phase one testing that tackled the elevator's actuators.

“These lower stage elevators are critical to our lethality in that they will allow our crew to move ordnance between the lower levels and the main deck," said Capt. John Cummings, the ship's commanding officer.

The government-industry team will perform regression testing during the effort's third phase. The U.S. Navy received USS Gerald R. Ford’s upper stage elevators from HII in 2019.

Adam Hickey, deputy assistant attorney general within the Department of Justice’s national security division, has said that private companies also have the responsibility to contact law enforcement during cyber breaches, Fifth Domain reported Thursday.

Hickey told attendees at the RSA Conference in San Francisco that the private sector has a key role in informing the FBI and DOJ to accelerate the attribution process.

He noted that law enforcement authorities also work to assess companies’ timeliness in identifying cyberattacks as well as the presence of security architecture.

“The intelligence community may know well from other sources who’s responsible, but when I think about bringing an indictment, I’m sourcing that from unclassified information,” said Hickey. “So I’m often starting from victim information and going from there.”

Hickey also said that DOJ underwent a cultural shift and implemented a mindset focused on adversarial attacks rather than companies’ track record of cyber breaches.