The Senate Appropriations defense subcommittee on Tuesday approved a bill through legislative markup to authorize $694.9B in defense spending for fiscal year 2020, The Hill reported. The defense policy bill includes a base budget of $622.5B, $70.7B in overseas contingency operations funds and $1.7B in emergency funds.

Programs to be funded in the proposed measure include the procurement of 95 F-35 fighter aircraft and 14 battleships, a 3.1 percent increase in military pay and an active-duty end strength of 1.3M service personnel. The Senate subpanel marked up the bill despite concerns that the measure does not restrict the current administration’s ability to tap the Department of Defense’s funds to support its border wall project.

DoD identified 127 domestic and overseas military construction projects that could be deferred to free up $3.6B in funds to support barrier projects in response to a national emergency declared at the southern U.S. border.

The National Institute of Standards and Technology has released an initial draft of a framework meant to help organizations improve individuals’ privacy through enterprise risk management.

NIST said Friday that the Privacy Framework seeks to help organizations secure individuals’ privacy through three efforts: establish customer trust by supporting ethical decision-making in service and product design; meet compliance obligations; and facilitate communications with clients and regulators about privacy practices.

The agency noted that the policy follows the structure of the Cybersecurity Framework and is composed of core, profiles and implementation tiers. The core component seeks to facilitate a dialogue about privacy protection operations and desired outcomes, while the profiles part advances the prioritization of activities and outcomes that meet organizational missions and privacy values.

The implementation tiers support communication and decision-making about the organizational processes’ sufficiency to handle privacy risks.

NIST wants stakeholders to assess whether the initial draft defines outcomes that strengthen an individual’s privacy protection or cover existing practices; integrates privacy risk into organizational risk; and allows organizations to adapt to privacy risks arising from the use of artificial intelligence, internet of things and other emerging technologies.

Public comments are due Oct. 24.

The Federal Aviation Administration has collaborated with NASA and unmanned aircraft system testing partners to conduct three safety demonstrations of drone operations at an altitude of below 400 feet. FAA said Wednesday that the field tests demonstrated the possibility of conducting UAS flights beyond visual line-of-sight in airspace without air traffic services.

The Virginia Tech Mid-Atlantic Aviation Partnership, Northern Plains UAS Test Site in North Dakota and the Nevada Institute for Autonomous Systems in Las Vegas hosted the low-altitude drone tests during the past three months as part of the UAS Traffic Management Pilot Program.

Data from the program will help the government develop a UTM proof of concept and lay the groundwork for technology deployment efforts, FAA noted. The agency introduced UPP in April 2017 as part of efforts to define operational safety requirements for commercial drones.

The Department of Education is planning to recognize two U.S. educators for the Presidential Cybersecurity Education Award in May 2020. ED said in a document dated Sept. 5 that it plans to announce the award during National Cybersecurity Awareness Month in October and recognize the winners as part of Teacher Appreciation Week in May.

According to the notice, ED intends to award one elementary and one secondary school educator who “best instill skills, knowledge, and passion with respect to cybersecurity and cybersecurity-related subjects.” The department plans to accept nominations until Jan. 31, 2020 ahead of an evaluation period that will run from February through April of that year.

Feedback on ED’s proposal must be submitted by Sept. 25.