The National Security Agency partnered with Pennsylvania State University professors to create an online course on law and policies for cyber activities. PSU said Friday that the “Principles of Cyber Law and Policy” course is comprised of four modules with 30 lesson units that span topics such as domestic law, national security and cyber technology. 

The course is designed to educate students, employees, academic representatives, business professionals and national security experts on topics such as cyber governance, national court systems and U.S. government sructure. The program, supported by the National Initiatives in CyberSecurity Education partnership, went live this summer at NSA’s Clark Center.

“Combining the expertise of domestic cyber law and national security professors gave the curriculum greater depth,” said James Houck, director of the PSU Center for Security Research and Education and one of the professors that created the course.

Other professors that helped establish the program include Anne Toomey McKenna, professor of practice for PSU’s Institute for CyberScience, and Scott Sigmund Gartner, director of the university’s School of International Affairs.

Vice Adm. Matthew Kohler discussed the U.S. Navy’s efforts to address the information warfare needs of dynamic maritime operations, DVIDS Hub reported Saturday.

“The warfighting construct challenge has gotten so complex in the maritime domain that we’re no longer focused just on tactical warfighting that we see ahead of us,” he said during the Defense Intelligence Agency’s recent DoDIIS Worldwide Conference in Tampa, Florida.

Kohler, who serves as director of naval intelligence and deputy chief of naval operations for information warfare, said warfighters need information warfare to operate across wide geographies in a distributed, timely manner. He also noted that information warfare would help the service branch develop the Navy Tactical Grid, an updated maritime strategic design.

The new design emphasizes on the Navy’s joint, collaborative work with foreign allies for future missions, he added.

Gen. Mike Holmes, head of Air Combat Command, has said a new numbered U.S. Air Force component that consolidates ACC’s 24th and 25th air forces could reach initial operational capability in the fall, Air Force Magazine reported Friday. 

ACC initially expected to complete the integration effort at Joint Base San Antonio-Lackland in Texas during the summer. Holmes noted the service branch is in the middle of deciding the “information spectrum” in which the new organization will operate in addition to its anticipated reconnaissance, cryptography and intelligence functions.

“He’ll be our service cryptological component commander, working in support of any airmen that we provide to the National Security Agency and the other things we do across the intelligence community,” Holmes added, according to the report.

The NAF’s future commander will be Air Force’s representative in U.S. Cyber Command and will have several network and security responsibilities within the Air Force. The unit will also support electromagnetic spectrum planning in the military.

Martin Faga, former assistant secretary of the U.S. Air Force for space, wrote in a Defense News commentary piece published Thursday that the service branch focuses on mission assurance as it works to launch national security satellites. 

“The Air Force has the job — codified in law — to provide assured access to space at an affordable cost for national security launches,” he wrote. “The Air Force seeks to do this by maintaining two certified launch systems fully capable of meeting all national security launch needs.”

He noted that four rocket manufacturers – SpaceX, United Launch Alliance, Northrop Grumman and Blue Origin – are competing for two contracts to launch up to 30 national security missions from 2022 through 2026.

Faga discussed the advantages of picking two commercial launch service providers under the Air Force’s National Security Space Launch program and how the military branch’s procurement strategy for the program encourages industry partners to further invest in their launch platforms.

“Selecting the two best competitors balances the high costs of matching each satellite with its launch rocket while avoiding dependence on only one launch provider, as we are largely doing now,” said Faga, who is also former director of the National Reconnaissance Office and former CEO of Mitre.

Deputy Defense Secretary David Norquist said in a memo to Department of Defense leaders that he supports the merger of the Defense Commissary Agency and three defense resale entities, Military.com reported Friday.

Norquist, 2019 Wash100 Award recipient, wrote in the memo dated Aug. 19 that he will decide between expanding an existing entity like DeCA and establishing a new agency responsible for overseeing defense resale facilities upon the enactment of relevant legislation.

“The department’s intent is to improve community services for our service members and their families, improve support to commanders and fulfill its fiduciary responsibility concerning appropriated and non-appropriated funds,” he wrote.

According to a prior DoD report, the merger may help the Pentagon save $700 million to $1.3 billion for the first five years. The report also found that the merger would cost around $75 million for the first year and increase to $150 million for the next three years.

The DoD’s exchange system uses its profits to support military recreation programs, child care facilities and other quality-of-life efforts. Commissaries are Congress-funded and use grocery sales to support the maintenance and refurbishment of stores and equipment.