Matthew Cornelius, a former official at the Office of Management and Budget, has been appointed executive director at the Alliance for Digital Innovation industry group, Federal News Network reported Tuesday.

Cornelius previously served as senior technology and cybersecurity adviser at OMB, where he provided expert input to the federal chief information and information security officers. During his tenure, Cornelius supported efforts to implement the Modernization Government Technology Act along with the Technology Modernization Fund.

Prior to joining OMB in 2017, Cornelius held leadership roles at the General Services Administration and served as policy adviser for the Department of the Treasury.

“The first thing I plan to do is talk with our member organization and understand the goals of those companies,” said Cornelius.“How can put in place better policies that lead to a new way of thinking about these technology and acquisition problems that have plagued government for so long. What are the best ways we can partner with the government to move in a cohesive direction.”

ADI was established in 2018 and is comprised of industry entities that work to support the government’s adoption of commercial technologies. The association’s members include Salesforce and VMware.

Todd Harrison, director of the Center for Strategic and International Studies’ defense budget analysis and aerospace security project, has said that it’s time to update the federal government’s budgeting process, Defense One reported Tuesday.

Harrison told attendees at the Reagan National Defense Forum in California that the current process “has not been working for a long time” and that implementing two-year appropriations bills along with mid-point assessments would help improve procedures. He also suggested aligning the U.S. government fiscal years with the calendar year to provide lawmakers with more months to analyze spending deals.

According to Harrison, these potential changes may also impede the military’s efforts to innovate. He added that he is confident the Congress can work through budgeting issues amidst the impeachment hearings against President Trump.

“There will be political challenges, there are differences of views, but we have to do better to work faster to get things done,” noted Army Secretary Ryan McCarthy. “The world’s incredibly complex and dangerous. We have to get these capabilities.”

The 2020 National Defense Authorization Act proposes $738 billion for military projects such as the acquisition of F-35 fighter jets and the establishment of a Space Force.

The Select Committee on the Modernization of Congress will unveil a bill that will work to incorporate recommendations provided by the committee within 2019.

The Moving Our Democracy and Congressional Operations Towards Modernization houses 30 recommendations that are intended to optimize Congress’ service capabilities, the committee said Monday.

The bill aims to address various areas of reform such as human resources and educational opportunities and will enable the Select Committee to work with the Commitee on House Administration in the implementation of the recommendations.

“We’ve passed nearly 30 unanimous bipartisan recommendations to make Congress work better for the American people, and today is just the latest step in our work to bring real reform to the People’s House,” said Rep. Derek Kilmer, D.Wash., and Rep. Tom Graves, R.Va.

The Committee led various briefings, listening sessions and hearings in a move to modernize Congress and has posted recommendations on a bipartisan capacity.

Click here to view the list of the committee’s recommendations.

Gen. Timothy Ray, commander of the Air Force Global Strike Command, said that having long-range precision strike capability is critical to deter great power competition, which has been the focus of the Department of Defense’s National Defense Strategy.

Ray told the audience at Rand Corporation’s fifth annual West Coast Aerospace Forum in Santa Monica that the U.S. needs to maintain such capability in the short term until it gets new bombers and intercontinental ballistic missile as well as upgrade its command, control and communications technologies, the Air Force said Monday.

AFGSC is set to receive the new MH-139 helicopter for testing in mid-December, Ray said, adding that the program resulted in about $1.7B in cost savings. The MH-139 is the first ever aircraft acquired by AFGSC.

Rand Corporation’s WCAF event is designed to foster collaboration and discussion between Air Force officials and national security experts. 

Key speakers at the event included leaders from the Navy, Air Force, Pacific Air Forces, Air Force Space Command, think tanks and academia.