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DHS to Hold Industry Event on Detection Canine R&D Funding Opportunities
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DHS to Hold Industry Event on Detection Canine R&D Funding Opportunities


DHS to Hold Industry Event on Detection Canine R&D Funding Opportunities

The Department of Homeland’s science and technology directorate is slated to host an event on Dec. 10 that will seek to discuss funding opportunities in detection canine research and development efforts.

The Technology and Innovation Exchanges event supports the department’s plans to engage with researchers and experts in an effort to address homeland security gaps and operational needs, DHS said Monday.

DHS eyes to perform research efforts and build tools that will augment odor detection dogs, deployment approaches and training strategies for the canine community. In addition, the department intends to analyze odor chemistry and effects to mitigate training concerns with detection dogs.

“Each TIES event is a unique opportunity for us to focus on important research areas related to a DHS operational mission and to connect with industry,” said Megan Mahle, director of industry partnerships at DHS S&T.

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NCCoE Calls for Public to Comment on Cybersecurity Project Description
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NCCoE Calls for Public to Comment on Cybersecurity Project Description


NCCoE Calls for Public to Comment on Cybersecurity Project Description

The National Cybersecurity Center of Excellence, an agency within the National Institutes of Standards and Technology, seeks public feedback on a recently drafted implementation project description.

NCCoE said its project, known as Validating the Integrity of Servers and Client Devices, aims to demonstrate implementations that allow organizations to verify the authenticity of purchased computing tools.

The project would also examine the methods to determine whether a device matches manufacturer-claimed specifications. NIST will use the project’s results to create a cybersecurity implementation guide that would be available to the public.

Interested parties may submit feedback on the draft description through Jan.6, 2020. The draft can be found here.

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FBI’s Steven Kelly on Government’s Interaction With Industry on Cyber Issues
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FBI’s Steven Kelly on Government’s Interaction With Industry on Cyber Issues


FBI’s Steven Kelly on Government's Interaction With Industry on Cyber Issues

The U.S. government still needs to come up with clearer policies outlining the agencies’ cybersecurity responsibilities and roles and an FBI official said “conversations” are still ongoing among agencies when it comes to engaging with the private sector on cyber issues, FCW reported Monday.

“In terms of the big picture kind of responsibilities, those are pretty sorted out,” Steven Kelly, chief of cyber policy at the FBI. “I think the areas where we need to improve is how we’re interacting with at-risk entities — and there’s various departments and agencies that have a role in this — and how the information and learnings can be actioned at a speed that is [relevant].”

Kelly also mentioned issues emerging across multiple lines of jurisdiction and how the bureau helps establish links in the country’s strategy to defend against cyber threats.

“We work every day with victims of crime, and we rely on those relationships,” he added.

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Air Force, Strategic Capabilities Office Aim to Develop Cyber Planning Tool Via ‘Project IKE’
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Air Force, Strategic Capabilities Office Aim to Develop Cyber Planning Tool Via ‘Project IKE’

 

Air Force, Strategic Capabilities Office Aim to Develop Cyber Planning Tool Via 'Project IKE'

The U.S. Air Force and the Department of Defense’s Strategic Capabilities Office have decided to continue the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency’s work on a program to provide cyber personnel with a tool to plan and carry out cyber operations, Fifth Domain reported Monday.

DARPA’s Plan X program has been renamed Project IKE and a spokesman for DoD said the project seeks to develop an artificial intelligence-based platform meant to provide cyber warriors a new way to analyze the “common operating picture.”

“IKE will provide cyber command and control and situational awareness across the whole of DoD’s Cyber Mission Force,” said a spokesman for the Pentagon. “The objective of IKE is to develop automated artificial intelligence/machine learning techniques to assist human understanding of the cyber battlespace, support development of cyber warfare strategies and measure and model battle damage assessment.”

The report said Project IKE could serve as a foundation for the Joint Cyber Command and Control initiative in support of the U.S. military’s cyber personnel.

 

GAO: Pentagon’s Fraud Risk Mgmt Program Should Include Contractor Ownership Assessments
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GAO: Pentagon’s Fraud Risk Mgmt Program Should Include Contractor Ownership Assessments


GAO: Pentagon's Fraud Risk Mgmt Program Should Include Contractor Ownership Assessments

The Government Accountability Office has urged the Department of Defense to assess potential risks from a contractor’s opaque ownership structure and use data to inform other fraud risk assessments.

GAO said Monday contracting firms that conceal information about other entities or individuals who own, manage or earn financial benefits from the company pose national security and fraud risks to the Pentagon.

The government watchdog agency reviewed 32 adjudicated contractor ownership cases that include businesses that were ineligible to receive DoD contracts and a foreign manufacturing company that received sensitive military data or through a U.S.-based entity.

DoD has implemented measures to address such risks in its procurement process and introduced a fraud risk management program across the organization.

However, the Pentagon has not yet examined risks of contractor ownership nor identified this as a specific area for evaluation at the department, GAO noted.

The office added such assessments will help DoD to determine a strategy to mitigate the impacts of opaque ownership and better manage department’s resources.

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GSA Releases Updated Network Security Initiative for Federal Gov’t
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GSA Releases Updated Network Security Initiative for Federal Gov’t


GSA Releases Updated Network Security Initiative for Federal Gov't

The General Services Administration has updated an initiative that seeks to augment network security across the federal government, FCW reported Friday.

The third version of the Trusted Internet Connection effort will enable government agencies to connect to the internet with reinforced flexibility.

Experts from the Department of Homeland Security, GSA and CISA look to implement TIC 3.0 into the Enterprise Infrastructure Solutions contract as they find the initiative’s previous version insufficient to secure telecommunications contracts.

“We don’t only have to think about the network perimeter, or the network traffic, but about the applications themselves and how we can be smart about employing technologies to secure those application stacks and data and monitoring,” said John Simms, deputy branch chief of the Cybersecurity Assurance Branch in the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency’s federal network resilience division.

GSA has teamed up with the Chief Information Security Council and CISA to develop TIC 3.0 pilot efforts and best practices for key applications.

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FCC Bans Use of Federal Fund in Buying Chinese Telecom Products, Services
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FCC Bans Use of Federal Fund in Buying Chinese Telecom Products, Services


FCC Bans Use of Federal Fund in Buying Chinese Telecom Products, Services

The Federal Communications Commission has banned the use of funds from its $8.5B Universal Service Fund to buy telecommunications products from Chinese companies Huawei and ZTE over concerns that they pose threats to U.S. national security. 

FCC said Friday it adopted a new rule that would require telecom carriers that use the fund to remove Huawei and ZTE equipment and services, particularly 5G, from their networks and replace them with materials from acceptable companies. 

The agency also proposed to create a reimbursement program to help companies cover replacement and removal costs.

Officials said that due to Huawei and ZTE’s close ties and legal obligations to the Chinese government, their products may have backdoors to allow foreign actors to inject malware, steal private data from U.S. citizens or spy on American companies. 

FCC Chairman Ajit Pai said the agency initially designate Huawei and ZTE as covered companies for purposes of the new rule, with plans to establish a process for designating additional companies in the future.

Pai added that the adoption of the new rule highlights FCC’s “commitment to doing everything we can within our statutory authority to address national security threats to our communications networks.” 

NSWC Carderock’s Carlos Duran Puts Focus on Building Small Business Partnerships
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NSWC Carderock’s Carlos Duran Puts Focus on Building Small Business Partnerships


NSWC Carderock's Carlos Duran Puts Focus on Building Small Business Partnerships

Carlos Duran, the newly appointed deputy for small business at Naval Surface Center’s Carderock Division, aims to increase the division’s collaboration with small businesses in an effort to foster continued innovation in its technical programs.

The U.S. Navy said Friday Duran met with his NSWC Dahlgren Division counterpart, Kris Parker, late last month to get familiarized with critical areas and electronic platforms used in the small business contracting area, particularly the SeaPort Next Generation indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity contract for project management and engineering support services. 

Duran said Parker has the right expertise and knowledge in that area, having served as the acting deputy for small business at NSWC Carderock.

“The more you collaborate with other Warfare Centers, the more consistency is achieved across Naval Sea Systems Command. Our collaboration and consistency help industry better understand our needs and, ultimately, benefits the entire acquisition community,” said Duran.

Prior to joining the NSWC Carderock, Duran was a supervisor procurement analyst for the Regional Contracting Office at Marine Corps Base Quantico, where he gained a part-time experience working with small companies.

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DARPA Explores Biological Performance in Ongoing Research Program
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DARPA Explores Biological Performance in Ongoing Research Program


DARPA Explores Biological Performance in Ongoing Research Program

The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency is working to access the maximum performance of military servicemen’s biological systems under a program announced in January.

DARPA said Friday its Measuring Biological Aptitude program seeks to determine the performance-related effects of measuring these biological systems.

The Department of Defense would use the MBA program’s resulting technologies to support training improvement, post-mission recovery, mission effectiveness and identification of special role candidates.

Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, GE Research and the Institute for Human Machine Cognition lead teams to correlate observable traits with quantifiable biological elements under the program.

These teams will work to identify and describe phenotypes, or interaction-based characteristics of an individual in an environment, based on military training measurements.

The program will then use these phenotypes to further study gene expression circuits, the molecular medium that facilitates the translation of genotypes to phenotypes.

MBA’s final phase will put the teams’ results into tests with actual members of the U.S. military.

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House Committee Approves 5G Network Security Bill
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House Committee Approves 5G Network Security Bill


House Committee Approves 5G Network Security Bill

The House Energy and Commerce Committee has passed a bill authored by Rep. Abigail Spanberger, D-Va., that aims to secure mobile infrastructure, 5G networks and other wireless communications systems within Central Virginia and in the U.S.

The Secure 5G and Beyond Act will push the government to built a strategy that will protect consumers and help partners and allies in augmenting 5G security capabilities, the office of Abigail Spanberger said Wednesday.

The bill will also seek to drive companies’ research and development efforts and protect consumer privacy and the integrity of international standards from foreign political influence.

“If we aren’t actively working to strengthen our resilience against these threats—especially as we see the growing adoption of these technologies in our rural communities and increasing reliance on these high-speed connections—we are putting American families, businesses, and consumer data at risk,” said Spanberger.

The bill awaits full approval from Congress.

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