Bob Kolasky, an official at the Department of Homeland Security’s Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency, said the newly created Federal Acquisition Security Council has initiated its efforts to help agencies manage security risks to the supply chain, FCW reported Monday.

FASC “is going to serve as the governance structure to elevate the security within federal acquisition processes,” Kolasky, head of CISA’s National Risk Management Center, said at an FCW briefing held July 16. To support that effort, he said the council aims to establish a data repository designed to help agencies “make smarter procurement decisions” and will offer guidance on the use of exclusion authorities when it comes to extreme security risks.

Kolasky also noted that his office is also advancing the supply chain security assessment as mandated by an executive order signed by President Trump in May. The review is due by mid-August and would inform new industry regulations being developed by the secretary of the Department of Commerce.

“We are looking across the [information and communications technology] supply chain and identifying the most critical nodes,” he added.

A new report released by the New York University School of Law’s Brennan Center for Justice says states will need additional federal funding to protect state and local election systems from cyber threats posed by nation-state actors ahead of the 2020 election.

According to the document, Congress allocated $380M in grant funds through the Help America Vote Act in 2018 to help states improve their election security. The Elections Assistance Commission projects that states will spend 85 percent of the alloted grant funds ahead of the U.S. presidential elections.

“Unfortunately, given the myriad security challenges faced by these states, the $380 million isn’t enough to address the needs of state and local offices; many have substantial election security needs that likely won’t be met absent additional federal support,” the report notes. The report focused on six states – Alabama, Arizona, Illinois, Louisiana, Oklahoma and Pennsylvania – and analyzed how they allocated their 2018 HAVA grants as well as their unfunded security needs.

For instance, Alabama’s federal election security grant and state matching funds totaled $6.5M in 2018. The state has appropriated funds to support four projects: voter registration database updates and maintenance, computer equipment replacement and upgrades, post-election audits and efforts to address cyber vulnerabilities.

Election officials from Alabama also identified two unfunded projects aiming to safeguard the elections and those are the development of a “cyber navigator program” and legacy voting equipment replacement. The document was authored by experts from the Brennan Center for Justice, the University of Pittsburgh Institute for Cyber Law, Policy and Security, R Street Institute and the Alliance for Securing Democracy.

Mark Esper, acting defense secretary and 2019 Wash100 Award winner, said he intends to reform the Department of Defense’s “Fourth Estate” agencies, C4ISRnet teported Monday. Esper noted in his advanced policy questions to the Senate Armed Services Committee that revising Fourth Estate management will help the DoD save up to $46 billion.

He added that he intends to work with the chief management officer and deputy secretary to assess Fourth Estate agencies’ resources, budgets, infrastructure and performance. The Fourth Estate is comprised of 27 agencies including the Defense Intelligence Agency, Missile Defense Agency, the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency, National Reconnaissance Office and Defense Information Systems Agency.

The Defense Logistics Agency Aviation has received five vertical lift modules to help the agency optimize storage and access of aircraft components. The automated modules were installed at Warner Robins Air Force Base’s F-15 and C-5 Ship-to-Shore Connector facilities and is expected to increase the base’s storage capacity by 110 percent, DLA said Friday.

“By having more material readily stored in our Shop Service Centers, we’re able to more accurately and efficiently issue parts to our maintenance customers,” said Maj. Joshua Wilkerson-Bienick, operations officer for DLA Aviation at Warner Robins AFB.

In addition, the modules allowed DLA to lower storage space to 7K feet and reinforce delivery times for customers. DLA noted that it intends to install VLMs at other facilities within Robins AFB.

The Government Accountability Office has reviewed the Internal Revenue Service’s data security and discovered 14 new vulnerabilities. GAO said Thursday that it evaluated IRS’ information security controls in fiscal year 2018 and recommends the revenue agency to bolster protection of financial and taxpayer information. The new evaluation report follows previous studies on the matter within IRS.

The new audit covered the areas of access controls, configuration management, segregation of duties, contingency planning and information security programs. The fiscal 2018 study generated a total of 20 new recommendations, adding to 107 remaining recommendations from previous assessments. GAO also found that IRS had implemented recommendations from previous assessments as of Sept. 30, 2018, reducing the number of unaddressed previous recommendations from 154 to 107.