Matthew Donovan, acting secretary at the U.S. Air Force, toured three facilities in Florida to showcase the service branch’s communications, air and space investments. Donovan examined the Kennedy Space Center’s X-37B Orbital Test Vehicle processing facility and visited Northrop Grumman‘s design and development area for the B-21 Raider aircraft, the Air Force said Monday.

The B-21 bomber aircraft is designed to help warfighters infiltrate air defenses. Donovan noted that the Air Force will utilize the aircraft to modernize its capacities in line with the National Defense Strategy. Donovan also went to L3Harris Technologies‘ headquarters to discuss the firm’s partnerships with the military service in the areas of avionics and aerospace technologies.

“The Air Force Rapid Capabilities Office team is proud of the work we are accomplishing on both the B-21 Raider and X-37B,” said Randy Walden, director of the Air Force Rapid Capabilities Office. “The visit has been a great opportunity to showcase the capabilities we will provide to the warfighter.”

Gen. David Berger, the U.S. Marine Corps commandant, said in a recently released strategy that he is focused on updating force design to “modernize for the future,” Federal News Network reported Monday.

Berger wrote in the 38th Commandant’s Planning Guidance that the Marine Corps should avoid prioritizing mass over quality for its manpower model and that it must move away from legacy defense programs. He also noted that the Marine Corps is “entering a period of force transformation,” and that the service must be “prepared to make bold decisions” in a rapid manner to stay ahead of adversaries.

Other issues highlighted in the guidance include extending personnel leaves of absence and allowing Marines to remain in the service for more than 20 years to enable them to evolve their career interests.

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.