The National Institute of Standards and Technology has released draft guidelines for implementing a “zero-trust” architecture for government networks in line with existing cybersecurity requirements. Zero-trust architecture is mostly focused on data protection but can also be applied to functionalities at an enterprise level.

According to NIST, ZTA can support agencies’ information technology modernization operations including cloud migration and continuous diagnostics and mitigation. A ZTA-based enterprise environment also warrants constant risk assessments as though hostile elements are already in place within a network.

“Organizations need to implement effective information security and resiliency practices for zero trust to be effective,” the document stated. “When complemented with existing cybersecurity policies and guidance, identity and access management, continuous monitoring, and general cybersecurity, ZTA can reinforce an organization’s security posture using a managed risk approach and protect against common threats.”

NIST will accept feedback on the guidelines through Nov. 22.

The National Nuclear Security Administration has concluded three non-nuclear flight tests of a gravity bomb in cooperation with the U.S. Air Force and allies from NATO. NNSA said Tuesday that it worked with partners to test the B61-12 gravity bomb last month at Tonopah Test Range, Nevada in preparation for the weapon system’s final demonstration next year.

The tests support the B61-12 Life Extension Program that aims to have the bomb operational for at least 20 more years. The program consists of efforts to refurbish the weapon’s nuclear and non‐nuclear parts.

The Nuclear Weapons Council, an organization jointly established between the departments of Defense and Energy, oversees the program. The B61 is an aircraft-dropped nuclear gravity bomb that has been operational in the U.S. military for almost half a century.

Nagesh Rao, business technology solutions director under the Small Business Administration’s chief information officer, said that the agency has been pushing for commercial cloud implementation over the past few years, Federal News Network reported Tuesday.

Rao told the publication that SBA has been deploying mostly software-as-a-service technologies, and that some of the agency’s legacy systems are still run by on-premise servers. He added that his office is “really working towards the customer journey from a 360 perspective” and intends to deploy a modernized case management system as well as an enterprise-wide platform for managing customer relationships.

“The thing that we still have to work on, though, is the rest of our agency program offices,” he noted. “Some are situated through us, and some have their own IT workforce. And so we’re in the process of leading the charge forward so that everyone universally falls in alignment with our vision.”

The First Responder Network Authority and the National Institute of Standards and Technology have jointly launched a $2.2M communications technology competition.

Participants of the Tech to Protect Challenge will submit coding systems that support the communications needs of first responders, the Department of Commerce said Tuesday.

The competition will consist of 10 regional in-person coding events and one online contest open to software developers, programmers, entrepreneurs, researchers, students and public safety professionals.

The first round of coding events will take place in Chicago; Denver; College Station, Texas; Pittsburgh; and Washington, D.C., from Sept. 27 to 29. The second round will launch in Los Angeles, Miami, New York City, San Francisco and Seattle on Nov. 1 and end Nov. 3.

Lisa Porter, deputy undersecretary of defense for research and engineering, has said that the Department of Defense is aiming to implement a “zero-trust architecture” to fortify network security. DoD said Tuesday that zero-trust environments use microsegmentation to divide networks into individual zones that require special access.

Porter told attendees at a Center for Strategic and International Studies event in Washington, D.C. that DoD users should act as though networks have already been compromised by external and internal threats.

“I think we’ve been lulling ourselves into a false sense of security by thinking we can build perfectly secure enclaves,” she said. “There is no such thing as a secure system. So we have to deal with that reality whether we are doing cyber, whether we are doing supply chain, whether we are doing 5G.”

According to Porter, the Pentagon is “really trying to advocate” for the zero-trust concept and intends to work on research and engineering efforts related to the subject.

The Senate Appropriations’ commerce, justice and science subcommittee passed a spending bill that would authorize $22.75 billion in fiscal year 2020 funds for NASA, SpaceNews reported Tuesday.

The proposed measure reflects a $1.25 billion increase from the space agency’s FY 2019 funding and allocates $2.6 billion in funds for the Space Launch System, $1.4 billion for the Orion spacecraft and $1.1B for the space technology program.

The bill would earmark $6.9 billion for the agency’s science programs, including $445.7 million for the Wide-Field Infrared Survey Telescope and $161 million for the Plankton, Aerosol, Cloud and Ocean Ecosystem spacecraft. The Senate Appropriations Committee is set to decide on the measure on Thursday, Sept. 26.