A memo says the U.S. Air Force reported intrusion of its network using malware and is investigating the U.S. Navy with regard to the latter’s possible involvement in the cyber attack, Air Force Times reported Tuesday.

Navy Capt. David Wilson, chief of staff for the military branch’s defense service offices, wrote in the memo that a Navy prosecutor involved in a Navy SEAL’s war crimes case in San Diego used tracking software to trace emails sent to defense lawyers in an effort to find the source of media leaks. One of the recipients of the tracking device, which was described as malware, is an Air Force defense attorney involved in the case.

“In fact, I’ve learned that the Air Force is treating this malware as a cyber-intrusion on their network and have seized the Air Force Individual Military Counsel’s computer and phone for review,” Wilson wrote.

In addition to the Air Force’s email network, the tracking software also infiltrated the Navy-Marine Corps Intranet email network and private networks, according to the May 19 memo.

The Office of Federal Procurement Policy within the Office of Management and Budget submitted six legislative proposals to Congress in April as part of its acquisition reform efforts, Federal News Network reported Monday.

One of those proposals is the establishment of an acquisition modernization test board, which would update OFPP’s authority with regard to governmentwide procurement testing and create “test programs that promote incremental improvement of acquisition practices.”

“We believe the best way to accomplish the goals [of the President’s Management Agenda] is to accelerate the pace of transformation through smart piloting where we learn a little, through testing and getting back from all of you, making adjustments based on what we learn and do additional testing,” Matt Blum, associate administrator at OFPP, said at the Coalition for Government Procurement’s spring conference in Falls Church, Va.

“Testing allows us to constantly change and challenge ourselves to do better, to disrupt the environment in a manageable way. But also equally important, it helps us to manage risk, especially in initiatives that have multiple dimensions,” he added.

The board would also help the OFPP administrator decide on waivers of procurement laws as part of a pilot initiative in order to find ways how to improve the efficiency of the acquisition process, according to the report.

The Department of Homeland Security is collaborating with industrial control system vendors to test products to secure critical facilities such as power plants against cyber attacks, Cyberscoop reported Monday.

Jeanette Manfra, assistant director for cybersecurity at the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency, said at the Hack the Capitol conference in Washington, D.C. that the DHS aims to “have much more capability” to detect and mitigate attacks to ICS infrastructure and evaluate ICS products before they enter the market.

“We want the ICS community – and those are both the vendors and the operators of the system – to be able to be more empowered to defend themselves,” she said. According to Dragos, a Hanover, Md.-based ICS security company, one-third of the ICS security vulnerabilities identified by DHS in 2018 had errors on the scoring system for potential severity.

Michael Chasen, CEO at PrecisionHAWK USA, has been named chairman of the Federal Aviation Administration’s Drone Advisory Committee by Department of Transportation Secretary Elaine Chao. The 35-man committee was formed to help FAA address concerns and prioritize update efforts for unmanned air vehicles, the agency said Monday. The agency also appointed 12 new members from companies, government agencies and organizations that support drone initiatives.

“Michael and the DAC will help guide the FAA to build flexible, responsive regulatory processes that can keep up with the industry’s creativity while ensuring the highest level of safety,” said Daniel Elwell, acting administrator at FAA.

The committee’s appointees are:

• Bob Brock, director of aviation and UAS, Kansas Department of Transportation
• Chris Anderson, CEO, 3DR
• David Silver, vice president for civil aviation, Aerospace Industries Association
• Joseph DePete, president, Air Line Pilots Association
• Lorne Cass, vice president of regulatory affairs, American Airlines
• Mariah Scott, president, Skyward
• Mark Colborn, senior corporal, Dallas Police Department
• Michael Leo, captain, New York City Fire Department
• Michael Sinnett, vice president of product development and strategy, Boeing
• Peter Cleveland, vice president of law and policy group, Intel
• Thomas Karol, general counsel, National Association of Mutual Insurance Companies