The Department of Defense’s Office of the Inspector General released the results of an audit that sought to confirm contractors’ capacity to secure controlled unclassified information on their respective systems and networks.

The audit confirmed a number of gaps in contractors’ security capabilities, including password usage, mitigation of system vulnerabilities and multifactor authentication, DoD OIG said Tuesday.

DoD OIG found that the agency’s contracting offices have not developed approaches that will help validate contractual requirements, send contractor notifications, mark CUI documents and confirm implementation of CUI security controls. In addition, the report confirmed that the Defense Threat Reduction Agency did not take prompt action to mitigate the leak of information from a DoD contracting office.

DoD OIG recommended the DTRA’s director for contract policy and oversight to modify protocols in tracking DoD data-related security incidents. The inspection office also advises revision of security policies for DoD contracting offices as well as performance assessments on contractors.

The Select Committee on the Modernization of Congress passed 24 bipartisan recommendations that seek to help reform the Congress’ staffing, accessibility and technological functions.

Some of the recommendations include the modernization of onboarding processes for new representatives and the simplification of the Congress’ human resources division, the office of Rep. Derek Kilmer said Thursday.

Additionally, a number of recommendations call to establish public access to House proceedings and update the Congress’ technologies and systems.

The Select Committee held discussions with industry leaders and House representatives in a move to augment Capitol Hill’s staff retention and citizen engagement.

“These 24 bipartisan recommendations make important strides to strengthening the capacity of the Legislative Branch so we can better serve all Americans,” said Kilmer.

Federal Chief Information Officer Suzette Kent said at an IBM and Partnership for Public Service event that the administration is aiming to go “beyond the technical” in artificial intelligence efforts, Federal News Network reported Friday. Kent, a 2019 Wash100 Award recipient, noted that AI implementation must also focus on factors such as data collection, regulatory matters and retraining “a broader swath of employees.”

Andrea Bright, assistant secretary of the Customs and Border Protection Office of Human Resources, noted that the Department of Homeland Security component is leveraging AI to potentially support functions such as video analysis for law enforcement applications.

“We are moving towards automating some of that activity that allows the Border Patrol agents to do the work that they want to do,” she said.

Last year, the National Science Foundation launched a Career Compass Challenge that tasks participants to develop an app that matches employees’ skills and relevant government jobs and supports further technology training opportunities.

Rep. Frank Lucas, R-Okla., has presented a bill that aims to reform, reauthorize the Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy with boosted budget.

The ARPA-E Reauthorization and Reform Act of 2019 would authorize ARPA-E for five more years and increase the agency’s annual funds by $27M, the House Science, Space and Technology Committee said Wednesday.

The bill would support the agency’s mission to pursue scientific projects tackling energy, environmental, economic and national security issues.

“The gradual funding increase in this legislation reflects the fact that ARPA-E’s high-risk, high-reward approach to technology development has the potential to dramatically improve American energy and represents a tremendous return on investment,” Lucas said.

ARPA-E operates within the Department of Energy with a focus on research-driven economic and energy security.

The Supreme Court has greenlit the Trump administration’s proposal to allocate $2.5 billion in Department of Defense funds for the construction of a more than 100-mile wall along the southern border, Military.com reported Saturday.

The effort requires $789 million for the 46-mile portion in New Mexico, $646 million for a 63-mile part in Arizona and other funds for smaller replacement work in California and Arizona.

Five conservative judges approved of the allocation, reversing the prior decisions of a trial court and an appeals court to freeze funding for the wall replacement projects.

Trump initially identified $2.5 billion from DoD funds, $3.6 billion from military construction funds and $600 million in Treasury Department asset forfeiture funds for the wall’s construction.

The Department of Homeland Security’s science and technology directorate met with New York City’s 5 Research and Development Council to review research, development, test and evaluation initiatives in public safety and security.  5RD Council members also visited DHS S&T’s National Urban Security Technology Laboratory and were lectured on the Support Anti-Terrorism by Fostering Effective Technologies Act, the agency said Thursday. 

Additionally, DHS S&T and 5RD held meetings with the National Football League, Amazon Web Services and Madison Square Garden during the three-day affair. Representatives from New Zealand, Australia, Canada and the U.K. also took part in the meeting. 5RD Council aims to facilitate security and public safety efforts among partner countries to reinforce transparency and security capabilities.

“We work multilaterally with our Five Eyes partners to advance RDT&E activities that keep our countries safe and help to fight borderless threats,” said Bob Burns, executive director at DHS S&T’s Office of Innovation and Collaboration.

The Government Accountability Office has listed 58 recommendations to help agencies implement key practices in their respective risk management and cybersecurity initiatives. The recommendations include coordination with the secretary of the Department of Homeland Security, development of a risk management process document, facilitation of organization-wide security assessments and modernization of risk evaluation policies, GAO said in a report published Thursday. 

GAO found that while 22 agencies have assigned cybersecurity risk executives, none of them were able to integrate risk management and security processes to their programs. Additionally, GAO noted a number of gaps in creating risk management programs including employee retention, lack of quality risk data and non-consistency in applying security policies.

The agency also reported that DHS and the Office of Management and Budget did not address management gaps amid an issued executive order in 2017. GAO conducted the review to secure federal agencies’ data from potential cyberattacks.

Technical directors from two different Naval Surface Warfare Center divisions have temporarily swapped stations to gain perspectives on each other’s teams, DVIDS Hub reported Thursday. Ed Stewart, technical director at NSWC Panama City Division, and Brett Seidle, who holds the same role with the NSWC Crane Division, have switched to gather input for potential collaboration strategies under the “One Team Warfare Center” approach. 

“I think we can do amazing things together and I am personally looking forward to working with the Crane team,” Stewart said.

The temporary switch runs over one week. The two directors will come together to discuss gathered insights after the one-week swap.