Paul Hertz, director of NASA’s astrophysics division, said the space agency plans to make some changes to the operations of the Stratospheric Observatory for Infrared Astronomy aircraft to ramp up its scientific productivity, SpaceNews reported Wednesday.

“We will be making changes in the SOFIA project to improve its productivity and make it as responsive as it can be to community science priorities,” Hertz said Monday at the 234th Meeting of the American Astronomical Society in St. Louis. Hertz said one of the proposed adjustments is flying SOFIA at high altitudes more frequently.

“We’re going to complete the transition of SOFIA from a developmental mindset into an operational mindset that we anticipate will create a more productive science operations mode,” he added. The planned operational changes came after NASA completed two reviews that looked at the maintenance and science operations of the airborne observatory. 

SOFIA is a Boeing 747 aircraft that has a 2.5-meter telescope designed to gather high-altitude infrared observations. The aerial observatory secured $85.2 million in funds for fiscal year 2018.

The departments of Veterans Affairs and Defense plan to establish a dedicated program office to oversee decision-making on health record modernization efforts, Federal Times reported Wednesday. VA is working to develop an interoperable system for transitioning servicemen into the veteran community.

The Federal Electronic Health Record Modernization Program Office intends to address the lack of cooperation exhibited in previous interoperability efforts. Lauren Thompson, who directs the DoD-VA Interagency Program Office, said leaders of the FEHRM program office will have the capacity to direct joint decisions for technical, programmatic, financial and policy aspects.

“An interim FEHRM director and deputy director will be appointed to work with the implementation team in transitioning joint functions into the FEHRM once the FEHRM has an approved charter,” Thompson said at a hearing with the House Veterans Affairs Committee. DoD and VA will present more details on the FEHRM office establishment plan to Congress in weeks to come.

Chinese-backed venture capital firms are closing U.S. offices, reducing their U.S. investments or changing the structure of their investments to avoid scrutiny from government regulators as U.S. startups shy away from Chinese investors amid rising tensions between the two countries, The Wall Street Journal reported Tuesday.

Research firm Rhodium Group said Chinese investments in U.S. startups hit record levels in early 2018 but started to drop in May 2018. Foreign direct investment from China also declined from $46 billion in 2016 to $5 billion in 2018, reflecting a 90 percent drop.

The decline in Chinese investments came after Congress passed a law expanding the authority of the Committee on Foreign Investment in the U.S. to assess foreign transactions and direct international investors to seek approval for technology deals. The report said a group of administration officials and senators started conducting meetings with U.S. tech executives and venture capitalists to inform them of the risks of having dealings with Chinese counterparts.

Sen. Mark Warner (D-Va.) said he supported broadening economic relations with China in the past. “But a few years and many, many classified briefings later, my views have changed, as the government in China has,” he said in a statement. The FBI has carried out briefings to warn companies of Chinese-backed intellectual property theft, economic espionage and cybersecurity threats, the report noted.

Army Secretary Mark Esper told Federal News Network in an interview published Wednesday about the service’s current efforts and Army Futures Command.

“If you look at our budget you will see a dramatic shift in the budget we put forward just to make sure we were consistent with the National Defense Strategy,” Esper said. “Whether it’s how we man, organize, train or equip the force we are making big shifts. I like to say that the Army is in a renaissance right now.”

Esper, a 2019 Wash100 winner, discussed the service’s intellectual property policy, military housing and hiring of civilian personnel and offered updates on the new command when it comes to the acquisition of weapons systems in support of the Army’s six modernization priorities. He said Futures Command hasn’t yet reached full operational capability but is making progress driven by its cross functional teams.

“We finally have a command that is bringing together the entire modernization enterprise to provide our soldiers the equipment they need when they need it,” Esper noted. “We need to be good stewards of America’s hard-earned tax dollars, so we are doing that at cost and we are already seeing accomplishments by command leader Gen. John Murray and Futures Command on both fronts, and I’m very excited about the future and his ability to deliver capabilities on time, on cost with the performance parameters and requirements we need.”

Rep. Will Hurd, a 2019 Wash100 awardee, unveiled a bipartisan legislation to create minimum requirements on Internet of Things devices used by the government. The Internet of Things Cybersecurity Improvement Act of 2019 will require government-purchased devices to meet security standards to maintain the privacy of government networks and personal data from hackers, the office of Will Hurd said Wednesday.

Additionally, the bill will task the Office of Management and Budget and the National Institute of Standards and Technology to establish the requirements on IoT tools.

“Internet of Things devices will improve and enhance nearly every aspect of our society, economy and everyday lives – and are growing rapidly. We must act now to ensure these devices are built with security in mind, not as an afterthought,” said Hurd.