Lt. Gen. Eric Wesley, director of the U.S. Army’s Futures and Concepts Center, said at a recent Center for a New American Security event that organizational changes will begin within five years, Defense News reported Thursday.

Wesley noted that the Army will modify its organizational structure to cover multidomain operations, or missions involving provocative adversary behavior and advanced capabilities. He said the service must also implement changes in line with the goal to deploy modernized equipment to its units.

The branch launched its multidomain operations doctrine in 2018 and recently released an updated version called MDO 1.5. The Army Futures Command was also established to address six crucial modernization priorities and integrate the operations of the other major commands.

The Government Accountability Office found gaps in how the U.S. Cyber Command will implement plans to transfer responsibilities to train and maintain members of the Cyber Mission Force to military service branches.

GAO released a report on Wednesday highlighting the challenges facing the unit’s transition. The Department of Defense launched the cyber force in 2013, which is composed of personnel from all service branches, in an effort to increase the defense capability of military networks.

The force has 133 teams that reported full operational capability ahead of the transition. However, as the department plans to transfer training responsibility of the force from CYBERCOM to the military services, GAO said it found most teams failed to meet readiness standards in late 2018.

The Army and Air Force also did not include all CMF training requirements in their plans to maintain the cyber teams and lacked time frames for the validation of foundational courses.

GAO recommended the military services update training plans to include specific personnel requirements. The agency also called on CYBERCOM to develop and document a plan establishing independent assessors to evaluate CMF training.

Kevin Smith, chief information officer of the Census Bureau, said the agency will ensure encryption of data as it anticipates receiving 60 percent of its responses online for the 2020 count, FCW reported Wednesday. Smith said during an event Tuesday that the bureau will seek the help of intelligence agencies to support its cybersecurity efforts for Census 2020.

“We’re going through the steps right now with [the Department of Homeland Security] to involve the intelligence community to determine what to put in place,” he said. “They offered to provide us with support similar to the 2018 midterm elections.”

Smith noted that federal agencies would carry out penetration testing on the bureau’s systems before the end of the first quarter to be followed by another round of tests.

“Those are all set up to be done in the next six months, and there will probably be some done in the fall as well,” he said.

To address potential risks of human error, Smith said the bureau will use two-factor authentication and will remotely delete data in a compromised enumeration device.
 

Army Gen. Paul Nakasone, director of the National Security Agency and head of Cyber Command, reportedly made a recommendation to split the two agencies in 2020, Defense One reported Wednesday.

Former and current intelligence officials said Nakasone proposed the move to James Mattis, the former defense secretary, in August 2018. Pentagon officials are expected  to approve the change.

Nakasone, a 2019 Wash100 winner, was confirmed by the Senate to serve in the dual-hatted role in April 2018. A spokesman for the Department of Defense said the Pentagon has not yet made an official decision. NSA focuses on foreign intelligence collection and protection of U.S. networks while Cybercom performs signals intelligence collection, network defense and cybersecurity initiatives in support of military operations.

The U.S. Navy has created an office to manage the construction of Columbia-class submarine units. The Navy said Wednesday the Program Executive Office Columbia will assist the service branch to maintain resilient sea-based strategic deterrents through 2080.

The office will work hand in hand with the Naval Sea Systems Command’s In-Service Submarine Directorate and the Program Executive Office Submarines to support the design, creation, sustainment and other related activities for the Columbia vessels, U.K.’s Dreadnought program and the Strategic Systems initiative.

“PEO Columbia will work directly with resource sponsors, stakeholders, foreign partners, shipbuilders and suppliers to meet national priorities and deliver and sustain lethal capacity our warfighters need,” said James Geurts, assistant secretary for acquisition, research and development at the Navy.

Construction for the first Columbia-class submarine (SSBN 826) will commence in fiscal year 2021 and is set for delivery in fiscal 2028 prior to its planned deployment in 2031.